M104 E320 engine in a W114 Coupe. Pictures

[hismajestics]

Hi all,

during the past 1,5 years I'm been working on this swap. The car has been test driven now and appears to work fine. Very fast.

Some fine tuning to be done though, eg. throttle actuator: after constant revs on load and pushing the clutch pedal (traffic lights etc.) the engine has a tendency of stalling. Sometimes it does, sometimes it picks up revving and idles as it should. As I have understood there is no TPS in Mercs throttle actuator so trouble shooting continues...

The swap is a E320 (104992) Euro -93, non-ASR and with no immobilizer. ZF 5 speed manual dogleg gearbox (717.450). 210k km on the clock. W114 Coupe from -72 with 263k km on the clock.

Work is still in progress, period correct Recaro seats, wider steel wheels etc. All feed-back is very welcomed.

Some pics to start with

/johannes

 

[Druk]

Very nice Johannes.

I think I would be fabricating a new exhaust manifold to take one 2.5 or 3" downpipe clear of the bodywork. That inside pipe looks mighty close to me.

 

[grober]

Nice work! My immediate thought was effective heat shielding for the steering idler arm bushes from the exhaust heat which would cook them pretty quick I imagine??

Should I put more $$ to upgrade my W124 or drive it to the ground?? - Page 2 - Mercedes-Benz Forum

 

[kth286]

a lot of work there.

did the new engine mounts match up to old car mounting positions easily ?

 

[hismajestics]

Thanks everybody for the support!

 

[hismajestics]

Very nice Johannes.

I think I would be fabricating a new exhaust manifold to take one 2.5 or 3" downpipe clear of the bodywork. That inside pipe looks mighty close to me.

Thanks Derek

. Yes that is my plan. I was on a tight budget so I used the original manifold from the donor E320, modifying it a bit. Just to get things going. The exhaust is 2,5" all the way from the downpipe.

It looks closer in the pics than in reality. No problems yet after some 400 km:s behind.

 

[hismajestics]

Nice work! My immediate thought was effective heat shielding for the steering idler arm bushes from the exhaust heat which would cook them pretty quick I imagine??

Should I put more $$ to upgrade my W124 or drive it to the ground?? - Page 2 - Mercedes-Benz Forum

Thanks grober

.

I have sorted it out, I used the original idler arm shield from W114 and it fits perfectly. Thanks for the link.

/johannes

 

[hismajestics]

a lot of work there.

did the new engine mounts match up to old car mounting positions easily ?

I took the right engine carrier from the donor and fabricated the left one to fit.

What you may need to look closely at is the height of the engine carriers vs. subframe mounts. New subframe rubber mounts are easily 10mm higher than the old ones.

This was my case and I needed to drop the gearbox by 10mm by the cross member to avoid the prop shaft interfere with the gearstick assembly. Used a aluminum spacer on the left side. Which means I needed a 30mm spacer on the right side when using the original W124 cross member.

/johannes

 

[DonLawson84]

Hismajestics,
I have been keeping an eye out for a low mileage donor with m104 for my 1971 250. If you could contact me with any helpful tips or pictures i would appreciate it. or anyone else that runs across this post that has or is working on the swap!!
Thanks,
Don Lawson
[email protected]

 

[hismajestics]

Hismajestics,
I have been keeping an eye out for a low mileage donor with m104 for my 1971 250. If you could contact me with any helpful tips or pictures i would appreciate it. or anyone else that runs across this post that has or is working on the swap!!
Thanks,
Don Lawson
[email protected]

Hi Don, if you search the site you'll find more information about my swap. Or, if you google my nick and the car there should be loads of pics and text. Both in Finnish, Swedish and English

Also guys following eg. this topic knows a lot; grober, carat, druk... to name a few

Any particular thing you want advice on?

Best
:j

 

[hismajestics]

Since I'm here a may update a bit.

I did test the car on Ahvenisto Circuit here in Finland last fall and found it be very quick. I thought at first I got heavy body roll and suspected something wrong with the chassis.

I then swapped to 16" tires (ET23 205/55 in front and ET11 225/50 rear) and the drive improved a lot. The higher tires 205/65 were "rolling". These are classic Rial Mesh with nice Firestone Firehawk in the rear. Conti Premium Contact in front.

 

[hismajestics]

Joined the Beamer club in spring for a race day.



Not from my car, but from a blown Turbo Beamer



Tire wear after some laps

 

[hismajestics]

A period correct Recaro for 80€

 

[hismajestics]

Had (still have) a plan to upgrade front brakes. Did buy a pair of Focus RS 4 pot Brembos but could not fit them on the spindle with 16" wheels. Needed at least 17" the callipers not being radial mounted. I have 28x300mm vented discs from Merc W126, they fit perfectly.

I'm now looking for radial mounted Brembos but these appear to be (very) expensive. Seat Cupra R would be perfect. Couple of years back you could get Cupra R Brembos in Finland for 125€/each. Brand new!

Focus RS Brembo vs. Merc E320 TE 4 pot.





300x28mm disc and 16" Rial





NoGo with the spindle

 

[219]

very nice work !

I guess the conversion wouldn't be possible on a right hand drive car ?

I see in one of your pictures a Pagoda and a W123 lurking in the background - what's the story with these ?

 

[SG1]

Looks good, I like it

 

[John Jones Jr]

Looks good, I like it

+1

 

[hismajestics]

very nice work !

I guess the conversion wouldn't be possible on a right hand drive car ?

I see in one of your pictures a Pagoda and a W123 lurking in the background - what's the story with these ?

Thanks

Difficult to tell, I haven't had the possibility to have a look under the bonnet on a RHD car. What do you think might interfere that makes it difficult?

Those two belong to my friend who I share garage with. 230 Pagoda is under technical restoration this winter. Fuel injection and cams, I believe. 300D TE was sold this summer, it had 5 speed manual.

:j

 

[Bellow]

Were modifications required for the sump to clear the subframe/cross-member?

 

[hismajestics]

Were modifications required for the sump to clear the subframe/cross-member?

No mods needed. You need to source the engine from right model. There are three different oil pans on M104. I believe these were the models W202, W124, W140, R129.

Mine was from W124 Wagon.

:j