Mercedes Engine Swap King Matt KwiekThe Smoking Tire · Jun 25, 2026
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Car
Mercedes E320
A Mercedes E320 is an older E-Class model with a 3.2-liter engine. Here, it’s being turned into a restomod project by swapping in a different powertrain so it drives more like a newer car.
A powertrain swap is when someone replaces the car’s main drivetrain parts (like the engine and transmission) with a different combination. It’s a big job because everything has to be made to work together.
Restomodding means taking an older classic car and upgrading it so it drives and feels more like a modern car. The goal is usually to keep the classic style, but improve the tech and driving experience.
Liz Rosenberg is the host’s wife’s aunt, and the episode describes her as a well-known Hollywood publicist. The car story is connected to her ownership, not to car mechanics.
The 190E is an older Mercedes sedan that was meant to be a more affordable luxury option. In the podcast, it’s mentioned because the speaker’s first car reportedly had a breakdown right after they bought it. That’s why it comes up in a reliability or ownership context.
The 300 SEL 6.3 is an older Mercedes luxury sedan with a big engine. The podcast is describing how cars like this could be used in different roles over time, such as luxury driving and taxi service. It’s brought up because it’s a memorable Mercedes model from that period.
The Lexus LS 400 is a luxury sedan that became famous for being dependable and lasting a long time. Here, it’s mentioned as a car you still see on the road in places where older cars remain in service.
Term
durable car
When someone calls a car “durable,” they mean it tends to last a long time and not break down easily. It usually points to reliability over many years of driving.
The Pontiac Catalina is an older American car model. The podcast brings it up as an example of a car you might drive in everyday situations. It’s known as a classic full-size Pontiac from its time period.
A manual swap means converting a car to a stick shift. That usually involves installing the manual transmission and the parts that control the clutch and shifter so the car can drive like it was meant to.
Standalone EFI is an aftermarket computer and fuel-injection setup that controls how the engine gets fuel. It’s often used in swaps so the engine can be tuned to work correctly in the new car.
“AMG motor” refers to an engine built by Mercedes-AMG, the performance division of Mercedes-Benz. Swapping in an AMG engine typically means adapting mounts, cooling, and drivetrain electronics to make the higher-performance powerplant work reliably in an older chassis.
Concept
rest them on
They’re basically saying the older Mercedes chassis is tough enough to handle big changes. That makes it a good starting point for projects where you add power or swap engines.
The DeLorean DMC-12 is a sports car with a very unusual look, including stainless-steel panels and doors that open upward. It’s remembered because it stands out compared to most cars. The podcast brings it up as an example of an iconic car people talk about.
The Jeep Wrangler is a popular off-road SUV. In this quote it’s just being mentioned as another classic that’s not as straightforward to build on as the comparison cars.
The Bronco is an SUV made for off-road driving. It’s built with four-wheel drive and features that help it handle dirt and rough roads. It’s brought up as an example of a vehicle people choose for that kind of use.
Suspension is what connects the wheels to the car and helps the ride feel smooth while also helping the tires stay planted. It’s a key part of how the car handles and how stable it feels.
Brakes are what slow the car down and stop it. On a track, you have to brake hard over and over, so older brake parts may not handle it well. Upgrading brakes helps the car stop more consistently.
Bushings are small parts in the suspension that cushion and locate components. If they’re worn out, the car can feel soft or sloppy. Replacing them can make the car feel much tighter without needing exotic upgrades.
Spherical joints are suspension connection points that let parts move around smoothly in different directions. The host is saying the original design used that kind of joint, so replacing it with the wrong bushing type can stop the suspension from moving the way it was meant to. When that happens, parts can get stressed and break.
A five-link suspension is a rear suspension design that uses multiple arms to control how the wheels move. It’s precise, so the bushings need to be matched to the design. If you use the wrong bushings, the suspension can bind and stress the arms until they break.
The rear subframe is like a structural platform for the rear suspension. The rear subframe mounts are the connection points that hold it to the body, and if they’re too soft, the car can feel less stable when you add more power.
In this context, “hydraulic” refers to hydraulic bushings—bushings that use fluid to provide a softer, more controlled compliance. They can absorb movement, but that same compliance can contribute to handling changes when torque increases significantly.
Rear steer is when the back of the car starts “pointing” a little differently than you expect. It can happen if the suspension or mounting points move under load, especially after adding a lot more power.
The “crossfire gearbox” refers to a specific Mercedes manual transmission family that people commonly associate with certain swaps. In this segment, the host clarifies it as an early six-speed Mercedes developed, and discusses its strength when paired with high power and track abuse.
“Track abuse” means pushing the car much harder than normal driving, like on a racetrack. It’s a way to say the part was tested under tough, repeated stress.
A “crate” gearbox is a transmission shipped and sold as a complete unit, typically new or remanufactured, ready to install. It’s a common way to get consistent parts for engine/transmission swap projects without hunting for a used unit.
Uniclutch makes upgraded clutch parts for high-power builds. In this case, they’re using it so the clutch can handle big horsepower without feeling harsh or wrong.
The flywheel is a heavy spinning part that helps the engine and clutch work together smoothly. Keeping the factory one means they’re not changing that part of the setup.
The Mercedes-Benz CLK 430 is a Mercedes with a V8 engine. The host is saying that when it’s set up with a manual transmission, it becomes much more fun to drive.
The Mercedes-Benz CLK 55 is an AMG Mercedes with a strong V8 engine. In this part, they’re talking about converting one to a manual transmission so it becomes a fun daily driver. The big idea is that it can feel like it came that way from the factory.
An ECU is the car’s main computer for the engine. When you change major parts like the transmission, the ECU may need to be told what’s been changed so everything works correctly. Otherwise you can get warnings or drivability issues.
The check engine light is a warning that the car’s computer thinks something isn’t right. With swaps, sometimes the car can still run fine even if the light stays on. The hosts are saying you might be able to live with that depending on the ECU setup.
They’re talking about using an older computer (with a Pentium-class processor) as a tool to help reprogram the car’s ECU. The idea is that you don’t need brand-new equipment to do the coding. It’s basically part of the “how you make the swap work” process.
The AMG One is a Mercedes performance car built with a lot of advanced technology. The podcast is mentioning how its systems work and how you interact with them. It’s brought up because it’s not a normal, simple car—it’s very electronics-focused.
Naturally aspirated means the engine doesn’t use a turbo or supercharger to force air in. The hosts are saying the swap is easier when you’re working with a naturally aspirated engine. Forced-induction setups usually take more tuning and effort.
A supercharged engine uses a device that pushes extra air into the engine to make more power. The hosts are saying that for these older Mercedes, you may not want to chase the supercharged version because it can be more complicated than it’s worth. They think the naturally aspirated power is enough.
The Honda S600 is a small sports car made by Honda. The podcast is saying it doesn’t need to be huge or complicated to feel quick and capable. It’s being compared to other cars to show that a smaller car can still have strong performance.
The Mercedes S 600 is a high-end Mercedes sedan that came with a very powerful V12 engine. Here, they’re using it as a reference point for how much power the car had from the factory versus what swapping an engine can add.
Horsepower is a number that tells you how strong the engine is. Higher horsepower usually means the car can accelerate harder, and people use it to compare stock cars to modified ones.
In this context, swapping means replacing a car’s original engine with a different powertrain (often from another model) to gain power or a specific driving feel. It’s a major project because it can involve wiring, mounts, cooling, fuel, and drivetrain compatibility.
Car
Mercedes SEC
A Mercedes SEC is a Mercedes coupe (a two-door) from the S-Class family. They’re talking about a specific black one that’s been modified enough to spin the tires when the driver floors it.
Angeles Crest is a famous mountain road in Southern California with lots of curves and hills. People drive it to see how a car behaves when the road gets challenging.
“Pagoda” is a nickname for a certain Mercedes SL model with a very distinctive roof shape. Here, they’re talking about one that’s been modified with a different engine.
The Sunbeam Tiger is a classic British sports car that’s famous for being a fun, lightweight V8-powered machine. They’re comparing the modified Mercedes to that kind of driving character.
Bring a Trailer is a website where car enthusiasts buy and sell cars through auctions. They’re saying this build will likely be listed there soon.
Term
5.4
“5.4” means the engine is about 5.4 liters in size. Bigger displacement often correlates with more torque, and they’re listing the engine and drivetrain details of the build.
Topic
Overcrest rally
The Overcrest rally is a car event where people drive together. They’re mentioning it to show the car was actually used on trips, not just parked.
The Ferrari 360 is a mid-engine Ferrari supercar. The point here is that even a serious exotic like this can be converted to a different setup if you have the right skills and parts.
This is Mercedes’s official diagnostic tool. It lets you talk to the car’s computer to change settings or fix problems—something that matters a lot for engine swaps.
Car
Mercedes Crossfire
They’re talking about a Mercedes Crossfire and how the shifter works. The problem is that reverse is controlled by the shifter on the older setup, which can make it feel wrong or unreliable. The fix is using a later transmission design where reverse lockout is handled inside the transmission.
A reverse lockout is a safety/logic feature that makes sure you can’t accidentally select reverse. If it’s built into the transmission, it works more consistently than if it depends on the shifter. That’s what they mean by “internal.”
A short shifter is a shifter upgrade that makes the gear lever move less distance to get into each gear. That usually makes shifting feel tighter and faster. They’re saying you can add one to the older chassis when the transmission setup is right.
The E-Class is a Mercedes luxury sedan that’s positioned below the top S-Class. The podcast is talking about older E-Class years and specific versions of the car. People bring it up because it’s a classic Mercedes model with different engine options.
They mention the Mercedes 300 D as an example of an older diesel Mercedes. Even though it shares some basics with the 107 SL, the engine bay is physically narrower, so a larger engine like a V8 won’t fit. That’s the main reason it’s hard to swap engines in these cars.
The Mercedes 107 SL is an older SL model they’re using as a comparison. The point is that some older Mercedes cars share similar foundations, but the diesel cars have narrower frame rails in the engine bay. Because of that, a V8 simply won’t fit.
Common rail is a modern way diesels inject fuel. Instead of pressurizing fuel separately for each event, it uses a shared high-pressure line (“rail”). The result is usually smoother running and better control, which is why it’s attractive for engine swaps.
OM648 is a Mercedes diesel engine they’re recommending as a newer option for swaps. They specifically describe it as a common-rail diesel, which is a more modern injection system. Their point is that it’s a great engine to use if you’re doing a diesel swap.
CDI is Mercedes’ name for their diesel direct-injection system. It means the diesel fuel is injected directly into the combustion chamber. Here, they’re using it to identify the type of diesel engine they’re talking about.
The Mercedes C320 CDI is a diesel version of the C-Class. They’re using it as an example of the kind of diesel engine they mean when they say CDI. The takeaway is that you can still build a workable swap using these diesel setups.
Limited slip is a type of rear-axle differential that helps the car put power to the wheel that has traction. Without it, one wheel can spin uselessly and the car feels less controllable.
The Mercedes 450 SCL 6.9 is a classic Mercedes-Benz luxury car with a big engine. In this conversation, it’s brought up because some versions were equipped with a limited-slip differential for better traction.
The Mercedes 500e is a 1990s Mercedes-Benz that was tuned to feel much more powerful than a typical luxury sedan. Here it’s mentioned because some cars had a limited-slip differential for better traction.
LSD means limited-slip differential. It’s a rear-axle mechanism that can “share” power better when one wheel loses traction, and it can use sensors and hydraulics to control how strongly it locks.
Brake vectoring means the car uses the brakes on specific wheels to help control traction and direction. It’s different from a limited-slip differential that mechanically manages power transfer.
The Mustang is a performance car from Ford, usually a coupe or convertible. It’s known for having strong engines and a sporty feel. The podcast is talking about how it can manage traction, like how power is sent to the wheels.
Car
2003 G55
This is a Mercedes-Benz G-Class G55 from 2003. It’s a tough, off-road-focused SUV, and in this story it gets a manual transmission swap so it can be driven like a stick while still working for off-roading.
A transfer case is the part that sends power to both the front and rear wheels on a 4x4. Here, they’re checking that it still works after the manual swap.
Term
divorce transfer case
A “divorce transfer case” is a transfer case setup where it’s not packaged directly with the transmission like usual. In a swap, that can change what parts you need to connect everything correctly.
The G-Class is a Mercedes SUV designed to handle rough off-road driving. The podcast mentions a manual version and that the transfer case functions properly, which is part of how it sends power for off-road use. It’s brought up because it’s a very capable, mechanically focused SUV.
Lockers are traction helpers that lock the differential so both wheels on an axle turn together. That helps when one wheel is slipping, like in snow or mud.
OM606 is a Mercedes diesel engine. It’s an inline-six turbo diesel that’s known for pulling hard and lasting a long time—exactly why it’s mentioned in a towing/off-road context.
Indirect injection is a diesel fuel system where the fuel is sprayed into a small chamber first, then it goes into the main cylinder. The host is using it to describe how that Mercedes diesel engine burns fuel.
A P pump is a type of diesel fuel injection system. It controls how much fuel goes into the engine, and on certain diesel engines it’s famous for being tough and reliable.
A mechanical injection pump is an older-style diesel fuel system that uses mechanical parts to control fuel delivery. It’s often swapped in because it can be simpler and easier to troubleshoot than newer electronic systems.
The Ford Falcon is an older Ford model that people often modify. In this story, it’s the car that got a Mercedes diesel engine swap, which is the unusual part.
Car
Mercedes OM606
The Mercedes OM606 is a diesel engine from Mercedes. Swap builders like it because it’s strong and fits well into other cars, which is why it shows up in this Falcon project.
A “dog leg” five-speed is a manual gearbox with a shift pattern that feels more like older racing cars. The gears are arranged so the first gear is in a different spot than in a typical modern pattern.
“Diesel gate” was a big scandal where some diesel cars were found to cheat emissions tests. After that, diesel engines got a lot more attention and criticism.
“Rolling coal” is when a diesel is modified to smoke heavily when you accelerate. People do it for the effect, but it can be rough on emissions systems and may stress the engine.
Car
M119
M119 is Mercedes’ internal code name for a V8 engine. People like it because it’s powerful and well-regarded, so it comes up as a “why aren’t you using this?” swap idea.
M113 is a Mercedes V8 engine. The key point here is that it’s easier to swap into other cars with a manual transmission because it can be made to fit more directly.
The Mercedes 500 e is a fast older Mercedes sedan. Here it’s the car the host worked on—he removed one Mercedes V8 and installed another, then made it work with a manual.
Car
Mercedes 400 e
The Mercedes 400 e is an older Mercedes sedan. The point in this segment is that its engine bay layout isn’t the same as other cars, so an engine swap may require cutting or reworking parts to make everything fit.
M156 is a Mercedes V8 engine (AMG-built) with a 6.2-liter displacement. The host likes it because it’s a modern-feeling successor to older Mercedes V8s and it can be swapped into the 500 e with a manual.
Quad cam means the engine uses four camshafts to control the engine valves. In simple terms, it’s a more complex valve setup than a basic two-cam design.
Term
revs to 7,000 rpm
RPM is how fast the engine spins. If an engine can rev to 7,000 RPM, it tends to feel more “busy” than a lower-revving setup for everyday errands.
In an automatic transmission, the conductor plate is a control part that helps the transmission “decide” when to shift. It has electronics (like sensors and solenoids) that send signals. If it fails, the transmission may not know how fast the car is going and can get stuck in one gear.
These transmissions use electronics to control shifting instead of relying only on fluid pressure. They use sensors to measure things like speed. If a sensor fails, the transmission can stop shifting correctly and may lock into one gear.
The valve body is the part inside an automatic transmission that routes hydraulic fluid to make the transmission shift. Even when the car uses electronics, the valve body is still the hydraulic control center. Solenoids help tell it what to do.
Solenoids are small electrical “valves” inside the transmission. They help control the flow of transmission fluid so the car can shift gears. If the electronics that manage them fail, shifting can go wrong.
LIVE
What up, everybody? Welcome to the Smoking Tire Podcast. Today's episode is brought to you by Off the Record.
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All right, folks, on this episode of the show, I have taken a flight to Nashville, Tennessee to visit Quick Classics and talk to Matt Quick, who is doing the powertrain swap on my Mercedes E320 project. This is a really interesting show because I believe these Mercedes are a hidden value when it comes to restomodding a classic design to drive in the modern era.
Matt Quick is on the Smoking Tire podcast.
Guys, the Smoking Tire is giving away a 992.1 Turbo S in partnership with Dream Giveaways. We're giving away a $275,000 car with some slick choice mods. The proceeds benefit charity and you don't have to buy any merch. It's a straightforward entry process. So hit the link in the show notes and get entered to win today.
Thank you for making the time.
Absolutely.
Not just for me, but for my somewhat fairly heirloom car.
Yeah.
Do you know the story of this car?
I have heard that it is your wife's aunt's car.
That is correct. It's now ours. I have signed the title.
That's cool.
But my wife's aunt Liz is a legendary Hollywood publicist. She was Cher's publicist, Madonna's publicist, Michael Buble, like a little girl.
She was a lot of artists from the 80s and 90s.
Liz Rosenberg was huge.
Do you remember? Do you ever watch Saturday Night Live?
Nope.
Do you know anything about Saturday Night Live?
I know of it.
Well, there is a legendary sketch that I will not reenact from the 80s or 90s with Mike Myers in it called Coffee Talk, where he plays like an old Jewish woman.
So even people who don't know fucking Saturday Night Live know Coffee Talk.
I know Coffee Talk.
Coffee Talk, the characters were based on Aunt Liz, whose car that was.
Amazing.
And when Madonna was on Coffee Talk, she called her character Rose Rosenberg, which is Hannah's grandmother's name. My wife's grandmother.
So there's like, she's all over Hollywood in that era.
And so this is our car.
And it was a real publicist's car.
Oh, yeah.
95 red Mercedes-Benz convertibles.
A one-quarter cab, yeah.
Fatty's car.
But yeah, so when they gave it to me, I was like, well, we have to keep this car alive and do something awesome with it.
Right.
So here we go.
Yeah.
And you came, when I talked to Shant at CMS, who was my neighbor, and one of the great bodywork guys for this mark, he was like, look, there's a couple ways we can do this.
The way we figure it out, or we just send it to Matt.
Yeah.
And I was like, who is this Matt guy?
And why would we go this?
And he was like, because he's just the guy.
Yeah.
And so I want to know how you became the guy.
So who the fuck is Matt?
Quick, what is Quick Classics?
All right.
So, man, I guess I should go back.
Yeah.
What is your background?
My grandpa owned a truck repair shop.
My mom did the books.
So when I was little, I grew up in the shop.
Here?
In the office.
No, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Michigan.
So I'm from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
OK.
In that shop, there were a bunch of mechanics that were gruff and vulgar and smoked a lot of cigarettes.
And one of them was her brother.
And she didn't want me to end up like those guys.
So my parents actually tried to keep me away from cars as long as possible.
Nice job, mom.
Yeah.
So I didn't even get my driver's license until I was literally going out of state for school and needed a form of identification.
And so I went to school in Chicago for sound engineering of all things.
They dropped the program and I was like, OK, well, if I can't do that while I was there in the first semester.
And so I was like, all right, cool.
Bye.
So I went home and I got a job for Apple because I'd gotten an Apple certificate at one point.
And so I was working for AppleCare.
So I was working from home and had decent money.
And working for AppleCare like repairing computers or like phone support?
On the phone.
OK, yeah, phone support.
Yeah, OK, yeah.
So fun fact, I'm autistic and I could not talk to people.
But then I spent five years on the phone for eight hours a day and that's how I learned how to talk to people.
Yeah, you seem just fine at it.
How about that?
Yeah, I know, right?
I'll make all that on the job training.
Exactly.
Yeah, yeah, that's crazy.
OK, yeah, you seem fine at it now.
So problem solved.
In that time, right, I bought my first car.
It was a 190E.
It broke down the day after I bought it.
And this was before I worked for Apple and I had to get to my job, but I hadn't even gotten a paycheck yet.
So I was like, all right, I guess I'm going to learn how to fix it.
So I started with that and within a year I'd replace the engine, the transmission, the suspension, the brakes, basically everything.
And just kept going.
The better I got at it, the more fun it was, the more fun it was, the more I wanted to do it and so on and so forth.
Sure.
And the thing was I have no formal training in any of this.
I'm entirely self-taught.
But because of that.
Yeah, you're autistic.
That's like having formal training.
No, I'm just, I know.
I'm kidding, but it works.
It helps with studying.
Yeah.
If I'm actually interested in it, I'll figure it out.
And yeah, so it's in during that period, this was like 2011 or so.
Restomans doing anything like this with Mercedes was not accepted.
Right.
So anybody who was formally trained was told you don't change anything.
You don't take the engine out.
You don't do any of this.
And because I didn't have anyone to tell me that, I just started doing it.
Why do you think that was?
Because it's not like Mercedes at that time, 2010.
It's not like people were modding brand new Mercedes all over the place.
I mean, there's two dozen tuners that would give you 800 horsepower
in your 5.5 liter bi-turbo, CLS, whatever from that period.
So like, what's the big goddamn problem?
Something about the classics.
There was just so much respect for classic Mercedes.
And so much of this mentality that they built them to be perfect.
Cost was no object.
They already designed the perfect car.
We can't change anything.
I remember they used to say that shit about Porsche.
And then Singer was like, actually, I can charge $3.5 million for one of these things.
It's so much better than what Porsche is actually selling.
I mean, that's kind of the thing is I got to be so...
It's kind of a cute attitude, isn't it?
You know, to be like, oh no, this car that is made of parts that are not...
We're designed by humans to a price is somehow sacred.
They didn't really...
That's the one thing about Mercedes is they didn't really design it to a price back in the day.
That's actually quite a good argument, isn't it?
That that's why it's so good is that it wasn't designed to a price point.
And that's where they fell.
Yeah.
When, you know, Daniel Chrysler merger, you know, the accountants came in and started
telling them how to do things.
You know what?
I'm not just going to concede this.
I think they were a business to make money and they were designed to a price.
They were just interested for a long time about long-term durability and serviceability as more
of a virtue and less padding of the cars with profitable things that weren't going to last
a long time, which happened later.
I would...
You...
Come on.
Yeah.
The...
You know, the...
Every industry...
The 124 was built to a price.
It was just a price higher than today's industry would probably bear.
That's right.
Right, you know.
Oh yeah, for sure.
And obviously, I had to stay under the S-Class too.
Right.
Just like the varying levels of Porsches.
Right.
Yeah, no, but the other thing is, during that era, they were using the technology that they had,
the best that they had at the time, which turns out wasn't that good and really doesn't hold up
that long.
So all of those CISKJET, all that stuff from the 80s, like, it's all failing now and you
can't get those parts anymore.
Is it really that hard to find parts?
Because with Porsche, with Ferrari, with Lamborghini,
you can get those parts actually.
Is it this weird uncanny valley of the cars aren't quite valuable enough where it's worth
someone supplying those parts?
It's weird because there's a lot of them.
I mean, think about how...
Where I live in Los Angeles, the number of SL roadsters, 70s and 80s, all the way through,
you know, 2003.
Like, pick your 109 or 129.
Dude, they're everywhere.
They're everywhere.
They're everywhere.
They're driven by old people, they're driven by young people, they're driven all over the place.
It seems like my vibe is, there's got to be a market for this.
There is.
But what happens is, those cars, because they were built so well, they will run poorly forever.
That's a good point.
They will...
You can just keep driving them.
It will slowly decline and then hit a floor of like, kind of works.
That's when it will become like a cabin Botswana.
You know, there's like...
I used to think there was a life cycle of the Mercedes 300 class and it was like,
luxury car in Paris, taxi in Paris, luxury car in Cairo.
Then it was taxi in Cairo and then it was just taxi further and further down the continent,
where there's still taxis today.
And then they go to Mauritania and they live forever.
Yes.
Exactly.
Yeah.
That's more or less.
The LS 400 is the next one of that.
This was now 10 years ago, but my friend just went back.
We went to Oman in 2016 and like 50% of all cars on the road were like 1993 to 2003 Lexuses.
No shit.
Like 50% of all cars.
Wow.
Like the number of Lexus LS's and LX's that are just rolling in the Middle East is...
Yeah, it's crazy.
Well, I mean, you're a testament to that.
Yeah.
It's a very durable car.
It cost me a goddamn fortune to keep that thing running, but it was very good.
But I mean, if you don't let it get that bad, it's not that bad.
So, okay, so it's a good place to jump in.
So when did your hobby flip into, I think this is a business?
Oh man.
So probably about 2015 is when I quit working for Apple and was like,
everybody's told me not to go into automotive full time.
And I said, screw it, I'm going to try it.
I'm going to see if I actually end up hating it if I do it full time as well as as a hobby.
And I didn't.
And then...
But was it like, did you have a friend that saw your car and was like,
hey, will you build me a thing for money?
So that was later.
All right.
So it wasn't...
That was, that's kind of a lot of people I talked to is like,
my hobby became a business the first time someone offered me money for my hobby.
Yeah, no, that happened in COVID.
Okay. So you were consciously of, I'm going to make this a business.
Guys, support is coming in hot today from Factor.
And I mean hot, like hot after two minutes in the microwave,
because Factor is the jam.
And I will explain why.
For me, eating healthy, it's not about willpower, right?
I have the right kind of willpower.
It's actually a scheduling problem.
I get busy and I somehow forget to schedule time to eat, mainly lunch, lunch breaks.
That's really the problem, right?
I come off the mountain, I'm filming or I'm doing shows or I'm running the shop
and I have meetings and calls and blah, blah.
And I forget to put that time into eat.
And so by the time I get to eating, I make bad decisions because I'm hungry.
And like, that's what happens, right?
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for free shipping and 365 day returns. Yeah, I had worked for myself a little bit before COVID and
then I moved out to Seattle. I worked at an alpha race shop and that's where I learned to like fabricate
and all that stuff. Came back to Michigan early COVID, built a car, built another car, but a
shop in Atlanta had convinced me to close down my shop. I just had a little repair shop in Grand
Rapids and then moved down to Atlanta to work for them. And when I made that move is when people
started finding out about those cars that I had built. What was the shop in Atlanta doing?
You didn't necessarily have to plug them. Pre-merger AMG stuff. Okay, yeah, cool. Yeah, so yeah. And
then when I was there, people started finding out about the cars that I had built and people started
coming to me asking me if I could and I'd say, well, you could talk to the shop owner, but you know,
that's probably not his focus. And then when things went downhill there, my neighbor here is
actually, he was one of my customers, I built him one of those cars. And he said, come up to Nashville,
build me another car. I'm sure by the time you get done, you'll have more people. And that's
exactly what happened. That's pretty cool. I like that. And but now your customer base comes, I mean,
I shipped a car here from California. I imagine a lot of people aren't doing that, but are people
sending cars in from all over? Yeah, no, like only one of the cars out in the shops local.
Yeah, how many cars did it take you to become the guy that people call? Because you said you've
done like what, 40? So we are finishing up 21 and 22 and 23 through 26 or 27 are in progress in the
shop right now. And when you give numbers to these cars, you're talking about full powertrain swap
type cars. And what came first that or manuals? Are they just hand in hand? I mean, I've been
doing manual swaps since my very first car 190. You did a manual swap. That was a 2.6. Then it was
a three liter, then it was a three liter dog leg, then it was a 3.6 six speed. And then it rusted
out because Michigan, and then the drivetrain went into a 124 wagon. And then that was a 3.6. And
then that was a 5.4. And then that rusted out. So the drivetrain went into a C 33. This is the
fucking dirtbag school of car building for sure. This reminds me shout out to my homie fellow who I
used to call the E 36 whisperer who had two E 36 chassis or excuse me, three E 36 chassis and two
powertrains. And he would swap them around dependent on his plans for that weekend. Like shout
out to fellow he's out there somewhere drifting in E 36. The guy was a but that's what
this sounds like. This is the dirtbag school of car fab. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I grew up poor in
Michigan, right? Like we didn't have a lot. I didn't never even think I would own a Mercedes until I
found that cheap 190. And then I like my entire education comes from junkyards. Yeah. So wait,
what was the time period between purchasing that 190 and having like the third powertrain in the
second car, the wagon, by the time you got to like the third powertrain in the wagon, how much
time it elapsed? So I bought that car in 2011. Uh huh. 2012 I did the first swap 2013 I did the
second swap 2015 I put the AMG motor in it and did standalone EFI 2016 it went into the wagon.
And then I did 120,000 miles. Okay. And then when did you open this shop 2021? In I started in
Michigan in 2020 and then closed down in 2021. So you had like year in 22. So like nine years of
practicing. Yeah. There's your 10,000 hours. Probably more than that. At least. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. 10 years of practicing before you had brick and mortar business with like real customers
sitting there because that's that's fucking real. Yeah. That's our hard knocks practice.
That's fucking cool. All right. So what you obviously have 2020 over 20 of these powertrain
swaps mine is what 21 22 whatever you said. 25 is mine. Oh my you're not counting progress. You're
only counted finished ones. Okay. So what is it that that Mercedes gets really right that allows
you to do this? Let's start with that before you can list all the things they fucking fuck up that
you have to fix. But but what do they get right? So gives you a great base on which to do put 400
horsepower into a car that's 30 or 40 or 50 years old. Yeah. Cars from the 60s through the 80s from
Mercedes were truly engineered to last forever. Right. They were not engineered to break after
100,000 miles. They were engineered to just keep going. Yeah. They built the stuff strong. They
built it very well. Yeah. It's just the chassis will stand up to basically anything you can throw
at them. Even the 60s cars that look like they would be flimsy. They're not. Yeah. They're super
strong. This is why I think you know there are so many companies that can successfully rest them on
9 11. It's it's not that that's an easy thing to do. It's it's an easy thing to kind of conceptualize
and a hard thing to nail. But yeah, it's much easier to do a 9 11 than to do a DeLorean, you know,
or a Lotus or a Jeep Wrangler or a Chevrolet or fucking Bronco or a Scout, you know, or something
where you have to truly what I say, unshitbox, you know, something that's way harder than making
something just go fast. Right. Yeah. Yeah. No, these cars are the bones are already there. Yeah.
They're built remarkably well. And the issues they have are really just that the powertrains
have not held up to the test of time. Right. So we're taking the golden era of Mercedes chassis
engineering, where if you give the suspension and the brakes and everything a little bit of tweaking,
upgrade it here and there, they drive fantastic, they'll keep up with modern cars on a track.
And then you just put what we're using is kind of the golden era of Mercedes engine engineering,
right, the mid aughts when they really figured it out. But before all of the emissions bullshit
came in and choked it and made it super finicky and unreliable. Yeah. And we're we'll I want to at
the end, I have a lot more background, we'll end with with why we did with my car, what we did.
And that's a pretty good example for the business as a whole. But so aside from the powertrains,
not necessarily aging well, is there anything where it's like, we have to do this other thing in
every car we do? I mean, we upgrade the brakes. It's mostly honestly just maintenance, everything
that's rubber, everything that hasn't been touched over all these years, everything gets replaced
and or upgraded. But it's amazing how many people think they have an old car. Yeah. And they go,
I need like motorsport bushings, because this car is so soft, and they don't realize that they
actually have no bushings. Yeah, what they really need are just bushings. Just any any bushings
will be fine. And the car will feel like incredible. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Like that's one of my one of
the things I really enjoy is setting up 190 ease, because right, that's where I started. And I did
so much with my first one. And now I've got four of them. But everybody's like, Oh, I'm going to put
poly bushings on them. But like, the way they engineer poly bushings now is different from the
way they engineered the original bushings, which actually were spherical joints. So if you put a
standard poly bushing in the five link in the back of like a 201 or 124 or any of that, it won't
articulate correctly, and you'll end up snapping the control arms. Yeah. Yeah, that that sounds
bad. Yeah. I ever I put poly bushings in one car when I was younger, and I immediately regretted it.
And I said, I'm I am absolutely never doing this again. And anytime a friend tells me they're going
to do it, I tell them not to. Yeah. And anytime a friend tells me they have done it, I go,
how you how you like it now? And they're like, you're going to take it back out. Yeah, it's not
good actually. Yeah. Just like new bushings are like, Oh, you know, it's like seeing the light. I
use poly bushings in exactly one place. And that is the rear subframe on all of these cars, because
the rear subframe mounts, the factory bushings are hydraulic. And they have enough given it that when
you put 400 horsepower in it, you would introduce rear steer. So you replace those with poly,
it drives a lot better. Yeah, that's, well, that's a that's an engineering solution to a specific
issue brought up by the powertrain swap. That's, that's not a failure of Mercedes. Oh, absolutely.
Or a poor choice thing. Yeah, I could use the factory bushings. I absolutely sure. Sure. Sure.
Sure. What are there? Are there? You know, a lot
of people, particularly in the Ferrari community, we're talking about manual swaps,
who, you know, you can't get factory parts any more. So it's who makes the best parts?
I imagine Mercedes parts are not so limited. But can you
do a powertrain swap and or a manual swap and you can feel free to separate these questions
using factory Mercedes parts.
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slash tire code TIRE. Can you do a powertrain swap and or a manual swap and you can feel
free to separate these questions using factory Mercedes parts? Yeah. Fully. Almost. Almost.
So what, I mean, you don't have to, you know, give away the formula entirely, but where are
we getting gearboxes if we're doing a manual from Mercedes? And what, and what is that
gearbox? So Mercedes, a lot of people will say, Oh, we use the crossfire gearbox, but
that's I've heard that before. I drove one before like that. Yeah. So that's the early
six speed that Mercedes developed. And like, it's fine. It's a strong gearbox. I put one
behind a 600 horsepower supercharged V8 and did 20,000 miles track abuse, everything.
It was totally fine. Okay, that's good. They changed it. They modified it. They updated
it in about 2005 and the newer version is considerably better. So that's what we use.
They're available in a few models in the US and they actually kept using them up until
2015 or so in Europe. So at this point, I just buy them new from Europe. So you can,
you can buy a new, is it new OS or is it new, new? It's new. It's new. Yeah. So a new gearbox
in a crate just showing up. Yeah, I've got four of them on the shelf. And then what are we
using for clutches, just the same OEM stuff that would go with the C class? What do we
need for that? It depends on the power, right? If you're under say 300 horsepower, sure. If
you're over 300 horsepower, you're gonna have a hard time with the stock stuff because it's,
they just never meant it for that. Right. So I worked with a Uniclutch out of Australia a while
back and put together a package to work with the factory flywheel so that it will hold six,
800 horsepower and still feel like factory. Oh, that's pretty cool. And so we've done 10,
6.2 manual swaps now. And that's what we've used in all of them. And that's what you would use
in like the black series, right? Like, yeah, we have one at my store, the silver one, which one?
We've done five silver ones. I'm not going to tell you the vid, but it's one you did and it's a
silver one. And it, I haven't driven it, driven it, but I've driven it around and the clutch feel
and the gearbox feel are very nice. The manual swapped early 2000s Mercedes are, it is fucking
remarkable how much more instantly fun those cars get. Absolutely. I mean, because the stock
gearbox was such a shit pile. I mean, it holds power and for a cruiser it's fine, but in terms of
fun, it's just trash. And you've got these beautiful cars, they ride and handle great,
they're built well, they're fast, they sound good. And then they have this slushy garbage gearbox.
And you just go, God, even a half assed manual would be an improvement. And I drove one, the crossfire
one, there was kind of a half ass man. I drove a CLK 430, a four eye one beautiful car actually.
Yeah. Stock engine, the 4.3 with a manual, lovely. Made a nice sound. I mean, it was engaging to drive
and I drove a SL 55 that was kick ass like a 03 04. Good times. This really wakes up the fucking cars.
Absolutely. Is there a ton from the consumer perspective, is there a ton of value in finding
a decent car or a great one? Because what is a great 04 SL 55, 25 grand, 30 grand?
I mean, those cars are miserable. I mean, well, but they've got so many other issues to deal with.
But yeah, I mean, I wouldn't do it to one of those, but like a CLK 55, right? One of my guys picked up
a nice CLK 55, 120,000 miles for six grand manual swapped it in a weekend. And that's
this daily driver. Yeah. Yeah. So would you say that there is an enormous amount of value in those
cars? I mean, in terms of experience, yes. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, if you want a car that is
comfortable, quiet, bulletproof, fast, and also you can put a manual in it and it's not going to
feel like something that's hacked together, like it's all factory parts. It feels like it should
be there. Yeah. Then yeah, absolutely. It's a fantastic daily driver. And to get that experience
in any other mark, you're going to spend a lot more money. What do you have to do
software wise to make that setup work in an early 2000s car? So it depends.
It depends. There's a few different, right? So like there's Mercedes used one generation of ECU
up to 2001, 2002, those ones are impossible to get into, but you don't really have to as long as
you don't mind a check engine light. And then the like 2001 to 2008 or so, those ones are super easy.
I can just go in and tell it it's a manual. There are a few tricks. This is the AMG ones. So you just
like use your old Pentium processor to log in and go click for manual. Yeah. And it's just that's it.
Basically, I mean, you've got a mirror, reverse lights in the clutch switch. Yeah.
But like it's pretty, if you know what you're doing, let's just say plug and play and not not a
challenge to overcome. As long as it's naturally aspirated.
Aha. Because well, we'll circle back. There was a bunch of people who were like, well, why didn't
you get the supercharged engine? And you and Sean were kind of like, we don't really fuck with them.
Oh, no, I do. I do a bunch of them. Yeah. The problem is it's just the thing I tell everyone is
you don't actually want the supercharger engine. You don't want 500 and some horsepower in these
cars. They're small, they're light. It's not like a modern car. If you put 400 horsepower in a 60s
to 90s Mercedes, it is ample. I promise you. Yeah, you don't need more than it is a lot. No, I mean,
when when my car was built, it came with like 206 horsepower and the s 600 with the v 12 was like
370. Yeah, like, yeah, so we're gonna have more than that. Yeah, I didn't personally
think I needed the supercharged engine anyway. I wouldn't have asked for it. I certainly wouldn't
have paid extra for it. It gives me nothing that I need. But I imagine if you're going to spend the
money fucking swapping, a lot of people will say, if I could spend 18,000 bucks and have
400 horsepower or 22,000 bucks and have 500 horsepower, I'll just pay the difference just to
say I have it. A lot of reasons not to do that. Yeah. And yeah, no, I have a lot of people that
say I want to do the 113k. And I always tell them you don't really want to do that. And but every
once in a while, I get someone who says, yes, no, I do really want to do that. And then we do it and
it functions when it goes. They get an erection. That's why. Well, did you see Sean's Black SEC?
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So like, I was driving that on Angeles Crest. That's one of my that's like
my loaner car when I go out there. And and I was coming through that tunnel, coming back from good
vibes. And I was like, I'm just going to floor it through the tunnel. And just to hear the exhaust,
but it just lit the tires up all the way through the tunnel. And it was great. Now I just heard
the tires. There are people I agree. There are people myself, sometimes included, that think too
much is enough. I'm not against too much. I just usually won't pay extra for it for myself. But
like, I like I used to have a fucking a replica Cobra that had a NASCAR engine in it. Like, I'm
not I'm holier than now when it comes to too much. So that's basically the pagoda. It's
just that I've been there. Yeah. Yeah, a Pagoda with an M113. And it is effectively a Sunbeam Tiger.
We did that. Yeah, it's it's actually going up on bring a trailer probably this week. Yeah.
It had the 5.4 six speed five link rear end. Yeah, no, I put 6000 miles on that car.
It was fantastic. Really? I loved it. I don't want to sell it. But like, you know,
we got to move on to new thing. Is it here? It's out in California. Oh, damn. OTS is selling it for
me. Okay. So they, yeah, I shipped it out to them. But before that, I took it on the Overcrest
rally, I took it on breakfast club rally, I took it down to Amelia, like I just drove it everywhere.
And there are companies in Germany that will do basically that conversion, but they only use the
4.3 or the 5.0. They don't I've seen the mechatronic cars. There's one in LA that's owned by a pretty
famous collector who I saw parking in a fucking handicap space at a coffee shop. Yeah, yell that
by a cop. It was sort of a loser move, actually. But but but the car was nice. It was it was a very
clean, clean car. It was it was a 500 engine. Yeah. But now I understand why they didn't use the 55 in
it. Because you don't need that. Yeah. Well, if you I mean, if you there are I've driven a lot of
cars where I go, you can't sell this to people, you're going to fucking kill people with this.
And they go, they never listen. I've said it to four or five people right up into until the CEO of
McLaren. I told the CEO of McLaren, like it's irresponsible to sell this car to people, you
have to make them do driving school or something. And he said, would you have you ever asked a
billionaire to do anything, especially when they're writing you a check like, no, they won't, they
just won't do it. So yeah, anyway, the but but you said your your your buddy. Oh, no, my camera
mount, my camera. Oh, hang on. Stop down. One second. Holding for fixing camera mount. That's what I get
for choosing such an unstable thing as a fucking hipster ass bicycle like this. That's what I get.
This is what I get. But it's okay. Change up the shot. Little more stability.
Make a note that tells Zach that at 31 minutes, the bike fell over at 31 minutes, our shot got
messed up slate to it's okay, you know, we'll do put an ads there and then you come back,
people don't even notice. But people you just said that your buddy who presumably had some kind of
mechanical ability was able to do a manual swap and that's okay over the weekend. So I and my friend
Vinnie did in a Ferrari 360 over the over a weekend did one himself as well. So so that was one of my
employees was one of your employees. So it's not so it's not something that is just totally
straightforward and people can be doing at home or is it if you are adventurous?
It really comes down to whether or not you have the ability to code the ECU, right? Like if you
have an old school Mercedes star diagnostic system or they make cheap knockoffs nowadays that will
do it like yeah you can do it. I know plenty of people that have I know a guy in Atlanta that's
done I think four of them now. Yeah, just in his garage. Okay, so it is though I drove one in LA
that where a guy did it himself. Yeah, I drove another one from Vegas that someone someone who
was more than professional did and they were both fine actually. The Crossfire one the shifter
feel wasn't quite exactly what I want. That's the big thing with the Crossfire box is it does not
have an internal reverse lockout. The reverse lockout is built into the shifter and those
shifters are garbage. So when you go to the newer style one you the reverse lockout is built into
the transmission then so you can run any shifter you want. So you can get a nice aftermarket
short shifter and there are companies that sell them that bolt into the older Mercedes chassis.
That's yeah that's a good move. Yeah, is there what is what is a car where if a customer calls you
or someone calls you from off the street and says hey I want you to do a powertrain swap into this
car is there a car you just go oh god please god no or where you have to charge a pain in the ass
tax for doing it. So there are two the one that I say no to is the 114 115 chassis.
What you're I'm not quite as nerdy as you but yeah yeah late 60s to mid 70s Mercedes E-Class.
Okay the there are 300 D's or 220 D's you would know them as yeah the precursor to the 123 that
everybody thinks of as the early E-Class. Uh-huh those cars underneath it's the same as a 107 SL
you know 72 to 89 but the frame rails in the engine bay are narrower so you can't fit a V8 in it.
Okay it just doesn't fit. Okay so it's not a problem where this is a structurally unsound car
it's literally just sorry bro you want to put an engine in there that doesn't fit. Right what can
people do with 36 and in line six yeah if that's what they want. Totally yeah or an OM606 if you
don't mind the diesel. Uh-huh. Right like I've done a bunch of those. A modern a more modern diesel
swap yeah or yeah you can even go up to the OM648 the common rail one from the Aunts.
Those are fantastic engines. The CDI. Yep that's a C320 CDI. Yeah right yeah okay so all right so
so you you could still work with it it's just not you're not going to get the V8. Right. What is
when you're doing a project like this me as a customer you know I got some I had some choices
to make not not a ton it was pretty pretty much like you're going to do the thing but like
clearly based on the cars that are out there people do have some kind of choice. What is
the biggest waste of money that customers ask you to do that has would you say that the using the
K the supercharged engine is the biggest waste of money a customer could request in a project like
this? Probably yeah like least return for investment. The return for investment is
burnout's on demand. Sure well yeah no that could be a desirable thing. Yeah if you just want something
to drive that is going to be your daily driver or road trip or whatever um yeah just use the
naturally aspirated engine it works great yeah it's awesome. So that's the biggest waste. What's the
best thing that's kind of expensive to do while you're in there and you kind of have to convince
people to do it but that it really is important. Limited slip. Yeah because I mean we do end up
probably 70% of the cars get a quay for limited slip and it just makes it that much more usable.
Yeah that makes sense. It's surprising I mean on the one hand it's surprising how many of these
rear wheel drive sedans don't have them on the other hand 200 horsepower fucking mommy car like
whatever. Well yeah Mercedes put limited slips in three cars uh up until like 2000 ish. Right. You've
got the 450 SCL 6.9 you've got the 192.3 16 Cosworth and you've got uh the 500e was available
with a limited slip but most of them didn't have it. What about the R129? No none of those
got limited slip. None of the R129 SLs had limited slip. I've never seen or heard of one with a
limited slip from the factory. I guess I no just assumed it had it I never would have
occurred to me that they wouldn't have. Some of them have ASD which is um a hydraulically actuated
limited slip. Is that brake vectoring? No it's an actual clutch style LSD that uses wheel speed
sensors and then a hydraulic system to actuate it. So like that was more much more common in
Europe than it was here. It's super hard to find here in anything but over in Europe they figured
out a way to hack those so that you can use like a drift handle to actuate the diff to lock it up.
Yeah like the new Mustang has. I have no idea about that. Yeah the current you know the new
Mustang has a drift electronic drift handbrake like when you put the car in it into drift mode
the handle that is normally the parking brake and it's an electronic handle it's not it's a joystick
becomes the drift brake but it works. It does work. Nice. It's I mean it's like
I almost said it's gimmicky but like it isn't it does it does exactly the thing they say it does
like it's not gimmicky it works. Gimmicky is like the all the hatchbacks that have a drift mode.
Yeah. The all like the Focus RS and the Golf R and shit because it can it's more like a
donut mode than actual drift mode. If you like lift a little bit off the floorboard like you
can't like modulate a slide it's just you know many. Cars newer than like 2005 just don't exist to me.
Yeah. It's really funny. Yeah. The newest vehicle I own is that 2003 G55. Yeah I roll up outside he's
got a fucking manual swapped G55 which is actually pretty sweet. I bought it right it was dirt cheap
with a blown engine and I had another engine sitting there and when I pulled the engine
transmission out the other engine had a manual bolted to it so it's like do the transfer cases
still work and stuff. Well it's a divorce transfer case so yeah. Oh I just have to get along the back.
You just did a different drive shaft that it knows no difference. So the hard part was actually the
pedals and the shifter because they redesigned the chassis and the cab on those in 2002 and they
very obviously designed it in such a way that it would never have a clutch pedal or a manual
shifter again so I had to go in and take the whole dash out modify the firewall to mount the
clutch pedal and the same with the center console to mount the shifter. But like oh yeah it wasn't.
But but now that it works you have a manual G wagon and the transfer cases work which is really cool.
Yeah and you know the lockers work and everything I've put a ton of miles on it I took it up in
Michigan in February and went out in the snow on the seasonal roads. Yeah that's pretty sweet
actually. It's a lot of fun. Same gearbox. Yeah that's the same the same so the the fact that
you're now using it for off-roading I know in a heavy ass no problem. I had one of those behind
an OM606 in my 73 f250 highboy and that was my tow rig for 50,000 miles. I went wheeling with it I
towed all across the country. Wait you put one of these Mercedes gearboxes in your truck to tow
with it? With an OM606 turbo diesel. What is an OM606? Okay so the OM606 is a 2JZ of 99 E300
turbo diesel. Oh twin cam six cylinder indirect injected. Okay. You can they have electronically
controlled injection pumps like a P pump for a Cummins and you can backdate it to the mechanical
injection pump. Okay and they're just absolutely bulletproof. And what truck did you put that in?
A 73 f250 highboy. You still you use that truck still? Uh it's up in Michigan. Oh wow that's pretty
rad. A friend of mine has it and yeah no he still uses it. There are probably not many Mercedes diesel
powertrain swapped 73 f250s out there. That's not that I know. That has to be there are at least two
Mercedes diesel swapped Ford Falcon still running around that I did like 15 years ago. Like yeah
you did more than one. I did three of them. What? Who sees a Ford Falcon is like I need a Mercedes
diesel. My second car was a Ford Falcon. Okay. And I don't know why so I think this was all spurred
on by the Roadkill Takes America trip back in 2015. Okay. I found a 67 Falcon wagon in Oklahoma,
drove it back to Michigan, pulled it out of a bar and got it running drove it to Michigan,
ripped the six cylinder out, took a junkyard Mercedes OM606, bolted a dog leg five speed to it
and stuck it in there and did the whole trip in it. That was like Roadkill's power tour right? Yeah.
I have a vague recollection of that being a thing. It was fun. And yet and you sold fucking Falcons off
of that. No I mean I just did these for shits and grins. I had a thing for a long time where every
spring I would buy some 60's Ford and do something done with it and then sell it in the fall.
And two of three of them were Mercedes diesel swaps. All right. All right. Cool.
I'm not saying that I haven't seen cool diesel swaps before. Although I guess during this period
this that would have been 2015. That would have been well 2014 was diesel gate but I thought that
was that was around peak fever pitch for diesels 2012 13 diesel and real hot shit. That was going to
be clean diesel was going to be it. Oh, I mean these are not 80s 90s. No, these are very dirty. Yeah.
But rolling coal. Yeah. So let's talk about my car for a minute. We've talked about where it comes from.
The concept of course is to build something that is is was like a 500 e that Mercedes never did in a
cabriolet which they probably should have that would have been sweet. Yeah. We everyone in my
comments it's why aren't we using the M119. I didn't see a single fucking M119 out here in your
shop. You are not necessarily about the M119. M119 is a fantastic engine but like everything else
that Mercedes did through the last century it was at the forefront of what was what they were able
to do at the time which meant that it was kind of inherently flawed. When I first got into doing
this I started with the M113 because you can bolt a manual to it. The M119 does not have a manual
that bolts to it. Now there are adapters available now but then you also run into the issues of
it's wider. It doesn't fit in the engine bay. The 400 e and 500 e have a different engine bay
than your car does. Yeah. And so we would have to change the firewall. We would have to change
the cross member underneath. And then like why? It's not worth it. What have you driven just out
of curiosity of an M119 which has a manual to it on it? Yeah. Okay. So we don't so that's still I mean
it exists somewhere but that's as of it's an unknown what it feels like how it works. So like my 500
out front that one I got it supposedly running and driving it didn't and 565,000 miles on it.
So I ripped the M119 out and I put the M156 in it because it feels like the spiritual successor.
It's the next quad cam v8 that came out of Mercedes even though it was actually AMG. So I took that
6.2 put a manual and it put it in the 500 e. Nothing was fantastic. That same drivetrain is in my wagon
now. But again it's like man this is this is too much. I don't need something that revs to 7,000 rpm
in my daily driver. Yeah well I mean that's for me I have a crazy sports car. My spider it's as
fast as I ever need to go. I have a bunch of little niches but what's interesting is like as I get
older and partially because of where I live which is in the middle of LA
I'm starting to care more about having a garage full of cars that I can use in my like everyday
life. Yeah you know like I don't need a whole bunch of 600 horsepower manual gearbox sports cars.
Those are for me to have fun on the weekends. If I try to drive those in my errand running
I would blow my brains out. Like it's just it would be miserable and I'd okay why do that. So
I have this little dumb Myers-Manks with the airplane engine in it that is like an amazing
fucking city run around when it's nice out and I'm like I think we need a dope cruiser and so
it's going to be automatic right? We have the five speed. And did you rebuild that or did you have
to do anything to it? Just service it? Just fluids and whatever and it seems fine.
Conductor plate right that's what always fails on those. I don't even know what a conductor plate is.
What is a conductor plate? So this is when they went from hydraulically controlled transmissions
to electronically controlled transmissions. They did that by you still have a valve body but on top
of the valve body is a plate with solenoids and sensors and stuff on it. It has a plug that goes
into the side of the transmission and what happens to that is the speed sensors crack and fail and
then it doesn't have a speed signal from the output turbine and then you then it just stops working.
You get stuck in second. So fairly common it totaled a lot of Mercedes 20 years ago but now
you know it's a few hundred bucks in parts takes a few hours not a big deal. Cool okay so and and
actually we saw the new shifter is installed which is from the E55. It's not. It's not. Oh I thought
the E55 shifter is too tall it would stick out of the center console. Oh so we use one from a
202 well actually a 208 chassis the CLK the CLK one. Oh okay so that's the right height
and then we have an adapter so we can mount it so that it sits correctly with all the wood and
it matches. Oh that's neat and the only way I mean other you can tell is is it's got a little the
little plus minus bit at the bottom so if you have to do a little manual control you can sort of
sideslap it. Yeah. Do they have or have you ever done an aftermarket paddle shifter solution
or updated a steering wheel to include one that had paddle buttons on it? I did in Seattle
about six years ago. Did it work? It did. Did you use a newer OEM wheel or did you get aftermarket
paddle shift? It was an aftermarket wheel just like a standard Momo with paddle shift behind it.
Really? Yep. It's kind of and it did work. It worked yeah. Yeah it's from the same guy who we
get the kit from that controls the transmission. Oh interesting yeah it's it's not something I want
for my car but like it that would be cool. Yeah I mean it would it would so like certainly you can't
shift fast but for a fucking car from the 90s it would be way better than whatever you had.
We did a 124 wagon for a local guy that takes it on a lot of rallies and when we first talked about
it he was like I want it to be a manual and then I found him the green over tan wagon up in Rhode
Island he flew up he drove it back down and he gets back and he's like what if we kept it automatic
and so we changed the whole plan we put the automatic in it and like he does he takes sound
rallies he took it on my rally he uses the tiptronic but you know here we are eight months later and
we have a manual sitting out back now he wants a manual yeah you know learn by doing
yep I it's not you know a five-speed Mercedes slushbox with paddle shifters is not ideal but it's
it's better than the side slap and is better than nothing so right my car is for cruising
around yeah but you know with this engine we do have to do suspension we do have to do brakes
so what is the plan there? Suspension we've basically just gone through the whole thing
H&R is Bilstein V8s for your shocks and springs you're getting an upgraded front sway bar just
because it makes a massive difference in handling okay is this suspension basically what you would
do if you were just refreshing a tire at e500? Are the geometries the same as the e500? Yeah oh yeah
they are okay yeah oh yeah the suspension on basically all 124s is the same there's a little
variance in the hubs and there's an early control arm and a late control arm for the front
and obviously springs and shocks are different between different models but the whole idea that
the 500e is some bespoke special Porsche whatever no it's just a Mercedes that got built in the Porsche
factory it was assembled by Porsche yeah yeah yeah they they I like the lore but they get a little
more credit for the actual engineering of the car than they did right um this and plus you know
you're out enough cars you know cars aren't sacred they're made of parts right some of the body
panels are prettier than others but they're they're all just made of parts yeah um but uh so when you're
doubling roughly the power output of a 2 plus 2 or a four-seater Cabrio-Lay do I need to be concerned
about structural issues I mean I'm not going to be doing drag launches or or really ripping on it
it's a cruiser but you're gonna have cal shake I'm gonna have cal shake those cars had cal shake
from the factory yeah but like not not more than I had right yeah is there any kind of
if I had more money reinforcement that you could or would do have you done it before or is it is
it literally just it is what it is man live with it I mean so I've never had to right because
everything else has been so stout that it's just never even been a concern with the 124 cab
that might be a concern but like nobody's ever asked me to before so I've never really looked
into it yours is the first one we're doing oh mine's the first cab you've done yep oh well happy
to be the first yeah I mean shunt um because I asked him the same question he said absolutely not
he said these cars the cabs in particular were handmade cars that had that were structurally
over engineered yeah he said there isn't any way around the cowl shake yep if you got a honestly
if you got a 2018 Bentley GT it would have cal shake okay any seriously if you got it if you
get a mercedes uh BMW 8 series cabriolet it has cal shake the only four seat convertibles I've ever
driven that don't are the Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead and Dawn the 911 and that's a 2 plus 2 not a 4
the current generation Bentley GT okay and even then only the soft ones not the sporty ones yeah
well in that case yeah there's nothing to worry about yeah it just is what it is yeah it is what it
is yeah um but but it's not like uh you're you're gonna twist the thing like a pretzel yeah no do we
I mean and I assume because uh is there like air flow or cooling issues or anything with doing this
swap it just all in 13s runs super cool okay uh and we use the modern fans as well yeah so any
aftermarket fan you can get um usually flows between like three and 5000 cfm uh whereas a
factory mercedes fan will flow like 13 000 cfm fully variable um PWM controlled from nothing all the way
up to 100 and I control it using a different module so I can create a nice ramp angle so you never
even know what's there yeah yeah yeah cool cool and is it difficult to make the engines work with
old school gauge clusters and stuff like that how does that process sort of shake out um I get a lot
of questions about that it's like how do you keep all the factory gauges what do you do
into them are you modified no I'm not I'm just giving them what they want to see right like so the
quote modifications happen somewhere else in the wiring harness it gets the signal gets converted
or something generally the signal gets converted okay there will be a signal converter that lives
behind the gauge cluster that converts the signal um there's a a speedo drive box that will take the
electronic speed signal from the transmission computer and then spin the cable that spins the
speedo got it um and what is your recommended upgrade for brakes when you've got one of these v8s
the cheap and easy go to is a w220 s class like 2002 ish pick a model right they've all basically
got the same brakes they're big four-piston brembo is 330 millimeter rotors um yeah for a 3200 pound
car that's fine yeah yeah and then if you want to spend a little more we would do 600 stuff stuff
from a 600 well the 600 stuff is the same as the 430 stuff I just say 600 because that sounds fancier
that's hilarious really yeah they don't I thought the 600 one I guess the 129s had bigger brakes
not bigger than these they're the the the later s and this would be the 2001 to 2006 s class yes 220
chassis okay 99 to 06 yeah 430 555 right so the 55s got big 8-piston calipers um and like we've got
them laying around because they're you got to run 18s you got nobody wants to run 18s right so so this
is really your limitation is the 17 inch wheel yep okay so this is the best Mercedes brake that
will fit in a 17 yeah and this is a lot of people will throw too much brakes at a car a lot of people
will throw too much tire at a car like you were saying about twist in the chassis like you would
have to have 300 and some with tires and a limited slip to even worry about that but I have a my ethos
is like there needs to be a fuse somewhere right you can have the fuse be somewhere in the drive
line where it's going to break and it's going to be very expensive or you can just run a little bit
narrow retire yeah and then you'll lose traction right or anything bad happens I mean that's a
that's a lot of people's philosophy it's not a terrible philosophy actually um it's probably better
than the than having such wide tires that the diff explodes if you know if you do a launch yeah
and like my pagoda there's worse things in life than burnouts the the red pagoda that's the that's
going up for sale that's got 205 tires on it that are like 800 treadwear in the rear all around yeah
that's gonna that's probably loosey-goosey it's hilarious it is so much fun and the thing is right
if you lose control in that thing you are doing a manageable speed where you can recover from it
easily if I had 255 200 treadwear tires on there by the time you lose control you're dead yeah
in a pagoda certainly that's mad shady yeah I mean I kind of agree I use I'm friends with a guy
who worked on the Ford Raptor all the generations of Ford Raptor and when they first came out and
people started like really like jumping them a lot and they were bending the frames and they were
going well this is a poorly designed thing because we're bending the frames and I called my friend
who was the chief design engineer to ask about that and he goes look first off if you're jumping the
truck that high you've done something wrong okay but it's got it's gonna fail somewhere yeah he goes
if you bend the frame you can drive the truck home yeah and you can actually put it on a frame
straightening machine and fix it yeah if you make the frame strong enough to withstand that type of
impact you will probably explode at least one if not more shocks yeah and then you're not getting
home yeah you know I mean then you're stranded wherever you are so we had to make a choice of
which thing would go first yeah and we decided that the thing that should go first is the thing
that you could still get home even if it's broken yeah which is a choice absolutely yeah you mentioned
a bunch of the road rallies you said you put your own on I do what's that called it depends on the year
it's just change it yeah customers and stuff just my friends really the okay so like it's usually
the quick regional rally or some variant of that the slow regional rally is it always around here
smoky mountains um yeah Kentucky north Carolina yeah good roads kind of hard to go wrong good roads
yeah except right outside your shop which looks like the road it looks like Balbonis road he goes his
test route outside Lamborghini where you test suspension because the tarmac is so terrible it
is yeah that's exactly what I use it for but the uh you I you just got back from overcrest rally
which I have heard of I've heard it's very good it's a lot of fun and what car did you bring on that
so I brought my Rosso which is a 190 avant garde rosa it was kind of a like a final edition model
that they sold in Europe okay I sold 2000 they have this crazy technicolor interior it's uh
the pattern is called arcade um which I haven't shown you yet I'd like to see yeah I haven't seen
yeah so they never sold them here and I'd always wanted one so last year I was like why don't I
just import one so I found one in southern Germany that had air conditioning and I got it over here
and um I put a it's a 190 uh cause worth or just a regular 190 okay yep um and I had imported a
98 c43 wagon a couple years ago shunt currently has that car he's putting a dtm oh I saw I've
seen that car yeah so I put a 55 motor and a manual in that so I had the old 43 motor sitting
around so I took that put a manual behind it and stuffed it in this 190 that's pretty cool um it's
it felt like cheating uh the thing is right it's 300 horsepower six speed manual quay
limited slip kw coil overs good brakes right the and my handicap was the tires I had terrible tires on
it and uh and it was kind of the perfect combo it did great where is that rally uh it changes every
time right so this time was in Wisconsin which is the guys who organize it are from there but like
last year was north carolina and then arkansas and then Oregon before that and that's that was the
first one I went on you drove there and drove back yep oh my god so that one I did in a 55 swapped
190 and uh because I wanted something that was fast would fly under the radar would handle well so I
took a 190 and put a 554 in it so you're always doing 190's your customers are bringing you other
your other stuff but you're always doing 190's what do you know that the rest of us don't know
or is it just going back to your yeah no yeah it really is I just I'm not that you know that the 190
is actually the best car and the rest of us are just waiting to figure that out oh I mean it is though
why is it the best um I mean think of everything that's good about an e30 m3 and then think of
everything that's bad about an e30 m3 and the 190 does it well well I've I mean okay I suppose I've
driven uh I've driven 190 cause worths yep and they are very slow I have one of those it's not slow
well they're slow stock yes they're slow like in the same way e30 m3s are slow stock yeah but I drove
an e30 m3 that has like a s54 like a 2005 and and ripped yeah is that what we're talking about here
so like my 16 valve is a euro one that I've warmed over in heltecht and did all that it's
it's not slow and it's very much a momentum car um and you can carry a lot of speed with it
but yeah once you put a v8 and a 190 then yeah you're talking yeah you're swapping yeah yeah
but it's quiet and it's comfortable and it handles incredibly predictably and you don't have
lift off oversteer you don't have trailing arm issues like you do with an e30 um good air conditioning
is it worth building one into a race car yeah I would like that seems like a pretty sweet race car
like a 4.3 with a six speed that seems like a pretty bitch in like champ car absolutely right
what does that car weigh probably about 3 000 pounds I really need to get that on scales
you should have a set of scales yeah I feel like that fucking would rip it does you can drive it
that's out there I would like to drive it yeah we should do that yeah that's amazing okay so
what are uh when you uh took the engine out of the 2002 donor car to put into my car you sent me
a photo of something and you said we found the there's a thing wrong with your engine that's
wrong with a bunch of engines do you know what I'm talking about do I have to get my phone out
no yeah um the there's something with that engine in the front cover okay uh that where the timing
cover meets the block there are two coolant passages to go through there and they're just
rubber o-rings and um yeah they swell and fail okay in time right so if you have one of these engines
where you're getting coolant in the oil that's probably what it's from yeah okay but it didn't
cause any like catastrophic damage no okay um oil and the coolant more than yeah yeah but like once
you took the engine apart and cleaned things and put it back together like fine right yeah okay no it
hadn't actually failed yet it was just like on the rubber was swelling and cracking and it's like
we're gonna okay take care of that all right cool and you didn't find any other like terrible surprises
in there like no rust I didn't know about or anything here okay so shant who is out of his mind
he says he would like to drive this thing to car week yep which is in fucking August and
for the record today is June 22nd yep I don't along with two other cars that are that are here
yes that are okay at least we can ship them back together maybe uh what the engine the engine uh
is physically in the car yes gearbox is physically in the car yep but that's kind of it right now
the suspension is all done oh okay so where what do we have to do do in the next I don't know
couple weeks before that car can be sent back a whole lot of wiring wiring yeah okay tell me
I I don't know anything about wiring I know I don't want to know about wiring so what do I need
what do I need to know about wiring in order to make a 2002 powertrain work in a 1995 Mercedes
all right let's see we've got the ECU which did I have the biodegradable wiring by the way in my car
the original so you throw all that in the garbage anyway yep okay yeah that's all parked though
yeah no it's so the nice thing is in cars that came from mild climates the the biodegradable
wiring doesn't fail as quickly it's really the climates where it's where it's harsh work it's
really cold and really hot okay and you have engine temperature sub zero engine temperature
sub zero multiple times a day that's what kills me sure okay so california cars florida cars they
usually survive longer okay but you don't have to worry about that anymore we have your engine
computer that is getting a module put in we get them from europe it basically we can go in and set
up this module so that it acts like the ignition switch the electronic ignition switch and then
it will take a signal from your physical ignition switch to then emulate the electronic ignition
switch and tell the ecu to start okay because this car the o2 has the weird the chunky yeah yeah
that nobody likes right yeah okay so we get rid of that and then the transmission the otherwise
the engine computer is factory the transmission computer is factory we have another module in
there that's a like a mil spec module that runs a program that emulates your traction control
okay so it takes all of the information from the drivetrain that it needs and then gives that to
the engine and transmission computer so as to make it think everything is fine right like it takes
your wheel speed and then figures out is it traction control no okay so if i lose traction i don't
have traction control no you don't okay that's fine i'm okay with that i just want to know i figured
you would i just want to know what i have no there was a minute there was like what if we took the
entire traction control system from the e55 and put it in matt's hand no no yeah no do i have a bs
yeah okay yeah all right it still works okay and i and like you said i have full h vac as well yep
yeah okay yeah everything works the way it should all right cool and are there okay so once you figure
out this not figure out because you've done it before you know what to do right yeah doesn't
figure out it's just yeah yeah we 3d print our own ecu housings and everything like hide back in
there make it all look factory um and it holds you know the ecu the tcu the pcs the k40 right we
utilize the the power distribution relay from the e55 to distribute power to all of the modules
and everything so it's all factory parts you were very uh when you were showing me around the shop
earlier you were very uh you said it a few times that it has to look factor in the outside has to
factory yep is that is that just a you thing yeah why why does it i mean it's it's nice that it looks
factory i think but that's it's certainly it's it's a it's a choice that you but like it have you
ever had a desire to go i could probably do that better sometimes yes on those things you know yeah
that's what we do we were at an artwork just outright if you ever had a model you couldn't make work
no okay that's good i mean that's back to the autism right like if i have a problem i'm gonna
work at i'm gonna bang my head against the wall until i find a solution what about it do any of the
what any of the cars have like the fucking lcd screens in the middle nothing that new right
nope the clk and didn't have that yeah um so i mean like that stuff we just figure out how to make it
work um that thankfully though that era of car has the canvas that already talks to all of those
modules so it's just not really that much of an issue it's just it's mostly just coding and are
getting or if you're doing a manual can you just buy a three-pedal pedal box from Mercedes and mount
that or you having to figure out where to put a third pedal the only car that we've had to figure
out where to put a third pedal in is that g55 right apart from that yeah you just buy the pedal set
the ghost of that chassis which and you have with a g55 you have the benefit of like nobody expects
the ergonomics to be good at g55 like you don't have to be like it's a truck like a truck manual
gearbox like you're not yield towing like yeah it's fine but also i was still able to buy the
pedal bracket from Mercedes that crossed to a different chassis that fit and bolted up i just
had to modify the firewall around it to make room for the pedal yeah but like it still bolted out
is that gearbox used in other stuff not Mercedes or do they make the gearbox is it like a getrag
or something no it's a Mercedes gearbox yeah sorry so it's not in anything else that's not
Mercedes oh so you you you having it in a Ford truck might be the first person to ever put that
thing in a non-Mercedes of any kind nah who's putting Mercedes gearboxes in other stuff i've
never you hear of people buying Tremax and get you've never heard anyone buying that well now with
the Mercedes engine too but those guys over in europe are crazy they'll put anything in anything i
guess sweden yeah i'm not thinking yes we do the swedish drift scene from 20 years ago sure yeah
they must have that's true that's true okay what have do i need to know about any
of this that you haven't told me yet i mean i i feel pretty educated on the customer side art of the
m1 13 swap business that that's pretty much i mean from what i gather the m1 13 swap business is
effectively your entire business it seems like it's like 80 percent of your my
business yeah but like we've got one out there that's getting the m120 quad cam v12 and that one's
going to get haltech and it's going to get equal length headers and it's going to get an annual and
is that the one from yeah l 600 yeah yeah is that worth it if you want formula one sound yeah
want 12 cylinders but from a like cost benefit analysis no i didn't think so and then we also do
like my wagon has the 6.2 quad cam in it i'm doing another 6.2 quad cam for another guy in a wide body
sec um that's like the the modern ish one right from like 2005 uh 2008 787 89 yeah
the 63 engine yeah the actual one before yeah got so you can put those
in and what is like the cost difference to do that engine versus like my m1 13 how much more are we
talking about so generally the way it shakes out is like if you are doing a m1 13 it's in today's
dollars right this fluctuates a lot with parts available and stuff but like a you're not you're
not quoting a customer on the podcast is like range me out 70 ish for the full everything
engine transmission suspension brakes turn like turnkey yeah you send us a car you get the car
back yeah everything works that's for a 113 it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 to do a 113
k you're adding 15 to 20 because the engine is considerably more expensive and then you have
coolers and you have lots of coolers and the computers are more expensive sure all of that
stuff so that adds just a lot of labor and a lot of extra parts and then the 6.2 is probably another
15 to 20 on top of that beyond that yeah because basically any engine we get as soon as we get the
engine the first thing we have to do is tear it down and redo the whole thing yeah head studs right
but that's i mean well it's easier if it's already out of the car is it is that the servicing of that
motor is what adds that so is it more complicated to swap a 6.2 than a supercharged 5.5 yes it is
okay because of the wiring and the even more advanced that moves on to the next generation of
engine computers yeah and those are finicky and you probably can't use the old key anymore
no we can't are you still can use the original key oh that's cool yeah no i'll show you my wagon
it's you know turnkey i've probably put probably 6 000 ish 8 000 miles on it with the 6.2 and the
reason like i'm selling that one because i have a four mile commute yeah and it never i never even
get the oil up to temp i you know i have a similar issue i i live very close to my office and i
might actually despite the fact that i live in a big city my life in that city is quite small
and i don't drive far enough to even turn the old cars on yeah a bunch of the times so the great
thing about the 113 is uh i leave the parking lot sideways every day with a cold engine i don't care
i dare the thing to blow up it won't is that is it just that under stress from the factory they are
that reliable was that and was that 113 an all new engine at the time it was it was so they knew
that this block and architecture was going to eventually have to withstand substantially more
power i assume so they did make a few changes for the supercharged motors but really just forged
internals right right cool well i cannot wait to drive this car yeah i am so stoked it's gonna be good
i think it's gonna be great i'm gonna roll around la looking like the man making a good sound the v8
and people are gonna go hey wait a minute that car didn't come like that right but but but not right
away right you need it you're you're it's not going to scream at you that this is different you're
gonna have to go what is different about that yeah the thinking man's tuner car no i i really
enjoy that i have a wide body 123 coupe and i saw the craigslist listing for it once and i was like
oh hey it's one of those and then probably 10 minutes later i was like wait they never made one of
those yeah and then i had to go back and find it again and then i went and bought it and
shon has that car now but so somebody someone made a wide body coupe and and you're just gonna
you're gonna do basically what you're doing mine yeah so that was on the top cure video that i did
four years ago now with the supercharged v8 and a manual and then somebody hit me because
natural traffic is terrible and shon has had it for three years basically doing the whole thing
okay uh yeah so hopefully it comes back soon cool i miss it yeah well that's that's that's money i i
want to try this wagon of yours yeah um i also want to try the g the g wagon oh yeah absolutely that
seems really interesting i mean that's my girlfriend's car at this point she drives it more than i do
i love it well look honestly my wife is going to be driving this mercedes probably more than me
but uh dude this has been great i can't wait to see my car uh it's really been interesting to see
what you do down here and uh yeah i want to go drive something yeah absolutely thanks guys for
listening we're gonna uh we're gonna go poke around the garage and see if we can drive something and
we'll see you next time bye
About this episode
Powertrain swaps take center stage as the hosts and Matt Kwiek dig into why older Mercedes platforms make such compelling restomods. The conversation moves from Matt’s early path—sound engineering, a 190E that broke down immediately, and learning to wrench—to the culture shock of “Restomans doing anything like this with Mercedes was not accepted.” They then get practical: ECU coding, gearbox choices, suspension bushings that affect rear steer, and why limited-slip diffs and the right clutch packages matter. Along the way, they compare Mercedes engineering philosophy to cost-cutting and talk about swap builds across multiple chassis.
Matt Kwiek is the owner of Kwiek Classics, a shop focused on updating the powertrains of chassis ('70s, '80s, '90s, '00s) Mercedes. From V8 upgrades to V12 shoehorns, it's anything but a simple process. Matt tells us how he left Apple to start wrenching.
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