X204 Mercedes-Benz GLK 350 Manual Swap

Put in a "sport" wheel from a W212 E class. I need to dye the airbag and wheel together so the color matches, but overall I'm very happy with it. 

Got some new shoes

I've decided I'm going to pursue a V8 swap on this in the near future. I've done some light research and it looks like my ideal donor car will be a W212 E550 with the M273 V8. The W212 is based on a stretched W204 chassis and as such they share a lot of parts with the 204 so I think it'll be beneficial to pick one up over a S/GL/ML donor.

With those tires it almost looks like a Forrester's big brother!  Is that M273 related to the V6 that they put in there originally?  I thought there was some commonality between the 3.5 V6 and the 5.5 V8....

wae said:

With those tires it almost looks like a Forrester's big brother!  Is that M273 related to the V6 that they put in there originally?  I thought there was some commonality between the 3.5 V6 and the 5.5 V8....

Yeah the M273 is based on the M272 V6 that comes in the GLK. 

My thinking is drop the subframe from an E class, bolt up my manual transmission to the V8 and try to bolt the E subframe in to the GLK.

If that doesn't work out I think I'll need to look in to subframes or mounting from a W204 C63. 

In reply to iammclovin804 :

I think I read somewhere the m273 headers on the ML's fit a bit tighter to the block than the headers from m273 in cars. 

V8 swap would be ridiculously fun. Especially with a manual.

The new shoes look great too. I've been trying to convince a buddy to drop down from his stock 20s to an all terrain with 18s because the pothole'd Seattle roads would be much more enjoyable.

iansane said:

V8 swap would be ridiculously fun. Especially with a manual.

The new shoes look great too. I've been trying to convince a buddy to drop down from his stock 20s to an all terrain with 18s because the pothole'd Seattle roads would be much more enjoyable.

Yeah I've wanted to go down to 17's basically since we bought the thing. 19's look nice but you could feel every bump in the road. 

My wife hates the a/t's, but I think they fit the theme of this thing being my little yard workhorse. 

yupididit said:

In reply to iammclovin804 :

I think I read somewhere the m273 headers on the ML's fit a bit tighter to the block than the headers from m273 in cars. 

I just looked on ebay and it looks like you're right. Thanks for the tip!

Got impatient waiting for donor cars on copart to come up for auction, so I bought an engine on ebay. Google says this will be a very simple swap, we'll see about that. 

I am very much looking forward to this!  Dropping the engine in as-is, or doing any "while I'm in there" things?

Probably do timing chains/tensioners/guides and new mounts at the very least, but we'll see what else looks crusty when it gets here

In reply to iammclovin804 :

i will probably never own one, but just knowing this can be done gives me hope for the future of mankind. Can't wait to see how the V8 swap goes. 

Isnt there a thread of the same swap on mbworld? Well, w204 getting the same engine and manual trans.

Engine is here. 

Probably going to spend this weekend cleaning and inspecting it and putting on the w212 wiring harness I bought.

I wonder how well that m272 will fit in a w108

In reply to yupididit :

I bet it would fit fine. Those came with a V8 at some point right?

In reply to iammclovin804 :

Yeah it'll fit since those big v8's went in there. But, I imagine the m272 would be hard to control with a standalone ECU like megasquirt because of the intake manifold variable runners and swirl flaps. m113 and m116/117 are my first options. But if I find an inline 6 or v6 for a good price I'd be open to that too. 

In reply to yupididit :

Yeah I don't know how standalone would go and to use the factory ECU you need the key, EIS, and steering lock to go with it. 

In reply to iammclovin804 :

Yeah factory ecu is absolutely out of the picture. 

After having a chat with Danny Kruger from fcpeuro, I could def work with this engine in my w108. I emailed you! 

There's so much room for activities. 

Waiting on parts from rockauto then it'll be time to put the new engine in and program the ECU to my key.

You work fast. 

Are you also using the ecu, key etc from the w219? Or can you use the glk parts because they're both me9.7?

It's ridiculously easy to take the engine out of these. 

I bought a virginized ECU from a W212 that I will need to write my VIN to and do the teach in procedure in Xentry. 

I looked through the coding options in vediamo for the M272 ECU and there wasn't anything for the M273, just different variations of the 272. I think the actual ECU itself doesn't have all of the injector/coil drivers on the board but I'm not positive. 

Fits like a glove. 

Still much left to do. The cooling system will give me trouble unless I can figure out how to move the radiator forward an inch or so. 

Edit: I actually think the cooling system will be fine. The engine was just tilted forward so it looked like there was less room than there actually is. I bought hoses from a C207 E550 coupe as it's on the same 204 platform as the GLK and it looks like it'll all fit together fine. 

In reply to iammclovin804 :

Does it have the 273 or 272 accessories?

And did you keep the 273 tb on the engine?