W124 V8 Modification engine fit

[Donbronski]

Hi,

I fancy having a little play about with my 1988 W124, and was wondering if anyone knows if thee 5L V8 engine fits?

I have managed to locate a cheap 2nd hand lump & possibly for a few extra quid i might be able to get the box to suit.

Good idea? total waste of time? would be a laugh? what do you reckon?

If a bad idea & a waste of time do you think its worth picking up the engine & box for keeps sake? future projects possibly?

Please let me know your thoughts... not the rude ones though!

 

[Roger Jones]

Buy an E500 instead of going through all that grief with very dubious prospects of complete success. If you want the performance (and more) of an E500 -- but not the fuel consumption, LHD, or the extra maintenance and body-repair costs -- find a 3.0 or 3.2 twin turbo. There's a twin-turbo W124 TE in this month's Mercedes Enthusiast. Unless you are an exceptionally experienced mechanic, I'd leave such a conversion project well alone, with all its complications and surprises.

 

[popuptoaster]

To be honest big engine swops are one of those jobs that if you have to ask might be to much for you, if its not gonna go in with OE parts its a matter of dropping it in and seeing whats gets in the way, engine goes in/out/in/out/in/out/in untill it all fits and then you have to start connecting stuff up.

 

[lynall]

I remember years ago removing a york diesel from a series 1 landrover and fitting a di lump they should have been a straight swap should have been!

Everything fitted eventually and it took me all of christmas day to do and the exhaust downpipe was a nightmare



Lynall

 

[Adam230K]

If you got the tools & will power... do it!

 

[vijilants]

As Roger Jones said, this model was already built with a 5L engine in the form of the E500 / 500E which comes complete with the required brakes, suspension , drivetrain,etc, so why bother going through all the grief ?

 

[A210AMG]

The likes of the Stratstone AMG's were ordered as 230E's etc and then worked on at the AMG 'house'

Depends if you want a project or an easy route.


If its a project then why not I'm sure you can source all the bits over time and do it bit by bit. Have to say its a more enjoyable use of time than watching half the rubbish we probably all do on TV...

I love phaffing around in the shed / garage and would love to build something like a westfield.


Do it if you want to

 

[NW_Merc]

If you have the money and time available then go for it..

 

[kth286]

apart from the complexity of the electronics and various control modules it is the steering column you need to give lots of thought to.

It is the reason that Merc themselves never made a right hand drive V8 E500 124.

Saying that AMG made it happen with the Hammer.

 

[Will]

I agree, seems pointless building a car that already exists.

In terms of a project, there was a slightly tired looking 500E on eBay a month or two back, went for peanuts - perhaps ideal for someone like you to fettle rather than going through the grief of trying to build one from scratch!

Will

 

[grober]

This is how to do it correctly! YOU WILL SEE ITS NOT EXACTLY STRAIGHTFORWARD!
Motorwerks Projects - V8 Conversion on a W124 Coupe
For starters you need a different engine cross member/mounts and a modified bulkhead!

 

[talbir]

Two things to note here....Firstly when you turn a stock w124 into a v8 (like AMG did) the result is not always pretty (if you ever see the underside of a Hammer w124, you'll know what i mean). There is alot of work required in the engine bay, and differential subframe area (you cannot run a stock w124 diff with a V8, well not for long anyway !)....even more work required if you are fitting an M119 V8 as opposed to an M117. Makes much more sense to go for a 5.6 M117...one wiring loom and no modification required to engine firewalls (but you still need the correct cross member and mounts). For an LH M119, there are several hundred wires to negotiate and DOHC heads will required far more amendment to firewalls.

Secondly, a 500E was designed at drawing board to acccept a V8 drivetrain....the result is a refined piece of machinery. Good 500e's can be had for about 6k GBP - to turn a stock w124 into a mint V8 with all the ground effects, suspension upgrades, brake upgrades, rads, steering pipework, air-con pipework etc etc etc will cost almost as much.

It's whether you have the know-how and the time - it's not a difficult job if you have mechanical experience and are working with a 5.6 M117.....but if you ain't got time, then a 500e is the perfect solution.

There's something about going the conversion route...I'm a die-hard fan of w124 500e's and along with others, think they are the best car MB ever created....but i drive the AMG Hammer and the experience is even better. Hard to put into words, but if i had to make a (painful) choice between the two, i'd choose the Hammer.


talbir