TPowerdinNY

I bought a coupe recently and it needs a few cosmetic pieces for the front. I know the W203 Sedan and Coupe aren't miles away in styling but that the front end is slightly different in a few ways affecting the fitment by a lot. Since I need to replace headlights, hood, and front grill I figure maybe doing a full front conversion couldn't be too hard if I use a Sedan hood, front bumper (AMG), headlights, grill.

Obviously I'd love to know if anyone has any information before I even attempt to do this. I've swapped the front end on a BMW E46 Sedan with a full M3 Coupe front end before using all OEM parts, except a replica CSL front bumper, and modifying the OEM fenders. It wasn't easy because it was the first time with no resources of info and I just had to buy all the parts and attack it from there. After having all the parts it was relatively easy though. If you are familiar with BMWs you will know the differences between coupes and sedans.

I would have to imagine this conversion would be even easier unless the dimensions of both cars are completely different which it doesn't seem that way. Has anyone attempted and failed? Has anyone attempted and succeeded?

I'd appreciate any information, I'll do a little more research. I'm only Porsche and BMW savvy and I don't know much about many Mercedes models besides the W163 and W211 (did an E55 front to E63 front OEM conversion). Thanks in advance to anyone who can add to this thread.

infected

To start things off the fenders are already different and do not line up.

OneOfaKindTrini

To follow up you should not go about doing something like this because it'll leave you stressed out with your car in pieces and you wallet dented with sedan parts you can't use.

XsuperbeeX

dont even try... might as well import the amg bumpers!!!

bdgdl08

Haha. OP should check out that turboed coupe with sedan front that was on ebay. OP, there is no way to make this look good. Just get the coupe parts.

CoupeCrazy03

yes like every coupe owner on here has said, the front ends do not interchange as easy as the BMW's and do NOT look so hot either. If you wanna update the look, invest in either the AMG bumpers or get a Brabus or Carlsson lip or even custom make your own lip for your front People have tried to put the sedan front on the coupe before and it was an epic fail, Im sure that pic is floating around somewhere.

Glyn M Ruck

If you really want to go through the angst fit a CLC nose. At least it fits. See our CLC thread with all the part numbers.

Good luck!

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...onversion.html

TPowerdinNY

CLC swap would be amazing but the fact of importing the parts alone is gonna be expensive. this is an extra car and i don't know how long it will be around so the investment isn't worth it, and not like its an expensive performance machine to throw money at.

i asked for a few sedan parts from a local aftermarket replacement parts shop and they are more different than i expected. it can certainly be done properly but i was hoping minimal modification would need to be done to the fenders and that the hood was at least closer to the coupe's dimensions. too much experimentation for not enough machine.



anyway just for fun here is the conversion i did close to a year ago:

FROM THIS



TO THIS






















2001 BMW 325Xi

Parts List:
- E46 M3 OEM Front Fenders, Modified
- Custom OEM Blown/Modified Rear Fenders to E46 M3 spec
- E46 M3 OEM Front Hood
- E46 M3 OEM Rear Bumper
- E46 Sedan CSL Replica Trunk
- E46 M3 Fitment CSL Replica Front Bumper with ACS front lip
- E46 M3 OEM Mirrors
- E46 M3 OEM Side Skirts
- E46 M3 CSL Diffuser
- E46 OEM M3 Coupe Headlights with Angel Eyes
- HID 8k Kit
- LED Tail Lights
- Clear Front Coupe Corners
- Laguna Seca Blue Body OEM Paint
- Jet Black Roof OEM Paint
- E46 OEM M3 SMG Steering Wheel, Retrofitted and wired to Steptronic Transmission for Paddleshift gear control
- E46 OEM M3 Front Seats in Black Napa
- Custom Dual Wrap-around Exhaust
- E46 OEM M3 Front Calipers and Rotors
- Velocity Motoring CSL Replica Wheels, Staggered with custom offsets
- Suede Wrapped Headliner and Pillars
- Silver Trim
- White Gauges
- Chrome Cluster Rings
- E46 M3 OEM SMG Dome and Shift Knob
- Double Din Pioneer Navigation Avic-Z3 with Bluetooth and iPod adapters

laneshift

True, the coupe isn't much to throw at, but neither is a 325xi? If I were to sink as much money into a 325, I would have thrown all that money into something with a little more "machine" like a 330i. (Just picking from 2001, here.)

Eh, my $0.02, but very nice bimmer. Amazing.

rcompart

Sorry to kick up a thread that's literally a year old but what were the differences? Is this a deal like the CLC conversion where if you have all the parts to do it (hood, fenders, bumper, headlights, possibly core support, etc.) that it would work or do the panels physically not line up, the gap between the front door and fender is not uniform or the placement of the side molding is incorrect? I saw this a while back and always wondered. If anyone can find pictures of a car that did this, that would be great. Trying to see the differences by looking at various pictures of each car but haven't found anything of the sedan front clip on a C-coupe.

Thanks in advance!

thepaddonman

Hi there just wanted to no on the bmw e46 how you used the paddle steering wheel and modified it so you could use it on the steptronic as i would really like to do that to mine. also other thing was was it hard to get the m3 rear bumper to fit on a sedan as would also like to put one of those on mine. thanks. Mark P