Awaiting pick up .
After many months of reassembly and repair work the 280SE Â 4.5 ute was finally able to driven and delivered back to her owner for minor finish work
280SE Ute project
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Mercedes Benz 280SE 3.5 ute
25/06/16 Well…. here is a problem that no one foresaw , the drivers side chassis rail is rusted clear through ….and wait ,there is more.:-(
Front ends of Sill boxes are rusted out
Passenger side rusted out , all will have to repaired .
Front cross member behind bumper has been replaced at sometime in the past but never welded to secure it in place ….Not a good idea as it is just floating there.
New exhausts installed to replace the rusted out originals which had lasted since 1972!.
Drive shaft has new flex disc and trans has new shift rod bushes.
Mercedes Benz 280SE 3.5 ute Engine swap.
The new engine and trans are installed with a new oil pan ,rear and front crank seals. New injectors with new intake manifold gaskets,timing chain and rails should see a nice reliable tow car for the owner 🙂 .New fuel hoses and clamps will connect the fuel system together .
Mercedes Benz 280SE 3.5 ute Engine swap .
Unfortunately the engine in the Moss green ute was damaged by who ever it was that did the soda blasting ( i hate that stuff….) .It looks as though the car was covered in the bicarb and then driven around their yard with the air cleaner off… or the air cleaner was clogged so they took it off and then proceeded to drive the car. Any how, the soda got into the engine and has ruined the rings and pistons . A combination which has destroyed any hope of compression and no compression equals no start. I stripped the m116 3.5 engine down and my worst fears were realised with massive bore wear 
As usual the head studs were frozen in the heads and it was days work to remove the heads .The valve seats are pitted because of the biCarb soda .
After pricing the gaskets and rings etc the parts cost came close  to $6000 so after consulting the owner it was decided to fit a good 2nd hand engine . After a days hunting a M117 450SL engine was found and this is a Djet engine also so the engine bay will resemble a standard 280SE 3.5 .
This has now been stripped and new seals fitted , the alloy parts have been wet blasted .The timing chain, sliding rails etc will be replaced and the injection system overhauled . The sump has been swapped from the SL short version to the 280SE 3.5 larger version .Water pump was replaced as it wasn’t known how long the engine was on the shelf.
The engine bay was pretty filthy so all of the dirt of 40 years was steam cleaned out in preparation for repair of the paint before the new engine goes in.
Mercedes Benz 250S for sale.
250 S in very straight condition. Been off the road since 2010 due to a minor fault. This is a project car and will require normal work to get registration etc . There is very little rust in the right front sill front and the rear boot box bottom,right hand side. 
No rust in the doors or floors!! no dash cracks ,and the MBtex seats are still very good. Original boot mat is in very nice condition . 
Mercedes Benz W108 250 S recommissioning
A few dodgy things have been uncovered on this car ,such as the gear shift wired together …..
And a plastic hose wired on for the pressure line to the fuel filter…..
A great score!
For my own 6.3 I needed a new radiator and had thought of eitherr making a newer one out of alloy but then i found this on ebay..
A brand new old stock 6.3 radiator for . Â Not $5000 AUD , Not $2500 USD as demanded for a new one but …………. $275. Â Still in it’s original box.
250SE recommissioning
Today (12/08/15) A new job arrived. A really early W108 250 SE . It wouldn’t start although it would turn over.The First job when ever starting a Mercedes that has sat for several years is drain  the tank…
this 4 liters of rotten fuel in a 25 liter bucket… what a rotten stink! I hate this stuff!. The filter was pretty well blocked up. Thank fully a look inside the tank revealed it to be very clean despite sitting for several years.
So that is replaced.
Next job,replace ALL of the rotten rubber fuel lines. 
Followed by replacing the fuel filter..
I’m glad the filter was bravely trying to do it’s job 🙂 .
Once this is out of the way,the tappets have been adjusted but the timing chain needs replacing .All compressions are equal at 150PSi, so far so good….. But the spark plugs,although they look new are all carboned up. Not a good look on a Mfi engine . The Air cleaner needs to be cleaned out and i doubt very much that the oil bath unit has been apart for many many years.
In the meantime a quick look under neath reveals more of the usual things,worn diff bushes everywhere ,spring mount rubbers flogged out and a very leaky diff.
Note the rotten exhaust…nothing like a damp storage area to rot a steel muffler..
Mercedes 280 SE 3.5 ute conversion.
In these  pictures of the distributor, the inside is full of the damned bicarb which was used to strip the older paint of the cars body before painting.
The distributor will be stripped and overhauled because the bicarb will affect the fuel injection trigger points which are in the lower part of the distributor.
In this picture it can be seen that the bicarb has infiltrated the igniton wiring.
benzkraft 