Next it was time to address the accessories and the front of the engine. The first thing I did this weekend was to strip everything down, plug up all the critical holes and pathways, and then give the engine its second washing. This got rid of the remaining hidden grease and grime, and left me with this fairly clean front section.


The rust stain matched the much nastier looking water pump, and gave the tell tale sign that water was sitting in this engine for a while. Further cleaning and detailing occurred until it was time to begin reassembly. The plan was to replace the water pump, thermostat, accessory idler, and the accessory tensioner. The power steering pump on this M113K is an extended one for the ABC adjustable suspension that the CL55 had. This necessitated a Crossfire power steering pump. The A/C compressor looked identical, so the decision was made to stick with the M113K's, as it is lower mileage than the one in the car. The alternator from the CL55 appears to be both larger, more robust, and better quality. We'll go with that one.

First up was the thermostat. Opening the box, despite being the correct part number, yielded a thermostat housing for a non-"K" engine. Upon inspection, it appeared that the thermostat itself was the same, so the M113K thermostat was disassembled, bead blasted, and the guts of the thermostats were swapped. Problem solved! Onto the water pump. OK, what a pain! This was a correct part number for the M113K. Still, there were three holes in the casting that are needed, but were not threaded. I read about this problem in Jared's V8 swap THREAD, and thought I was on top of it. Nope. The "K" engine has two more needed holes for the supercharger belt tensioner. Fortunately, the tools for the job were on hand, but still... I digress.



If you swap a V8 into your car, or even just replace the water pump at all, carefully compare the new one to the old one, checking for untapped holes.

Once past this, the rest went well. All of the attachment points needed are there on the M113K, even thought they are not used. For instance, there is a hook and a tapped hold, specifically for the tank of a power steering pump that other engines (like the M112/M112K) have. It's almost like MB was thinking people might swap engines!



I hit one other minor snag. The power steering pump came from the wrecked SRT-6. The pulley from that engine is an 8 rib pulley, as one drive belt runs everything, including the supercharger. The M113K has a separate accessory belt drive, and supercharger belt drive. The ABC pump pulley would probably fit, but it has a large 'hat' on it that appears to be there to add mass. Perhaps to dampen vibration or noise? Anyway, the SRT-6 pulley allows a good mock up, to be sure everything is OK. When the project car goes under the knife later this week, the M112 type pulley will be swapped in.

Next up, the intake manifolds and valve covers will be removed, bead blasted and powder coated. Spark plug change time, and a fuel rail modification to "loop" the rail, ending fuel starvation problems at the front of the engine. After that, mating of the engine and trans, and then we are just about ready to bring the Crossfire into the shop to remove the engine. Stay tuned!