Sledgehammer/Grossehammer

[Taxi Driver]

Hi, sorry if this is missplaced as I don't know where to post what is going to start now halfway into 2012.
As it says, Sledgehammer/Grossehammer is what I think this new chapter in the story of the bespoke Hammer should read. So what am I up to? Having just recieved one 400E420 late '92 build WDB 1240341B 880129 should spell 93' , no?
Too cheap ~$1000 to resist, complete quite sound very little rust to the paint but with a shot engine, head gasket they were thinking and started tearing the heads down but stopped suddenly to let the car rest for some years.

At first I was thinking, a good car for parts I may be in the need for in the future but 2;nd thoughts too good a car to break down, don't you think, I did? Well to get one 4.2 is easy and cheap but not very exciting, I do have one 500E
one C43 AMG one Yamaha V-Max 1200, see I'm addicted to power and speed Mercedeswise I mean.

Now to the formula E=MC" or2 , my formula however say; one E60 LH AMG motor AMG ecu 500E EZL, one 124034 a set of
16x8" Evo1 rims, tired allready? You MAY call this the perfect sleeper with a MB bigblock or the perfect toy for an old man.

With all this lying right infront of me how could I not or what could go wrong, where should I put the FGS module?

I'm aware that I may put the 500E and my AMG to shame but I think both of them speaks for themselves esp. the 500
almost being too *loud* in expession and also I'm becoming more and more of an OEM follower matching# and so on.

The 500 is soo sweet as it is and I like to keep it that, so it will have to manage with only 5 liters, well I do have one
5.6 crank in my garage. This will be part of my hollidays, hope it will rain but also the 500 is in for the MOT inspection.
,,Roger

 

[Jim]

Good plan...do you have the 6.0 litre engine or do you have to build it?

 

[Bondavi]

400E's are a great platform to build upon - no SLS to deal with = a bit less weight!

 

[Taxi Driver]

Good plan...do you have the 6.0 litre engine or do you have to build it?

Hi, no build, I have been sitting on this '92 6liter, taken ot of a '92 S60AMG for several years, it was intended for my '92 500E . Roger

 

[Taxi Driver]

Now safe in the garage, allready with the grosse hammer as you see,,, asap the motor will come out inspection and cleaning of underbody, brakes, new shockabs. are fitted rear and also a motoroil cooler, nice, acc, asr!! well maybe good and safe to have. Wheels are Italian made 8x16"....maybe they stay on and fit the *sleeper* profile w 225x55 and a slightly lowered suspension.
This will be sort of a *testmule* with not very much £$€ spent in the first stage, second stadge chassis brakes and so on will be uppgraded offcourse,,Roger

 

[Jim]

Is that an engine oil cooler in the left wheel well?

Probably will not fit the 124036 as a fog light is there.

 

[195910]

The Front end is a bit messed up. But for that price, why not.
How is the Interior ?

 

[Taxi Driver]

Oh, that is not much to worry about, headlight has been pushed in a little and the bumper has to be adjusted.
Interior wich is all textile not halfleather is very well preserved but for a skuff mark on the backrest where your butt
hits, 1" in dia, that was one of the reasons to make this the Sledgehammer project as was the body, practically rustfree,
this 200 000 km car, I was told did set the buyer down for €13 000 10 years ago.

I belive this is right for the car and the motor put to work, just for the hell of it with a large funfactor ,, Roger

 

[Bondavi]

Do you have the LH module for the 6.0 motor? What is the block code and date stamp on the motor? Curious....

 

[Taxi Driver]

Yes offcourse, that is what made me start this project, I do have all the essensial parts allready, LH, EZL, 3.06ASD
as you can see some other electronic goodies apart from the complete 6liter '92 with only~120 000 km of work
motor# restamped 119 976 00033 AMG LH 500E LH '92 EZL oem FSG E-gas,,Roger
ps don't belive that sticker it should read more kW

 

[Taxi Driver]

Hi all of you interested i high performing 500'eds and its little brother the not so fancy 400E420.

To put things into perspective, I did start this thread because I belive it's of common interest here, right? Also after
reading that Autobild article AMG E60 vs Brabus E 6.0 ( E420) luckily I have that and many from when the 500E came.

The timing was right just as I stumbled over this '93 E420, it all fell into place, I now had the opportunity to use
this AMG 6liter wich I sometimes have neglected and had a bad conscientousness about.
A revelation almost, so be it, now I didn't have to go open heart surgery on the 500 why touch a good thing.

With this 420 it will be a little more * formula libre* the ability to try new or old tweaks, still within the Mercedes border.
If Brabus could why can't I? Converting the 500 doesn't make an E60, maybe a clone or a clown if done the wrong way.

I dont think anyone will blame me, I just enhance and make things a *little* better, no? The motor will not be ruined
the 420 just as the Lion of OZ will get a new Braveheart, and I maybe get a smile ear to ear.

All in all, I did start this adventure to show what could and can be done BUT most of all to put some pressure
on Myself, so I have to go all the way A to Z,, Roger

Ps, and here it comes, we all know the 500E AKA *Arnold Schwartzenegger in an Armani suit*,don't we?
I would like to call what Brabus did an I am about to repeat the E420 6.0 AKA * Chuck Norris in a Wallmart suit*
wich one looks the most unlikely killer, eh?

 

[Taxi Driver]

Another day of dismantling, the motor is almost free, only the AC compressor, oil lines, and motor to gearbox/ converter
to undo. It will take some more work as the right head camsprockets are off, so I think removing rh camshafts is the simpel solution as the crank can not be turned as it is now. Soon it will be out and removal of this donors headers, sump, motormounts, and so on to prepare the S60 unit to take it's place. It is very convenient to have a complete motor just taken out
there are so many items you don't think of before you start converting.

One thing I didn't realise at first, this car does not have the ASR, I wasn't looking too close at first, this means the
ASD 210mm can be used w.o any problems related to the ASR, the final ratio may not be it's 3.06, maybe it will be tested
for fun but I think it's a bit too high. Anyway it will be activated by pressurised air in some clever way.

More reports to follow and some questions from me to you out there, think I have to pick youre brains a little,,Roger

ps Pictures show the obvius non ASR cheap and funny option and result...

 

[Jelmer]

In case you're wondering: yes, people are reading this, so please keep writing updates

 

[fudgitive]

Oh yes we are paying attention.... please proceed!

 

[Taxi Driver]

Thankyou guys, I was kind of thinking so, maybe some thought of this being yet another pipedream, well it's not.
Today was the greasy, oily shit falling proverbial * in your face * freing AC comp. oiltubes motor/ auto, starter
so many parts I can't remember. Got stuck on the allen bolt, upper starter mount, maybe the 10mm if I don't find or forge it to oversize have to weld it to the bolt, I don't want to risk it going round, maybe some valvegrinding compound, coarse, can take up the play but I think a weld would be safer before losing it.

Tomorow the converter and the bolts motor to gear box will come lose and a doublecheck to confirm everything is out of
the way, then the lift out.
Cleaning all the parst to take place on the 6liter will follow next but inbetween my 500E does need attention catalysts
and silencers will be changed, new caps,rotors,upper harness, AC refill and then the M O T inspection.
It will be a good feeling to have the 500 back on the road after a long rest.

I show here what I wii be using to build the exhaust syst. a mix of 500E and 500SL and maybe something from the E420.
The * Chuck Norris in the Wallmart suit* thing, will have an ex.system of its own later on,,Roger

 

[samiam44]

Wow,

Engine #33. Very cool.

 

[Bondavi]

Try one of those bolt removers from Sears - or similar. They worked great for me removing some stuck/stripped hex bolts in the past.

BTW you have PM.

 

[Taxi Driver]

Thanks, the stubborn upper starter mount/bolt is out, did remove the auto dipstick tube, shortened the 1/2 " 10mm tap
smeared the tip of it w valvegrindingcompound, coarse, made it very tight, snap and the bolt came loose, a relief.

Only the motormount screws 4 and the converter/driveplate needs to be separate from the motor and out it will come.
This late '92 build car's 4.2, has later type belt tensioner, has aluminum oil tubes, is a closed deck, has motor oil cooler.
Is this *normal* '93 y model spec. The E60 motor fro the '92 S60, HAS GOT the newer front chaincover w provision for late style tensioner!!!! it does have the AC mounting bracket for the manually adj. tensioner, only thing to do is change over to newer bracket and thread the hole for the upper screw, you think this made my day??? sure did, some pictures show.
Thre holes for autom. tensioner, one big hole for the manually adj. one see screwdriver tip.

Now one Q on the autobox sump is what looks like a drainplug, is that so, it did have a small allen key hole in it.
I have also found the bearing on the tensioner wheel and the bearing in the drive/idler wheel on the AC comp. a Coyo
bearing, I will show when thar is done as I will pick up the bearings next week,,Roger

 

[jan-e500-94]

keep going strong roger you have a really uniqe car when it is ready i look forward too se and hear it but before that we
must take our big brothers for a spinn

jan-e500-94

 

[Taxi Driver]

Hi there you former Yellow bastard, the car I mean, yeah we sure will take a spinn. Just wait and see somewhere in the future there will be a tasty tease of 6liter and nothing will be the same thereafter, there will be spinning for sure,
no ASR but FSG and maybe ASD in the 2.65 diff yeehaaa, or as they say in the Brabus 6.0 article the steeringwheel isn't
just for turning, it's for holding onto also,, Roger

 

[Cobra]

Hi, i visited Roger to night to look at his "Hammerbuild", we have been friends since the seventies, as Roger is a very skillful mechanic this will be very interesting to follow. He will probably come with some new truths about the difference between the engines of different years and sizes. We had a go in his W124.036 on his" private" ( a few hundred meters from his house ) dragstrip, the Underås rakan, the Under ridge straigth, a famous straigth of about 1000 meters long,where all the racers in the town ended up in the saturday evenings back there in the seventies, one of the most famous was a thorough Dodge Hemi Charger Daytona, with the high spoiler and all, he had three passengers in it when he smashed the contestant...
I have a good camera so hopefully it will be good films of a Mercedes in heavy accelaration...

 

[jhodg5ck]

I smell VMax...;-)

that's some impressive rust..we don't get that sort of thing down here in the Southern US!!

Have fun w/ the build!!

J

 

[Taxi Driver]

I smell VMax...;-)

that's some impressive rust..we don't get that sort of thing down here in the Southern US!!

Have fun w/ the build!!

J

Yeah, you lucky you, and about the VMax maybe I will have TWO don't know yet if the AMG LH has done that when it was
programmed for the S60, just have to wait and see....Roger

 

[Taxi Driver]

When looking over the hardwear, it hit me, the non ASR equipment also means, hit the throttle it also does so at the butterfly valve. The E-gas only take care of the idle control and the cruise ditto, so a change over to the E420 throttle body is obviously a must, I really wonder what would have happened if this had been over looked?

Now I will master and conduct w out no nanny, I will rule over the Sledgehammer myself, am I tough enough? I have been training for this, "you decide, show a steady hand and no fear", on my Yamaha VMax Bullride, so far within borders.

When Mr Chuck Norris, remember the AKA is ready for the road, I will have to keep friendo with him but then I will have more rubber in contact w the tarmac/bitumen surface,,Roger

 

[jhodg5ck]

ah, well...yes, that V(eolocity) max but also the VMax Yamaha in the one photo..;-) I Always had a thing for that bike..!

 

[Taxi Driver]

ah, well...yes, that V(eolocity) max but also the VMax Yamaha in the one photo..;-) I Always had a thing for that bike..!

Yeah, who doesn't, the VMax you have to relate to, it takes it's man to master if you go all the way, regards from Black Max,,

 

[jhodg5ck]

Agreed, they handle like hell, don't stop all that great.. but my oh my when the v boost hits..;-)

I knew a fellow back in NY who converted his to chain drive, bored/ported/polished/bumped compression..and for a Real thrill he put a 75HP NOS shot on the bike.

I can Clearly recollect watching him pull out of the gas station and @ about 10MPH he Whacked it, ass end stepped out and he Smoked that rear tyre in a beautiful display of balance and brute force. Oh, and couple that together with the SOUND these bikes make...OMFG... I fell in love...;-)

..just had to go watch some IOM TT highlights now that I've got motorcycles on the brain!

J

 

[Taxi Driver]

Over and out, the point of no return, did it myself, finally, me and quite a few mosquitos, that is.
I had to take a rest from rebuilding the 500E exh. system, it was raining and to get some use from doing nothing,, get it out. There will be cleaning up and sorting out what will take place on the 6 liter, now the funny stuff begins,, Roger

 

[Juho]

Amazing how clean the rear ends of the heads are. Rocker cover seals are generally slightly leaked over time.

 

[Taxi Driver]

Yes it is fairly dry, rear crank seal also, only at the front cover somewhere a bit oily it was, sad about this motor is that it was suffering from cyl. head rh bank leakage, my luck it was, serves well as a donor now, bit by bit,, Roger

 

[Taxi Driver]

Hi, Slowhammer you think? no it's on its way sorting out and shaving the vital organs from the 4.2 motor.
Oil sump/pump motor mounts/pods, (new cussions it will be) cleaning and readying for replacement.
Also other parts has been ordered new from MB good used from the breakers. The concept does take shape quite the way it first was planned, small alterations there will be or big if you like, frontbrakes 340mm later on and 19" AeroII AMG monobl.
So when ready for the road it will be fair and sqare, ready to burn rubber. No photos this time exept for the *Mirage* of the
Silberpfeil,,Roger

ps if I may add, You are free to comment or leave any deacent input to the project....

 

[gsxr]

FYI. The largest brakes you can fit under 16" wheels are the 320mm x 30mm used on the late .036 chassis.

Anything larger (like the 334mm Silver Arrow brakes I have for sale) needs at least 17" wheels. I'd highly recommend SOME sort of brake upgrade with ~400hp under the hood... the stock 400E brakes were barely adequate for the 4.2L!!

 

[Taxi Driver]

Dave, yes very well aware of that fact, if I get hold of calipers for the 320mm I will settle for that, if I go for the AMG C43/E55 disc and suitable caliper
then there is the minimum 17" yes. I have yet to decide, either it will be, and I must in the mean time be careful w the throttle,, Roger

 

[gsxr]

The C43 and E55 brakes are not a bolt-on... I wouldn't screw around with a hodge-podge brake setup. The Silver Arrows bolt right up and work great. If you need larger than that, I'd shell out for StopTechs, but those require 18" wheels. Almost anything else requires cutting, grinding, and funky modifications... not my cup of tea, but some people are ok with that.

 

[Taxi Driver]

Well I'd thought so, this rout was just because I allready have new AMG discs, as you say, a direct fit is offcourse most desireable.
Conclusion is, apart from the dustshield,wich can be trimmed, the 600SL/E500'94 320mm does go on no problem, right?

No I'd rather put the fiddling bits elsewhere, a bit lowering stiffening rearaxle/difflock etc. thankyou Dave as you does have so many
clear facts on hand, it cuts corners and makes the right way to go easier,, Roger

 

[gsxr]

Conclusion is, apart from the dustshield,wich can be trimmed, the 600SL/E500'94 320mm does go on no problem, right?

Correct. The 320mm fronts should bolt on to the E420.

 

[500AMM]

Hei Roger.

A very exciting project!
It shall be really nice to see it in action when time comes. Keep on posting.

Cheers

 

[500AMM]

Agreed, they handle like hell, don't stop all that great.. but my oh my when the v boost hits..;-)

I knew a fellow back in NY who converted his to chain drive, bored/ported/polished/bumped compression..and for a Real thrill he put a 75HP NOS shot on the bike.

I can Clearly recollect watching him pull out of the gas station and @ about 10MPH he Whacked it, ass end stepped out and he Smoked that rear tyre in a beautiful display of balance and brute force. Oh, and couple that together with the SOUND these bikes make...OMFG... I fell in love...;-)

..just had to go watch some IOM TT highlights now that I've got motorcycles on the brain!

J

Wow - really nice, I like muscle bikes and spinning - first the adrenalin and then the sweet relief. I guess it's the closest I ever comes to drug use. Ha Ha!

This reminds me about the hard days when I drove a Kawasaki Z1300 back in the '80s. This is a big and heavy bike, inline 6 with 120hp. I always did a lot of street burning when the rear tire was down. One time I stood on a red light alongside my friends car, and he should hold back the traffic in his lane. It was close traffic so I had to be fast to manage a burn across the intersection when it was clear. I start warming just before the crossing traffic got yellow. So in the short moment all cars stopped I let it go. I was actually in the wrong lane so I had to adjust over to the right and got a wide slide through the intersection. To avoid a high sider I had to give it all to keep spinning and let it straighten itself. Damn, what a kick! 200m ahead I turned over to a gas station and my friend came up my side. Then I noticed a car with an older man behind me, he ripped of the seat belt, almost jumped through the door, swearing and comming towards me! Ignition on - 1.gear - and the bird was gone...

Well, that was a off-topic, sorry Roger.
(I should like to have a Boss Hoss, or even better a Vanquish)

Ciao

 

[Taxi Driver]

Arnt, skary moments I'v had but always thinking don't overdo, keep i down but sure as hell it's not easy and most important I don't want to risk anything as it's not too good to be an MB
mechaniac all dressed up in plaster, also now that I live alone, whose gonna wipe my shiny A$$? No 1 priority is my two projects the 6.0 and 500E,, Roger

 

[Taxi Driver]

Dave, are you the one to answer this Q, what swaybar can I use, I can not find any E500E bar but there is one 600Sl to be had, say is that a possible replacement? Roger

 

[gsxr]

Roger, I am not sure if the R129 sway bar will work in a 400E/500E. And I'm not sure of the dimensions either.

Why not buy a 500E sway bars from Mercedes? They should still be available... make sure you upgrade front AND rear to keep the handling balanced!

 

[Taxi Driver]

Thanks, yes will check w MB but afraid the cost will be a bit high, yes sorting the chassis out is essential, there is an opportunity to trim in what you want over or understeer so the
stiff or soft rear you have to test and find out,,Roger

 

[Taxi Driver]

Hi, you think it's finished, NO but along with vacation a bit 500E and Yamaha VMX driving there has been some cleaning up
and minor damage repair to right corner bumper beam and radiator mount/stiffening bracket. It was done but not to my standards and the rad was sitting vey close to the fan, right side, now almost done and ready for the 6liter w no trace of acc. dam. left.

The change over of parts from 420 to E60 motor is going on slowly but steady, now I was looking to the manifold and throttle and came to the conclusion, it's best and easier to change over it as a complete unit even if only the TB and MAF is going to the AMG manifold. I have not yet removed it but will closely compare with the oem 420 part.

I guess it may be worked at to fit cyl. head ports, see about that later on. Clean up, well this I belive most of us need to do
by examin the 20year old 420 parts. I also wonder, is it nessesary to have what I found in the plenum ch. that EGR pipe
intrusion wich I find a bit in the way. No more than athorough clean up esp to the throttle housing and plate, no time for honing.
Notice that lovely gaping fully 90degrees opening,, Roger

ps starting a collection and maybe this is what will spinn on this car, not sure yet, the EVO I rim would fit a sleeper......

 

[Taxi Driver]

Bit by bit, one step at least, among other smaller items on the car itself to make ready for the 6liter, is this.
The newly shotblasted and heat resistant painted headers, I was so exited when I saw them at first and almost ordered
the four stainless couplings wich says in the epc *repair kit* i.e two clamps, one inner pipe and the outer flanged pipe.
Great send me one set two days away from Germany but there was a great big BUT, 80€ a set x 4, yes 80 times 4.....

I say lock youre headers away and if disassembled take real good care of the 4 couplings, mind you.
I only had the r.h side off the 6l to show the differance btw S class and E,SL class,,Roger

 

[Bondavi]

Are the exhaust manifolds considered a bottleneck to performance as the stock ones (us, euro) are on a M117? Would two piece 4-2-1 per bank help as much as it does a M117?

 

[gsxr]

Are the exhaust manifolds considered a bottleneck to performance as the stock ones (us, euro) are on a M117? Would two piece 4-2-1 per bank help as much as it does a M117?

From what I can tell... they don't seem to be a major bottleneck. AMG didn't change them on the 6.0L and most of the RENNtech 6.0's used stock exhaust manifolds. I've seen a couple of dyno graphs on RENNtech motors that were nearly identical (same year/config/etc) but one had headers. The difference was approx 10hp or so, and I can't say for sure if the 10hp was due to the headers, or other variables. But there was not a major (i.e., 20-30hp) power gain from the headers. A number of other people tried headers on the M119 and thus far, nobody has reported any big gains...

Roger, what do you think?

 

[Taxi Driver]

Hi, no, from the heads all the way to the tailpipes I still considder the section from the downpipes to the catalysts to be the*bottleneck* That's the part I will makeover on the 6liter together w either sports or so called racecats but I will not change the resonator(from the 420) or the rear muffler, first I will go low profile on the deep down lovely sound, not too
intrusive anyway. No from holding the headers looking closely, the only thing I will do is even out w the new gaskets as
templates, the portmatch to head. I think they do *feel* as enginered as the M119 does in it's construction, and do feel free to compare w, say M113 or its followers. No custom made headers for my sake,,Roger

 

[Taxi Driver]

Next step, the motor mounts, you can see the difference W140 vs W124 the W140 is higher and therefore needs longer bolts
but they are only M8 vs the KAMAX 88 10mm why? The threads in the AMG block are Helicoiled! in the 119975 block the threads are not. I had to get sleves to fill the too big holes in the W124 pods I found brass ones 8mm inside 10 outer to
fit the new M8 stainless bolts.

You can see what had happened to the mounts, both were compressed and the one in the picture had fallen apart.
I already was stocking new mounts and one for the gearbox and don't even remember what the cost was,,Roger

 

[Taxi Driver]

Long time no write.... almost standing still, not really, so many things to fix and complete.

As driving the 500E take it's time to enjoy, there has been I think too litle action on the 420 but ordering recieving collecting all sorts of parts, new and used
almost everyrhing is, home and dry, so to speak. When starting a new project-car you always find a lot of objects in the need for replacement, correction and
completion on a sound recently driven or even a good runner.
At first, getting the 6liter in as fast as I could and test drive it within a couple of months was my intention. Optimistic, yeah, realistically not realy so.

The AMG 6liter deserves a good home and the 420 deserves it's tune up, therefore get all the missing parts, like bellypan, radiator/fan cowling, wheelhouse front
shieldings right hand motormount cooling duct/collector stiffening bar btw the lca rear mounting points at the front axle beam, to name but a few apart from
brake discs 320mm front struts new rims (EVO 1) I could go on for ever. All this before it's time to lower the powerhouse into it's new livingroom.

Well all I can say, change of timeplan yes but bit by bit it's going in the right direction. And THANKYOU MERCEDES for having all the parts available 20 years
and more waiting for me and others to buy, thats something to be grateful about and not many carmakers do have this sort of parts service, would you belive..

I will be back with more but behold this collection, all new and not very expensive...Roger

 

[rusty69]

Great thread, hope you see the project thru