Given the rarity ($$) of the E55 wagons, do you think that swapping everything into a more mundane wagon will become worth it?
There's a salvage title E320 wagon near me for very cheap. And finding a lightly wrecked E55 is pretty easy on Copart. It would probably be a ton of work, but surely it could be done for way less than the current selling price of a factory built E55 wagon.
Just a thought

 

It'd be a big undertaking but is definitely doable. I'd rather swap an M113K into a W210 wagon though.



The person that owns that car is a member here.

 

There's a guy named sd_210

He swapped everything from a w210 E55 into a w210 E320 wagon and even kept the 320 badges. he bagged it and slammed it and it's modified for him being in a wheelchair.

it's totally possible and really not that hard, but yeah I wouldn't bother unless I was going further and using a w211 E55 because that would be one sexy and unique beast

 

Depends on what you mean by "worth it."

A fun project? Eh, maybe. Seems like a ton of work to end up with an imposter of a $30k car.

Worth the money? Absolutely not. The resale on a "swapped" wagon will be nowhere near a real E55 wagon.

 

 

Don't do it. You'll spend a ****load of time and money on it and will end up with a frankenstein. E55 wagons aren't all that expensive these days. Just go ahead and buy one, you won't regret it. It's more than the sum of its parts.

 

I love the idea of these sorts of swaps but I am also very negative about them at the same time. Will it be awesome, yes! Great sleeper. Will it be cheaper than buying a perfectly working E55 in the end after it is actually completed, no way! Will the chassis be set up to handle the power and stopping, definitely no. Can you fix the brakes and suspension to cope, yes after a lot more $$. Will you ever finish it if you do start it.... completely fabricated statistics in my head say very unlikely. All it takes is one electrical gremlin and you can spend hundreds of hours trying to get everything to mate up and work correctly. The mechanical part is the easy bit assuming your second hand parts don't have major issues already, they usually do. I wouldn't do a swap without stripping down and likely rebuilding said engine and transmission first.

 

so thank you for sharing with us .

 

THIS IS BANANAS!!! I LOVE IT!!!

 

I think I agree with most of you. By "worth it" I meant, would it cost less to do than buying a factory E55 wagon. I think it could be done for less than $25K, assuming you didn't factor in your time. That's usually my problem with big projects like this, I undervalue my time. I've gotten better about over the years though.
It's fun to dream though, right?

 

 

Your numbers are a bit off there, especially for how much it would cost to have someone else do the work. It's not as easy as just stabbing the engine in there and hooking up a couple of things.

 

 

I did some half assed searching on here. Looks like a lot of people just throwing out numbers without having done a swap.

If I could get a shop to put an M113K in my W210 wagon and have it be fully functional for $4k I'd be all over it. That $2k Copart E55 is probably going to be beat to hell with high miles and zero history. There's no way I'd put the engine in without having it fully gone through. Add in any brake or suspension upgrades that may be needed and hope you don't have any electrical issues. Then there's the hassle of having an E55 that's worth scrap in your possession. Just another headache to deal with, but at least you could sell off a lot of stuff to make some of your money back on that. I've parted out bikes before and it's a pain in the ****ing ***. Who would've thought that a DRZ400SM would take up half of a 2 car garage when it's in pieces.

 

 

Yes it can be done cheaply if you can find someone with DAS experience, have a hoist, experience, a spare garage and a second car. But I would always advocate fully inspecting and likely rebuilding engine and trans and consumables ie engine mounts etc. This is not cheap and I wouldn't take the risk. They are all condition unknown or the wrecker will often lie if they do know.

But anything goes wrong with the wiring or mating the ecu to the car...

 

 

I mean, the entire notion of "return on investment" in things like this is almost always thrown right out the window in the minds of people who are actually capable of doing it (whether they can afford to pay someone else to do it or they are mechanically inclined and motivated enough to do it themselves)

If you're the type of person who sees "getting your money's worth" out of it, then you're just not even the type to be looking at the thread. Look at the thousands upon thousands of LS swaps all over the world. Did they do it with any consideration around how much they could sell it for when done? Nope, they just had a specific vision in mind for taking an otherwise mediocre (or sometimes plain boring/slow) car and making it awesome.

I, for one, would absolutely do it if I had the means. It would make for one very interesting, unique, and FUN car. Everyone gave me crap over my C43. When I bought it with 238k miles everyone told me I was stupid. When my wife totaled it at 250k miles and I paid to have it repaired, everyone told me I was stupid (but thanks to insurance payout I actually MADE MONEY on that deal). At 300k miles when the timing chain started rattling and it needed replacing, I instead swapped in a w210 E55 motor with 134k miles on it. I have a car that no one in their right mind would buy or put money into. It's essentially worthless, sitting at 311k miles right now. But I have never once cared about getting a dime of that back. The "sunk cost" mentality actually works to my benefit here: I will never have any reason to ever get rid of the car. It's not worth enough to sell but it's rewarding enough to own that I've never regretted a single dollar spent on it. I bought my 55 wagon so I could have another car to drive while I park my C43 for new paint and restoration. I'll probably sell my 55 wagon some day, because it's likely just going to rise in value. But my C43 with always be worthless to the entire world; but never to me.

 

You might as well find a E500 wagon instead, they are quite common, cheap and already have a M113. Just slap a supercharger on it and you'll have a 211 with 4matic.