occasionally i look through mercedes mags and it had an article of an e class with the 6.5 m119 by brabus it was interesting to read the specs and other info and because people always ask for specs i decided to take pictures and post them. i called brabus to see about buying the con rods and crank however the phone rep argued with me that they wouldnt sell me it... maybe next time i will go in and talk to someone face to face

 

They probably don't want to sell them to you so that they can soak you for more money by selling you the labor also. Can you find the same type/dimensions of rods and crankshaft elsewhere?

 

my fabricator in thailand can probably do it for pennies on the dollar. but i wanted brabus crank which is a longer stroke than amg and renntech to make a mold off was my thinking and do it lighter and stronger with modern tech. brabus also bores out the engine to 101mm which im not sure i want to do... i plan to do forced induction eventually and lower the compression ratio way down to run very high boost which would be too stressful on a bored out engine i think. im not entirely sure the brabus crank would fit my m119.960 though because from reading regarding deck height.

ultimately my goal is to hopefully get the motor pumping out 2500hp and get the weight down more to run 6 second passes @ 200mph on the 1/4 mile with a full body car.... occasionally i get to thinking how possible it will be but with modern tech i think its attainable. i stripped more weight since i weighed it @ 3660lbs but if i remove the doors and seats alone i will drop 300lbs~ x2 and 100lbs~ x2 and hypothetically gain back 100lbs with 2 10lbs~ seats and frames + carbon fiber doors and door cards which would put me in the 2000lbs range (a huge decrease in the gvwr of 4700lbs for my car) with the other things still removable on the car my goal is 2000lbs-2500lbs BEFORE safety mods such as an nhra cage fire suppression system ect.

ultimately it gets quite the attention at races and many many questions and i hope through this to gain more mercedes fans. and have people realize how great of cars they are.... ive said it many times and ive seen people say this cars was competing with the c4 corvette but if you look at paper numbers on the Ferrari testarosa and lambo diablo this is our cars competition.

 

How much have you spent on your race car Euro?

 

last year (summer time it went over $60k) i havent really kept track since although ive spent quite a lot since. id estimate over 70k now... if i didnt waste money buying and selling other cars it would be a lot farther along. but as many builders experience i sometimes need a break or to re motivate myself. its coming up on 3 years of ownership in december and i guess ive made a lot of progress however there is always so much to do.

i dont drive it other than a rare occasion but when i do i am reinvigorated.

as far as my other "parts car" r129 eventually i plan to work on it and fix it up too however in a different style i had thought of a rally car like the w107 SLC rally cars. ive thought a factory resto. a resto mod. many different ideas float around for that.

the great thing for those interested is my fabricator in thailand has made all these custom parts which are available (or will become available as developed) for the r129 so more people can enjoy the gains available to the engine and chassis... i like the idea of forging ahead so others can follow and reap the rewards. the r129 is the best and most enjoyable car i have driven and owned.

 

Sounds impressive. What did you spend the $70k on? Mostly carbon fiber and things to lighten the load?

 

im not sure everything... carbon fiber wasnt that expensive in my opinion.... as far as weight reduction i did the stripping myself.... i replaced the multi link rear with fully adjustable heim joints did h&r lowering springs bought new bump stops strut mounts and still waiting to replace my current b6 with new b6 shocks / struts ive done at least 20 alignments (free of charge) many things i have done for low cost or no cost at college by networking with the teachers (they have an auto body side and mechanic side) i have done a lot of maintenance with dealer parts when possible (unless its upgrades like springs) i replaced EVERYTHING in the cooling system except the fan clutch and overflow tanks (since i plan to replace the fan with an electric one) serviced it several times in other areas (probably more than needed) i have parts laying around that arnt on the car as well. tint (ceramic tint) which i need to take off and redo on the front windows eventually... wheels and tires and an extra tire.... i hadnt even driven 1000 miles when i hit a nail diagnostic work for a charging system problem that cost me 1650 AFTER 2 20% discounts and a reduction in labor charge to 1 hour.... AT THE DEALER! :O i have made good friends there. they had the car over a month working on it and probably more than 30hrs (just an estimate) but only charged 1 hour. so idk i look at this and it doesnt sound like much but thats what the receipts say. i just chip away at it a little at a time and make progress. its taught me patience among other lessons.

i plan to replace or upgrade everything on the car over time. it still needs a lot of love but if i hadnt bought it and fixed it someone else would have junked the car. (had a nightmare of problems when i got it and didnt run for the first year and a half really).... same with the other r129 i picked up for $1100 it had been on craiglist for at least a year (thats how long i followed it) eventually id like to nab and save more and a w113 too.

and by the way your 1991 is a 500sl not sl500 but you knew that silly