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.