W124 engine swap to R170

[Hmj599]

Hi there, apologies if this is in the wrong section as I’ve not used this forum before. I have had a 1994 CE 220 for a while as my project car but have never had the time to do it up nicely, it still scrubs up nice but the original engine has 180k miles on it but it does run decent, but I was thinking of a swap as my mechanic has said he’ll be happy to do it at a good price, and now I’m finally ready to redo it all properly with repainting and rust repair etc.

I know a e320 or e280 of the same shape would be a much easier swap but I’m struggling to find any engines of that online or in my budget, however I’ve seen a couple SLK supercharged engines off the R170 shape in good condition within my budget. My question is would this be a be much harder to do than a straight swap with for example an e280 engine? Would it be fine to still keep the original 4 speed gearbox? Would there need to be any modifications needed that would make it not worth it financially? Or should I just wait to find a w124 engine/donor car with the engine I want?

I’m not overly concerned with big performance gains as I’ve got my CL500 for that but I’d just like something fresher and a bit quicker than the original and the SLK engine seems to be perfect.
Thanks in advance!

 

[Doodle]

Yes, considerably harder, especially concerning the electronics for the engine management. Not using the SLK gearbox will just make that even worse. You may find that going standalone ECU is actually less hassle.

 

[carat 3.6]

The only realistic way is with a standalone ecu, and keep the w124 gearbox. The engine bolts in easily but the electrics make the swap a nightmare.