I'm currently on an aeroplane flying to
Baltimore to purchase a 1983 380SL from a man in Washington, DC.
The
380SL is unfortunately engined with a 3.8 liter V8. With an 8:1
compression ratio and other restrictive emissions equipment it's an
150 HP dog. The 280SL euro model sports 180HP from it's 2.8 liter
straight 6.
The aim of this blog is to document my
woes and garner support of transplanting a Toyota 1jz into this R107
Mercedes Roadster Coupė. After
running stock, I'll be modifying the 1jz to run on Compressed Natural
Gas. The Current Projected Equipment is as follows:
Mercedes
'83 R107
clutch
from a 240D diesel manual
Toyota
1jz-gte vvti
R154
transmission
3.69
Mercedes Rear Differential
The
most impending difficulties:
engine
mounting: There's a Company in Thailand that sells kits for the W123,
W124, & W126 Mercedes. Measuring the 380SL without it's engine
to find if one of these kits would work, or modifying the existing
engine mounts of the 1jz.
Differential: the
Toyota Soarer uses a 3.96 or 4.08 rear end. The highest Mercedes
axle I have available to me is a 3.69. There's a 3.69 in both of my
240Ds and and my 280SL. Hopefully they're identical and up to torque
demand.
Adding
limited slip would also be a nice feature. Hopefully the Independent
rear suspension will be able to keep itself on the ground well enough
for it not to be absolutely necessary.
The
usual stuff: Not that it's usual to me as of yet. Custom exhaust,
Intercooler piping, reinforcing the front subframe, upgrading the front end to carry extra weight, driveshaft and wiring(including interfacing to the Merc dash instruments: I'm thinking arduino). Did I miss anything?
I'm a lucky bugger. I landed in Baltimore at 7:30. The Metro transfer bus doesn't run until 9:30 on Sundays. I managed to Bum a taxi ride from a banking consultant, on his way to a Conference. After a quick jaunt on the Metro and dealing with the nice Georgian I spent 7 hours driving Home.
It's a real dog. 155 HP is far too little in a car this massive. doubly so with a 2.47 rear differential. It managed to get home without any hassle and $120 of Gasoline. the Odometer is broken and I measured the distance from two gas stations and figured to mileage to be 16.7mpg.
and here's a picture in my friends driveway.
