[tazmaan]

Dear Members I had bought a Mercedes M103, 6 cylinder inline, petrol engine in running condition along with transmission (4 speed auto), radiator, transmission oil radiator, ECM, Ac compressor, alternator, power steering pump, complete wiring and pedal assemblies.

I wanted to install the same in my W123 300D but could not gather courage to ruin a good W123 and decided to sell the W123.

Next was to find a suitable car for the above engine a car which had to have a big engine bay and rear wheel drive setup. The only cars I could think of was Contessa and Tata Estate. Contessa being a mono-coupe chassis presented a lot of challenges. Further contessa is hard to find and good specimen was going out of budget. Meanwhile I started hunting for Tata Estate which are hard to find too and specially ones whose body is maintained.

I thought of Premier Padmini and Ambassador too but ruled them out.

I was not able to find either an Estate or Contessa for some time and thought of selling the engine and parts. Put them on sale and got better offer than what I Paid for it. But something prevented me from selling the engine so I packed it and put it in my warehouse.

Suddenly saw an add on OLX for Tata Estate and after verifying the papers and owner details, decided to go for it. Will get the Estate to Mumbai by next week to, extend the fitness certificate and get it transferred.

The work on the car will start after that. I am not planning on any visible mods and want to make sure the car get running. I am aware of legalities involved in such swaps.

So now I have both the engine and the car, Lets see how much time this takes and if I am successful in achieving a sleeper fast Car.

[anandpadhye]

Interesting.
Which workshop will be doing this mod?

[stuntfreak]

This is going to be an exciting one. Glued. Keep us posted with neat stuff! Would love to see the outcome.

Put some more detailed pics pls.

[tazmaan]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Interesting.
Which workshop will be doing this mod?

This will be done by my trusted local mechanic who usually does work on Mercs and the person who used to maintain my W123.

He has done these petrol engine swaps to Tata 407 for CNG conversion too.

Originally Posted by stuntfreak

This is going to be an exciting one. Glued. Keep us posted with neat stuff! Would love to see the outcome.

Put some more detailed pics pls.

The engine is stored at my warehouse and car will come to Mumbai by thursday.

I am anxious about the outcome too! fingers crossed.

[coloneljasi]

Interesting concept. Anxious to see how it turns out. Tata Estates are rarely seen on the roads nowadays, so your idea of shoehorning a 6 cylinder petrol engine into one is even wackier! Something that only hard-core auto enthusiasts like us can understand .

All the best and do keep us posted!

[GTO]

A rare time I'm seeing someone buy an engine and then look for a car to shoehorn it in .

Good luck with the transplant, Tazmaan! Do keep this thread updated with pics & progress. Having seen your W123, I'm sure this build will be nothing short of impeccable. An Estate with 170+ horses got to end up special.

[bigben]

I will definitely be glued to this one. My dad owned a Tata Estate until last year he sold it off. Great vehicle except for it being underpowered. This change will definitely make the drive more exciting.
All the best and kep us posted.

[tazmaan]

My Mechanic has reached Aurangabad to fetch the car. If all goes well should be in Mumbai by tonight.

The car will be registered which will take a weeks time post which work of dismantling will start. The engine is ready to be transported to the Mechanic shop from my warehouse.

People who have had past experience in such swaps please throw some light.

Flashback:

Our family owned a Tata estate for 10 years and was amongst the 1st cars delivered in Mumbai. Estate was my school pick up and drop vehicle. Post the estate we got Tata Sierra on which I learned to drive (That was the last Tata we ever owned). There is some connect with these generation of Tata cars and they all have similar tech.

[tazmaan]

So with shradh over my mechanic finally decided to start work. The old engine is out. The new engine being lowered in order to understand what all body panels need to be cut. The initial impression shows whole area between the headlights need to be cut out. Even after that there will be barely any room for radiator.

The car will end up looking like an Audi only diff being the front grill might actually be the radiator. We have the task of cutting out body panels tomorrow. Hopefully all will fit in.


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[Sankar]

Originally Posted by tazmaan

Dear Members I had bought a Mercedes M103, 6 cylinder inline, petrol engine in running condition along with transmission (4 speed auto), radiator, transmission oil radiator, ECM, Ac compressor, alternator, power steering pump, complete wiring and pedal assemblies.

I wanted to install the same in my W123 300D but could not gather courage to ruin a good W123 and decided to sell the W123.

Next was to find a suitable car for the above engine a car which had to have a big engine bay and rear wheel drive setup. The only cars I could think of was Contessa and Tata Estate. Contessa being a mono-coupe chassis presented a lot of challenges. Further contessa is hard to find and good specimen was going out of budget. Meanwhile I started hunting for Tata Estate which are hard to find too and specially ones whose body is maintained.

Originally Posted by tazmaan

The new engine being lowered in order to understand what all body panels need to be cut. The initial impression shows whole area between the headlights need to be cut out. Even after that there will be barely any room for radiator.

I think a Contessa would have been a better candidate for this engine because the Contessa (aka the Vauxhall Victor) engine bay looks big enough to accommodate an I6 engine. A 3.2L I6 engine was a factory option for the Vauxhall Victor.

Glued to this thread and waiting for updates.

[tazmaan]

Originally Posted by Sankar

I think a Contessa would have been a better candidate for this engine because the Contessa (aka the Vauxhall Victor) engine bay looks big enough to accommodate an I6 engine. A 3.2L I6 engine was a factory option for the Vauxhall Victor.

Glued to this thread and waiting for updates.

True Contessa looked like a better bet but the engine bay was still small. As a matter of fact the chassis arrangement of contessa left lesser room inside the engine bay along the length. Further its not ladder on frame chassis and cutting any body part would have sacrificed stability. With the estate I don't care what body part we end up cutting.

And this might be the only Tata estate with 6 cylinders in the world! There are many Vauxhall Victors out there !!

[tazmaan]

The engine is in. After a removing the front body parts engine did fit in. Now to make some room upfront we are shifting the engine few inches back. We are going to cut a portion of the firewall in order to achieve this. Once that is done the engine mounts will be fabricated along with gear box mount. The gear box will be installed at the same time.

Sorry no pics haven't got time to go see the progress.

Though not something I need to do now. The kerb weight of Tata Estate and W126 SEL are similar around 1600 kgs. The SEL does 100 km/h around 9 seconds with this engine. I was thinking if I can shed 200 odd kgs off the estate it can achieve 100 km/h under 9 seconds.

[badboyscad]

Following this thread closely..Please keep us posted..

[tazmaan]

Well it's got messy lots of cutting , floor board cutting but finally transmission n engine is in. Now aligning them to fabricate engine and transmission mounts.

My mechanic has gone to goa so nothing going to happen for a couple of days.


Another statistic: tata estate engine dry without oil weighs 220 kgs and new one weighs 200 kgs.


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[tazmaan]

Engine mounts are ready needs a few tweaks and final welds.

Electric work has started too. It looks like electrical work will take some time.

I hope to post the engine sound soon.


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