Mercules MCF Project Part 9 - Engine & Paint

[simpson]

Look forward to seeing some pic's mate, i think the twin turbo setup will eat the poor old mecr diff really quick

[gwunta]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, Im doing this from my wheelchair, Im technically a quadriplegic but can things the same a s paraplegic.

[aj510]

Originally Posted by gwunta

Hey guys, the new panels look good and the engine looks sweet! Cant wait to see it all assembled. My 1968 280SE Merc is getting there. I kinda went in reverse to your guys build, doing the engine an tranny first before starting the body. I got new doors for it as the old ones had fully rusted sills and the new ones are like brand new. Im going a little left field with my engine tho - a twin turbo 350. Its packing a stage 2 crow cam, high volume oil pump, 40 thou over forged pistons, balanced bottom end with ARP rod bolts. That's all teamed up with a set of double humper fuellie heads. Attached to that are custom stainless headers with a pair of t04 turbos out front. I sourced tuned port injection from the states complete with computer, harness, sensors, fuel rail and intake mainfold. Ive got a turbo 700 transferring the horsies to the custom tailshaft. Havent done the diff yet as Im still deciding what to do. A nine inch would be nice but funds are getting low so might have to opt for something else in the mean time.

I managed to get a full prep, respray and paint job donated from the boys at Osborne Park Smash repairs and the stainless for the turbo plumbing and twin system exhaust through a friend of a friend at BnS Balls Australia with another welding and bending all the stainless. I am off to China for the Paralympics on Sunday and will be gone for 3 weeks so I cant strip the body down till I get back. The local wrecker has been generous with supplying the box and steering rack.

Stopping the bloody thing might be an issue so Im trying to source a disc brake setup out of a commodore but not sure what to go for.

Pics to follow soon....

Grant

I remember speaking to you some time ago about your build. Sounds like it is coming along nicely.

Out of interest, what event are you entered in for the paralympics??

[gwunta]

Hey AJ, yeah I am in the Wheelchair Rugby team. Some people may know of the sport as Murderball, there was an american docco made about it. Anyway I have been with the Aussie team since 2001 after I got injured in a surfing accident in feb 2000, dislocating a bone in my neck This is my second paralympics and I MAY have one more in me, not sure though.

[gwunta]

Heres some pics from my 1968 Mercedes Twin turbo 350 chev project:



This is a pic of the car as it was pictured on ebay



Another ebay pic of the old girl



The new doors fitted. I have been driving her around for a while like this, but Ive since pulled it off the road in preparation for stripping



One freshened up turbo 700 almost ready to go. I have since fitted the torque converter and made a manual overide switch to engage the final lockup gear to give me a 1:1 ration in final gear.



The beast driving the whole thing....with the headers mocked up. The intake manifold and carby are just on to keep all the dust and crap out the valley.



Twin turbo joy!! I have to rebuild one of the turbos just to get the symmetry right between the two. It just looks crap at the moment with one turbo bolted upsidedown. I know some of you will say the colour looks gay but its acutally quite a lot darker than the pictures show, I think the flash was bit close to the engine.



Another angle. The sump is all dinged up so I'm thinking of welding up a custom one myself. I think Im going to have to go custom anyway to clear the undercarriage of the body.

I also read the posts about an intake manifold. I have an Elelbrock Performer intake manifold that I dont need anymore becuase I have tuned port injection. If you are interested please let me know and we can work something out. I also am doing some work for a wreckers here in perth so if you need any bits, I can get em for ya for next to nothing, you just have to get them over there.

[aj510]

mate you'll have to upload the images as it appears that site has hotlink protection.

From what i saw the motor looks good - have you trial fit it yet?? Doesn't look like the headers will fit between the rails??

[gwunta]

Yeah I will upload the entire post again AJ. If you can delete the onje without the pics that would be great! Yeah the headers are as close as I can get them to the engine to give me enough clearance for the plug leads. I have measure up and I get about 80mm clearance on both sides of the rails so HOPEFULLY things will be ok. If not, then I guess its off to my stainless welder mate for some more mods.

[gwunta]

Heres some pics from my 1968 Mercedes Twin turbo 350 chev project:




This is a pic of the car as it was pictured on ebay



Another ebay pic of the old girl



The new doors fitted. I have been driving her around for a while like this, but Ive since pulled it off the road in preparation for stripping



One freshened up turbo 700 almost ready to go. I have since fitted the torque converter and made a manual overide switch to engage the final lockup gear to give me a 1:1 ration in final gear.



The beast driving the whole thing....with the headers mocked up. The intake manifold and carby are just on to keep all the dust and crap out the valley.



Twin turbo joy!! I have to rebuild one of the turbos just to get the symmetry right between the two. It just looks crap at the moment with one turbo bolted upsidedown. I know some of you will say the colour looks gay but its acutally quite a lot darker than the pictures show, I think the flash was bit close to the engine.



Another angle. The sump is all dinged up so I'm thinking of welding up a custom one myself. I think Im going to have to go custom anyway to clear the undercarriage of the body.

I also read the posts about an intake manifold. I have an Elelbrock Performer intake manifold that I dont need anymore becuase I have tuned port injection. If you are interested please let me know and we can work something out. I also am doing some work for a wreckers here in perth so if you need any bits, I can get em for ya for next to nothing, you just have to get them over there.

[aj510]

Originally Posted by gwunta

Yeah I will upload the entire post again AJ. If you can delete the onje without the pics that would be great! Yeah the headers are as close as I can get them to the engine to give me enough clearance for the plug leads. I have measure up and I get about 80mm clearance on both sides of the rails so HOPEFULLY things will be ok. If not, then I guess its off to my stainless welder mate for some more mods.

The '68 model must have wider rails cos that would never fit in our '75 model. Any idea of horsepower and also what are you going to do with the diff? Weld her up, use LSD or minispool?? Any idea what the stock half shafts will take powerwise??

[gwunta]

Yeah the 68 model is a wide body, they went skinny after about 71 I think. There is a guy over here who put a 454 in a 68 a few years ago but they had to chop and weld to make the Big Block fit. He came and had a look and said the 350 will go in no worries.

There is no way the stock rear end will handle the horsepower so Im definitely going to have to customize it. The wreckers have a 6.9L merc here so Im thinking about taking the rear end from it. Only problem is its a 78 so wont be wide enough. If its not up to the task then I'll go for a mini spool and have to butcher the rear off something else. I have the run of the yard here so I can get just about anything off any car I need.

I went to AutoSalon here in Perth about 6 weeks ago and there was a twin turbo LS1 there, the LS1 was totally stock internally and had the turbo kit bolted on a little tuning done. It ran up 658HP at the rear wheels but was still spinning up on the dyno. So I would expect somewhere around 800HP at the wheels with the extra flow that this thing has, it will just depend on the size of the injectors (Ive gone for 29lb injectors) and the intake plennum.