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The 'mod of opportunity' was the installation of a pair of 204 C63 front seats. As this is a captive audience, I can tell the story, as it is rather serendipitous.
In late September 2020, I began experiencing some issues with the EIS. Or at least I thought I was. Sometimes the key wouldn't even turn in the switch, sometimes would turn, but wouldn't start the car. I then located a guy across the country in Ontario (but not in the US, which makes shipping so much easier - I can have a package across the country overnight if I drop it off at the local Purolator outlet by 5:00pm). So I got in touch with him, and he said that if he couldn't fix my EIS, he'd locate one to clone. At the time, knowing that there were a few 203s in the local self-service yard not 5 minutes from my office, I figured I might as well go and grab one.
Being one's own boss, I can basically do whatever I want as long as my work schedule doesn't conflict, so I went home immediately, removed the EIS from the car, took my wife's GLK to the yard and went looking at the 203s for a spare EIS or three. Unfortunately, the two 203 sedans had the old style EIS, but the third, a coupe, had the newer style. Grabbed it. By this time, I had to hoof it because I had to pick my daughter up from school. But then I saw another Benz in the yard, a 204. Got closer and realized it was a C63. Nuts. The self-service yards rarely have such new cars in them, let alone the high performance ones. The car had taken a hit in the front. It was basically just a shell by the time it got to the yard, as someone else had stripped out the engine, transmission, doors, bumpers, etc. However, the seats were still there. And I could tell that someone had tried to remove the seats already because some of the fasteners on the seat rails were removed. But without power, the seats could not be moved back and forth to get at the bolts holding the seats to the chassis.
I didn't have a lot of time nor tools as I was just aiming to grab an EIS, so I left quickly. Whenever I visit a yard, I typically post the Benzes that are there to the local Benz club FaceBook group so guys can see what's what, but not that day. I kept quiet. Then I ran off to pick up my daughter from school, drive her home, then get everything packed up and off to the Purolator outlet to get the package off, then back home for a parent teacher interview! What a crazy day! I remember leaving the yard, and having to stop for a train crossing. It was at that point that I began googling and found a thread in the 203 forum discussing swapping C63 seats into a 203, this thread here:
I remember thinking that it would be a nightmare to wire into my car, but I'd grab the seats anyway because at the very least, I could make a gaming chair out of one, and maybe an office chair out of the other; or sell them.
The next day I went back to the yard to grab the C63 seats. Armed with the knowledge from the thread imparted by @KevinH2000 I was able to remove the seats in about 5 minutes flat each. The pin assignments from Kevin's hard work to trace those enabled me to quickly move the seats so that I could access the bolts.
In about 2002-2003, I spent about $10 for admission to Klondike Days (the yearly summer fair), and got to see Sam Roberts play a concert. Best $10 and deal I ever had. But the C63 seats took the cake - $80 for the pair of front seats! I also grabbed the steering wheel, amp and a few other things. Neglected to grab the carbon decklid spoiler and the stereo though, oh well. But damn, those seats - such a deal. I was giddy for days. I am really lucky that the seat airbags did not deploy. I know the car wasn't damaged to the sides much because actually the crash photos were posted on the local MB club FB group, and the parts were still listed for sale recently (at time of writing) on the local classified site. And I am pretty sure I got to the car just a day or so after it went out into the rows. The seats weren't really nicked at all, just a bit of mud on them. Seat heaters work too! That especially is a nice bonus because the seat bottom heaters in my car never worked since I've had the car. So it makes a nice winter car now actually!
So what does this story have to do with the EIS? Well, the local mechanic who installed the headers actually knows a guy locally who can code keys and EISs. I was kicking myself when he told me, because then I wouldn't have had to send the EIS across the country by overnight courier, twice, to get it back into my car and running. But if I had done that, then I would never have gone to the yard looking for an EIS and would never have stumbled on the C63! If you got this far, I hope you enjoyed the story.
Details of the installation of the seats into my car are in Kevin's thread in the main 203 forum (linked above). The install was pretty easy, just some re-pinning and fabbing up some wiring to get power and ground to the lumbar controls. Cake.
The past few months have reawakened my desire to mod the car, and the forums have helped. I've since also discovered many threads and posts by Jake (@BF_JC230) and he's coached me along with adding thermotronic (which I really wanted for the Rest function, a feature I've missed since my 202 C43). So thanks to Jake for posting so much good info on this topic. I used part number 203 830 19 85, for the AC LED logic which matches my car's build date. I sourced this particular controller from eBay.de and paid a lot more for it than if found closer to home, but couldn't find that part number anywhere else. Anyway, a lot of good info in these threads here about the various part numbers and features and such:
I actually prefer the knobs but the digital temperature display is cool looking, and of course the Rest function was what I really wanted. In my car, installing the 203 830 19 85 HVAC controller was plug and play, although when the local mechanic was figuring a few other things out, he coded the unit to activate Rest. It was working previous to his coding work though.
Last edited by Saaboteur; Dec 20, 2020 at 03:11 AM.
That's really about it for now. In the future, I will be copying more of Jake's OE mods, though I'm not sure I will retrofit distronic cruise control (but never say never I guess). I have acquired the specific light/mirror switch for power folding mirrors, but now just need to find the power folding mirrors. Kicking myself for not buying a complete set of the mirrors and the specific switch off the classifieds here a few years ago, but oh well. I had to find the specific switch from another German eBay seller. Next will be to find the power folding mirrors themselves, so am looking to eBay.co.uk sellers for that. Also hunting for the non-smoking package cubbyhole, and an interior motion sensor.
I forgot to mention that I went back to the self serve yard seemingly every day for about two weeks. The girls there started to recognize me, lol. I nearly picked the C63 clean. I eventually ended up taking the entire headliner out too, as I had a good look at the shape of it compared to the one in my car, and I'm pretty sure it'll fit. Haven't tried it yet, but that's coming, maybe next spring/summer. Why the C63 headliner? Well, it's black/grey, as opposed to light grey/beige, and we all now darker colours are sportier and add more horsepower. Unfortunately, when I was hauling the headliner and the pillar trim pieces to the office to pay, the A-pillar trim fell out. I didn't notice until the next day when I went to pick up the headliner (I had to go back as I didn't drive my SUV there that day). The A-pillar trim pieces had fallen out of my grasp and directly onto the path that the yard's huge front end loaders travel. The trim pieces were smashed.
I also think the steering wheel from the C63 will fit. A look at 204 airbags on eBay seems to suggest the connectors are the same as on 203s. I would like to compare the steering wheel controls between the 203 and 204 though. I picked up the 204 clock spring from the C63 just in case.
All of that seems to suggest to me that 203s and 204s are more closely related than you think. Not a clean sheet design like the 205. More of an evolution - if you know Porsches, think 996 to 997, or 964 to 993, as opposed to 993 to 996, or 991 to 992.
I forgot to mention the upgraded heaterbox. I learned from Jake that some 203s have an extra element to the heaterbox with charcoal filters, and extra stepper motors. Low and behold, I managed to find a couple of 203s in the local yards with the upgraded heaterboxes. Unfortunately, one was toast, but I grabbed the other one. It's slightly damaged though, so I'm going to keep an eye out for more. With all of that hooked up, plus the air quality and solar angle sensors, it should mean there is full functionality to the upgraded HVAC controller. More to do, but the fun part is hunting for the parts! These are cheap mods, I think I paid about $40 for the heaterbox and extra heater fan. I now also have a collection of about half a dozen air quality sensors and two solar angle sensors taken from various cars.
Finally, some more fun photos from the past few years. Back in the summer of 2017, I was getting ready to drive the family down to Vancouver for our annual summer road trip, in our Land Rover LR3. Lots of space in that thing, but a buddy and I had recently done the front diff pinion seals. However, on re-assembly, even though I matched the depth of the nut, the lash wasn't set up right so the diff would whine a bit. I didn't want to chance it for a 3,000-3,500km round trip. So on the spur of the moment, I unpacked everything from the LR, including the roof box, and put everything into the C55. Anyone with small children will know how much stuff two little kids have, so it was packed. But then off we drove without a problem, and it was a lovely trip too! Some photos of that are included, plus a few more from putzing around town and next to my 997. No foglights in the photos with the roof box because I was trying to figure out installing some complete LED units at the time. Never did manage to figure that out, so just went back to yellow halogens instead. Last photos are of some custom floor mats that have much better side coverage, perfect for winter.
I forgot to mention that also in the past two years, the car has been backed into twice! Both times, car was parked, just minding its own business. So I've had two new front bumpers and one new grille in that time. Pretty crazy.
Also forgot to mention that I also added an DTK ECU and TCU tune. The engine tune gives a lot better throttle response, the TCU tune is much more subtle. I would like to K-swap the car though - as in M113K not Honda K-series, lol. And I think the suspension needs a refresh, so I'm starting to gather parts for that too.
The car remains a joy to drive, as it has been since I bought it. Even more so now with the mods. Objectively, its value on the market is pretty cheap, and I've dumped a lot of cash into parts in it lately, as the recent posts show. I doubt I could recover those monies again if I sold it. But I don't think I will sell it. It may not be as quick as the newer small AMGs, but it is far more rare. I really do love the 204 C63, but I really enjoy my car. It's pretty stealth too. I think I've seen just 2-3 others on the road in that time. Ironically, after all this time, about a year and a half ago, I set up my own business and what do I see at another business about 200m away? A silver C55.
Last edited by Saaboteur; Dec 20, 2020 at 03:38 AM.
Nicely done!! Should be an absolute beast after this.
Love the M156 oil cap and painted surge tanks, looks awesome.
Is that an engine bay intercooler reservoir I spot?
How did you mount it and where did you get it?
The intercooler reservoir is just a generic Amazon sourced item, but with some other fittings welded on for placement where I needed them. It's only 1L capacity, so I'm already thinking of some other options to get more volume. It's not really mounted at all, it's just sitting on the chassis rail. I couldn't get it close enough to the rad support to bolt it on there without the lines getting kinked. I figure the lines basically keep it in place sufficiently, and the weight of it and the coolant is held by the chassis rail so okay, let it be.
Thinking of a couple options - possibly a custom built tank in the current location but obviously with more volume; a custom built tank at the cabin air filter location; an even larger custom built tank at the cabin air filter location with the battery relocated to the trunk; or potentially a small 4L fuel cell (used a lot in junior dragsters) mounted in the current location. I like the current location best just to keep the lines short, and no modification elsewhere. Plenty of time to figure that out later though.
Next step is to install the upgraded fuel system, consisting of W203 C230 1.8L Kompressor sending unit and modified main pump bucket, along with Golf GTI external fuel filter and fuel pressure regulator. The whole setup mimics the stock C230 set up just to use the external filter. That should bring pressure at the rail up to the required 6 bar range, presently only about 4 bar.
The intercooler reservoir is just a generic Amazon sourced item, but with some other fittings welded on for placement where I needed them. It's only 1L capacity, so I'm already thinking of some other options to get more volume. It's not really mounted at all, it's just sitting on the chassis rail. I couldn't get it close enough to the rad support to bolt it on there without the lines getting kinked. I figure the lines basically keep it in place sufficiently, and the weight of it and the coolant is held by the chassis rail so okay, let it be.
Thinking of a couple options - possibly a custom built tank in the current location but obviously with more volume; a custom built tank at the cabin air filter location; an even larger custom built tank at the cabin air filter location with the battery relocated to the trunk; or potentially a small 4L fuel cell (used a lot in junior dragsters) mounted in the current location. I like the current location best just to keep the lines short, and no modification elsewhere. Plenty of time to figure that out later though.
Next step is to install the upgraded fuel system, consisting of W203 C230 1.8L Kompressor sending unit and modified main pump bucket, along with Golf GTI external fuel filter and fuel pressure regulator. The whole setup mimics the stock C230 set up just to use the external filter. That should bring pressure at the rail up to the required 6 bar range, presently only about 4 bar.
Yes the ideal setup would be in the trunk or cabin filter, away from the engine bay heat but for a quick setup, in bay tank is fine.
I'm not sure about the C55 but the C32 uses the W203 1.8L Kompressor sender if you have the 5-pin setup (late 2002-2004), I'm currently using a sender from a 2006 W203 C180 (same part number).
Additionally, the C32 has an external filter/fuel pressure regulator (combo, both in one unit).
Not sure why that changed for the C55, although I have no knowledge about the C55 fuel setup but I'd have assumed it'd be the same as a C32.
At some point, I believe the M112 203s also changed over to a complete in-tank filter/fuel pressure regulator. It does make my upgrade in this instance a bit more work. That said, there is more than one way to upgrade the fuel system. I'm going this route, probably a bit more part and time consuming, as I want a more seamless, OE fit.
First photo below is from a junkyard facelifted 203 C230 Kompressor. Second photo is same view on my car.
Soak the seats in it and let it sit(preferably in the sun) for at lest 24 hours.
Repeat this two or three times. It will soften up the leather and drive out any dirt. I've used this on my seats I scored for cheap and they feel so soft now.
Soak the seats in it and let it sit(preferably in the sun) for at lest 24 hours.
Repeat this two or three times. It will soften up the leather and drive out any dirt. I've used this on my seats I scored for cheap and they feel so soft now.
Can vouch for this process, did this with my C32, left it for 48 hours in 40C heat and my leather came out so soft and matte and reduced the appearance of some wrinkles/wear.
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
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