Build 1973 Mercedes R107 build

[Gumby]

Thanks. I need to get back on the Lincoln. I hammered some sealer on the right side today. Should be driving again tomorrow. Really trying to hold out until late July to do the front. I'm hoping to grab a fender in OH that has enough good I can use it for the little patch I have to do.

 

[KYLXFJ]

Following. Love the plate BTW. She’s getting a lot of love!

 

[Gumby]

Drove it on the highway for the first time. 90 mph is smooth and easy. No 50 year old car issues.

 

[Gumby]

After about 1500 miles of driving, the Benz developed a miss. Random miss like it was loading up, and it did clear up at higher revs, at least it did at first. Figured it was time one of the big three wear parts failed and it was time to either Speeduino the Benz 4.5L or find a donor ls400. The MAP, TPS and cold start enricher all fail and all are several hundred or more to replace. The injector breaker points also wear out and are crazy expensive. Joys of obsolete electronics.

96 ls400 with 136k and major crash damage for sale about 4 hours away. Runs and drives. Listed for 1200. Hard to beat that. About half the price of a new D-jetronic MAP sensor Nice black interior. Prolly could make money back.

Probably ought to do some testing first and determine if I can or want to save the Benz engine first.

Pulled the plugs. 4 were wet with fuel. All 8 showed rich, but not terrible. Dark brown electrodes. Black down at the threads, but not sooty.

Compression test showed all 8 between 120 and 125 psi cold. On the low end of good, but cold and a low compression engine that shows almost 300k on the odometer.

The new set of plugs I ordered didn't have the removable ends and the Benz wires use the threaded posts, so I sand blasted and cleaned the old ones.

While I was re-installing the wires I saw the coil wire was hanging down and was touching the power steering pulley. It had a big old groove in it. I can't believe it ran. Built a new wire from left over parts from a kit I had from making custom wires for the Lincoln.

Runs great.

 

[Gumby]

Been leaking trans fluid and engine oil a bit more lately. Honestly the trans puddles have been kind of alarming.

Lincoln is on the hoist, so I jacked it up and put it on Jack stands. Cleaned it all with brake clean on the left side where both were dripping.

Oil looks like the bulk of it was valve cover gasket. MB had a flat surface where the head meets the VC. The oil just puddles at the seam. I took it all apart and cleaned it, but the gaskets that were in the trunk were pretty hard. It's also leaking from the front and rear main seal and weeping from about everywhere.

Trans is weeping from the front pump seal, the output shaft seal, the b3 servo and the pan gasket. It's dripping from the shift shaft seal. Fairly common and needs the trans pulled. If it was the only problem I might drill a hole in the tunnel, being I have to patch the floor bigly anyway.

So engine and trans have to come out. Of course, that means valve seals, timing chain and whatever else while I'm in there. Probably engine and cradle mounts. Then I might as well do control arm bushings.

Or...

I can find ls400s for $1500 easily. 1UZ. Maybe the best engine toyota has ever made, and that's saying a lot.

What I can't find is anybody that's done it. Lots of 1uz swaps in other things. A couple of LS swaps in r107s.

Specs
R107 M117. 225hp/278 lb-ft. 590 lbs engine weight. Iron block/aluminum head. 8.0:1 compression
26" wide, high point to crank center 15", CC to lowest point on sump 9". Back of block to sump front 25. Rear of sump to front of sump 9.5
No diagnostics or parts available although I can do a stand alone pcm
722.001 trans. 290 lb-ft. capacity

LS400 1UZ 225hp/260 lb-ft. 430lbs alum/alum 10.0-10.5:1
26 wide, hp to cc 15, cc to lowest 9, bell to sump front 25, rear of sump to front 9.06
OBD2, parts available
A341e trans. 350 lb-ft capable 4 speed. 2.8, 1.5, 1.0, 0.7

I bet I can sell a running 117 with working trans for more than an entire LS400.

 

[Gumby]

Had a moment of weakness. Faceballs is the debil.

Found a 72 250c w114. Listed for $550 about to be scrapped. Nice black interior. White car.

Watched videos. Seems like a pretty universally loved model.

What the Hell. Nothing better to do on a Monday except a 5:00 tattoo appointment. Only a couple of hour drive.

Old guy, about 65 and an easy 300 lbs with no shirt comes out of old ass farm house, yard full of stuff. Big houses with manicured acres on either side. I could see why he's having township issues. The w114 is sitting back by the barn, next to 3 w123 300td wagons and a 90s SLK kompressor. It was pretty solid, but the guy had been selling stuff off of it and it was no longer better than a parts car. A good parts car for cheap, but not a good starting place.
So I asked about r107 parts. We went into the old barn. It was full of benz parts. All clearly not touched in decades.
we went to the back of the barn littered with engines and gearboxes. He started climbing a rickety ladder that had rungs all busted out. I thought I was gonna witness a serious injury. The mezzanine was littered with interior parts with a dozen consoles hanging on the wall.
The first one he handed me was wrong and covered in mouse s***. He didn't even dump it out first. Next half dozen were right. Covered in mung, but uncracked, unbroken and otherwise mint. Picked a black one. $40. They go $5-700 on ebay for clean ones. Edit: the console isn't right. My fault and I'm not sad. It was worth it for both the source and the experience.
He had another ladder almost horizontal going to another loft full of parts there's no way he could even get to.

Somebody needs to just buy the lot before it all goes to the dump.

 

[Gumby]

More faceballs might change the direction of the project again. Muscle car enthusiast got a project from a friend with health problems, now he's had several heart attacks and doesn't want to finish the car.
Florida car. Seller claims zero rust. I need to check the cowl and rockers.
K- jetronic ran, but needs a lift pump. I just put a new pump and filters in the 73. 73 can still donate its strong motor with speedunio conversion at some point. Just selling the known good D- jetronic parts will pay for a lot of the project.
Dent in the ds door. Seller says repairable, but the door on the 73 is good.
I was debating signal red for a color change anyway. Man, the lines look good in red. Some cars don't. I passed on a red LS460. R107s, and fj40s look good in red. Comes with paint to fix the Florida sun damage. Not having to strip the car for a color change is huge.
Black interior which I would prefer. Seats are baked, but comes with new upholstery. Gonna have to check floors. Sometimes southern cars never get the roofs up and get rotten floors. Seller says it was good. Stored in a car port.
Wrong rims, but good tires and I have the correct rims on the 73.
Grill is missing a chunk. 73 grille is gooder.
Gotta lose the fender arch spats. They wreck the subtlety of the lines.
That and the park bench bumpers. That was part of what got me to buy the 73. I knew the early bumpers were worth the price of that whole car.
Looks like the 73 might be a parts car if we can get a deal done next week.

 

[Gumby]

Went out to look at the Signal Red car.

The other side is rough. Door is caved in and the paint is chipped in several places showing a yellow, but the core support and under the door trim is burgundy. When I decoded it, it shows it to be Mimosa Yellow, which means it's might have had two color changes. The current owner bought burgundy paint that comes with the car.

The car is solid. Factory undercoating. No patches anywhere. Pulled the blower motor cover and the cowl where it rusts is super clean. All the rust prone spots look really good.

Current owner had replaced the dash with new and redid all of the zebrano wood in walnut. It looks nice, but it's not zebrano. I'd rather have no wood trim, I think. 78 is the first year of climate control and it was really bad.

Owner says bad fuel pump but it was running well. K-jetronic mechanical injection. Engine looks good other than the AC compressor is out of it. The engine compartment is all red. Somebody did a lot of work on the color change. Too bad it's chipping all over.

Seats are junk. Owner says he has the material, and he does, but its a bolt of material. Not even covers.

Stainless and chrome are all really good. Grill slats have already been all replaced.

Of course I have a door, euro bumpers, better HVAC, seats kinda, a good soft top, new fuel pump.

It would still need paint, but the green car needs a lot of steel replaced on top of already having a lot of patches already done. I'm afraid I'm gonna pull the trigger this week.

Edit: yeah, I bought it. Picking it up Sunday.

Mimosa yellow and burgundy and signal r107s

 

[Gumby]

New car is home. Green car has achieved parts car status. I like the 14 Fuchs wheels from the 73 better, but the 15s on the 78 are pretty new.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about paint. It's getting a primer grey door for sure. Maybe deck lid as well.

Interior is really good except the seats. I need to get some quotes to get them recovered. In the mean time the Audi seats are going in. Carpets are brand new. Door cards look great. Most importantly, it has the option code for the arm rest. It doesn't have any leather on it, but the important parts are there.

Benz doors sound great. They sound even better with new rubbers and felts in the window.

Pages of receipts in the last 2 years for gobs of new parts including the grille.

 

[Gumby]

It came with 1.5g of paint, clear, epoxy and high build primers and 2 gallons of reducer. Nissan Force red. DS needs a repaint soon. The yellow is terrible.

All the chrome trim is in the car.

Even came with a never used top cart.

Does start on fuel down the throttle body. Fuel pump doesn't whine. I would not be surprised if the in tank screen plugged and they burned up the pump trying to diagnose the problem. I'll find out shortly, I suspect.

 

[Trapper50cal]

Wow, the interior on the red one is really nice.

I want to do this to a late 70's or early 80's W123 280CE or 300CD.

 

[Gumby]

I like the W123 coupes too. I have looked at a couple, but Lexus sedans fill the winter DD niche for me.

The interior is really good. I'm glad I just went with quick and cheap on the green car interior until I found the car I wanted to build. I think I want to use the HVAC, center mounted clock and maybe the refinished gauge cluster if it will swap. I like the Blauplunkt media player better than the Dual cheapo CD player too.
Other than the seats temporarily until I get the 78 seats re-covered, that's about it from the green interior.

 

[Gumby]

It runs.

I went to look at the fuel pump that wasn't making any noise, after I pulled the one from the green car. I wanted to double check the pump was getting power. The PO had said the car stopped running, then, during diagnoses, the pump quit making noise. I crawled under with my Power Probe to check it was getting power and ground. Wiggled things around checking to see how it was mounted different than the 73, and turned the key to On. The pump started to whine. Then it started to gurgle. So I tried to start it. Fired right up. A little rough idle, but idled. Ran for about 3 minutes and the whine from the pump changed pitch as it ran out of fuel. Then it died.

I had theorized that the strainer screen was plugged, just like in the 73. Now I'm pretty sure that's it. The pump and maybe filter filled up with fuel trickling past the plugged strainer while it was sitting. It ran on that fuel, but quickly ran out. I siphoned the 8 gallons out that was in the tank. Hopefully I can pick up a strainer this afternoon at K&K manufacturing, a SL specific store in Sparta, MI not too far from the house. I had to pull the tank on the 73 to change the strainer in that. Hopefully I can sneak it out of the 78, but it's pretty easy to pull the tank. Unfortunately, the Lincoln is on the hoist and isn't very easy to move, so it's pulling a strainer out of the bottom of a fuel tank above my head while lying on my back.

Edit :Transferred the plates and insurance today as well. First part to come off the 73 that's going on the 78.

Went by K&K Manufacturing to pick up a new fuel strainer. Pretty neat place. Sales guy talked Toyotas for a while. He says he likes them because it's nice to get where you're going every time. 500SEC and 450SEL in the lot too.

Installed the grille and the drivers door handle. The door handle assembly is a work of engineering art. No linkage. Counterweighted for the perfect feel. Door lock disables the handle, not the latch, because why wouldn't it.

Started it up and drove it in the shop and under the Lincoln. An hour later I winched it back out. I couldn't stop thinking about 5000 pounds of Ford perched over the new Merc. So it'll start and run for maybe 2 minutes on fuel that leaks down overnight, but an hour doesn't get it to even sputter. Need to get under it and mess with fuel again. Just couldn't do it today. I had a mean headache most of the day from too many fumes the previous 2 days.

Dog says I gotta lose those ugly ass bumpers.

 

[Gumby]

So I pulled the fuel pump off the 73 to put on the 78

Then the pump on the 78 worked

So I put the pump back on the 73 so I could move it.

Then the 78 pump quit working, so I swapped the 73 pump on.

73 pump doesn't work well. Turns out d-jet runs 35 psi and k-jet is closer to 90 psi.

So I put the 78 pump in the sonic cleaner, lubed it up, and ran it on a 20v tool battery. Freed up and works well. Reinstalled it and the car runs again. Poorly, but it runs. Even after cleaning the injectors.

So many days covered in fuel

 

[Gumby]

So here are my immediate options

I can fix the k-jet mechanical FI. Realistically to be reliable it should get
8 new injectors @ $36 each
Rebuild kit for the injector distributor $125
Rebuild kit for the warm up regulator $125
A CIS fuel pressure gauge $100

I can transfer over all the d-jet parts
About $30 for intake gaskets
Plus whatever breaks during transfer
A fair bit of wiring
Will work until something breaks, then it will likely be cost prohibitive

I can transfer over the d-jet intake and modify it for the speedunio
About $100 for a crankshaft position wheel and pickup
About $50 for a TPS.
Wire up everything
Spend the winter figuring out the tuning.
Probably gonna be the final solution, but also probably not going to get on the road before May.

 

[Gumby]

After much pondering and consultation, the plan is...

Pull the 73 m117 as a unit and put it in the 78. Seal up the engine on the stand. Free up the valve adjusters. Install a 32-1 tone wheel on the crank pulley with a CKP pickup. Use the Speeduino to do batch fire fuel and timing with the 78 distributor.

Toward that end I removed the giant front bumper, because it was in the way and I hate it.

The rotor on the 73 has a plunger on a spring that comes out and grounds the rotor. Must be a nixon-era Rev limiter.

 

[Gumby]

Swapped the wood console trim for the black. The wood is nice. Solid wood repops. Not veneer or vinyl. But not Zebrano and I'm not using the 78 climate control. The ashtray and dash board trim are zebrano, but the ashtray clashes with the black. The black hvac and blauplunkt are just sitting there. It's gonna need the framing all repaired, just like the 73 did.

It looks like removing the console and the glove box will give me access to enough HVAC to convert it from climate control to lever control. I think I want to put the 73 clock in the center dash hole too. It looks like the vent hose with 3 vents is very similar to the 2 vent one in early cars.

 

[Gumby]

Swapped doors. I like the mirrors from 73 better, even though the 78 mirrors are almost assuredly better. They are bigger with crash bumpers all around. Better chrome, but I don't like the rubber.

 

[Gumby]

Looked at lots of seat recovering options and I think I'm going to try dyeing the green covers and putting them on the good black frames.

Also, cleaned the mouse nest out of the blower motor housing. There in zero rust in the housing. The drains to the rockers are all intact.

We pushed a bunch cars around and got the green car in a good semi-perminant place in the shop for the winter next to the hoist the 66 Lincoln is currently on.

threw the 73 package tray on top of the 78. Sits nice. Gave away the speaker box that came with the car.

The horseshoe top tonneau vinyl needs new. It could be cleaned and re-glued. We'll see how silly the price for new is. Edit: $150.

 

[Gumby]

Quick pics of the new vapor blaster and first results
HF media cabinet with YT vapor blast mods
D-jet intake
K-jet intake for comparison
Dropped on 78 engine. Doesn't fit on those heads but an easy place to store it.