eFifty5AMG

The Smoking Tire with Matt Farah just posted a video of a 55 swapped 43. Pretty cool to see, is this one of our members?

PJmak

Awesome

He seemed to be enjoying the drive

Sulaco

I'm actually a fan of his and I read jalopnik as much as I can. I've always hoped the idea of a C43 with a 55 swap would end up on their radar!

cm60k

Nice Indeed..

,,ZAYED,,

speed43

Man I wish he had my air box and elbow mods.
Alex, if you're reading this contact me and I will make you a nice deal for your car.
Install the two things and if you do not notice a difference send them back and I will refund your money, no questions asked.

Sulaco

Am I the only nerd here who was weirdly bothered by the facts they got wrong in their video? I'm such a dork.

C43's didn't start life as C280s! They were sent as empty shells to AMG where they were then built by hand!

Also, don't need an E55 tranny for the swap fellas. Your C43 tranny works fine. Also, 160k miles is nothing on a C43, but those guys probably didn't know that

PJmak

Yea he said a few things that werent true but its ok. Im glad the car is getting some recognition

Sulaco

yeah, I'm just a know-it-all jerk. Alex was definitely a laid back and cool dude and we can all agree he has GREAT taste in cars. He even dailys that car and kept the 43 badge (I have too, I have considered the 55 badge and already bought the numbers)

like me, he has a car seat in the back (I have 2, actually). It's great that the 202 C55 is getting some recognition.

I especially liked the part where Matt Farah accurately pointed out that the C43 and C36 are seriously undervalued right now. It's more rare than almost any other AMG beaten only by some of the super-high end weird ones like the R63 or SL73. A guy in a new Audi chased me down and was blown away at my car, he had NO idea there was ever such a thing as a C43.

ARFNSX

I saw this One Take video and it made me fall in love with the C43 again.

I was looking for one a few years ago and I might start looking again real soon. Too cheap to pass up.

nkctb7

You're not alone as the statement about the C43 starting out as a C280 bothered me as well. It is great to see recognition of a great swap but I researched the C43 and its history thoroughly long before I had the opportunity to purchase one. I suppose there are those that admire the car rather than its history but if one is not certain, they should just admit it. Great video and awesome C55.

ARFNSX

My question is how readily available are the 55 engines that can be swapped into the c43? What are the cost?

Sulaco

There are far more 55 engines than there ever were C43s. 1100 C43s shipped here, something like 20,000 various 55 cars. E55 is the best candidate, as it has more torque. 396 ft lbs.

edit: forgot to mention cost. I had no time to dig, so I just hopped on ebay and bought the best motor within my budget. It had 134k and was from a 99 E55, after shipping it was $1500 I think. But many people take their time cruising ebay and pick them up in the range of $1,000 all the time. The install is as easy as can be if you're remotely competent and have an engine hoist. I don't have the shop or the tools, and my eBay seller would warranty my new motor as long as I paid a pro shop to install it. So, my trusty indy mechanic stepped in. (side note: he firmly believed the motor would not work, fully expected me to need a new ECU and tranny at minimum, but this is not a motor "swap" as people understand. this is simply putting a new motor in. it's exactly the same except for displacement and a plastic water spout on one of the heads for transmission cooler, $6 part). I assured him I assume all responsibility for it and I was just paying him for his labor and an invoice that he installed it, if the motor failed it's on me to pay him to take it back out etc. Anyway my total labor cost was around $1,800 and the car was done. If you're going to really do it right, buy the new motor and before it ever goes in have it completely cleaned and freshened up. Valve cover gaskets, oil cooler gaskets, plugs and wires, etc. I did only valve cover gaskets as they are a super common oil leak on m113 engines.

PJmak

If im not wrong, the torque figures depend on what car and ecu the motor is tied to. Its the same motor in all 98-02 5.4 cars???

I got my engine for $1200 with 113k

You can get them for less with better miles. They are everywhere. Dismantle yards especially the ones that deal with icer cars will have them for sure.


A 5.4 swapped c43 will be a nice addition to the list of cars you have

PJmak

01 clk 55 motor and trans with 98k for $1800 on freemont, ca craigslist

Chest Rockwell

Makes me want to pull the motor out of my C36 and stuff a v8 in there instead.

svt ricco

Off topic:
Arfnsx, I just saw your vids on YouTube,how much power does your nix make?i used to have a 91...

And yeah, the guy was having fun with the 55 on it. Who wouldn't? Not bad power wise, it can still surprise some newer cars.

ECTurboGSX

It's important to note that some of the 55 configurations will require an oil pan swap. So if you can get an E55 or 208 CLK55 engine, those are the easiest. I have an S55 motor (42k miles, $1650) and it required an oil pan swap.

PJmak

Which is a piece of cake when the motors are out

DRBC43AMG

Oil pan and oil pump also. Use the one from the C43

ARFNSX

Thank you, my NSX is 585whp which is about 650hp crank hp at 15lbs of boost.

ARFNSX

This is exactly what I needed to know

thank you

Alex33

Hi guys, I haven't been on in a while but that is my car. As for the facts, most are correct. I did not say that you have to swap transmissions for it to be functional but to build a true to spec c55 you do need a different transmission. As far as build numbers, I have heard between 1200-1500 so I could be wrong there. Also, I could have gotten my c36 and c43 stories mixed up, I was not reading from a pre written script so it was just info I remembered from my time on the forums and various research.

As far as the engine performance info, the engine is from a 208 clk55 amg which did not have the 391lb/ft rating of the 210 e55. I could rattle on but you can research my project, specs of the engine and trans and before and after dyno graphs on this forum. I'll even include a few links to my threads to make it easier to follow what I have mentioned. Thanks and I appreciate the positive responses.

Edited to add links:

Here's my super basic swap info thread

Here's my thread on creating a "True" w202 chassis C55

Here's my post swap dyno vid

eFifty5AMG

Cool Alex I figured you were here on the forums, thanks for sharing & thanks for bringing some light to the C43 & the 43/55s!

PJmak

Thanks for sharing the car with the world. Its good to see that people still love these cars

Sulaco

Great work getting it to Matt Farahs radar. He can realy guve us a good signal boost when it comes to letting people know our cars exist!

I love that you've got a car seat in the back. I've got two in mine. Really is an all around great car!