W211 mph kph instrument swap

[drscrote]

I'm investigating how to change over my speedometer instrument face from mph to kph, in anticipation of taking my W211 E55 estate back with me to Australia in the coming months.

I know I can change to metric units in the settings of the dash, but the dial face is only mph currently and it has to display kph to be registered.

Looking at the options I think the best bet would be to gut a second hand European unit and swap over the dial faces only, leaving the electronics and everything else untouched. I'd like to keep the 'AMG' logo on the clock and 'V8 Kompressor' on the rev counter but that may not be possible.

This thread had some info

The car is an 2003 E55, and the stock speedo is 160mph, so a standard 260kph European speedo should be correct. Later E55s go up to 200mph / 320kph.

The dials have an electrical connection for electro-illuminescance, rather than back lighting.

The rev counter has 1000 and 6000 rpm at the 9 and 3 o'clock positions so I think should swap ok.

Has anyone any better suggestions, or experience of doing this?

Cheers Tom

 

[Alps]

I would get a secondhand one from europe (ebay.de?)get the milage zeroed adn then get it programmed to your car using STAR.

This way you are least likely to cause any damage to your 11 year old cluster which may have some internal bits becoming brittle.

 

[drscrote]

Thanks.

Yeah, I've been looking at German eBay, there's a few suitable ones for my application. E55 260kph ones are rare though.

How would I get the programming done though? That's the bit I was trying to avoid by doing the gutting / innards swap but I take your point about old plastics.

 

[drscrote]

For closure on this -

I had bought a 260kph cluster from German Ebay and dismantled it with a view to swapping it before the move. In the end the import guy advised against it and assured me it wasn't a legal requirement. This was correct and so now I'm reunited with the car after it's voyage and it's all legal and correct. I just leave the electronic display showing kph and all good.

It needed child safety seat top tether fasteners for Oz but that was it. Didn't have to empty the aircon.

The import process was super easy. I used Car, Motor and Vehicle Imports in Australia highly recommended. Didn't have to pay anything until the car arrived. Dropped it off at Ipswich which was my local container port (Felixtowe). The car arrived before our personal effects, took about 8 weeks all up. Final cost A$9000, which includes $1600 Queensland road tax / registration fees and $1500 for the actual shipping. It was 900 quid, shared container.

Feel free to ask if anyone else wants import advice. Car coping easily with 35C 80% humidity! ( and fuel is 70p/litre!)

 

[Major774]

So good to hear a happy ending... Enjoy the AMG down south