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Very sad to report I unfortunately totaled my 2003 C32 that I've owned for 13 years and was an exceptional car
Happened driving on a Chicago expressway and hit a patch of black ice and slid left into a snowbank and concrete barrier and then slid across traffic right into the opposite snow bank. I was fine, airbags never deployed and the hood never crumpled but as the pics show the front end is smashed and not repairable according to a couple body shops who looked at it.
AMAZINGLY the motor STILL runs and starts and appears in tact with the belt and accessories all operating and dont see any oil leaking - the coolant reservoir cracked and fan is damaged so while it starts and sounds normal i have only let it run for 30-60 seconds....
This will sound stupid I know - but as a side project and for fun was considering pulling the motor out (assuming it works) and try to find a c32 with a dead motor for cheap to swap it....if anyone knows of one for sale out there??
Was wondering about swapping the motor into a c240/320 or c230 sport if i found one for cheap but i have read a bunch of posts about the difficulties/costs of doing that due to ECU coding of the VIN but since i have all the c32 electronics from the totaled car maybe those could be reused to make it simpler..way out of my league to sort that out.
Really sorry to read about this. If this ever happens to me, I really want to swap into a wagon. Like you said though, that's beyond my skill set by a lot.
Looks like it was in great shape pre-accident too.
Man, another one bites the dust. Glad to see you were fine.
I was poking around Autotrader and Craigslist nationally, and found a couple non-running C32 for $1800.
It would cost you $1000 to ship, so you’d be $3K before starting. Good look with your decision.
Sorry to see these pictures of you car, glad you are fine. These kind of swaps have been done previously . I even saw a C32 engine being put into an CLK. You have experts in Chicago that can do this for you. Good luck.
Really sorry to read about this. If this ever happens to me, I really want to swap into a wagon. Like you said though, that's beyond my skill set by a lot.
Looks like it was in great shape pre-accident too.
L8 - thanks bud...bummed it was such a great car, so much fun to drive and mod. even with a 15 E63S that is my daily driver and certainly fun to drive, i still miss the mighty c32.
might try to track down Rudy to see if he's got one more motor swap in him for me. whats a few thousand bucks if you really enjoy the car righ
Man, another one bites the dust. Glad to see you were fine.
I was poking around Autotrader and Craigslist nationally, and found a couple non-running C32 for $1800.
It would cost you $1000 to ship, so you’d be $3K before starting. Good look with your decision.
Kbob - thanks and yes very happy to walk away intact aside from ****ting in my pants as it was happening. i'll poke around on craigslist as i checked autotrader and cars.com and only found one in florida for 1100 but was just sold.
yeah figure to get one for 2k, ship it for 1k and then say motor swap + other work needed for 2k and i may have myself a c32 on the road!
Sorry to see these pictures of you car, glad you are fine. These kind of swaps have been done previously . I even saw a C32 engine being put into an CLK. You have experts in Chicago that can do this for you. Good luck.
Thanks Robert... interesting the c32 / clk swap, appreciate the mention of that. i figure either rudy or marcin in chicago knows how to do those non-C32 swaps if anyone does. rudy did the c240 / 4matic swap which would be really fun if i could find a decent 240/4matic and convince him to do it...
Thanks Robert... interesting the c32 / clk swap, appreciate the mention of that. i figure either rudy or marcin in chicago knows how to do those non-C32 swaps if anyone does. rudy did the c240 / 4matic swap which would be really fun if i could find a decent 240/4matic and convince him to do it...
hope youre still enjoying that 63 wagon monster
I would not bother with a 4matic adaptation to the C32 platform. It will make things more complicated and you already have a 4matic wagon. Plus it will be more expensive. I know Rudy can do it because he was consulted on the CLK build. I had connected the NJ shop that was doing the work with him. And i'm familiar with Rudy's other work with engine swaps.
The 63 wagon is a monster. Love every minute when I'm driving it.
Glad u ok dude, that sucks about car I know that u liked driving it.
Morphh - hey man...hope your C32 is running strong. My dead C32 is under a carcover awaiting a new home for its m112k heart to transplant will keep you posted.
enjoy your ride and stay away from the black ice!!
Thanks man
just got my bilstien suspension done myself, with every thing else with suspension done, upper lower control arms sway bar links and bushings outer tie rods front and rear new front mounts. Only thing I did not do was inner tie rods. And all I have to say is wow
all I have left is lcd screen mine not too bad but could change it, getting guy to make me a code 3 IC reservoir tank,
Thanks man
just got my bilstien suspension done myself, with every thing else with suspension done, upper lower control arms sway bar links and bushings outer tie rods front and rear new front mounts. Only thing I did not do was inner tie rods. And all I have to say is wow
all I have left is lcd screen mine not too bad but could change it, getting guy to make me a code 3 IC reservoir tank,
thats awesome work man doing it all yourself.... bet the ride is exceptional! let me know if you need any parts - as you see in my pics, mine is totaled due to the front right and left wheel impact areas but there are many perfect parts if you wanted anything to be parted out. i am still (delusionally) wanting to keep the motor and drop it into a new donor c32 if i can find it but not sure how that will play out.... but as we speak i'm searching for dead c32's now
Thanks man, I love this car it does everything good,
new suspension tightened car up perfect. Ride is better then before huge difference
glad ur ok. I know u loved ur car too.
sounds like you didnt have insurance. Just buy a new one without accidents instead of
frankensteining up a bad title or super neglected car that doesn't run.
Keep your old car for parts or pull the engine if you had super low miles.
spend an extra 3k and get the c55
if you want a project, buy a c43(w202) and put an m113k in... Or do something else fun and different
yeah appreciate the feedback. not many cheap c32's on the market to try and swap my motor with all its mods into it. am finding a ton of decent shape c320's (non - 4matic) and C230 sports sedans on the market for around 2-4k so was considering the swap into those since they are more readily available and I still have my dead c32 with all its electrical, ECU, wiring harness, and everything. need to research this a bit more - its just that my motor had all the mods i wanted (tune, 178mm crank pulley, headers, intake) and was trying to figure out the best way to retain all those options into a working car
yeah, tough to lose your car after 13 years. If you really love your model then hold out for that good deal that is around the corner and swap your mods in. You will be much happier with a clean title in the long run. Couple of grand extra on a clean example isn't going to bankrupt you, less eating out for a month or two would probably make up the difference LOL. If you want a project, there are a ton of ways to go but a project to create a factory version just doesn't make much sense, projects to me anyway, mean creating something that only exists in dreams
V6 3.2 engine is about 220+ BHP and 230+ TQ.
Supercahrged V6 3.2 engine is about 349 BHP without mods and 360+ TQ.
yeah what Lenin said... from a power perspective you bet its worth a swap for the power bump in a CLK but just not sure whats entailed to do the work.
i have at my disposal a perfectly good m112k motor (from my dead C32 car, sitting under tarp in my drive way) with a 178mm crank pulley, headers, Eurocharged tune, NW DCAI,that is for sure above the stock HP/TQ numbers and closer to 415HP.
I really appreciate and am interested in any members feedback on my m112k motor swap options here as for me this is a "for fun" project to take on and throw a few $$$ at it for fun to end up with a unique Benz with a beast AMG m112k motor in it.
Have not yet found a decent lower priced c32, c320 or clk320 (not considering a SRT6) donor car near Chicago to potentially swap my motor into but will keep looking.............stay tuned. Other ideas welcomed.