iamthe0ne23

After a few months of looking around at potential trade ins and upgrades to my W204 C63 nothing was scratching the itch for me (a '15 E63S came close) so I decided instead to keep her and go all in. This is the start of a build journey for my 70k mile, 2008 C63 AMG.

Before / Start of the Journey

Got her originally in 2015 when I first moved to the states; had 41k miles, clean and no issues at all. Spent 35k IIRC, plus 4k for a carchex warranty (3yr/36k) that probably wasn't worthwhile looking back on it.
Images / "before pics" in the spoiler below. These pics are bone stock so nothing too special. Mostly a reference point.




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Current Plans for the Car

Each line item will link to a post in the thread where I posted about it. Some are already done at the time of making the thread, so I'll make those over the next few days as and when I find some time.

Replace interior door trims - grey / wood finish -> black aluminium finish (done Sept 18)
Interior Android 10.25 headunit (done Jun 18, again Jun 19 with more RAM)
Custom E63 AMG style steering wheel with leather airbag trim (done Sept 18)
B8 Bilstein Shock replacement (fronts) (done sept 18)
Porterfield R4S pads (done jul 19)
Custom W205 style Headlight retrofit (done Nov 19)
Panamericana grille retrofit (done Mar 19)
Custom Black series 4 door bodykit (ordered, ETA mid-Jan 20, fitting Jan-Feb 20)
Wider wheels for the bodykit (TBD? suggestions welcome)
Facelift style side mirrors
LED Tron Tailights retrofit (w/ sequential orange turn indicators) (done dec 19)
Interior facelift dash retrofit
Interior COMMAND unit retrofit 5s1
Interior lighting LED replacements
Side marker and fog deletion
Headbolt replacement (preventative?)
Transmission / ECU tune?
AutoFlex / Paint (thinking slate blue currently, something like these:

iamthe0ne23

Starting with the most recent project since it's the freshest in my memory; the front headlight setup.

End result:


Parts list used:

Headlight pair (~330USD) (comes with the canbus resistors and H11/H9 halogens)
Xenon -> Halogen Harness (90USD, only needed if you have stock Xenon package)
Morimoto HID kit, H9 / H11 style (150USD): Optional, but honestly the yellow from the halogen really ruins the look of these IMO so I'd advise you get them
Katana LED Highbeams (40USD) : Same reason as the Morimoto but you don't want Xenon for highbeams so LED is the way to go. Honestly could even keep halogen here since it won't affect the look at all unless you use the highbeam which is pretty rare.
Zip ties or Mounting Frame for Morimoto HID Kit (optional, only if you use the HID kit)

Overall mod rating: 9/10. Really happy with the end result so far. 1/10 removed for what a PITA it was to find the Xenon->Halogen harness online, without it these headlights can't be used if you have Factory Xenons. Also reliability TBD, had them 2 weeks so far and no errors or weirdness yet but we'll see

Process:
Plenty of guides online for removing the headlights, so follow one of those. Bumper off, three bolts holding each headlight, easy peasy.
Next, The connector that was going into the headlight needs to come apart. In theory the harness fits on it without doing this but I broke one when I tried that so what I ended up doing was removing the plastic surround for the plug from the car by using a flat screwdriver and levering the connector's innards out. Don't use too much force or it'll snap, but it's not going to come out easy either. It'll look kind of diagonal if you did it right and the back of the plug will be recessed on one side. Do the same on the other side and it'll pop out. Now insert this into the harness you bought online, make sure it's firmly seated. THEN push the original plastic housing over the new housing to seal it up and you're good to go.

The end of the new harness has two connectors, one looks similar to the stock connector and will fit directly to the new headlight unit. The other is a 9006 style connector, so you'll either need an adapter to adapt it to H9 (easy to make or cheap to buy) - but if you're using a HID kit you'll be drilling the housing anyway to make that work, so just buy the H9 kit to make your life easier.

I wanted the HID ballasts angled downwards and away from high heat sources, so they're behind the headlights to the far right and left of the engine bay. Drivers side gets REALLY crowded when you have the aftermarket bulb resistors, the HID ballast, igniter and canbus power source, and the 90$ harness. You have to be careful where you mount everything to ensure you still have access to bolts and adjusters for the headlight or you'll struggle to get good fitment.

Some pics below of the install process (inconsistent quality because they're mostly for my own notes as I was working since it only occurred to me to write this up and share the day after I was done)



Any questions let me know, but overall once you know what to buy it's fairly simple to put together. All in all maybe 8 hours work if I had to do it again from scratch now (including the 3 hours spent re-aligning the headlights lol)

Crya

iTrader: (1)

Hi, welcome. Nice clean. Tell me more about the Pan-Am Grill?

whale63

Seconded but for FL!

G_Money

Looks good, brotha! Keep is posted!

Definitely digging the headlight retrofit!

Texas E63

I think I like the PA grille......hmmm.... more details ? and welcome .....

Drift1492

Let’s see some nighttime pics of the lights. Maybe one against a wall showing the cutoff. How’s the light output compared to the stock lights?

Also, link for the $90 harness?

Drift1492

Double post. Sorry.

roadkillrob

Looking around all the Pan-am grills likst 08-14 that I see which obviously can't be as a Pre-FL and FL grill don't fit interchangeably, how was the fitment?

gmore

Only been a passenger in an E63S - very nice, but I'd have to have the option of RWD only...not to mention the funds
Outside of warranty as a long-term keeper, I'd say HBs are a must. If the top-ends quiet (including start-up) and you're a DIYer, just HBs may be fine but if you're paying someone and/or you just don't want to keep messing with it - probably good to replace the lifters and maybe look into adjusters/camshafts - things to research/consider if you're crunching #'s.

BLKROKT

Some interesting mod choices here, looking forward to following this a bit.

I recently picked up a PanAm grille for our GLK and love it. Had to take it in to MB last week for some warranty work, and the guys there were going crazy over the look.

Looked around for a FL version for the C63 but sadly was unable to find anything, only PFL.

Texas E63

@BLKROKT pic of it on the GLK ? what do you think of the GLK ? debating one as a DD ...... the wife's taken over the G63 for the most part....

Jasonoff

This should be on the top of your list...

Crya

iTrader: (1)

And I could only find it for non-C63. Linky to PFL?

Patel

Definitely going to need see pics of this!

SatelliteMan

What BS kit did you go with?

I did a full facelift replacement it wasn't bad at all - surprised more folks don't do it. All you need is DEPO headlights and a facelift hood. You'll get all of that with a BS kit but just saying..

SatelliteMan

the PFL will also likely fit the FL. I did the PFL to FL conversion and was able to retain the same "ebay" grille I bought.

iamthe0ne23

Wow lots of interest, I'll get to finishing the write up I started later today. Thanks for the warm welcome.

HBs are for sure getting done just a matter of when. Since the car will be in bits for at least 8 weeks or so and doesn't get used in the winter I have it lower on the list. By the time summer comes around they'll be on.

Harness for the wiring from a store called dmpcardesign. Based out of malaysia but great shipping speed. not the best quality (they sand/grind the plastic connector by hand I think) but works well and the only vendor with any kind of rep.

@Texas E63 I think I bought some parts from you on marketplace! Good to see you're still around.

The center console with leather has yet to go in PA Grille is PFL only as far as I can tell and also non-63 only but can be modified to fit and get good decent fitment. Top has pins/bumps that needed grinding down, the hood of the 63 has a two part grille as well so the upper level needs removal, then it's within 3-4mm of extra gap on the hood -> bumper panel and grill -> bumper panel. Asking the bodyshop fitting my bodykit to see if they can adjust it to be exact fitment, but for now the hood still fully latches and closes comfortably and 3-4mm is totally unnoticable from >2ft away so I'm happy with it. Got it from dmpcardesign as well IIRC but amazon and ebay have equivalents too.

@SatelliteMan The kit is from a company in Montreal called Yomato carbon. Their other stuff has good reviews despite this kit not having any so I took a risk, ~5k or so without the hood and with the carbon fiber bits. Link with pics (mine is the 4dr kit though they PM'd me pics of that on instagram and it looks just as good.) https://yomatocarbon.com/collections...mg-sedan-coupe

Ordered LED Tailights with sequential orange turn signals today, should be here in 2 weeks.

AMGonFire

love mine had it for 8 years now great vehicle.

BLKROKT

That Yomato kit looks great and the price is right. I’m at a crossroads now and might pick one up. When are you expected to receive and be able to comment on the quality/fit?

GLK - will post a link to my GLK build thread when I make it over on that forum so we don’t clog this one up. I clearly can’t be trusted to leave anything alone.

Here’s my GLK thread: https://mbworld.org/forums/glk-class...ld-thread.html

iamthe0ne23

@BLKROKT they estimate manufacturing complete end of nov then 1-2 weeks to ship, so hoping my installer has it by first or second week of dec. If they hit that it will have been 7weeks from time of order to arrival. Paid paypal so should be covered if it goes south but I'll let you know how it goes and take plenty of pics.

Note for anyone thinking of doing the lights; you can NOT use the hood from the kit with these lights, as the lights are PFL only and the hood is FL only. I bought the kit without the hood because I'm not a fan of the vents and it saves like $1k on the cost of the kit (installing is gonna cost ~5k including paint etc because it's a pretty involved kit, at least that's the best price I could find within 200miles from a reputable shop.)

Updated the second post with pics and more details of the custom headlight install btw.

Drift1492

Awesome update on the lights. I have a new lense ready to install on one of the xenons because the old one is faded badly. You have me questioning whether to go aftermarket.

Can you post a link for the Xenon to halogen harness?

Adi-Benz

Dmp isn't bad but there's a significant markup on quite a few things...tails as well

Luckily he has Flexx to advertise for him

NotABaller

So can we get panam grill for coupe?

iamthe0ne23

Agreed, prices could be better. Pretty much only buy from them if there's no alternative outside Alibaba, but at least paying the premium gets you decent stuff. Harness aside the grill was actually cheaper from them than eBay when I bought it but seems to be higher now. Taillights was the main splurge here but no one else seems to do sequential for w204.
Coupe fitment is the same afaik, pfl/fl is all that matters.
​​​​​​​Just search dmpcardesign w204 halogen xenon. Afaik I can't link to vendor sites here unless they're a forum sponsor, but correct me if I'm wrong on that.