The Not So 'Cherry' 81 380SL

[Blueprint]

Yeah, I am not into LS swapping it, if you need an LS there are plenty of Corvettes, Camaros & Firebirds available cheap  that were designed and engineered for the LS.

Oddly, my local U-Pull has a 380SL, I stopped in yesterday and it does have a complete motor in it. No telling whether it's good or not, but I could pull the valve covers on it and inspect it as well. $500 for the engine, so that's another option as well. Just a lot of heavy work to pull the complete engine out of a car in the yard and then swap it into my car.

Nice to have access to a parts donor locally ! Trunklid springs, maybe?

[Firm]

lol, yeah, I didn't even think to check those. I also forgot to check the exhaust on the parts car, mine is junk from the cat-back, would be nice if the parts car had a good exhaust system I could grab, doubtful though.

[Blueprint]

lol, yeah, I didn't even think to check those. I also forgot to check the exhaust on the parts car, mine is junk from the cat-back, would be nice if the parts car had a good exhaust system I could grab, doubtful though.

You never know! Tricky extracting conditions though...

Found this period review: https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a63374185/1985-mercedes-benz-380sl-archive-test/

[Johnnymac]

Yeah, I am not into LS swapping it, if you need an LS there are plenty of Corvettes, Camaros & Firebirds available cheap  that were designed and engineered for the LS.

Oddly, my local U-Pull has a 380SL, I stopped in yesterday and it does have a complete motor in it. No telling whether it's good or not, but I could pull the valve covers on it and inspect it as well. $500 for the engine, so that's another option as well. Just a lot of heavy work to pull the complete engine out of a car in the yard and then swap it into my car.

Yeah it would be a lot of work for sure, but it would also keep such a great example on the road and from your previous comments I feel like that is something you value to a degree. Of course you wouldn't do this for charity and lose a bunch of money, but I think it would end up being a decent investment of your time and energy.

[RRocket]

. Just a lot of heavy work to pull the complete engine out of a car in the yard and then swap it into my car.

Engine pulls in the front yard?

That's full hillbilly! You're assimilating nicely! LOL 😆

[Firm]

Well, I inspected a little further today...timing is definitely way off, probably 2-teeth on the right side and 1-tooth on the left side...Scoped the cylinders, my scope sucks so quality was pretty poor, and I see what looks like 'valve kiss' marks on most of the pistons....but then I pulled up an image of a new piston and realized that these have what looks like valve marks cast into them, so I am still not sure about whether there's been any valve to piston contact.

The discouraging part is that the further I dig the more melted plastic I find, clips and end caps for the cam oiler rods, totally melted, timing guides, melted, vacuum lines near the intake, melted, dust cover inside the distributor, semi-melted. There must have been a massive amount of heat in this engine at one point which leads me to believe it's probably cooked....either rebuild or find a good used engine. I am going to pursue the used engine thing and see if I can turn up anything reasonable. If not, might be wise to just find this one a new home as is and let someone else rebuild it...It's way too nice a car to part out IMO.








Sure is pretty though

[RRocket]

An engine should be a relatively easy find IMO

[Firm]

Well...I am getting deeper on this than I ever wanted to be. Finding an engine for a 380SL was proving more difficult that I expected; good tested and warrantied units were $2500+, plus shipping, and core units are running $800+, and none of them were close enough to pickup. Chased down a couple leads through the enthusiast community, but nothing really panned out.
 
These two 'parts cars' showed up on my local marketplace, for $900, but the owner wouldn't separate them....so I did the dumb thing and bought them. The Gold one runs on ether, so I know it's got a good engine, it's missing it's fuel pump but otherwise 100% complete. The black one is also totally complete, but doesn't crank because someone messed up the ignition switch - I am told it was running when the ignition switch broke. Both cars have been sitting since around 2013, so 13-ish years.

The black one has a terrible interior, but the body is pretty nice. The gold one has a better interior, but the body is a little rougher with a couple nasty dents.

I've come to learn that parts for these are not cheap, so there's lots of $ in parts here...The Euro headlights alone on the black one would probably cover my acquisition costs. The problem is I don't have room for them, so they'll need to live in the tree line at the back of the property, which is not at all convenient. As you can see, they have a few tires that are not going to hold air, which makes moving them a bigger pain, and this is just generally a lot of work I wasn't planning on.

Not sure what the plan is yet, other than one of these engines will go into the 'nice' car. I might part these both out, or maybe try and save one of them.

[RRocket]

Cool...

Maybe get the wife to help catalog the parts for parting out?

[Gurgie]

WOW, that's quite the purchase & you're in for some adventures... can't wait to see how it pans out for you. Will be staying tuned into this thread 

[TheHire]

Cool...

Maybe get the wife to help catalog the parts for parting out?

Lol this would go over REALLY well at my house...

[Firm]

Got the cars to the house yesterday and swapped wheels around to get them all rolling.

Gold one fired right up on ether and idled smooth, which is great. It's a little rusty though, not bad, but there's definitely some rust in it.
 
Black one, the ignition lock is frozen (common issue on these) so I can't get it to turn over, or unlock the steering wheel. Black one seems to be the better car overall, assuming it runs.

Dragged them both to the back of the yard in the tree line for now. First priority will be to try and get that ignition unlocked. Out of town for a couple weeks now though so won't get to it for a bit.

[Revelations]

Wishing you luck and success in this endeavor. You're not in a HOA I hope lol.

[Firm]

Lol, yeah, fortunately no HOA...This property is actually zoned 'Agriculture' as there's a big cattle farm a couple lots over, and a horse farm across the street. So I can get away with a lot around here. Most of my 'junk' is hidden from the street anyway. That said, I put a fair bit of effort into making the property look decent, and Mrs. Firm has fallen in love with her unobstructed forest view from the back of the house...so she's a little annoyed that her forest view now includes two "vintage Mercedes". Once I get that ignition lock issue sorted out I'll be able to move them out of sight.

[Gurgie]

Lol, yeah, fortunately no HOA...This property is actually zoned 'Agriculture' as there's a big cattle farm a couple lots over, and a horse farm across the street. So I can get away with a lot around here. Most of my 'junk' is hidden from the street anyway. That said, I put a fair bit of effort into making the property look decent, and Mrs. Firm has fallen in love with her unobstructed forest view from the back of the house...so she's a little annoyed that her forest view now includes two "vintage Mercedes". Once I get that ignition lock issue sorted out I'll be able to move them out of sight.