Educate Me Please on M104's and "Fly By Wire"

[poormansporsche]

alright good peoples,

So ive got a 1995 C280 M104 coming and the long term plan will be to dump the engine and transplant either a 3.2 M104 or 3.6 M104

But ive heard that the early engines are Non Fly By Wire and Later engines are fly by wire.

So what does this mean conversion wise as I havent got a clue and how do I find out what type my engine is ???

cheers

Brett

 

[219]

I was unaware of this difference too .

I would imagine that as long as you have access to the complete donor car the engine comes from then you will have everything you need ?

 

[V12]

I thought it was only the 300-24v that was fundamentally different.

The 2.8/3.2/3.6 are all very similar.

I don't think you'll have issues.

 

[poormansporsche]

I thought w124 was non fly by wire whilst later w210 were fly by wire???

 

[poormansporsche]

Only reason I mention the w210 though is I'm more likely to get a low mileage 3.6 donor from a 210 on the cheap but in all honesty I'm more likely to end up with a 3.2

 

[DSM10000]

I assume that by "fly by wire" you are referring to the throttle control? Instead of a conventional throttle cable operating the throttle body the accelerator pedal is a potentiometer and the movement of this is measured translated into a movement at the throttle body by a motor or motors that regulate the intake air flow to the engine. It also, with other systems allows for fine control of idle speed and load compensation.

As long as you transfer the required hardware, looms and ECU(s) there should be no technical reason that such a transplant would not work.

 

[poormansporsche]

Yep exactly but obviously a lot more cash to go from one to the other!!

 

[redbaron]

I have an M104... never even looked if was DBW or non DBW... assumed at that age they were all still traditional throttle.. will look next time the bonnet is up.

 

[kth286]

On the 124 vehicles the differentiator is the fitment of ASR or not.

ASR = Acceleration slip control ie. electronic slip diff for traction of the rear wheel with most grip.

ASR cars have the drive by wire throttles.

You need to determine what your C class car has.

Do this by putting up the fill VIN here and someone will print the full spec of your car including the options such as traction control.

If you have normal cable operated throttle, it's easy to see inside the
engine bay, you will easily get the cable operated 104 engine from 124 cars because the ASR vehicles are in the minority.

 

[Niks]

As far as the engine itself is concerned, that can plug into either as im sure the fly by wire thing would be something connected to the throttle body.

If you do go down the 3.6 route, you would need the ECU to get the full power. If both the 3.6 and ECU are out of the W210, im not sure how that would work in a W202. It may possibly well do, but maybe some connectors and wiring things might be different.

You'd only know if you compare things step by step from one car to the other.

The best resource for you is to go in the W202 Club site, a few guys have converted C280s into C36's, even with write ups so you can see whats involved in the process.