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It's time for looking Xfire with a clean title for $800 and V8 for $250
Completely forgot, I already have the whole donor sl55 AMG so I don't need a motor.
Only downside is your "donor" weighs around a ton more.
My ECU showed up this morning, so "thank you" Josh if you happen to be following my thread.
I had to send the first Xentry DAS system back, the software was corrupt and it was missing a few "Key" programs. I just got the tracking number for my replacement which I purchased from a different company.... 3-5 days from Hong Kong VIA DHL Express. Hopefully I will be able to start the car this Saturday.
With not being able to run the car yet I figured I would do the best job I could restoring the 181k miles of paint damage this car has. It has dings and scratches that I knew I wasn't really going to be able to fix, but is a 100% improvement from what it was.
We yanked it back out of the shop and started with a wash, clay barred the entire car, and another wash.
I cut each panel with Meguiar's Ultra Cut Compound and a orange pad, polished each panel with Meguiar's Ultra Fine Finishing Compound and a blue pad, then finished with a machine wax with Meguiar's Gold Glass Carnuba Paste Wax and a Griots red pad. I like using a paste wax with a soft pad as opposed to using a liquid wax. Liquid wax is a little to liquid and you wind up spraying **** everywhere if you forget to turn the polisher back down.
Turned out as good as could be expected without wet sanding the entire car..... which I'm not going to do lol.
Jared
P.S. on a side note, I am going to start gathering the drivetrain and parts I need to perform an LS swap on my 88 Corvette Z51 Roadster. Specifically shopping for an iron block LQ9 engine.
You really impress me! I've never seen anyone get so much done in such a short period of time. Not to mention that you seem to be able to do it all. Well done!
I just noticed the pictures really don't do it justice.
As I was closing up the shop last night (after 10 hours of paint work... UGH) I shined the flashlight from my phone over the car and the paint was sparkling!!
The wheels need to be restored, they aren't horrible as far as bad rash, but they have had enough close calls that the paint around a few of the rims is chipped all the way around.
You really impress me! I've never seen anyone get so much done in such a short period of time. Not to mention that you seem to be able to do it all. Well done!
Certified mechanic... no. Can I turn wrenches on anything.... yes. It takes a certain aptitude and a good memory and an understanding of WHY things works to be able to turn wrenches.
My father said it best when I was diagnosing a lack of power with his 95 4-Runner years ago.... He said he could probably read a manual and be able to do the job, but he wouldn't understand WHY he was doing it.
The "why something works", is just as, if not more important than "how something works". I'm really good at understanding the "why".
I grew up in Germany when I was a kid (Army Brat), my step father who was a helicopter mechanic would always buy cars from other GI's that were transferring stateside, do a little work to make them better running or looking cars, and would sell those cars to GI's that were arriving. This was back in the late 80's to mid 90's when the US military had a larger presence in Germany.
I was always there when he was working on something and he "planted the seed" so to speak. He told me, and I quote, "Jared... A truly rich man will never have to pay another man to work on his car", I really took that to heart. He and my mother wound up getting a divorce in 96 after he went to Bosnia and we transferred back to the states. I hadn't even owned a car yet but had that seed still. When I did start driving the piece of crap cars I could afford when I was 16, I had to work on them myself and pretty much just taught myself how to do the work. I've owned over 50 cars since I was 16, buying, fixing, selling, just like my step father used to do, and I currently own 11, 10 of which run and drive.
My being ADHD and a little OCD helps a lot with the work that I do. I am not a really big fan of "overly modified look at me, look at me cars". I try to do the best I can to make my cars appear OEM and perform OEM.
In the end there are really only 3 things that change between vehicles, or engines, wether they be european, domestic, asian, diesel, 2 stroke, what have you..... and those 3 things are the tools required, the tolerances needed, and the torque specifications.... everything else is just nuts and bolts.
To answer your question, yes, I consider myself a mechanic.
Alright, tomorrow will be the day for first start.
My replacement C4 Star DAS system showed up on Wednesday and I am finishing up the small amount of wiring today.
The engine I used was removed from a 2000 ML55 AMG, the harness and ECU for this engine are ME2.7, whereas the XF is ME2.8. The harnesses and ECU's are not compatible with each other.
I purchased the engine harness from a 2003 CL500. The benefits to using this harness is that it is a ME2.8 harness and shares identical ECU connectors and pinouts.
The very small downside to the harness was that I also had to upgrade to an ME2.8 throttle body and it has a body connector that does not match the XF.
Pictured below are the differences in the connectors, the upside is that it is a simple cut and solder operation though as the wiring colors match.
The wires are as follows....
On the smaller 4 pin RCM connector
Red with White Stripe (fat wire) is power for the Air Injection Pump
Red with Green Stripe is power for both of the Upstream O2 sensor heaters
Red with Blue Stripe is power to all of the Fuel Injectors
Gray with Blue Stripe is the Air Pump Relay Control wire. This wire jumps from this connector to the larger connector below. You can see how it runs from one to the other in the pictures below.
On the larger 5 pin Body connector
Gray with Blue Stripe is jumper wire mentioned above
Black with Yellow Stripe is power to all of the Coil Packs
Purple wire energizes the Starter Solenoid
Blue with White Stripe is the Low Battery Warning and runs to the Alternator
Blue with Green Stripe is power to the AC Compressor Clutch
It really doesn't get any easier. If anyone is considering a V8 swap..... use the same harness I did.
Jared
Connectors on the CL500 Harness Gray/Blue wire jumps between XF connectors XF Body Connector XF RCM Connector
Re: Worlds Cheapest V8 Swap
