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I love my wagon and the utility it offers but the thing I've lamented from day one is that it doesn't have 8 cylinders. Lately I've been pondering how hard it would be to swap the M273 in. I read through this thread where a guy swapped it into a c-class with shockingly little trouble and I'm thinking it would be even easier on a W212 since it has the M273 as a factory option so things like getting the proper coolant hoses would be a piece of cake. Beyond that I know I'd have to get the 550 coils, engine mount, etc.
Other than swapping in the engine itself, the other big hurtle I see is programming. Offhand it sounds like I could use the ECM from the donor car and then maybe just vin-match it to the car, but I don't know for sure. I don't mind paying the money to get xentry and whatever I need to do it myself, but how hard is it? Alternatively, does anyone have any resources for someone who could do it remotely?
It's all a pipe dream at this point so any thoughts or input are welcome!
Well, I ended up deciding to move forward with the project. The programming is still a bit of a gray area but I have a better picture. I'll need to get an ECM from an E550 or S550 as they were designed in the same way. An ECM from something like, say, a CLS550 won't cut it. I'll need to get it virginized, possibly do some initialization with Xentry, and it *should* just work. Sleuthing into this area continues.
I'm still only about 80% sure I'm going to go ahead with the swap but I figure even if I don't I can sell the engine or put it in the GL450 that's in our driveway. My reluctance is only that it's a slightly risky and involved project to tackle on my daily driver, and I'd be giving up some fuel economy. On the other hand....V8. The project is also incredibly appealing and I'm pretty tired of the knocking sound the old one makes (cam hubs, as best I can tell?)
A couple weeks ago a wrecked CLS550 popped up in a nearby pick n pull so I took the day off work, jetted down, and grabbed it. I think it was only about 4 or 5 hours of work. The front of the car had been wrecked pretty bad, but that means the engine was at least running at the time. It got pushed back pretty good. Both motor mounts got snapped off and the whole thing was pushed pretty close to the firewall. On the other hand, it turned over nicely, the fluids looked very decent, the engine was shockingly clean, and the car overall looked like it was well taken care of. The oil filter housing was cracked and the water pump pulley was MIA but everything else was in great shape, no cracks or even concerning scrapes on the block or heads. The mileage for the car wasn't available but the best I can tell it was getting close to 100k.
It's since been mounted on an engine stand, but there she is! I'm going to be fixing it up as I have the mcash and time; I'm loosely planning on doing the swap around xmas since I tend to have a few weeks off around then. Things like the oil filter housing and crank pulley I'll grab from pick n pulls as they pop up, or I'll just grab them from my old engine when it comes out. The plan is to do a leakdown test, pull the heads and have them and the block sent to a machine shop for them to give it a good once-over. Replacing the valve guides is probably a good idea while it's there, at least. It'd be nice to replace the crank and rod bearings while it's on a stand but I'm leaning towards not since they're not really a concern with these engines. Other than that, I'll be replacing things like the head gaskets (obviously), rear and front crank seals, timing chain and guides, PCV, water pump, pulleys, thermostat, plugs, gaskets, etc. and cleaning the hell out of it to make it shine. Purple Power has proven itself to work really well for this.
If there's anything else you think may be worthwhile to replace or at least inspect, please let me know. One thing that looks annoyingly difficult to source is the oil pan. I can find them new for several hundred dollars but I'm not seeing any used ones on eBay and none of the folks parting out E550s in my area will even reply to an email If anyone has a lead on a reasonably priced pan lmk.
I still need to figure out some ancillary things like coils as well. There are definitely E550 coils out there, but figuring out which one to get may be a challenge. Looking at EPC there's 20 or so variations. If anyone has an E550 with coils in the front, shoot me your VIN so I can get the part number.
I was thinking for the time and money I'm putting in I'd feel better having everything looked over closely, but there's something to be said for leaving well enough alone. There's a great chance it's fine
Send me a PM. I can help you with ECU virginizing and personalization remotely. There are other things to consider, like rear diff gear ratio, front subframe, engine mount brackets and so on. Even the ESP control module might need some tweaking.
It's certainly looking like that's the best way to do it. After some more digging in and talking with MBENZTECH, the transmissions are indeed different and even things like the rear subframe are different (though I can't figure out what the difference is!). The shopping list just keeps growing, and that's before all of the unexpected costs. I put a spreadsheet together and got up to about $5k and that wasn't including the transmission, rear subframe, or ECM virginization and getting a Star machine. A fair bit of it was new like coolant hoses and gaskets, but there are tricky items like transmission cooling lines which are very hard to come by online. If you had a car to swap stuff like that over, the equation changes quite a bit. With my garage setup it wouldn't be possible to do that.
Now I'm sure if you didn't spend a bunch of money on things like new coolant or A/C hoses and just run the drivetrain you already have, you could do it much more cheaply. But this is my DD and one I'm planning on keeping for a while.
It's certainly looking like that's the best way to do it. After some more digging in and talking with MBENZTECH, the transmissions are indeed different and even things like the rear subframe are different (though I can't figure out what the difference is!). The shopping list just keeps growing, and that's before all of the unexpected costs. I put a spreadsheet together and got up to about $5k and that wasn't including the transmission, rear subframe, or ECM virginization and getting a Star machine. A fair bit of it was new like coolant hoses and gaskets, but there are tricky items like transmission cooling lines which are very hard to come by online. If you had a car to swap stuff like that over, the equation changes quite a bit. With my garage setup it wouldn't be possible to do that.
Now I'm sure if you didn't spend a bunch of money on things like new coolant or A/C hoses and just run the drivetrain you already have, you could do it much more cheaply. But this is my DD and one I'm planning on keeping for a while.
Hello atraudes,
Just wondering any updates on this?
Nope, no change. Life came along and piled a whole different heap of priorities on my plate. I probably won't go for it, though. Doing it the way I'd want would be cost prohibitive.
Nope, no change. Life came along and piled a whole different heap of priorities on my plate. I probably won't go for it, though. Doing it the way I'd want would be cost prohibitive.
Ah that's a bummer. I'm planning to do the same swap soon on my 09 C300 with a 6 speed.
According to what you mentioned, do you think if that would be possible with a $5k budget and having a donor car to swap over?
If you have a donor car then the price goes down quite a bit. Then you're just replacing whatever gaskets, hoses or whatever other components need replacement. Just make sure you have the programming aspect locked in first. If you do things like swap the transmission it'll require special coding too.
Beyond that, for the miscellaneous bracket or whatnot, you can find out what other cars that part is on and look at your local pick-n-pulls.
IMHO, you're better off buying a v8 car that's already working rather than trying to swap. the v8 probably has stiffer springs to handle the larger heavier motor, it probably has a larger radiator, it has a beefier rear differential. you'd be swapping no only the mechanical parts but also the complete engine harnesses, and then adapting them to the rest of the control units in your nominally 6 cyl car. lots and lots of modules would need coding, not just the ECM and TCM.
Thanks guys for the thoughts. I would probably end up buying a W211 E550, but the only downside for me is losing that manual transmission. Such a shame Mercedes doesn't make manual V-eights like BMW anymore. Probably a crucial reason to why people might choose a beamer over a Mercedes. Lol.
05-31-2022, 06:53 PM
If anyone has a lead on a reasonably priced pan lmk.
