LS1 Swap into 75 280 W114 Starts Tomorrow

[300td4x4]

Yah the LS motors are pretty awesome in my opinion. They are so much more well made than the older Chevy small blocks. Everything it O ringed and indexed. And they make lots of power for their fuel economy. With pushrods!

So I bought a Toyota Corrolla steering rack and installed it. I had to cut the main tube and rotate it 90 degrees to move the power steering nipples horizontal to clear the oil pan. Then I had to shorten the tie rods. I used heim joints that I bought from a guy a few years ago. He claims they were used on one of the early pre production Shelby's and that he worked for Carroll back in the day. Don't know if its true. Then I conneced the Toyota shaft to the MB shaft. They slid together like they were made for each other. I think God was watching out for me. I added a bushing to the bottom of the column because the rack uses U joints vs. the rubber joint/straight into the steering box of the MB system. You can also see the new, removable crossmember. It is down pretty low as is the rack. I think I have about 6" of ground clearance there now. I think I'm going to go with a pretty close to stock ride height, which will also help with room for the side pipes.

[gooseboy78]

what front end are you using? the usual hot rod mustang ii stuff getting bit thin on the ground now, rodders are using l300 mitsubishi van as its indipendant front end.

[madmanmerc]

Nice engine swap. I have a vortec out of a chevy ssr sitting in my shed that I am thinking about installing in my baby. Ill watch your progress closely lol

[300td4x4]

I'm using the w115 front end. I modified the sub frame to clear the oil pan and I modified the passenger suspension to clear the AC compressor. If you scroll back through you can see pictures of the work I did on it. I also welded the subframe to the unibody, eliminating the rubber mounts.

[300td4x4]

The first sidepipe is pretty much done.


I would show a picture of how I welded a piece of exhaust tubing to the cast iron exhaust manifold but you can't weld cast iron.

[300td4x4]

[300td4x4]

Got the radiator all mounted and custom AC lines made to connect the Benz under dash unit to the Chevy compressor and condenser. Sorry no pictures of that. Right now I am working on the fuel tank. I removed it, emptied it of gas and filled it with water. I kept the hose running the whole time while I cut a big hole in the top. Then I cut the part that holds the sender and pump out of the Chevy tank and bolted it into the top. Yes I was concerned about an explosion from the vapors and sparks from the drill or jig saw but it didn't happen.

[Grubeguy]

The Mercedes Gods and their Purist Acolytes are having fits right now! But not me - I'm loving every minute of it!! Keep it up!

[Chumpy]

Cool thread man! Im running an old 350 small block in mine with a Toyota 5 speed and 3.05 LSD

[300td4x4]

That looks really sweet. I hope mine looks that good when I'm done. Did you do the swap yourself? If so how did you do the steering and how much of the subframe did you cut? I'm past those two issues but they required pretty drastic solutions. Wondering how you solved them. Meanwhile, here are pictures of my new steering wheel and the '99 Chevy truck instrument cluster, and my painted front brake calipers. I figure these two improvements should be worth a couple of seconds at the Nurburgring.