110 engine swap

[paulcallender]

I have a 1976 280CE with a sick engine. To cut a long story short, it either needs a complete rebuild, or another engine.

I know that the 110 motor was used in a variety of other Mercedes models, for example S-class from 1972-85; 123 series from 1976-86.

Has anyone swapped the entire engine from one of these cars to a W114 (280CE)? If so, is another 110 motor from a different donor car going to fit alright? What about the gearbox (mine is an auto), I'm obviously best sticking with an auto donor car; but are the gearboxes all the same too? Or are they different ratios; or different shape & size too?

Since I'd purchase a complete donor car, I'm not too worried about the fuel injection - I'd either stick with the existing Bosch D-Jetronic, or swap to the donor car's system.

 

[guydewdney]

as far as i know the blocks are the same...

i have just checked the cams from the earliest engine to the last engine - they are the same....

mercman has a few... but then hes miles away. try dronsfields?

 

[paulcallender]

Many thanks for the reply. I did a search on Dronsfields (on this forum) and the experiences of others seem quite variable. Anyway, and email costs nothing, I made an enquiry a couple of days ago and have not heard yet.

I suspect that a safer option for me, is to look at buying a complete car, for example, a W123, with a flawless engine but perhaps bodywork corrosion, crash damage, or other faults, which make it an MoT failure. Since I am in no rush for this, I can afford to wait a while for the right type of car, at the right price, to appear.

I take it from the lack of replies, that this scale of job has simply not been done by the majority of forum viewers; or is it that there are guys out there who have tried it, found its too difficult and ended up with a bunch of useless Mercedes parts??? That's my fear!

 

[guydewdney]

i dont think there are many people with a blown up M110 to be honest... let alone many 114 owners...

whats actually wrong with it?

 

[paulcallender]

1. Very low on power, very rough running. I suspect the head gasket has blown or something like that...
2. No.6 spark plug hole has a helicoil fitted, which came out when I did a compression test and needs to be put back in (engineering shop job)

Before those 2 problems, it was down on power anyway, and it did this:
3. If idling for a while once warm, then revved up, it smoked (suspect valve stem seals)
4. At high engine speeds, it smokes a lot (suspect rings).

So, since the rings need replacing, it needs a lot of stuff done on the original motor. Hence I am looking at replacing the engine (so long as I can find a cost-effective one) rather than a costly rebuild.

 

[guydewdney]

seen this:-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=31360&item=4540180731&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

 

[paulcallender]

Yep - thanks for alerting me though - thats the ideal kind of thing! I originally bought the car from ebay, and I'm always checking out the classic Merc section. At the moment, I unfortunately don't have the space for a 4th car; but I will in the summer! I need to sort myself out with a car trailer and an engine hoist, too...