^ I agree!! Awesome!! Is the flywheel and everything all in there and good?
^ I agree!! Awesome!! Is the flywheel and everything all in there and good?
It is all in there, but I don't have a starter to align and set up yet.
I also have to measure and see if I have enough room for the in-bell housing style throw-out bearing, it or if I have to use the Ford throw out bearing and arm.
This is awesome. Consider me subscribed.
Well, I had surgery a week or so ago and have not done anything but open the garage and drink while looking at the car wishing I felt good enough to work on the car.
Today I did 2 things, I realized I somehow wrote 1974 in the title and it is supposed to say 1972. My apologies, I can't edit it (as far as I can figure out, I only web browse with my phone).
I also went to my local junk yard and found an electronic power steering unit. It is out of a 2002 Saturn Vue.
Someone had already pulled the engine via dropping to front cross member and disconnected the steering column from the rack so it took me 6 bolts to get it out.
These units are controlled by 3 wires from an contol box. There is a 65 dollar box on eBay to control it with a variable resistor thing. I have half a mind to hook this thing up so some fused power and play with some resistors to see if I can just make a box for 7 dollars worth of crap from McMaster Carr.
The steering pump I have for my M119 is a steering and suspension pump, and I A: don't want to figure out how to disable to suspension part and B: don't want to buy a PS pump for the M119 (for goodness sake it will save me all of 3-5 HP!!!).
Either way, my buddy also wants one to put in his beautiful AE86 (that will soon be getting a 1UZFE) so we will go get another next weekend.
I Don't read MegaManual for MS.
I use MSExtra firmware and it has a different manual.
MSExtra uses the same hardware but in a different manner so reading the MegaManual will cause brain damage.
My MS3 experience ended a few years back when I sold my race car so that is all the help I have.
Unless you are doing a MS2 with the MS3X.
The MS3X is an expansion board that plugs into a MS3 processor to provide the additional i/o.
There also is an adapter that installs between an MS2 processor and the main board that the MS3X can be plugged into.
Is there a specific reason you selected an MS3?
Your V8 injectors can be batch fired and you can do wasted spark (distributorless) ignition with an MS2.
MS3 will provide sequential injection and sequential Coil on plug ignition and has built it logging functions written to an on board SD memory chip.
I know I can run injectors batch fired, but I wanted to run both fuel and ignition sequentially. I am not running the M119 ignition, I will be setting up some LS coils or something similar. The M119 has a usable cam sensor. I have a toothed wheel and a Ford EDIS 8 system, but I bought that when I was going to use an M117 engine. So I'll probably be getting rid of the EDIS system.
Thanks for giving me some feedback on the MS stuff.
Love this project! Quick question - doesn't the M119 have variable valve timing? How are you going to control that?
A: from what I understand, which is very little at this point, I should be able to control it with MS.
B: I'm not really sure I'll be using the VVT for that long.
The one person that has documented much (and made info public that I know of) about doing a lot of modding on the M119 dropped it pretty early on. Time will tell for me though.
Does the M119 have a stock crank sensor?
What cam is the cam sensor on, and how are the cams driven? (chain or belt?)
Which cam has VVT, or both? How is it actuated/controlled stock?
Yes, but I will be using a toothed wheel for the crank position sensor. The stock one is a set of rotating magnets on the flex plate and a sensor near the bellhousing.
Cam sensor is on the intake cam of the driver's side bank (Cylinder 1 is on the pass side bank). Cams are driven by a chain.
VVT is on the intake cams. It is an electromagnet that activates an oil cavity causing a 20 deg advance. It only happens between something like 1800 to 4700 RPM.
Did this car come from Ridgecrest?
If you ever need a second set of hands just drop me a PM.
The car came from Long Beach or someplace just south of there. I live in Ventura.
I got the rack in. I need to get the tie rods sorted out, but I'll explain that later.
I started out measuring and measuring and measuring everything that was stock on the benz to make sure I was able to put the rack in the right spot.
Then I grabbed the Vue rack and made a mounting bracket for each side... easy enough.
Aaaaaaaand the other side.
Then I basically eyeballed it into place and put some very weak tack welds in so I could measure stuff and edit things a little.
After confirming my eyeballs were properly calibrated with measuring. I put on some decent welds to hold everything in place, removed the rack from the mounts and welded them in.
Bolted the rack back up and my car now has a steering rack.
The tie rods are too long, which I knew, but there are properly sized ones available. I will probably be getting those after fiddling with crap I have in my garage to see if I can make anything work. Possibly cutting and adding threads to the existing rods.
At any rate, next up for this beast is putting the engine in v2.0 where it hopefully gets mounts made and stays in for a bit.
It was too late to keep cutting metal, so instead of starting on engine installation I was futzing with the power steering mechanism doodad, my pedal assembly, and the windshield wiper linkage. It should all fit up under the dash, time will tell. I'll always have loud cuty type things and hot weldy type things to make it fit if things don't cooperate. You'd think as cuty and weldy as I have been to this poor car it would be more amiable to my modifications, but I guess not.
Steering is one thing that could be better on these cars. And get that box out of the way. Did you verify the rack has enough travel for the stock spindle to turn nice and tight?
I think the box steering on most Mercedes of this era is great. Plus, if you want more feel, pull the dampener and run it without. The bummer is it takes up A LOT of usable real estate where a rack uses very little space that can be used for other things, like gigantic (physically) engines.
I have not finished this mod yet. I have been on a work binge lately 
, so have not been able to work on this as much as I'd like.
My w111 is manual. Too slow at speed and too heavy going slow. The w108 I drove was way overpowered. Speedway motors has an adjustable valve to divert pressure to increase feel or run full pressure for parking.
Well, it is a luxury car and was never really intended to be anything else. I guess just have low expectations for the steering feel. People that bought these cars when new wanted to ride on a pillow and not put fourth any effort to drive it.
That is one of the reasons why I'm going about the way I am on this project. I'm making it the way I want it. Unfortunately, that is pretty far from luxury, which means huge changes for this car. 
Yeah but sporting luxury. 3.5 manuals redline at like 6500. 6.3 was a beast(still not as powerful as a 5.0 m119) and the handling is pretty good. They just need to shed some weight. My w111 sedan is only 2900# stock. I'm aiming for 2600 with a cage. No bumpers and strategic metal removal, race seats. Do you think the rack is going to give full turning with stock spindles? I would like a little extra for some drifting too.
RWD:
I don't know on the turning yet. I have to get some new rod ends. I will eventually be changing to either 450SLC spindles or something else because I am not a huge fan of the kingpin-ish-esque type originals on this car. Plus the 450SLC has removable steering knuckles (read: I can make my own and bolt them on). 
A bit late perhaps...but have you checked for bump steer with the rack? To me it looks a bit wide.
Regarding the power steering, most EPAS ECUs want a pulse signal (actually two), to work. One for engine speed and one for road speed. I have used a MGF EPAS in my Capri, and while I managed to research what signals it (possibly) wants, my attempts at building my own controller with 555 circuits failed rather miserably as I let the smoke escape. I bought a controller instead that works great for me.
Regards
Gustaf
First, the rack. I have not checked bump steer. However, the width from pivot of the inner tie rod to the other is most exactly the same. I picked this rack over many other "close fits" because of that reason.
On to my build...
Engine is in, here is the story. First I made little plates that bolted to the block and put them on the block. That was fairly simple.
Then I made the engine mounts on the sub frame and the engine mounting bracket part that bolts to the mounts and bolted them in.
The lip on the trans tunnel kept getting in the way, so I cut it off. While the trans tunnel doesn't hit the transmission anywhere else, it will need to be adjusted for the shifter and linkage. I will clean it up when I make the other trans tunnel edits.
I had the engine hanging before throwing it in and thought. "berkeley me, if I try and do what I'm doing here, the alternator and oil canister are going to be in the way." I also put on these eye bolt tensioner things (I'll explain later, just go along with it for now). One of the bolts on the oil canister was frozen and the allen key stripped the bolt, that was a total PITA to drill out, but it got done.
Before:
After:
Then I spent, oh, about FOREVER getting it just right. The tensioner things were bolted to the engine strategically and I tack welded threaded rods to the bay. They were used for fine adjustments. I also used a handy dandy cardboard shim, yes, we'll call it a shim, to get the trans exit hole to sit exactly where I wanted.
This is the only picture I have of the process. It was a lot of small adjustments, getting under the car checking, readjusting, and repeating as necessary.
I tack welded a little piece of rod from the plate part of the engine mount bracket to the part bolted to the engine mounts on the sub frame to get proper spacing and orientation. The great news here is I only barely lit one on fire and it hardly melted at all! They came out looking like this.
I pulled them out and cut some tubing to go from the plate to the tube holding the rubber mounts. I had never notched tubing to fit tubing before, what a PITA that can be. After getting one done, it got a little late to do number two, so I had to wait until the next morning. This morning rolled around, made the second tube and put the mounts in. The engine sits back farther and lower than I originally had it measured out to be in the beginning by a pretty long shot.
You have seen this picture of one of the mounts. I think at some point I might weld in another piece of tubing, but the rest of today is family time.
Engine how it sits:
I think it came out pretty good. The angle to the rear is right around 3 deg. I like that angle, it also just worked out to be the right angle to hit the input for the rear differential. Side to side is flat. Looking forward to making the trans mount soon.
I also took the opportunity to mark out some places to notch the front "frame" rails. I will want that done later when/if I decide to make headers so I might as well do it now. That way I only have to dress it all up once.
Onward we go.
OK, you should be in the ballpark then. A humble suggestion is to check for bump steer before finalizing the mounts - IME +/- 5 mm in height of the rack can make a very noticeable change in how the steering reacts. Better safe than sorry :-)
Engine looks nice in place. Most people here in Sweden tend to either build diesel Mercedeses, or use the M104 six with a lot of boost. I have started a tech inspecton on a 1960's finned Mercedes with an LS V8 though, and I have tested a 1980's 190 (W201) with a 4.2 liter (ISTR) Mercedes V8 - that was a sweet ride.
Gustaf
I thought about taking it slow and just tacing in the mounts, but it is ok if I have to re-do it. It is really just more fab practice. This whole subframe is an exorcise in temporary hacking something together. At some point this car will get a different one that I make from scratch. I want the car to move on its own before that though.
I will be checking the bump steer before driving the car, but I need new rod ends to do that.
In reply to HunterBenz:
thats looking great! i have been side tracked on my m119 plans with work and daily driver issues, plus i got a manual 4speed m117 450slc im gonna strip and beat on for a while in prep for a lemons car. I have 6 sl/slc and two w108 cars im parting if you need parts. i also have thought about some hybrid custom control arms to use r/c107 spindles on a kingpin car.
HunterBenz wrote: I have not done anything but open the garage and drink while looking at the car
That's my favorite part. Enjoying every update.
In reply to wheelsmithy:
Thanks for the kind words. Sometimes drinking and staring at the car while chatting with a buddy is how I get some of my conceptual ideas ironed out to an acceptable level of practicality. This weekend did not go as planned and devolved into a decent chunk of conceptualizing... my buddy and I killed a bottle of scotch and some cigars.
This weekend I started by making a list of everything I needed to make the trans mount. I jumped in my car and took off to go grab some tubing and bolts at my two favorite stores: VC Metals and Industrial Bolt. Being industrial type stores, they keep almost non-existent weekend hours. I slept too late (working nights right now) and didn't make it to either store.
After chatting with a friend for a bit, we came up with the idea of chalkboard paint on some cupboards instead of the whiteboard I have been wanting to do in the garage pretty much since I moved in (over a year ago).
Bam, I have a project board.
Next weekdays off I have I am going to pick up some metal for the trans mount. I also want to start tackling the pedals and steering stuff under the dash.
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