My C43/C55 Conversion

[bigasotonuk]

Hi,
As some of you are aware I have been wanting too fit a 113 55 engine to my 43 since I bought it over three years ago.
I,ve done a lot of googling, studying the EPC etc. to find if this was a viable conversion, wondering if the the existing gearbox would cope with the hike in power and torque, especially as the C43 has such an allegedly bad reputation for destroying gearboxes.
Well thanks to Olly I found a CLK55 Engine that has only covered 80,000 mile, complete with all ancillaries.
I bought this engine about three months, and have been buying various bits reccomended by Olly since to try to minimise the expense once I was brave enough to go ahead with the engine change.
Well I finally took the plunge last week and booked it in with Olly to be done.
Car was dropped off at PCS Sunday night, ready for Olly and Jack to do their stuff.
The plan.
Monday, remove Gearbox and Torque Converter from car, to send away to the Gearbox reconditioners.
Friday, Gearbox and Torque Converter back from reconditioners.
Saturday, Drop off the 55 engine first thing in morning, 43 engine out, identify and swap and remove parts from the 43/55 engine, fit 55 engine.
Drive home car at the end of day with a big grin on me face
Well thats the plan anyway fingers crossed.

 

[st4]

I remember when I first met you way back almost 2 years ago you were keen on doing this.

Glad your are doing it and looking forward to seeing the new beast in action.

 

[bigasotonuk]

Cheers Steve, all being well it will all be completed by Saturday afternoon the gearbox and Torque Converter have come back early, so i,m hoping i can get the engine there early though i,m having problems getting it there as the mate of mine whose moving it for me Saturday can,t do it till then.

 

[st4]

Are you coming to the Gaydon meet, would love to see the car as I am down for that

 

[bigasotonuk]

Hi,
Not sure whether i,ll be able to make it, hence the reason why I havent put my name down as yet.
If I go we,ll be staying in the Holiday Inn as I have done in previous years, and can get cheaper rates there because of a deal my company has with the Holiday Inn chain, which means I can go and have feast in Frankie and Bennies which I missed out on last year because of my diet.

 

[SQ_W211]

This should be some car once done. how easy/cheap was the engine etc?

 

[bigasotonuk]

Well i bought the engine off of e-bay for £1000 out of a 00-01 80,000 mile CLK 55, It had been on there a month or so for a buy it now of £1900.
It should be reasonably straight forward swap, there are few additional parts on the 55 engine that need to be removed mainly to do with emissions, also the 55 rocker covers and engine wiring loom need to be swapped for the 43 items.
My 43 engine is out of the car gearbox and torque convertor has been away to be re-built, the 55 engine goes into the car tomorrow, with new engine and gearbox mounts, new A/C condensor and electric cooling fans i,m sure there will be something else that will need to be swapped but we,ll have to wait and see.
I,ll post some pics of the change in the next few days.

 

[SQ_W211]

Car will be superfast without a question. Hope its worthwhile for you.

Why not get Oli to do a full swap out thread here with pictures? I am sure more people would be interested in this kind of conversion in future.

Have you checked with insurance?

 

[Alex M Grieve]

Have you checked with insurance?

and Air Traffic Control? :lol:

 

[bigasotonuk]

I plan to take loads of pics and will post them up on here, together with the issues if any i have along the way.
Insurance is all sorted as from middnight tonight i,m insured for a C43 with 5439cc engine, £16 more a year just under £400 for the year.

 

[bigasotonuk]

Well here is I hope first of many pics of this mod,
This is the 55 bad boy engine going into my 43 tomorrow, think of me tomorrow morning loading this into the back of a Vauxhall Astra Van at 6-6.30 in the morning, and then driving 45 miles to Ollies workshop.

 

[SQ_W211]

£400 a year, damnnn thats mega cheap. Nowonder you can afford it. My 320CDI is costing me arm/leg and some.

 

[BlackC55]

All done and running

 

[st4]

Is Andy out right now doing burn outs on A3 on ramps....

 

[SQ_W211]

I bet he is out to go through a tank tonight to RUN IT IN. LOL

Oli, how did it go? any issues?

 

[bigasotonuk]

Well its running!
C55 W202, first one on the forum!
I hope this encourages other 43 owners to do this transplant, now that the doner engines are so freely available.
A big thanks to Olly and Jack for giving up there Saturday to do this conversion for me a making my pipe dream for so many years a reality.
Sorry for the delay in the pics but as soon as I load them to my photo bucket account i,ll put them up on the site.

 

[bigasotonuk]

I got to Ollies at about 8-8:15, (could,nt get to sleep, then once asleep couldnt wake up, note to oneself, get a louder alarm!).
After dragging the 55 engine out the back of the van, Olly was straight to intially removing the original plugs and replacing them for Bosch items.
Jack started to remove the original 43 wiring loom.

 

[bigasotonuk]

Engine bay of the 43, ready to recieve the new 55 motor.

 

[BlackC55]

Excuse the filthy floor. It get scrubbed one a week!

 

[SQ_W211]

noone is looking at the floor Oli...