1951 Mercedes-Benz 170S

I could honestly live without the power steering; like I said, the steering box in this car is surprisingly smooth and easy on the arms.

I'll see what I can do about the AC; I'd imagine to preserve these components I will need to cut into the firewall.

The biggest issue with the W201 rear subframe is the same issue I ran into when trying to use the Miata rear subframe. both are meant to be bolted to a perfectly flat section, but the rear frame of the 170 is shaped like a giant wave. I'm going to get a photo of it tomorrow. Would have been nice to see build threads for the example cars pictured here to see just what exactly they did with the rear!

Then of course there will be the whole conversion from 6V to 12V, fuse box and wiring, etc. I know a lot, but I have even more to learn! Thankfully I enjoy this, hehe.

Why not go the way of all other rodders and try finding an xj6 rear end! It's got all what you need. I like your car! Nice build! The rusty 170 is ace!

Keep up the good work and greetings from Denmark

I'm at a point now where I just need to find a new place to work on the car; somewhere with easier access. Can't bring it home as I've no space here.

Well, today I was able to get that Miata plant and gearbox out to start with the M117!



There are some clearance concerns, but I may actually be able to fit the motor with no other modifications beyond making a custom oil pan! Right now that can't clear the front crossmember (a friend of mine cut the brackets while I was working with the steering column) because of the oil pan. Should that be moved more toward the center of the motor, you could swing it under and clear both the steering box, and that crossmember!

Worst case scenario, I may notch the front two crossmembers if the motor needs to sit a little lower. I'm going to bring my spare heads and intake and valve covers to put the motor together to get a better idea of the overall size.

This is definitely doable! I'm actually super excited! The more of the body I can preserve, the better. It's really fascinating to examine the front suspension of this car; all it would need is beefier springs!

I'm also looking into converting from drum brakes to discs up front. Should be able to work some magic with the front wheel assembly, but I'm going to pull one side off to see what I've got. It's a shame that rusty ratrod 170 doesn't share photos and details of merging R107 discs to the front. I will need to do some research.

I think now I will look into sending the wheels off for paint, so I can get some new rubber on them in anticipation for setting it back on the ground once the rear suspension has been addressed.

"Worst case scenario, I may notch the front two crossmembers if the motor needs to sit a little lower. I'm going to bring my spare heads and intake and valve covers to put the motor together to get a better idea of the overall size."

What about a dry sump setup?

Hmm, I may be needing a few things here and there in the future, but I can't think of anything just yet! Mostly everything I have is in good shape and just needs to be refurbished or cleaned up.

I considered a dry sump setup similar to that of the 6.9L M100 V8, but I think I can make it work with just a custom oil pan.


Yes! This latest development is actually exciting! Got a ways to go, but now there's a solid, more tangible plan, and having a spare motor to play with makes all the difference.

I've done some more fiddling around recently, and it seems the motor is just too big! Compared to say an SBC, or a small-block Ford, or even the Chrysler LA motors like the 5.9 in my Durango, this M117 is just massive. It's pretty much a big-block without the awesome amounts of displacement you'd expect.

Back to the drawing board!

M111 is still on the table, but finding a manual donor car in the US is just impossible (or it's in great shape and too nice to rip apart).

I suppose cutting into the firewall is still an option, but if you look at the bay itself, you can see the lower portion of the firewall is the floorboard! Can't have that going back any further or I'll have no room at all. It's also just too wide up front, and I don't want to chop the wings; if I were going for the ratty rod look, I wouldn't care, but I want this to look as stock as possible except under the hood.

Buddy of mine floated around a Supra motor, but that I6 is even longer than this thing!

Going for an OM615/616 4-cylinder is looking like it may be back on the table as well. Looked into the OM601, but with the intake it's awfully wide as well.

At this point, I'm kinda stagnant, and I hate it. I've had this car since 2012 and haven't made any progress whatsoever, but as they say, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Hard to find for a reasonable price around here because they are exceedingly rare; Americans are lazy and have to have a burger in one hand and big gulp in the other.

They come up for sale from time to time through LKQ, but often times they need a rebuild or components are missing. That's why I'd like to have an entire donor car, but $6000 for a donor vehicle is steep, and this $500-1500 W203s don't exist here yet.

Unfortunately we were never lucky enough to get manual 210s here in the US either, or the 208s for that matter. R170s in decent shape are starting to go for money again too.

This is why I miss living in Europe; manuals everywhere.

I worked on a Crossfire with the M112, and never again! That V6 is actually fairly wide, I thought about it too.