This is Steve, co-owner (with my father Arthur) of the red euro 1969 pagoda that has been both a dream come true and a test of patience. The car is beautiful but has had several serious mechanical issues since we got it about 6 months ago. Had to replace the starter, fuel pump, re-did the guides on the driver window, and a lot of little cosmetic things around the car. But one thing remained constant was that the car never really drove right, it always had weird issues with the power and made strange noises. We took it to several mechanics who tried various things -- valve adjustments and whatnot, but they either made it worse or no improvement.
Now we are at a big point, which is the realization that the engine needs to either be rebuilt or replaced.
You all have made many amazing comments on our threads, including this one
https://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=38154.msg279273#msg279273Where we are at now is that we have finally found a mechanic we trust with this car. He is very competent and the car is currently completely apart in his shop. Something we never imagined
He has come to the conclusion that the engine needs to either be rebuilt or replaced.
We have the engine out and are considering sending it to metric motors, but this is quite a significant cost (maybe 15-20k just for the rebuild). This engine has the 130.983 number indicating it is an SL engine, but the rest of the engine number does not match the number on the Data card. It also has a 08 on the cam shaft which means US spec (if I am correct in my research). So I don’t believe this engine is original to the car, certainly not “numbers matching”.
The alternative is that the mechanic found a 1970 280SE in excellent running condition. The car is cosmetically in terrible shape and has some major body damage making it un-restorable, but the engine is very original, and in great condition. It drives great, much better than the SL ever did. Im aware of the differences between the 130.980 and 130.983 engine and am not terribly concerned.
We have already bought this car for a great price and now my mechanic is starting the process of removing that engine and cleaning it up. I dont think he has ever actually done this exact process before but he seems very confident in the results.. I've learned that I have to be very hands on and involved with the mechanics to make sure things go well.
What do we need to know as far as specific pointers for our mechanic to make this install go smoothly. I have seen a couple of older threads on the subject , but want to put together a good list for my mechanic and myself. What exactly is the gear for the tachometer? That the engine mounts change the height, stuff like that. what parts would he have to take off the original engine to make things work
A concern would be are we causing major damage to the cars value by installing the SE engine, while having a potentially rebuildable SL engine. the difference in the two routes could be 10-20k or more even. What do you think, what would you do? We know this current SE engine is in great shape and running wonderful, but it still feels like a gamble. I also do not like the idea altering the originality of the car, but someone has already done that once and did not do it well clearly, so that is something I'll have to get over
