Maxwell, I think i have mentioned this a couple of times but I will try to be more clear. Any engine I use will have the original computer that was meant for it. When you swap modern engines you need the engine, engine wiring harness and ECU. I will not be trying to adapt my stock ECU to a V8 or any other engine.

 

Why would the Merc engine be more impressive than a Hemi? The hemi makes ~ 40 more horses than the 5.0 and is overall probably a better engine. After owning an XF after driving mostly true Mopars all my life, I have realized that MB "quality" does not impress me. My engine is noisy and idles kinda rough and has been since it was pretty much brand new. I'm not totally dismissing the Merc V8 as it would probably be what I'd do because it is on the more cost-effective side and more easily done, but if I had to money and such, it would be spent on the Hemi.

I am also thinking that the Hemi also uses Bosch electronics and such, and I think our 6 speed is also used in the current truck lineup, although built tougher for more heavy duty use.

 

This has been the $64K question ever since the SRT6 came out.
Personally, I think it was strictly "PR" asp kissing by Daimler/Chrysler just to give the buying public the notion that they were supposedly getting something more when they bought a Mercedes.
If the engine in both cars is identical, and the intake and exhaust are the same, then of course the H.P. should be the same, and they aren't breaking any "rules" if they under rate it in the Crossfire. But if they over rated it for the Mercedes, then Mercedes should
have to buy back all the cars they sold, just like Mazda had to do when they over rated the H.P. on the RX8.

 

You know if you want something different, check out the Chrysler v-6 from the Prowler, I think it's a 3.5 or 4.0.0 liter and there are crap load in the junkyards it can be found in the sebrings. It also has a variable manifold and OHC. I've seen them push out 300 hp normally aspirated, you can only imagine what it will do when boosted. They also have forged cranks and 4 bolt mains too. Oh I forgot it's a twin over head cam so you get 4 valve heads which allows you to off set the cams so you don't leak boost pressure, pretty cool!
You will need to make an engine trans adapter... but it would be a fun swap for an engine that only cost $400 and I can guarantee the smog inspector won't know the difference.

Also might find the prowler motor in a dodge intrepid.

 

The old 215 hp in the '97 Prowler and '93 - '97 LH cars was a slightly different motor than the new version and had a different intake manifold design and dual throttle bodies.

The new 3.5 started out in '99 in the Prowler, 300M, and LHS and later the Concorde/Intrepid and made around 240-255 hp depending on the ECU tune which was higher for the 300M and LHS but required premium fuel. When the LH was discontinued, it was put in the LX cars and Pacifica and then received the variable intake manifold and 250 hp. The Avenger/Sebring is rated at 230 hp. This is a velvet smooth, near bulletproof engine with whisper quiet valvetrain, and the 4.0 version is even stronger yet. Much better motors than the Mercedes M112 V6. They are all-aluminum 24v SOHC with a forged crank and cross-bolted mains and a max speed of 6,800 RPM.

 

It's too bad the SRT-4 engine only comes in a FWD flavor. If it could be done to switch it to a RWD then that would be your best option since the A/M is huge for that engine.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2000-...QQcmdZViewItem

It's such a cheap motor that it's hard to resist doing the whole Intrepid motor, ECU and wiring harness swap, you can buy a used intrepid for $2,000 then machine an adapter to the 6 spd. The options are limitless, and the aftermarket ecu's are much cheaper than dealing with Bosch. I think I'm gonna wait another 5 years for some beater crossfires before I start tinkering.

 

why not just rotate the engine forward? even boosted to 14 psi I'm not sure it will have all that fun torque of a boosted v6.

 

Interesting comments. Sounds like you want the luxury of a daily driver / touring car that can also be competitive. This makes sense. My SRT is not my daily driver - I prefer two wheels for that. Nothing like ripping a wheelie on my 650cc torque machine on the way home for lunch.

Having owned both I can say the SRT brakes are all you should ever need on the road. I tested mine and came to a full stop from 140 MPH in ZIP. I also feel that the stock brakes on my limited were pretty dang good to. Competition racing might be another thing.

The suspension and steering on my SRT is far superior to my Limited. At high speeds, the rear end of my Limited wobbled like a fat ladies butt trying to rushing to the ice cream store before closing. The limited's touring suspension was good for just that, touring IMHO. Great comfort/ride on the road. My SRT is a bit stiff under 70MPH but once you hit 95+ it's a whole another ride to be appreciated.

The transmission is the one thing I am not sure about. I would assume they both are equipped with the same AutoStick, but my SRT tranny is much more tuned and well behaved. Off the line it knows what to do and does it without effort or question. My limited would freak out off the line and not give smooth shift transitions. When I was just cruzing, it was smooth and fine. Perhaps it's the computer parameters that makes the different between the two.

Anyway, other then HDDP whose advice has helped me out, you are the most aggressive Limited owner I have seen on this forum in terms of performance modifications. I hope you go the V8 route and if you do, I'm sure you'll be blazing a path for other power hungry XF owners.

 

LantanaTX: can I first say, I am massively impressed with your approach to modifying crossfire within a reasonable budget.... most of us have been nervously waiting for someone else to do it first (chicken ****)... congrats on bringing us all some more options... us nervous ones just need one person to get a MB V8 transplant done successfully to a crossfire and to iron out the bugs - then I am sure there will be lots of other takers. I am sure that once it has been done (cool) there will be massive of interest (someone like startech may even sponsor you). I for one suggest that if you really go for it ... scream out loud about it, but ensure that you sell the technical details of how you did it (if it was easy we would all have done it by now)...

Cheers.

 

Hey man sincere luck to whatever you plan on doing (which I doubt would be any kind of engine transplant; if you have ever done one you know they are not easy OR cheap - you always run into unexpected problems).

Anyway! GOOD LUCK!

Oh, and if you want cheap, within the next couple of months I will be doing a DIY on a turbo system for the crossfire for under $1,000 (right now I'm at only ~ $550 actually) (all used parts of course, which DOES NOT equal bad quality; sometimes its better to buy a used name brand part than a new eBay part for example).

Keep us posted!

Tito @ TR
www.tr-performance.com

 

I agree 100% Ford also had a problem when their SVT Cobra Mustang didn't perform on Dyno's. The car was cancelled for an entire model year and a lot of people got their cars hopped up for free by Ford.

 

Maxwell is pretty much right. One of the problems is that the Crossfire has always been a mixed bag. Not quite a great sports car and not quite a great grand tourer. My vision for my car is for it to be more of a grand tourer that can hold its own on the road. The world I come from everyone supported each other and shared just about everything we learned. I sure don't think Startech would like me to figure this out and post it all over the internet. One thing I have noticed is that when you get into the high line cars performance mods are guarded national secrets with vendors excepting large sums of money from ill-informed owners. many of these dupes feel that there car is so special and so well engineered that any performance increase should come at a price that lesser people could not afford. Just so you guys know, people on the real world are adding turbos and superchargers every day to all kinds of cars for under $2500.

One thing I have always like about Mercedes is their durability. You just don't see that many Mercedes engines with a rod sticking out of the side of the block. My mother put 325,000 miles on a SE500 and it still ran when we pried it away from her. She treated her new lincoln the same way and went through two engines in three years.

I like many of the engines you guys suggest, but I am also interested in protecting my investment. I think it is best to keep the car all Mercedes. While the Hemi would be cool, it would be kind of like putting a viper motor in an SLR.

I really like superchargers and/or V8's. I personally like superchargers over turbos because they make it feel like you just have a bigger engine. The power comes on very linear. And of course there is no substitute for cubic inches!

 

Yeah, but the SLR doesn't have a Chrysler emblem on it. (As superficial as it may be on the Crossfire, it's still there).

As the years go by, and more and more Crossfires wind up in salvage yards, I wouldn't be surprised to see small block crate motor conversions showing up in them. But I agree, it would be kind of sad, no matter how much faster they may be. Well, faster than the Limited that is.

Being a life time AMX owner, it always pissed me off when ever I was at the drags and I'd see some guy running an AMX with a Chevy small block instead of using an AMC motor, not because it was faster (it wasn't), just because it was "cheaper" to build.
I think alot of us would like to see you successfully transplant a Mercedes V8 into a Crossfire for 1,000's less than Startech wants for the same result.
Even though I'm sure you're much more than the average "shade tree mechanic", you don't come across like some large entrepreneur with millions at your disposal. So it gives the average guy some hope.
This sounds like it could get interesting.

 

Andrew took care of the emblems on my car, but they were about the only Chrylser parts I could find on the car. BTW, I like AMX's, I even know your car has no back seat and is not a Javelin. As far as money goes, I started drag racing in the seventies while I was in high school. I had no money then and had to use my brain more than my wallet to go fast. I eventually had one of the fastest Ford's in the Inland Empire area of Southern California. That race car was a '69 Mach 1. My tow car was first a '68 Shelby GT500KR and latter a '70 429SCJ Torino. I have owned and restored some other Ford Muscle cars and then moved to the Cobra roadster and then a GT40 that had and 8 barrel individual runner fuel injection system with a Motec M48 computer (after that the V8 mercedes engine in a Crossfire looks like child play). I have a very well equipped three car garage and have built cars from the bare frame in it. I have all kinds of different cars. this time last year I was playing with an old Alfa and my daily driver tricked out Mini. BTW, someone mentioned taking a SRT-4 and turning it to run north south. this is a fairly easy thing to do. In the kit car world this is very common. The only thing that is sometimes weird is you may have a long radiator hose running the to rear of the engine. I have also had friends take the Ford SHO
V6 and turn it north south and put it in street rods. This was an amazing looking engine that was actually built by Yamaha.

 

The biggest cost question is the tuning ability. We work with Diablo, but I know the Crossfire market is way to small to even get a word in. I have several methods of tuning my sleeve, from around $550 to about $1,100. Overall costs will depend on which one will work the best when I put boost to the N/A engine. I know I will be mapping it to run a MAP sensor and ditch the mass airflow sensor, much easier and no recirculation concerns.

I would avoid a V8 if possible, hate to screw up the cars balance. I built quite a few Chevy Vegas with a small block 350 in them, so I know what you are talking about regarding power!

Mr MoPar

 

Post pictures of your cars in your user gallery we all would love to see your toys, that is if they finally got the gallery feature working on here...

Anyways it's refreshing having more mechanical types on the forum, it does get boring reading posts about sprint booster and who selling mobile one oil this week, we need more gear heads on here. keep up the hard work!

 

Will try to get some good pictures today. I am off to a car show now.

 

Maybe is a Dallas/Ft. Worth TX. mindset, but the world I'm from also shares all their knowledge and we have a saying "it all comes out in the wash" we did what ever it took to modify our Mazda Proteges and Miatas. It really built a ton of great memories working together and got my mind off the daily grinds of life. My wife and two kids go into it as well.

Being the fact my family and I have lost everything in the last year and a half, due to me being laidoff of a job of 14 years and having to start over.

In addition, being diagnosed in the past weeks with a rare form of bone marrow disorder that is can turn into a form of Luekeimia and mostly found in men over 60, Im 35 so I'm been tired a lot more than normal, but I'm still excited about working hand in hand with Lantana on making our dreams come true.

Life is way to short to not dare the impossible and dream, then turn those dreams into reality. I hope to one day be at "our weekly car meet" checking out each others cars saying things like "Man, I can't beleive we modded all of our cars!" and take them out for drives and do stupid things like cookouts and go to races etc... My family I loved those moments and talk about them still...

 

There is a local shop that is known worldwide for putting in the V8 hemi in almost everything. My buddy dusty does most of the engine swaps, Scott is a very smart guy also does alot with lifting vehicles, and Dan the owner is a crazy jeep god. They have done work on all my jeeps and my crossfire. They were looking into putting a hemi in my brothers prowler but the 6.1 will not fit. They have thrown a viper engine in jeff christistys wrangler and even have created a wrangler srt8 Check out the site and dream away. http://www.burnsvilleoffroad.com/