A tale of sorrow :(

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daz-clk55-amg

daz-clk55-amg

Active Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2016
Messages
61
Car
2003 clk55 amg
Hiya guys and gals, my name is Darren and I'm from just outside cambridge (uk) I have been a member on here in the background since I first got my clk55 amg back in july 2016

Very shortly after purchasing my car I decided on turning it into a little project, This is actually my first post as I was awaiting my project build to be completed before i showed you all
Well its now finally done after 14 months of hard work it came out the bodyshop on the 18th may.... but sadly it wasn't long lived
frown.gif
frown.gif


I was on my way home from Milton keynes last sunday eve (27th may) when we was hit by the flash storms, according to the news we actually had 2 months of rain in just 2 hours, within half hour alone the roads went from totally dry to having to drive at 5mph, yes it was bad but no worse than other storms I have driven in over the years

Anyway.... I was driving in the rain and a van went past throwing water all over my windscreen / front of my car and into my air intakes via my front grill and my car ground to a holt with a horrible metalic clonking sound and cut out, to make things even worse, as I went to get out the car and another t**t in a 4x4 decides it will be funny to do the same thing again whilst my door is open, soaking both me and also the inside of my car with a good few inches of water , every other car that went down the same road was fine (must have had 50 or so go past)

I called breakdown and they pulled apart my airfilter and it was full of water as was my air flow meter etc, the water has been sucked through my air system and all into the engine and "hydro locked" it, he said it's probably done major damage to the rods, pistons and valves and I'm not to try starting it atal I then had to wait on a recovery truck for 7hrs until 4am, finally getting home around 6am

This tuesday the insurance people have been out confirmed the engine is hydrolocked and beyond economical repair as a recon amg engines from mercedes costs.. wait for it.... £38k :0

To say i'm gutted is an understatement, This was only the second time I have took it out after coming out the bodyshop just a week before, where it had spent 14 months or so in the making to make sure it was spot on and ready for the shows, I'm not ashamed to say I have been in bits the last few days, stupid I know getting upset over a car but I truly am devastated (before and after pics of the cars transformation below)

All that being said, atleast my car was on an agreed valuation policy, so now once I receive my settlement I have a few choices, either buy the car back from the insurers and spend whats left replacing this cars engine or I can let the car go and go shopping for a c63 (and stay away from puddles this time lol)... hhhmmm decisions decisions

Has anyone ever transplanted a c63 engine / box into a clk55 amg ?

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I must say you worry over nothing. Get a complete second hand block from eBay or just a short block (latter dirt cheap). To swap it out is a day’s job. If it’s a short block - couple of days. Put it back on the road and enjoy - it’s a great looking car.

PS. A 63 conversion will be a much more involved job. You will need a donor car.
 
After all the work you’ve done I would agree with above about buying it back off insurance. Apart from the hassle sourcing the bits you should come out of it the other end with a bit of change in your pocket for further mods.
 
Wow, what bad luck! Car looks a real stunner. Am not an expert so I would definitely take the advice from forum members regarding buying back the car and how to sort your engine problem out, there are some very knowledgeable people on the forum who will be able to assist you.
 
A terrific job.. do as others say, buy it back off insurance then source a secondhand engine and go for it.. you're obviously very meticulous so why not make it the engine of your dreams and enjoy?? Don't let all that hard work go to waste..please?
 
You might be able to find a second hand 113k engine which would make an awesome car with some cooling mods
 
While you’re doing that stick quads on it, and the OEM lip spoiler
 
Really feel for you mate, that's a horrible turn of events, but when life throws you a lemon, time to make some lemonade!

I agree with a lot of the advice on here around buying it back - you've put so much time and effort into it so a little more time and effort would be that big a deal!

Hope it all works out and keep us updated on the progress

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
 
You HAVE to buy it back from the insurers, do not let all that hard work go to waste its an awesome looking car and like others have said you can put the powertrain of your dreams in now

I lost a car to the west country floods in the early 2000’s luckily not an AMG I wasnt as well off then lol and its a terrible experience but there is always a silver lining as that time i went from a MG ZT to a Jaguar XJR
 
What a kick in the nuts after all that hard work and patience. The car looks absolutely fantastic, I wouldn’t let it go for the sake of an engine swap. Drop another engine in and possibly mod it before it goes in and then it truly is YOUR car.
I know the professionals says the lump is a gonner, which may well be the case, but they can be a bit panicky poops scare mongers sometimes. If you were at low revs it might not be bent rods, valves and busted pistons everywhere. I’d be so tempted to get the spark plugs out to release pressure and give it a crank by hand and see. What have you got to lose?
Whatever you decide, hope it works out for you and don’t beat yourself up over it (easy for me to say, I know). It a chance to evolve an awesome project. You won’t be short of punters to take it off your hands if that what you decide.
 
Sorry to hear that - I like what you have created there and I'm not always a fan of the "aftermarket look".

You will always come across fu**tards in life.

I would definitely buy it back and also I'm with the "get something better fitted" in replacement so use the money to improve the car.

Agree on quad exhausts too - they always look wrong without them.
 
Thanks for all the comments

I did infact pull the plugs and expell all the water, started it up and seemed to tick over ok (all be it a little white Smoke)

Left it running a good 5 minutes but could hear something wasn't right, like a slight scrapping noise from inside the engine, anyway thought I'd pull it out the garage just on tick over, the second I put it in gear and touched the accelerator the tiniest bit (we all know these cars need a tiny of bit if gas to get reverse to move) BOOM

The car made the worst sound I have ever heard, something def broke up, sounded like I had just threw a bucket full of nuts and bolts in the engine

Suffice to say it def now dead, won't turn over now atal, just makes this horrid metalic scrapping / banging noise
 
Last edited:
mark44 said:
That's so grim.

You must be gutted, but given the time and effort put in on the project I agree with the above in sourcing a replacement 55K engine - though if it were me I'd probably try and use an M156 for the full black series look (plus back box!)

Bit less than the 38K quoted Mercedes C63 AMG 6.3ltr Engine Supplied & fitted | eBay
Click to expand...

I did see this on eBay, just not sure how much work it would be to transfer all that into a clk55, prob need custom looms / coding etc, way beyond anything I could do
 
Would love the m113k lump too, have seen it done to a couple of clk's but again looked mahoosive jobs and probably very lengthy jobs too

Think for now my best bet may be to just find another clk55 car with decent miles, rip it's heart out and transplant into mine

The next job on my list was the quad exhaust conversion, just so happens I have found a decent mileage clk55 amg for sale that has full mbsh and also has the quad exhaust conversion already done, so would give me a new engine and exhaust in 1 go

Just got to hope the insurance sort out my pay out before the owner gets a sale

Just then need to find someone who can do the swap process and any coding needed on star etc, any engine gurus on here you guys would recommend
 
clk320x said:
While you’re doing that stick quads on it, and the OEM lip spoiler
Click to expand...

The spoiler is in paint, we did paint it black but just looked a little too much, so decided to do it body coloured, exhaust where the next mod, was booked in for this week to have both secondary cats removed and quad straight pipes to the rear, wanted it to sound like the monster it looks
 
daz-clk55-amg said:
The spoiler is in paint, we did paint it black but just looked a little too much, so decided to do it body coloured, exhaust where the next mod, was booked in for this week to have both secondary cats removed and quad straight pipes to the rear, wanted it to sound like the monster it looks
Click to expand...

Are the original wheels that came on the car sold?
 
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