Another Mercedes 380SL Restomod.

[Flipper1938]

I too bought a cheap Mercedes convertible to play with.

I know these cars have their issues, but I plan on getting rid of everything that causes problems. I'm sticking a 2002 chevy truck motor in it. A stock 5.3 is almost twice the horsepower this thing had when new. Supposedly a GTO oil pan is the trick to make this swap possible without replacing the whole front suspension. I will find out if that is true.

I plan on gutting the car and getting rid of the vacuum powered stuff. I will be putting street rod components in their place.

The AMG wheels came from marketplace, the same day I bought the car.

 

[Flipper1938]

This car is along the lines of what I want my car to look like. I like the lowered ride height, tucked bumpers, modified rear valence (mine will hang down more) and quad exhaust tips

This one has euro bumpers. I plan on reworking the US bumpers for a similar fitment, but a little more substance. I think the euro ones are too thin.

Mine are gonna need a lot of love. Rubber end pieces are going to get fabricated from steel, tucked tight, and painted body color.

The AMG wheels look like they were made for this car. 17x7.5 front and 17x8.5 rear with room to drop the car down some. Amazed that I bought them for $200. They did wonders for the looks of the car. For whatever reason, mercedes guys don't seem to like the monoblock wheels with the long skinny spokes. I do.

 

[NCFJ]

I'm looking forward to this build, sick minds thinking alike and all. My guy Justin and I are already talking about the next one. Possibly building one more "stock" with upgrades. You can do a lot with the suspension, I am looking forward to how much you lower it. Camber seems to always be an issue.

 

[Flipper1938]

I'm looking forward to this build, sick minds thinking alike and all. My guy Justin and I are already talking about the next one. Possibly building one more "stock" with upgrades. You can do a lot with the suspension, I am looking forward to how much you lower it. Camber seems to always be an issue.

I've been thinking about this a little. The next time I'm at dad's house, I am going to look at how much the subframe bushings hold the subframes from the body. ...and to see how much the factory subframes could be raised without screwing too much stuff up. ....yeah I know I will need to section the subframe if I do much of anything.

I went to the sreetrod nationals this weekend and had the urge to lower the crap out of it.

 

[Flipper1938]

A few weeks ago, my wife found this picture of us from around 35 years ago. That is my old lowered 914 done in monochrome (everything was painted bright white).

I'm kinda thinking about doing that to this car. Pearl white on body and wheels.

 

[Flipper1938]

A chevy powered Mercedes version of this?

 

[Flipper1938]

A chevy powered Mercedes version of this?

View attachment 3694308

Nope. I've had a little while to think about it. I want this car to maybe be my daily driver. It might get lowered a tiny bit, but I think I will resist slamming it.

Maybe.... these pics are on my phone. These arches done in steel and painted up all nice and pretty would be cool.

 

[Flipper1938]

I'm a big fan of low stuff. Here is my 48 chevy rat rod. No air bags, this is ride height. ....around 3". I have driven it over 12,000 miles at this height. ...and yes, I have body damage from it.

On drag radials and skinnies.

Same truck on 20's

 

[Gumby]

Nice. My project at school this year is dropping a 51 cab on a s10 chassis with a 5.3.

 

[Flipper1938]

Nice. My project at school this year is dropping a 51 cab on a s10 chassis with a 5.3.

This one is on an extended cab s10. 48 was a 3/4 ton factory flatbed. Engine is a sbc. I built the truck around 2006-2007.

 

[Gumby]

Did you use a kit for the body mounts or just fabbed them?

 

[Flipper1938]

Did you use a kit for the body mounts or just fabbed them?

Just fabbed them. I used jeep cj5 body mount pucks. My body sits way lower than the kits. Rear suspension is stock height and front has a couple of coils trimmed.

 

[Flipper1938]

Just fabbed them. I used jeep cj5 body mount pucks. My body sits way lower than the kits. Rear suspension is stock height and front has a couple of coils trimmed.

The only thing goofy about the s10 swap is the radiator. I kicked the bottom of my radiator forward to clear the steering box and ran an electric fan. It's been fine for the last 17 years.

Mounting the body low makes the engine look taller.

 

[Flipper1938]

Today I bought a 5 speed manual trans to go behind my 5.3 LS. It is an AR5 from a chevy Colorado. Gas mileage should be pretty good.

And hell on wheels if I had a procharger.

 

[Flipper1938]

I found the adapter plate I needed on marketplace place. This is all falling into place.

 

[Flipper1938]

Bolting the trans together and drilling the holes for the hydraulic lines went smoothly.

Finding room to fit a clutch pedal, not so easy. There is no room outboard of the brake booster. The wiper motor sits there. Wiper may get relocated and the firewall re-shaped for a spot for the Colorado clutch pedal to mount.

I also played around with making an air dam out of a Honda civic bumper I found on the side of the road.

 

[KYLXFJ]

I used to have a merc that came original with those amg monoblocks. The wheels look absolutely perfect on this body SL. I never would have believed it without seeing it! Very neat project and best of luck.

 

[Flipper1938]

I used to have a merc that came original with those amg monoblocks. The wheels look absolutely perfect on this body SL. I never would have believed it without seeing it! Very neat project and best of luck.

What did these things come on?

 

[KYLXFJ]

I had them on a black CL600 coupe. They supposedly were original. I cant say if they were exactly the same but they look quite similar in my memory!

 

[Flipper1938]

Different views of honda bumper.