I had 2 2.3-16 cars (I'm in the US, I had 1 US spec '87 Automatic, and a gray market '85 Manual dog leg) in the late 90's, they were fun, and cool, but were still slow. But due to rarity, I could not bring myself to do an engine swap even though I wanted to badly (Glad I didn't, I was only 20 at the time, and didn't have the custom experience I thought I did). After that I worked at European tuning shops for about 20 years, and specialized in pretty crazy swaps. I recently decided it is time to finally build something close to what I wanted back then. I in the last few days purchased a 1991 190E with no engine or trans and new black paint in really decent shape, and a 2001 Suburban Z71 for the engine. Still trying to find a decent manual trans for the swap, but the T56 6 speed transmission that is the logical choice is pretty crazy expensive ($3K looks like an average starting point). I also plan on doing an Evo 2 body kit, I have seen a few options, but need to do more research on the fit and finish of the varying kits available. There is pretty little info out there on doing this obviously. I am mainly just looking for info on the major pitfalls of the swap (Looks like the steering is the biggest issue). I am fully confident on doing the swap and the fabrication, I just want to know as much going in as possible so there are no major unexpected surprised. There is a 12 or so video series on Youtube (From Kirbzzilla Vlogs), but they seem pretty green when it comes to swaps, and it looks like they were quick to compromise many parts of the build instead of finding a better solution to several things (Cutting holes in the hood instead of swapping to a proper intake manifold, getting rid of the power steering, etc.). Plus it is not a finished car yet. Are there any other better documented builds from more advanced builders on these swaps? I attached the pics of the 190E I just bought, the Suburban donor vehicle, one of my old 2.3-16 cars (Pic is distorted, it was not cambered like that!), and the motivational Evo 2 pic! Thanks for any links!

I’ve got a build thread. It’s a lot of work to do right.