tiderfish

Greetings,

I want to explore the possibility of an engine swap on my 2005 C230 Sport (6spd).

I am in a position where I could purchase a C55 AMG parts car to fix some damage on my C230. I read in an article that to make room for the large V8 engine, they used a front end clip from CLK55.

From Motortrend:



Both cars are MY 2005.

How the fron end of my car is in good shape. I am wondering how many parts I would have to swap out to make a V8 fit, replacing a 1.8L kompressor.

The other challenge would be to mate the bell housings to keep the manual transmission. That is the most important part, keeping the stick!


Matt|ttaM

tiderfish

A quick blurb about me. I recently swapped engines in my F150, so I know I can do it. I miss that project and I find myself in a new project with my prized Merc.

alboogiee

Like MT wrote, it's more than just the motor. I would say you need EVERYTHING from the firewall foward on the C55 to mate the two. IIRC the front frame rails are not the same length which would prove to be a challenge. If you were to get this done I think the ECU would also be troublesome...not worth it IMO.

C230 Mulac

If you really do this, please post a progress thread, that would be an interesting project to see. But it definitely is a lot of work. You would have to re-work the whole front end of the body to make the engine fit. Not sure if it will mate to the tranny or not, but more importantly what the torque rating is of the 6MT. You should research that first if you're trying to keep the manual.

Saaboteur

I was thinking about this post as I was driving around today, and a few thoughts came to mind. I suppose you could do up an adaptor plate to mate the trans to the 55 engine, but then you're throwing your spacing off, and you'll need a custom clutch and flywheel. Might need some firewall mods too, because it's relatively tight there. But the single biggest issue, I think, would be electronics. Not a lot of people muck around with Benzes to that extent, it's not like a Honda where the alphabet soup of engines and transmissions has been hacked and recoded. The performance Mercedes scene for cars of this vintage is relatively small - compare to, say, Honda S2000s where guys have swapped later motors into the cars, done the electronics, done the adaptor plate. You can buy kits for that. Even Audi guys have done more with their cars than Benzes, as there are a lot of engine and transmission swaps going on there.

Electronics wise - probably far easier to do up what you contemplate with an LS swap with a manual transmission. You'd have to throw out most of the OE electronics though, and basically start again.

However, there are probably just a handful of people you could contact regarding an engine swap that you contemplate - username 'rcompart'. Send him a PM and see what he says.

ghiaguy

http://carbuying.jalopnik.com/forget...000-1636295480

Viper98912

Easy.

Step 1. Sell C230.
Step 2. Buy C55.

Seriously, this is way too much trouble - these cars are so cheap now you'll probably spend LESS money buying one than doing the swap. And it'll actually work the first time.

PeterUbers

Doing this in a ford truck has to be soooo much cheaper

C230 Mulac

LOL! That's funny

sk8erjosh09

The missinformation of the parts needed/contacts for info is pretty funny.

The NA swap isn't all that hard, your first try is a PITA and there's custom work to be done but if you don't want to do it, I charge $8K for a full build. Shipping's on you and I can do either trans, but if you have an auto you will have to upgrade to at least a 722.641 so the price would adjust based on certain things like that. If you have the manual then you'll need the beefier flywheel and clutch from the SLK's.

C230 Mulac

Just checked out your swap into the Crossfire, looks like good work. Must have been a fun project haha

C230 Mulac

Speaking of swaps, my future plan with this car is eventually buy a used E55 engine, rebuild it while it's out of the car, and eventually swap it into the C55 when this engine gets too old...that'll be fun

Melvis Corrales

Hey man I see you mentioned that to keep the manual transmission with the v8 I want to achieve this but don’t know much about it is it possible with a adaptor plate maybe

AtlasMG

What's different is everything from the firewall forwards you would have to replace everything or cut and custom make parts your best option would be a c32 amg swap. From what I have heard it's pretty much a bolt in swap and you could run the 6 speed because the engine came in the crossfire and it was manual plus it makes almost the same power and has that cool supercharger sound and much more mods to be installed.

Handbuilt

The C55 has a unique front end different from any w203. When they designed it, the windshield forward is from the w209 chassis plans so that the motor could fit.

Now to answer your question:

Yes it is possible, just as anything is possible. BUT there is not enough space to fit that motor along with all the other parts you need. It would cost you more in TIME and MONEY to do the modifications in order to fit it. I would strongly not recommend anybody to do that. You’re better off buying the C55 itself or attempt to fix the salvage one if its not that bad in shape, it would be way more economical and make more sense.


EDIT: I just realized this was a post from 2014 that got dug up. Any updates on the matter?

amgen

If I remeber correct there was a swede who swapped his C32-engine in his C32 to a E55 kompressor-engine.
Can´t find the thread right now.
Lots of custom things to make it fit into the C32 engine compartment and reprogramming.


Oh, just found it!

https://mbworld.org/forums/c32-amg-c...e-kicking.html