Benz-lover New-comer

[Kibim]

For the last 2 years it seems i've been collecting some Benz's. Currently I have the following :

SLK 32 AMG - Weekend toy, low milage, stock standard
ML500 - Work car, DD, also pretty much oem.
'74 W114 - Project Car

Naturally, you'll not be too interested in the SLK or the ML, but the W114 is getting some attention, and my first mission with this car is stance! I've bought the bags, tank, lines, compressor etc already, so I can install everything, and will look for a management system next year when things are open again.

So far i've stripped out the suspension entirely, springs and shocks lying in the corner, subframe, control-arms, steering arms, it's all out. I'll be making up the bag brackets with in the week I hope. Time for some pics?




The front looks like a bit of a challenge with the brackets, but geometry wise easy enough. The back is giving me a headache! The car came equipped with a coil around a shock, although they don't share mounting points, there's little to no space to get a bag and a shock absorber back in there. So my question to you bagged stance gurus : How necesarry is it to have a shock absorber on the rear when running bags? This isn't a track car, or DD, more a weekend/show car, although I do want to be able to drive it hard if the urge should take me.

[Kibim]

Done a bit of research re the rear shock absorbers, and I'm going to be fabricating brackets that can accomodate both the bags and the shocks. I'll probably leave the shock in the oem position and reposition the bag... Going to be interesting.

[jasonklee]

Awesome!

Welcome to StanceWorks

[JJ.]

Welcome!

Nice car collection
Looking forward to see this on bags!

[Shawn W.]

relocate shocks. Use spring mounting points like front.

[Kibim]

relocate shocks. Use spring mounting points like front.

Exactly my thoughts ... A fabricated shock mount that fails isn't going to end in disaster, but a spring mount is a whole different story. I'll be looking at relocating the shocks, although there's no a great deal of space down there, I think i've come up with something that might work.

[CHIF8008]

love builds like this.
-welcome mate

[Kibim]

Back on Track

It's been a few years! (4 to be exact!)

The Benz was bagged quite succesfully, and rides great. A fair bit of fabrication went into the mix, with a complete relocation of the rear shocks to an inboard f1-style push-rod setup.

A few pics of progress and the end result :

Bag mounts fabricated


Bags in


Sitting down


She's basically on the floor.


That's where i lost my screwdriver.


Rear shock setup

Then came a bit of cosmetics, with some paint work and a decent set of wheels/tyres.


Cat is unimpressed, can't sleep underneath!




Getting a bath at the local wash
But then the BIG work started :
Project Engine.
I wanted to retrofit a Mercedes 5.6l V8 from the 560 SE/SEC model into the W114. This has proved mighty challenging and expensive, but we're in the final swing of things, with the car in for electronic management. Not keeping it simple, I ditched the old merc K-jet system for a fully custom made electronic injection. So we built fuel rails, injector mounts, re-worked the fuel tank fitttings, adding pumps, pressure regulators, etc. Also a stand alone management system, which needs mounts fabricated for hall sensors, ignition coils, a full new wiring harness, all complicated by a battery relocation because it doesn't fit in the engine bay anymore!

Some pics here .... and hopefully the car will be back on the road in a month!


The beast, 5.6l V8 aluminium block


Completely stripped to component form and rebuilt


Rebored/honed/alusil


It fits!

Of course, only just, the exhaust manifolds had to be custom made, radiator, oil-cooler, trnasmission cooler all custom made and refitted, The OE brake booster didn't fit, so that had to be replaced with a similar spec one, but with smaller diameter hydraulics.

Getting excited to get it back eventually and driving it once again!