I read a lot, watched some you tube, made some calls, then went to visit a certain ‘expert’ who had done the conversion a lot, and who people had recommended.
I also read the magazine article on one this expert did for a chap in Ireland, and his car was the same colour as ours, I was sold on the idea now even though the wife wasn’t…
First impressions of the experts set up was not the most impressive but then I have had work done by quiet unassuming engineers before, run from back street/farm yard locations, and still do for other matters, and some of the best work I’ve seen has come out of a shed/stable or barn workshops, even if sometimes it can be precarious in timing, payments and presentation.
At the time, he had a 123TE V8 conversion on the go, engine fitted etc, I was impressed but he was now more interested with G Wagons, and converting them to what customers wanted.
We talked a lot, he kind of said he wasn’t interested in doing it for me but would guide me and do some work on bits when he had time, he suggested waiting until a suitable donor car/engine appeared, and a couple of months later, a 99k mileage 560 .968 engined W126 turned up at the barnyard via a customer.
So I bought the lump with autobox and ancillaries, and a nice pair of cast aluminium engine mounts made to fit 500/560 engines correctly into a 123 bay, no messing around with tape measures, just fit factory rubbers and bolt in, lovely!
I took this lot back to the concrete bunker, which had now turned into two concrete bunkers thanks to an understanding neighbour who was happy to take a monthly rent for my ever expanding obsession.
Weeks and months of buying genuine parts, hiding invoices from the wife, her asking why I’m skint even though I was working too many hours…didn’t she know just how much the sheer cost of running a sole trading electrical contracting business is???
Plenty of calls and emails to expert for advice on additional conversion parts what works and what don’t, another visit to the barnyard to pick up odds and sods.
I had to get chassis number details from the donor car to enable me to order the correct parts for the engine as I had decided to change camchain, guides, water pump, and tons of small bits.
The local dealers parts desk were starting to raise an eyebrow in interest as to why and what for, knowing I had a 123, and me asking to look at the diagrams for odd parts across several models I had managed to get the numbers for.
I didn’t really want to explain, as I didn’t want to come across as a kleptomaniac dreamer with money to burn, but it may be help me later, which it did as it turned out, I needed engine building info and a seasoned mechanic in the workshop gave me great advice after parts man convinced him to chat to me in his lunch break.
Stories of cylinder head bolts stripping threads when removed, coated liners and the cost to repair damages, were way beyond this kleptomaniac dreamer, and the mechanic had built his own 500 engines, so his advice eased my mind.
I should of course done what expert had said and just got on with fitting engine and autobox into the car, but I had opened a can of worms and was too far down the line, and didn’t want a conversion with engine problems later on that could’ve been easily sorted when out of the car.
Next up, expert whispers subliminal stuff about manual box conversions, serpentine belts, induction and programmable EMS, and deeper down the rabbit hole I go…
I also read the magazine article on one this expert did for a chap in Ireland, and his car was the same colour as ours, I was sold on the idea now even though the wife wasn’t…
First impressions of the experts set up was not the most impressive but then I have had work done by quiet unassuming engineers before, run from back street/farm yard locations, and still do for other matters, and some of the best work I’ve seen has come out of a shed/stable or barn workshops, even if sometimes it can be precarious in timing, payments and presentation.
At the time, he had a 123TE V8 conversion on the go, engine fitted etc, I was impressed but he was now more interested with G Wagons, and converting them to what customers wanted.
We talked a lot, he kind of said he wasn’t interested in doing it for me but would guide me and do some work on bits when he had time, he suggested waiting until a suitable donor car/engine appeared, and a couple of months later, a 99k mileage 560 .968 engined W126 turned up at the barnyard via a customer.
So I bought the lump with autobox and ancillaries, and a nice pair of cast aluminium engine mounts made to fit 500/560 engines correctly into a 123 bay, no messing around with tape measures, just fit factory rubbers and bolt in, lovely!
I took this lot back to the concrete bunker, which had now turned into two concrete bunkers thanks to an understanding neighbour who was happy to take a monthly rent for my ever expanding obsession.
Weeks and months of buying genuine parts, hiding invoices from the wife, her asking why I’m skint even though I was working too many hours…didn’t she know just how much the sheer cost of running a sole trading electrical contracting business is???
Plenty of calls and emails to expert for advice on additional conversion parts what works and what don’t, another visit to the barnyard to pick up odds and sods.
I had to get chassis number details from the donor car to enable me to order the correct parts for the engine as I had decided to change camchain, guides, water pump, and tons of small bits.
The local dealers parts desk were starting to raise an eyebrow in interest as to why and what for, knowing I had a 123, and me asking to look at the diagrams for odd parts across several models I had managed to get the numbers for.
I didn’t really want to explain, as I didn’t want to come across as a kleptomaniac dreamer with money to burn, but it may be help me later, which it did as it turned out, I needed engine building info and a seasoned mechanic in the workshop gave me great advice after parts man convinced him to chat to me in his lunch break.
Stories of cylinder head bolts stripping threads when removed, coated liners and the cost to repair damages, were way beyond this kleptomaniac dreamer, and the mechanic had built his own 500 engines, so his advice eased my mind.
I should of course done what expert had said and just got on with fitting engine and autobox into the car, but I had opened a can of worms and was too far down the line, and didn’t want a conversion with engine problems later on that could’ve been easily sorted when out of the car.
Next up, expert whispers subliminal stuff about manual box conversions, serpentine belts, induction and programmable EMS, and deeper down the rabbit hole I go…
