Originally Posted by ShawnQ
I'd venture to guess that it can be done for 1/4th of that price, if not 1/10th.
$39,995 is absolutely outrageous for an engine swap except for the fact that they are the only people who do it and they know the electronics.
The electronics will be the expensive part. Bolting the engine into the car is the 'easy' part.
We'll see how cheap you can keep it. I'd be willing to bet that you can keep it less than or close to an SRT Price from a few months back ($25K), including the 17 or 18K you spent on the car.
SQ
I bought the car for $15,900 and have put $900 in mods on the car.
I bought the new V8 with less than 15,000 for $2,100. complete with engine harness and ECU.
Shipping of engine $300.
The engine was a great deal but someone got a valve cover and four coil packs off the engine before I could get to it. The coil packs off the V6 are the same and will work. I will have to find a valve cover and exhaust manifolds for a C43 as well as a slim electric fan from a CL500.
I have worked a deal with a master Mercedes mechanic with the Starmark computer. He says he can get the CL500 ECU to work in the Crossfire. I told him if he can make it all work perfectly he can have the left over V6 which he wants for another project he is working on. This mechanic is also a hot rod nut and remembers me from my days of showing the Cobra I built. So the electronics may be paid for! Best case this will cost me $3,500 and worse case about $4500 and then there is always the unknown which could cause this project to be abandoned. I bought the engine cheap enough to bail out without getting hurt if needed. For the same money I could have bought a supercharger kit from Mosselman, but I can't see how this would ever be worth more than an SRT-6. If it works I will have one of the few if not the only V8 Crossfire's in North America. I will also have a good foundation for future performance mods.