For me making the go no-go decision required purchasing the car with the engine for proper evaluation. I would say right off the bat that chances are very good because the 129 came with an M120 V-12. The main area of concern is what might be in the way of the turbos.

 

roncallo the M137 is the V12 n/a 5.8L one with 367 PS or the V12 n/a 6.3 L with 444 PS (AMG).
The bi-turbo V12 is the M275.

cygnusceo, sorry for asking but since the R129 already came with a V12 (the M120) why do you want to use a V12 from another car? Just wondering.

Cheers.

 

I am debating that issue myself LOL..

If I change the power plant I will go with the M120

J

 

I can promise you that it would be far less costly to sell your SL500 and purchase an SL600, then it would be to convert one.

Allot cheaper.

 

The M137 is a turd compared to the M120 that the 129's already came with OEM.

The M137's got 30 less horsepower and has a pretty bad rep reliability-wise. I'm not sure why you would want to change motors? The M120's are a bulletproof design. The only ones I have ever heard of having real problems or needing rebuilding were the early M120.980 motors in the W140's. The original engine management had a fault that under certain conditions would dump excessive fuel, washing the cylinder walls and causing scoring. But the later models in the R129 didn't have this issue, and are pretty trouble-free. Much better than the 137's. The ADS system, however, is another story.

 

The only ones I have ever heard of having real problems or needing rebuilding were the early M120.980 motors in the W140's. The original engine management had a fault that under certain conditions would dump excessive fuel, washing the cylinder walls and causing scoring.

If this is true, then it is a useful tidbit of information worthy of being repeated in the future. But as an ex-Bosch engineer I am skeptical, and with so much misinformation on the web I wonder if the source for this engine management fault is credible...

 

Roncallo is right: if you decide to go for the M120 you would be better off selling yours and go for an SL600.
As for the M137 I honestly can't see a reason why you should go r that engine and to be very honest with you I can't really see a reason why Mercedes produced that engine first thing. Actually compared with the other V12 they produced that engine seems lame. If you really want an engine from that e you might want to consider the V12 bi-turbo M275 one that has 500 BHPs and from my point of view makes more sense.

No offense tho.

Cheers.

 

Thanks for all the input. I will most certainly "not" being doing an engine swap LOL.

Jeff

 

Hello everyone, this is my first step into the research process for the M137 engine, so bear with me.

I am also looking into the potential of swapping an M137 engine into a non Mercedes chassis.

I was wondering if the factory ECU is immobilized.

Does the engine ECU talk to a chassis ECU in order to function?

If I were to transplant an M137 into a non Mercedes chassis, would the ECU be capable of running the engine on its own?

if it is immobilized, is there a way to bypass the immobilizing function?

I am a big fan of the naturally aspirated sound of the M137, as you can hear here

if anybody has information on the above car, please feel free to post links!!!

The performance would be a slight upgrade in relation to what engine my car currently has & this car would be a cruiser.

Also, I have seen that some members are saying that the M137 is a sub par engine in comparison to the other V12's, so I will start digging & try to find its weak spots.

 

UPDATE!

Hello everyone, this is my first step into the research process for the M137 engine, so bear with me.

I am also looking into the potential of swapping an M137 engine into a non Mercedes chassis.

I was wondering if the factory ECU is immobilized.

Does the engine ECU talk to a chassis ECU in order to function?

If I were to transplant an M137 into a non Mercedes chassis, would the ECU be capable of running the engine on its own?

if it is immobilized, is there a way to bypass the immobilizing function?

I am a big fan of the naturally aspirated sound of the M137, as you can hear here

full original exhaust - YouTube

if anybody has information on the above car, please feel free to post links!!!

The performance would be a slight upgrade in relation to what engine my car currently has & this car would be a cruiser.

Also, I have seen that some members are saying that the M137 is a sub par engine in comparison to the other V12's, so I will start digging & try to find its weak spots.

Well I looked more into the W220.178/ M137 & decided to buy one to move forward on my project.

We also purchased a W140.057, so we can compare & contrast the attributes between the M137 & M120 engines.

After the preliminary inspection, I still favor the M137 engine over the M120 (much more compact engine, more accessible head design) My partner still prefers the M120 over the M137, so we have the perfect start to what might be 2 very different & amazing projects.

The car in the video is running an exhaust from Technical Garage Sasaki, who markets their product through their sister company Brilliant Exhaust, in Japan.

Here is a link to purchase:

????????????Brilliant exhaust?????? 458 599???????????????

I contacted them directly & they quoted me a price of ¥1,000,000 (approx. $10,000.00 USD) for the headers alone...

So I will be building my own.

 

wow i too am addictied to this ferrari pagani type v12 sound.....thx for the video....been dreaming about mating a m120 to a maybe earlier xk jag or similar.....doable?????

 

yes ecm can be setup to bypass immobilizer

i do know of 1 m120 swap


pagani sounds with amg m120

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiroepFi1fw

 

My question pertains to the M137 ECU immobilizer.

The M120 swap that you are referring to, do it run the factory ECU?

Thanks for replying to my query.

 

there should be a sticky about swaps out there.
Point #1
DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH MONEY? NO REALLY, DO YOU HAVE 10-20 GRAND IN YOUR POCKET
Point #2
Is this a rhetorical question ?



of course it's possible, everything is possible or at least very much probable

 

Portland Huh? Well that's good ! I can come see the project. What Non Mb chassis? Hope you adopt the M137. I'll take the 120 off your hands for garage jewelry !

 

Chassis will not be discussed publically, until it is operational.