Hi all,
I am new on this forum as I'm more of a W108/109/111/112 chassis guy. My current daily driver is a '62 W111 Coupe that has been fitted with all the running gear of a later 3.5 Coupe (engine, transmission, front and rear axles, suspension, brakes etc.) by the previous owner. That car took me on a very nice coast to coast round trip last summer in order to discover the US where I moved a bit less than two years ago. The car works well, but I'm missing the performance of a very nice 6.3 I had some years ago in Europe. So I decided to embark into a project to improve the performance of that Coupe while keeping its maintenance to an affordable and technically reasonable level. This is why I discarded the M100 engine as parts are expensive and its weight requires the car to be fitted with air suspension to keep a reasonably good handling.
I was lucky to find one of the early alloy block M117 euro 5.0 engine out of a 450 SLC 5.0 in good working order. They have the particularity to share a similar bolt pattern with the M116 3.5 iron blocks making the fitting of a manual transmission rather easy by using 3.5 parts. I rebuilt the timing and then transformed and reinforced a 6 cyl 5 speed manual transmission with some V8 4 speed parts (input shaft, constant gear, front cover, bearings) so that I now have a 5 speed manual 5.0 engine. I also replaced the Kjet inlet manifold with a 4.5 Djet one so that I can fit a fuel&spark Megasquirt management system more easily. I have also rebuilt an lsd 3.27 rear axle out of a 4.5. Time has now come to fit all that in the car but I started thinking of a Pagoda instead. The reason is that a Pagoda is 200 kg lighter and I like the Idea of a “Mercedes Cobra” (with only MB parts apart from the fuel&spark management system). I saw a Pagoda fitted with a 5.0 engine in Gary Ensor’s workshop so I know it fits. I also read about the Hatch&Sons 3.5 Pagodas and their wish to build a 5.0 one, so this comforts me in the idea this would be a nice project.
I have started looking for a Pagoda project car. Apart from the mechanical elements, I’m looking for a complete car with as little rust as possible. A car that has sat for a long time in a barn with a broken engine would be ideal. I saw a few on Ebay that would have fitted my bill well, but unfortunately they went for slightly higher than what I was able to offer. I’ve read on this forum about nice barn find stories that made me dream. So, if you like the idea of such a project and if you know of a reasonably cheap, and not rusty (as I’m not competent in body work) Pagoda that would be a good candidate, please let me know. I’ve got a soft spot for the early 230s but I would consider any model. In return, I would document my work and regularly update a thread on this forum in case anyone else wants to do the same.
Below are some pictures of my engine fitted with the 5 speed trans and the Djet manifold.
Thanks to all in advance!
