I have a 2008 c300 4matic, great car, i've owned for 4 years now and its in tip top condition with 220k on it. I both this car after I built a mustang a long time ago with 600whp and lost my license with it so I wanted some slow that wont get me tickets.. Well this is too slow, i've fitted k&n filters, optimized the stock ram airs for maximum flow, over sized the filter box, got a sprint booster, its nice and peppy for street driving but on the highway its a dog and I want v8 power again.. Now I've been spoiled and will never go anything else then german for my daily but I also love the challenge on working on these cars. The first thing I did to my c300 is pull the transmission out because I got the car with a blown transfercase bearing and I knew I could do the labour.

I had a plan on putting the 3,5L m272 when my 3L goes but damn these engines are good, with 220k on it and its yet to leak or burn any oil. But the 3.5 from pre facelift only made 40hp more so im not sure if that would be enough for me and with swapping a 2011+ direct injection 3.5L looks like a pain and might as well save that effort for something more rewarding.

So i have this crazy idea on buying a an older donor car with a 5.4 supercharged engine in it and try to swap it in my 2008 c300, would that be an impossible task ? I gave up on swapping a 6.2 in it because they are ridiculously priced compared to m113s and it also gives me the option of adding 4matic if I desire later on. Are the w204's still too new for swap because I dont see many people attempting such projects on these yet, a few 2jz's swaps and I've seen this swap done on a post once but I cant find it, the fasted c63 quarter mile, they twin turboed a m113 and fitted the 4matic from the previous gen e class into the w204 but for starters id be happy with just a v8 in my w204 for under the price of a c63, possible ?

 

Nothing is impossible if you have enough time, ability and momey. I;m sure it is not as simple as just swapping out the motors. Getting all the electronics to work together would be be a nightmare I imagine. And that is just the start. Plus, at the end of of the day with the time and money spent you could just go out and buy a 2008-2009 C63 for under $20K and have something that is properly sorted. That is probably why you don't see anyone doing that kind of thing. Just sounds like it would turn into a money pit, but hat's off to you if you do it..

 

let us know how you fixed your transfer case

post a diy or something bro

 

Its nothing hard really, it took me 4-5hours pulling the transmission out on my driveway with 2 jacks, I did need a transmission jack and some extra hands to fit it back in but its not a hard job. Once it's out, talking the trasfer case is just a few bolts and mercedes sells a transfer case rebuild kit, basicly just all new bearings and seals. I brought my transmission to a local mechanic I know very well and he rebuilds transmissions, he changed those bearing in 2 hours and it was ready to put back in.

Now I would have to take a few pictures but there is a seal, where the axle shaft comes from the front differential to the transfer case that is very hard to put properly, the seal can bind very easily when installing the driveshaft into the transfer case and also the shaft runs right where that seal, so make sure to sand it.

My mechanic guarantied his job and when I put it back in the car, that seal on the output shaft was leaking and the only way to get to it is to take the whole transfer case appart. Now he was lucky he was able to drop the exhaust and transmission mount and lower the whole rear of the transmission just enough to take the transfer case appart and we realized I didnt really had to remove the transmission, the job can be done with the removing the exhaust, dropping the transmission mount and you have enough room to pull the transfer case appart. much easier installing all the bearings with the transmission out but its very doable without removing it if you have access to a lift.

 

That's great information! An E55 swapped C300 would be amazing honestly, it would definitely be a real project car. A real one-of-a-kind build =]

 

Thats great. I really wanted to go that route but in the end not a single mechanic wanted to even think about rebuilding/taking apart the trans, even if I bought the parts from the original company in france (hard to find, you seem to have found them easy?) so I ended up having to get a new one. Definitely killed me.

if you do a swap let us know. car-part.com has wrecks but im sure you can find an undamaged engine for a decent price. It should be do-able. C36 4Matic Huh? xD

 

Wel I'm from canada and 90% of mercedes here are 4matic and this transfer case issue is pretty common. I found local part suppliers that had kits with, its is only few bearings and seals, Also I took the chance but when we took the actually part numbers from the bearing and races, we found a few suppliers, not OEM from mercedes but its the same part so they just label it as theres..You need to get those bearings out and look for the part numbers on each part, they are plenty available and you have to be specialize to work on these tranmissions, lots of little tricks you have to know that why a lot of them would never attempt it.


And yes, Im going to keep an eye out for smashed c63s, they are dropping in value and maybe a 6.2 swap will be challenging enough compared to 5.4 one, it would actually be very easy in comparison ..

 

did you ever end up doing it, I’m looking to swap something bigger in. The programming part is something I wouldn’t be able to do.

 

So, yeah! I got a 2010 C300 and a M113K motor as well. I'm looking for some guidance on this as well. This is something that I AM MOST CERTAINLY 100% GOING TO BE DOING THIS YEAR!!! I am not a mechanic or a technician. I am willing to learn as I go. Any and ALL help from the community is welcomed. I will be filming and youtubing the whole thing. I will be uploading some pics to this thread soon so if y'all are interested please stay tuned.

 

so how did it go?

 

Wow, this is exactly the kind of build I’ve been dreaming about. I’m planning to pick up a W204 C250 Coupe and use a W211 E500 as a donor—so seeing someone actually pull off the M113 swap into a 204 gives me hope! I’ve got a few questions I’d really appreciate your insight on: 1. Electronics: How did you handle the wiring and ECU side of things? Did you integrate the M113’s ECU with the W204’s systems, or go standalone? 2. Dash/Instrument Cluster: Are you still running the original W204 dash? Did you manage to keep all the gauges and functions working properly? 3. Transmission: Did you retain the 7G-Tronic or switch to something else like the 722.6? I’m on the fence about keeping the 7G with paddle shifters—curious to know what you did and why. 4. Drivability and reliability: Now that it’s running, how’s it been long-term? Any major hiccups? Your build is serious inspiration. If you’ve got any photos or a thread documenting the process, I’d love to dive deeper. Thanks for sharing your journey—it’s really helping others like me figure out what’s possible.