When I was a kid I used to build car models alot. One car that always stuck with me was the Tamiya 190e Evo II.


I have climbed my way up through the automotive industry over the last 15 years. Went to school for Chassis Fabrication and High Performance Engine Building. My first stint after school was working at a Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep dealership. Spent 4 years there getting proficient at turning wrenches. From there I went on work at a fabrication shop building Dirt Modified chassis for a few years. This is where I honed my MIG and TIG welding along with roll cage building. We build cars from the ground up there. I moved on to working at AI Design near NYC which is one of the highest end car customization shops on the east coast. Eventually I grew tired of the commute and joined a Porsche Racing Development shop about 25 minutes away from me. After spending some time there I yet again moved on to another Racing Development shop. We work on all sorts of high end race cars. I work as the fabricator and on the the main techs at the shop. We race at a professional level in the GT World Challenge, we support 2 VW Golf GTI TCR and actually one the championship this past season.


When we are not racing the VWs we do 9 hour endurance races in the American Endurance Racing series. I am the car chief of a BMW M3:

I just told you way to much about myself but I figured it may give some legitimacy to the project I have started. 2 weeks ago I bought a 1993 190e with a solid body.

I also purchased a new heart for it. I will be squeezing a 5.0L from a 2002 CL500.

I will be using a PMC Motorsport conversion kit that will allow me to run a BMW ZF 5 speed transmission.



Engine management will be an EMU Black made by ECU Masters.

I started on the project today by first pulling the dead 2.3 out of it. I am starting the project at home because I have a lift. Once I get the engine swapped in here, I'll be bringing to the shop to do the cage and various other things.


Yanked the engine out this afternoon. I will mock fit the engine soon so that I can plan out some new mounting and modifications to the crossmember.

I will be ditching the steering gear for an electric assist power steering set up. Brakes will obviously be on the list. Suspension will most likely be custom mounted coil overs. I do not the the suspension design they come with so I'll be changing that significantly.

That's it for now. I'll keep this updated as I move along. Also will have an Instagram account documenting progress: @190ev8

 

nice build. that appears to be a sportline also.

 

Great Build looking forward to your project, with your experience sounds like you can pull this off

 

Thanks guys. I certainly have the skills to pay the bills.

Got some more stuff rolling in. Engine will be here tomorrow. Picked up a ZF 5 speed trans over the weekend.

Decided to go with a full electric assisted steering instead of hydraulic.


Also got in my fancy dash (aim mxl pista):



Still waiting on the trans adapter from the UK. ECU Masters should have a fresh batch of the EMU Black next week. Also going to be getting longtube headers.

Thats it for now.

 

Picked up the M113 yesterday!

 

Got a bunch of parts in. Trans adapter and clutch, electric assisted steering, ECU Masters EMU Black, amd wiring harness.

Test fit the engine/trans combo today and I have to say it doesn't look like I'll need to do a ton of modifications to the body for this at all work.

 

Great build. Looking forward to hearing the cold start and revs video!

 

Really like the fitment of the swap. Any progress?