Mercedes Forum - Mercedes Benz Enthusiast Forums

hi guys. Well let's start with, I own a Hotrod shop so if you lovethe Mercedes in it's original form, you're going to hate mine.
Ihave always liked the looks of the 107 body but tall gearing, low power, only a few stadard transmissions, sedan suspension, and the huge steering wheel kept me from getting one. In trading around I ended up with a clean but high milage '79 450SL. I looked into building the 4.5 engine but a lack of basic perfomance parts and a limited chioce in gearboxes forced me to scrap that idea. So here's where we are.
With the lack of choices in suspension upgrades and knowing I was going to change drivetrains I decided to build the front suspension from scratch. I started with an aftermarket Mustang II crossmember and control arms but built the upper control arm mount and spring pockets so I could use any of the spring rates from the race catalogs. This also opens up choices for front brakes. This is a bolt-in crossmember. If you want one, let me know, I can build more. There are two ways to do the rear. I could replace the stock third member with one from a Mark III Supra or one from a Twin Tubo 300zx. These are posi, 3:90 geared, strong,and under $300.00.I decided to use the rearend from a Fox body Mustang. Strong, cheap, and many choices for brakes and spring rates. It was also easy to do as a bolt-in 4-link system. Motor is a 377 inch small block Chevy backed by a T-56 six speed. I'm still woking on the plutch pedal setup. I know some came with a standard trans but even finding illustrations of them let alone a used set is difficult. I may end up using a Wilwood clutch/brake pedal set but I'll loose the power booster.
That's my SL. It still looks like a stock 450SL inside and out but now performs like the sports car it's supposed to be.