1951 Mercedes-Benz 170S

Massachusetts to Texas true shipping would probably be silly

I have to brush up on my model / engine combo knowledge, clearly. Off to look at it now. :-)

Put an M112 into it and there's a fair chance you'll need to take the engine out out when you need to do plug change!

From my experience as an ex owner of a 190E 2.6 auto, W124 300E auto, several W202's and as a current owner of a 190E 2.5-16 manual and a W202 C230K manual, if and when you decide to fit a Merc engine I'd still go for the M103 on aftermarket EFI giving an easy 200 Bhp or an M111 2.3 Kompressor (there should be plenty of potential manual boxes available for both engines, even in the U.S.) and again on aftermarket EFI along with a few modifications you'd see an easy 240 Bhp plus massive torque and as a bonus it's a reasonably light engine too even with the S/Charger. But even with no mod's expect 200 Bhp without trying.

Food for thought if nothing else but being candid the Mazda engine (good engines and all that they are) is an upsetting idea in such an old Merc. Do it right, do it once!


Anyway, looking forward to progress reports.

You can shorten the gearbox 4 or 5 inches, if you look for a a website called the mite there is lots of info on shortening the box.

I think a stock exhaust will foul the steering column but if you are going turbo it,the manifold and downpipe can probably be made to miss the column.

Like most people on this thread I would like to see MB power but needs must,cracked on its going to be a cool car whatever.

Wow what a lovely looking ol merc and loving the restomod ideas you have. This is going to look great when up and running with the old patina finish.
I know you're keeping it all within the merc bloodline but would a jag v6 fit as they are pretty compact.
Bookmarked.

''The 6-speed for the M111 is also shorter and therefore won't be much of an issue either.''

From what I recall that box is cable operated, so may be even more advantageous to use?

It is indeed! Thinking all around that the M111 is the superior choice. I've owned one before, it can make gobs more power than the M102 if I wanted it to, already comes supercharged out of the box, etc.!


Hah! That's a little more work than I want to do! That would actually involve cutting up the 190 down to the floor, then cutting the floor off the 170, trying to weld it all together, then there's the steering column... and so much more! Plus, I love W201s far too much to ever willingly cut one up. I'd end up saving it and have another 190 in the family!

The body of the 170 will actually lift off the frame, which will be nice when I prep it for paintwork after it's running.

So, progress today for the test fitting... photos below (warning, they're gonna be fullsize):

Fenders and panels fit. You can imagine the intake being on the opposite of the motor with the M111, but you can see it's a tight fit, but the motor is sitting slightly off center to the left (facing it anyway):


A view of the space on the driver's side:


Passenger side space, you can see the forward most part of the intake has a little clearance, but there's plenty of space behind it for various reservoirs and what not:


A shot from afar:


Hood (or bonnet) closes!!:


So, I've learned a lot from this today.

The motor could easily sit back another few inches if it could sit lower and slightly further back (gearbox is preventing this, but I didn't want to pull it, yank the box off, set it back in, and so on). There's plenty of space in the front behind the grilled for a radiator and clearance for the fan (especially if the motor is moved back some). I recall there being electric fan kits available for the M111 that seemed to work, and the stock M111 radiator off a 202 may actually fit! Being able to set it back with a shorter gearbox will also mean there's more clearance on the sides for intake/exhaust. That would also eliminate the need to potentially cut up that front crossmember at all!

Now, I can only go back so far, and I really won't know how much more space I get until I have the motor and transmission I want. A few of you, and I included had tossed around cutting into the bulkhead, well, any cutting would have to be done on the top and fairly close to the center. I don't want to cut into the portion that makes the footwell (I'm 6'0") as it would become even more cramped forcing me to move the front seats back, resulting in less leg room in the rear.

Overall, I've gotten a much better sensing of what I'm working with, and I'm confident I can make it happen!

I had concerns about trying to track down an original rear suspension again (it's an independent suspension setup) with body roll and what not, but I figured adapting a beefy sway bar in the rear wouldn't be too much of a challenge at all and would reduce the sensation of body roll significantly. Beyond that, the other modification would be adapting a beefier differential to handle the motor (likely one from a donor car if I could score one).

Probably won't be much progress for the next two weeks with everything else going on, but after that I should be able to focus on the car, getting the pieces I need, and getting it running. That is the key at this very moment. It doesn't need to be pretty right now. That'll happen after!

Plans have changed for this car yet again!

Since I've now decided to swap out the M117 in my 500SE in favor of an LS-series motor, I will taking that M117 with the T5 I picked up, and putting it into this car.

That will mean I have to cut into the firewall, but that's okay. I wanted to preserve as much of the original body as I could, but this makes more sense. This will also give me a chance to refresh the M117 and EFI it, instead of continuing to spend time looking for a 6-speed M111 car, with which I'd have electronics to fiddle with.

Wow!! Now that's well done! Granted, I want to keep it more of a classic look, but that's a hotrod well done without looking too cliché.


Thanks! What I'm really short on these days is time. Can't start on this until I have the 500SE up and running with an LS and the T56; don't want two cars down at once.

On that I'm not really sure yet... it had drum brakes up front, don't remember what the rear had since that whole assembly was sold from underneath me. I really don't know about the suspension. Front is an independent deal (the rear was too), and all that needs is some refreshing of the components. Considered a solid rear axle from a small pickup, but likely need to do some sleuthing around the web to see what people have done with the rear-ends of these cars that chose to go for a larger motor.

What I do know is that I'll be able to make a lot more space with the M117 by losing the power steering pump (the steering in this car is surprisingly easy to manipulate, very smooth even after all these years) and the AC compressor which is failing anyway.

I'm looking for suggestions on the rear suspension matter, so I think what I'll do is take a photo of where the factory subframe would sit, and see what the consensus is as for what I should roll with.