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Yes! This is the beginning of a blog of the journey of my next Crossfire project. Having now successfully completed both naturally aspirated and forced induction V8 conversions to Crossfires, it is now time to move on to the next most complicated swaps, a 6.2L M156 AMG V8 into a Crossfire. If you have not read of past exploits, then I recommend you read about the last major project, a 2004 Sapphire Silver Blue (SSB) coupe with a M113K supercharged V8 and 7-speed transmission HERE.
This first post is an introduction. Some of the blog entries will be back-dated, as they just have not been discussed, but I do want to preserve the timeline. This project has been worked on steadily for well over three years, but the subject car has only been here for about half of that. The pace has been dramatically slower than the 2004, and that is both intentional and a fact of life that there is a day job and family to look after ahead of the car!
This project will take on an additional set of challenges over the 2004 car. On top of the powertrain swap, this one will receive a few other noteworthy changes. First, the wiring in the car will be completely revamped, using bits and pieces of various Mercedes models, in an effort to bring more modern amenities to the Crossfire body. The interior will be completely swapped, retaining only door panels, sill covers, carpet, and rear area panels from the original car. A-pillars and headliner will be modified. The seats will come from a W207 E-class convertible, and the dash/center console will come from a W209 CLK (facelift). Several aftermarket devices will be integrated in from the start, including dash cam, picture-in-mirror, and blind spot detection. The drive train will be a M156 from a 2014 C63 "507 Edition", which is the base 6.2L V8, but with upgraded forged internals from the legendary M159 engine found in the SLR, and late model GT race cars. Transmission will be the same 722.931 that I had previously used in the 2004 M113K car. Rear end will be a HAG210 from a CLK55, with a Quaife LSD. Exhaust will be Needswings headers, downpipes with a stock SRT6 resonator and muffler (this may change in the future). Brakes will be SLK55 6 piston front and 4 piston rear. Suspension will be Eibach springs, Koni front shocks, Bilstein rear shocks, CamberKing front upper control arms, adjustable rear control arms. Wheels will be replicas of SL-class, but sized 18" front, 19" rear. Lighting up front will consist of a mix of Morimoto LED and HID lamps, and Apex Prototypes fog lamps. There are tons of other details, and parts have been being collected for over three years for this. In fact, parts hoarding began long before the car showed up.
So forget all about that! Tell us about the car! OK, then. Next post the back-dating and details will begin, until caught up.
10 Feb 2024:
Purchased the car from a dealer in Tulsa, OK. Many thanks to another forum member who found the car and went and took a look at it for me! 98k mile car, in overall good condition. Here it is directly after picking it up. I honestly do not have better pics from before the process.
The car is a 2008 Machine Grey coupe, purchased in Tulsa, OK, February of 2024. The body was straight, and the interior very good. It was driven back to Florida with no drama whatsoever. It was almost immediately sent to the body shop. Why? Well, the story begins with a minor problem that became major. The paint on the front right fender was sun baked. Not horrible, but enough that it bothered me. What's more, the rub strips on the doors? Yeah, those aren't stock. Pulling them off revealed all kinds of door dings and paint damage. There was no simple way to repair these things and have the car look good. Off to paint it goes!
27 May 2024:
Car is prepped for body work, and loaded on the trailer. This was about to become a more painful process than had been anticipated.
03 Jan 2025:
The car was sent off to one local shop for body work and paint. Clear was a special order, with three rounds of clear, three coats each (9 total coats), with sanding in between the rounds. The goal was an excessively deep finish. Once applied, the car would go to a second shop for final cut and buff. It took the first shop over six months to complete and drop off to the 2nd shop. While in the UK for business, I get a phone call from the 2nd body shop. The news was not good. In short, they felt that the color and metallic had not gone well at all. It was not apparent until they started buffing the paint. They could finish what was happening, but they guaranteed I would not be happy with the final result. The solution? Sand the car down, reshoot the paint. Not much of a choice involved. Do it. (Second major setback for this project, first being the need for paint in the first place).
10 Jan 2025:
Initial pics of the re-painting come in. This is before the final cut/buff. Looking promising so far!
19 Nov 2024:
I know this is out of order, but wanted to keep the body work together as a section. While the car was away, work did not stop. A six-month long process between myself and Rob from @NeedsWings commenced. The desire was for well made stainless steel exhaust manifolds for the M156. Unlike M113/M113K conversions, there is no easy way to arrive at a Crossfire compatible exhaust manifold. The whole thing would have to be fabricated. Rob did not have a M156 around, but at this point, there were 5 in my shop (I have a disease, I know). A M156 head was shipped up to Rob, and he began designing a flange. Locally, a spare M113K with Crossfire manifolds was put on a stand, and jigs were built that would locate the proper spot and exhaust outlet should be for the stock Crossfire downpipe. The jigs would then be bolted to an M156 which has the same bellhousing pattern as the M112/M113. This would help locate the new manifold's outlet. Rob sent several prototypes in more or less skeleton construction, and I would make slight adjustments. Many back and forth shipments happened until we got to the final form.
This is a stock M156 exhaust manifold on the engine. Notice that the manifold points more or less straight down, and it is sticking way off the side of the engine. Both a no go for the Crossfire.
Here's the first successful hack at the new manifold. Yes it is incomplete, and yes it is messy. The good looking welds are Rob's and the horrible looking ones are most definitely mine! You can see the jig bolted to the end of the manifold.
Here's a shot showing the flange bolted to the jig. This is how we located the outlet of the manifold.
View of the left side manifold mock-up bolted to the jig from above. You can see the difference of placement of that outlet from the stock manifold.
Final manifolds, with ceramic coating applied Final manifolds, with ceramic coating applied
17 Jun 2025:
Let's talk a little bit about the engine. As indicated in the first post (and title), this will be an M156 conversion. If you do not know what an M156 is, well, first click HERE for info on it. The first M156 was acquired about three years ago from a facelift C63 AMG. It came in pieces, as it had been torn down due to a valve issue. The heads were rebuilt, and the short block untouched. At less than 55k miles, it was an ideal candidate. It came with all new gaskets, seals, bolts, lifters, brand new phasers, and the cams had been reconditioned. Perfect! Only issue was that it was for a C-class, and the oil pan was all wrong for Crossfire. This is the same for an M113 swap. If you have a C-, CLS-, or E-class engine, the dual sump oil pan will not fit properly. What is needed is an oil pan from a CL- or S-class, with it's single front sump pan. An S-class pan and pump were acquired from eBay, but before it got here, and derelict CL63 showed up here. It was scrapped for parts. Then a theft recovery E63 showed up. The interior and exterior were both super stripped, but for some reason, the engine and transmission were virtually untouched. We got it running, then stripped the driveline out. That's three M156's! Then a deal on a low mileage C-class M156 short block came along, and well, we obviously needed it. Then another CL63 showed up. And then a CLS63. Both were stripped and junked. Oh boy! And then it happened. Facebook Marketplace, you may be the death of me! Someone in Ontario was parting out their wrecked 2014 C63 AMG "507 Edition". This is no ordinary M156. This one features the rotating assembly from a M159. The M159 is a variation of the M156 with forged and lightened internals (7kg off the rotating assembly!), a dry-sump oiling system, a revised intake manifold, and more. For reference, here's an M159 that is currently available at a junk yard in Jackson, MS. For $30k, you can swap this into your Crossfire! M159 Engine M159 Engine M159 Engine
While I would love to take on an M159 into a Crossfire, it is way beyond my means to do so. However, so much of what makes the M159 is locked away inside the 507 Edition M156. To me, the performance gained from the lightened internals pales against the strength aspect. Forged vs cast pistons, forged rods, forged crankshaft. Yes! The rest of the engine is "run of the mill" M156, with the only other characteristic identifiable being the dark grey painted intake manifold (it is no different from a regular M156, other than the color).
Picture of the M156 "507 Edition" from the previous owner's for sale ad Picture of the M156 "507 Edition" from the previous owner's for sale ad Picture of the M156 "507 Edition" from the previous owner's for sale ad
It had been partially disassembled, and was missing a few pieces, but for the price, it was absolutely worth it. The problem? It was in Canada. If you are unfamiliar with the ongoing trade war our nations are battling, I will tell you that this means a difficult time getting paperwork right on shipping something like this from Canada to the US. Add in two more factors: one, it was not made in either country, but in Germany, adding a new dimension for tariffs and paperwork; two, it is an engine. A powerplant. A fossil fuel burning pollution generating device. Yeah, the EPA wants paperwork, too. Add all of that on top of buying remotely from an unknown party, and well, the weeks it took to get here made me sweat uncomfortably. Fortunately, it did arrive! Freshly arrived M156, and still good! 156.985 Part number checks out!
So after sweating and worrying, can confirm that Brandon Molson is a good seller! Thank you, Brandon!
27 Jun 2025:
Work has begun on the next phase of the build. Before getting into that, a question will likely come up: Why did you get the paint work done before all of the fabrication and engine swapping? Excellent and valid question! The answer was simple: the first body shop had an opening in their schedule to take the car in, and as they only do one or two cars a year, this was the chance to get the car in. Originally, the project was supposed to be somewhat faster, with hope of bringing the car to the Fall Rally 2024. Plans changed, and now it is moving more slowly. Part of that is out of concern for the current finish of the car!
This next phase is all about two portions: one is wiring. Second is interior. The desire was a Crossfire exterior that wraps up a more modern car underneath. To accomplish this, more wiring would have to be run. The overall plan was to use the electrical systems and interior from a 2005 CLK55. As the CLK (W209) is a convertible four seater, not quite everything is needed, but the high points (for the Mercedes nerds out there) are that integration of the full HVAC system, front and rear SAMs, Keyless Go, and modern seats were all requirements. In addition, the entire W209 dash and center console would be used. A quick reading of the tape measure seemed to show that the dash ought to be almost identical in width. That part was actually fairly true. That's where the easy ran out. Let's dive in:
2005 CLK55 beginning to donate its guts to the Crossfire. Lots of wires!
MANY hours were spent pulling the CLK55's wiring harnesses apart. Separating all functions into sub-harnesses took time, but the payoff was that only the wiring needed was retained. Also, it drove decision processes. For instance, originally the thought was to swap everything, including the complete COMAND radio system. Well, shown below is about 90% of the COMAND wiring alone. That drove the decision to decline the use of COMAND, and go with an Android radio in its place. Airbag system will be run by the original Crossfire controller. Just about everything else on the interior will be some variation of W209. The doors will have W209 controllers in them, but the mirrors will not adjust with memory (maybe later). For now, the CLP (PSE) will be retained for the door locks, but that will likely be updated in the future, too. 2005 W209 COMAND Wiring Harnesses
So, starting with a 2008 Crossfire, with its slightly updated interior, work begins. Stupidly, I took no pictures of the interior before I began the project. Instead I am using this picture taken by @xfClifford of his interior, which is identical, other than being a manual (and a roadster) (and yellow): 2007-08 Stock Crossfire Interior
The project begins by basically ripping everything apart, and jumping straight into the wiring. Some Crossfire specific wiring must be retained, and most will be replaced. Here's how it started: So it begins! Wiring at this point is controlled chaos. Notice the addition of several bi-colored twisted pair wires which represent added CAN bus wiring for all known, and a few spare runs for future expansion. Over thirty of these pairs were run about the car.
At the same time, the top pad needed to be trimmed to fit. To do that a paper template of the original top was made, and then laid over the W209 dash top.
Many test fittings of the HVAC box were required. Also required major cutting, fabrication and welding of the various sheet metal bits were required.
11 July 2025:
The interior project continues. And yes, the above pictures are only part of the mess. So much time consuming figuring, cutting, welding, screwing up, and redoing were involved. There are some things that have to be done right because safety is on the line. Steering is one of those things. The R170 (and hence, the Crossfire) uses an "old" style steering shaft and coupling system that went away in just about all Mercedes Benz of the next generation. Since W209 was actually close to two generations newer than R170 (W203, then W209), the steering needed updating to accommodate the full power steering column. Yes! We will have power up/down and in/out on this setup! Here's a comparison of the R170 vs W209 steering shaft: Crossfire shaft on top, CLK shaft on the bottom. CLK is slightly longer, but that's not the issue. This is the steering column connection, and you can see the difference Same thing on the steering gearbox side of the shaft. Totally different. Actually, CLK slides into yet another piece, but that's not important right now
So what is needed is a way to mate the W209 steering column with the Crossfire steering gear. To do that took some experimentation, but will save that to say that the easiest solution was to use the bottom half of the Crossfire shaft, and mate it to the W209 column piece. To do this, a couple of steering shafts were sacrificed to find the "proper" method to disassemble the u-joints in the shafts, and press them back together. Simple once you know the trick. Two other shafts had to die to get us there! Final 'hybrid' steering shaft The body parts of the u-joints that died to get us there.
Next, the fresh air intake of the W209 box is the same shape as the Crossfire, but in a totally different location and angle. So, arts & crafts time, kids! This is super ugly, but I didn't have the time to model and 3D print a proper piece. Perhaps in the future. In the mean time, I did utilize all of my CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) skills. This one is made of ABS sheets, JB Weld, and patience. Looks terrible, but is a completely passive part that no one is likely to ever see again. Publishing pics of this publicly shows my lack of pride!
Wiring progressed, and started getting neater, and more organized.
13 July 2025:
Carpet was removed, and steam cleaning commenced. The sheer amount of soda spilled in the carpet was overwhelming. Finally, the carpet was brought outside, and draped over a fence. Hitting it for an hour with a garden hose finally got it cleaner. Also, it did a great job beating the sand out of the fibers. It would accumulate in long piles along the lower flat spots. Very satisfying to hose out of there! Once this was done, went and steam cleaned it for a final clean up, and boy does it actually look and smell good!
It was time to assemble the dash for a final time, and do a test fitting. The Crossfire seats were set back in the car for now, but their replacements are already on hand. Here are some pictures of the current state of the car. Using a W204 steering wheel for now, but not sure if that will be used, or will go to a W205 wheel like in the other car. Notice the gaping hole in the headliner. That is for the W209 overhead console that will go in. More to come! Wires on the floor are for the W207 seats (coming soon) CLK63 Instrument cluster The yellow 'wire' is actually an air hose for the seat My 'helper' who I can rarely keep out of this car when it is open. Crossfire seats just being stored here for now
02 August 2025:
Update for today is pretty mild. A new windshield was installed. Here is something we all need to pay attention to as Crossfire owners: Windshields are getting very hard to find! After calling multiple places, and getting the answer that a windshield could not be procured for a Crossfire, Safelite finally came through. They were at my shop two days later, and Roy did a great job. While it was out, I repeatedly got in his way to wash the now exposed metal and the gaps around the adhesive that are normally inaccessible. Here are some pics for entertainment value: Old windshield getting ready to be removed New glass is prepped and put under a tent to keep it out of sunlight Love this device they use to cut the adhesive Old glass out, time to clean it up Absolutely zero rust under the windshield or adhesive. Benefits of a southwest car! New glass always looks great!
p.s.- Yes, we are using our Fox-body Mustang and the AMG GT (both under covers) as storage shelves for the many parts that came from the interior of this car!
03 August 2025:
The "507" engine was put up on a stand last night. Thought that was good enough for the night, but decided that it was time to verify that this really was the engine as advertised. As mentioned in an earlier post, this engine is supposed to have an M159 rotating assembly, but this is really hard (impossible) to verify from the outside. Since the C-Class oil pan and pump will not fit in a Crossfire, these were going to have to be removed, no matter what. Once the lower pans and upper pan were off, you could see nothing. Well, almost. There are four slots that oil drains back to the pan from in the bedplate/windage tray. Other than that, you cannot see the rotating assembly at all. The slots are roughly 1/4 x 1" in size. Through them, you can barely, barely see connecting rod caps. Removing the intake showed one curious thing on the intake manifold gasket:
The gaskets are marked M159. That is very curious, given that the heads are supposed to be 'regular' M156, and the intake is most certainly not M159. Hmmmmmmmmm........
Time to bust out the bore scope! These pics are very hard to read, but here are some: View of the underside of the piston. View of the underside of the piston. View of the underside of the piston.
Fuzzy pics, but I am looking for some specific things, like casting lines. A cast piston for an M156 looks like this picture (from eBay): Cast M156 piston (used, on eBay)
Looking at the cast piston, you can see the casting lines and marks associated with a mould. Notice the borescope pics show only machined and smooth metal underneath. OK! Good news, pistons look the part. Let's continue!
Looking at the crank, there are these odd round metal discs in the counterweights. Also, some knife edge machining of the counterweights. Strange metal discs Machine work on the counterweights
The round discs are almost certainly heavier metal added in for balancing. Common practice on cranks with machined down counterweights. Also, not pictured, it looks like there is not center counterweights?!?!? Time to consult the google!
That took all of 5 seconds, and then the awesomely entertaining, and really smart Youtuber Tasos Moschatos had the answer!
If you have never watched Tasos' videos, I highly recommend him. Guy works on some really cool stuff!
So why not just remove the bedplate and verify everything? Well, very simple - cost. To remove it will require replacing all of the main bolts (one-time use) at something on the order of $25-40 each (4 per cap!) and new main bearings. I'll work with just the info on hand. Bottom line, this is a real "507 Edition" engine, and it will be the basis for this car's swap. Not looking for any more power, but this is how any racer would build an engine for a project car if you could, and it should prove to be durable.
The next few steps with this car will be less dramatic. A lot of wiring for the dash, front and rear SAMs, and preliminary ECU wiring. All stuff that just does not show up too well. Also, the project is going to stall over the next several weeks due to life commitments. As a result, the M113K Crossfire will be the one we will take to this year's Crossfire Fall Rally in Helen, GA. I know, poor baby!
09 August 2025:
The plan had been to take a short break from this build, as there were some other priorities, and there were a number of items I wanted to spend time on with the M113K Crossfire. One of those other priorities was my youngest son's project car. Each of the boys received a small budget when they were 15 to go buy a car. There are rules: 1. Small budget (~3k) 2. Car you buy cannot run - it has to be repaired 3. Except for the cost of tires, the car has to be drivable and safe on your budget - anything else is on you. With that in mind, we picked up a 2003 SLK320 that was _ok_. It fit the budget (including all of the new parts we knew it would need). It didn't run. It could be made safe for the budget + a set of tires. So spending time with Wesley, he changed out all the same sort of things that you would on a Crossfire, as they are pretty well identical in the mechanical department. All front control arms, steering linkage, damper, flex discs, driveshaft center bearing, motor mounts, shocks, brakes on all corners, all the fluids/filters, spark plugs, wires, valve cover gaskets.... you get the idea. This car had leaked oil everywhere, and was generally a mess. Wesley got it running with little time to spare before it needed to be loaded on a trailer to make it to an alignment appointment. No cleanup, greasy handprints everywhere. We get to the appointment, car aligns just fine. Wesley's 2003 SLK320 project. Yes, the shop is a total mess.
OK, Neil, we get it! Where is this going? Well, after the alignment, the tech, who is a trusted friend and a former MB certified tech calls me out. It has an oil leak. OK. No, a bad one! With the engine running, oil is pumping out of the left side of the block - through the casting! The block has a crack in it!!! Oh no! We go home, plans already in motion. We know the engine is trash, even though it runs well, and is clean as a whistle inside. I have an M112 and 722.6 transmission I am planning to junk later this year, as it turns out. So the CF63 gets pushed out of the garage, and to the shop to go under the engine removal knife. Time for the M112 to go!
And since so much is apart already, we replace the lower control arms, ball joints, steering linkage (and the bushing), add the Koni shocks, Eibach springs, and CamberKing upper control arms. Brakes and rear suspension we will do later.
No engine removal is complete without a good washing of the engine bay. Taming that rat's nest of wires is next!
We had the SLK320 running again less than a day later, and it wound up much cleaner under the hood than it had been. He made it to drive to school (for the 1st time) the next morning. With that, the CF63 project car got pushed back to the garage again. Until next time!
06 October 2025:
The Machine Grey CF has sat for a couple of months now, as work focus shifted to other projects that needed to be completed, and then preparation of the M113K V8 Crossfire for the 2025 Crossfire Fall Rally in Helen, GA. There was a lot of last minute work completed on it, and it performed well at the event, turning into a crowd pleaser for those who took rides in it This weekend there was time to work with the "507" engine for the new project. It was the slow, tedious work for removing the front timing cover to gain access to the oil pump drive components. I neglected to take pictures of any of this, unfortunately. The oil pump chain and guides needed to be changed from the C-class type dual sump pump and pan to the S-class type front sump, which is the same style of oil pan and sump setup that the Crossfire uses on its stock M112 engine. The idea was to closely follow what the original setup was, so as to have fewer issues with this conversion. If you have never pulled the front timing cover on one of these, or on a M112/M113, the work is straightforward, but there are many seals that must be replaced, and all of the RTV has to be removed, cleaning all surfaces, and then re-apply. It's slow, messy work, and not the most photogenic work.
After this was completed, attention shifted to the top end. M156 engines are really fantastic, but they have a fatal flaw. That is the camshaft arrangement. In order to keep the valvetrain as lightweight as possible, Mercedes opted for a flat-tappet hydraulic cam follower system. This means that the cam rides directly on a hydraulic lash adjuster that then rides directly on top of the valve. The good news is that this means that the cam geometry is perfectly straight, and with the least possible mass. This guarantees really good high RPM performance. It also means that the cam is riding directly against a metal surface, and that is where the flaw is. The cam is killing itself slowly with every revolution. Eventually the cam and the lash adjuster/follower/cam bucket will eat each other up. Most often the cam is the first casualty. The intake cam, being higher up on the engine, has less oil on this surface, simply due to gravity. The exhaust cam usually has some oil pooling as it sits lower in the engine, and so they tend to last a little longer, but even they will wear out. There are two strategies people employ to help combat this: first is to use LiquiMoly Ceratec additive, and the other is to use the M159 Black Series lash adjusters. These are regular lash adjusters with a diamond coating that makes the lash adjusters both stronger, and smoother, helping the cams to last a little longer. Upon removal of the cams both exhaust cams were found to be in decent shape, but both intake cams were showing some wear. Within limits, but enough that two of the cylinders would have been disadvantaged over the others. Fortunately a full set of reconditioned cams intended for another engine were on the shelf. A full set of Black Series (BS) cam buckets were obtained directly from the MB parts department, and we were off to the races.
They actually have a "pretty" appearance to them in person, and almost pearlescent look to them. Next up was camshaft installation. The M156 uses a unique system to install the cams. The camshafts bolt in, and then are aligned with a special fixture. Typically one bank is done at a time, but we have two fixture tool sets, to be able to line up all four cams at once. The cams are aligned, and then the phasers are installed onto the cams. These are then also aligned with the fixture tools, and once everything is lined up properly, the bolts at the end of the phasers are tightened down, and everything is in time. The timing chain is basically irrelevant to the final timing, unlike the M112 where the whole chain has to be lined up and tensioned perfectly. The black tools behind the phasers and at the rear of the cams line the cams themselves up here on Bank 2 The this fixture lines up the phaser shutter wheels (that trigger the cam position sensors) A view of Bank 1with the tools installs. The rear tool is a little more visible here Here we see the phaser fixture installed on each bank
Once the phaser bolts were torqued down, the fixture tools were all removed, and the engine was rotated several times. Next the engine was turned upside down on the stand, and the upper oil pan surface was prepared, and the oil pans were sent through the parts washer. More on that in the coming days.
p.s.- Going back to the beginning of this update, someone will inevitably comment that the M156 must be hot garbage since it eats the cams. Well, a few things on this. We had one M156 car with nearly 250k on it, and it ran fine. We have a 2015 C63 Edition 1 car in the shop right now being repaired, as it finally ate the cams at about 210k miles. OTOH, people have had them fail at less than 100k miles from too much high revving, not enough oil changes. YMMV.
12 October 2025:
Just a small update. Installed upper oil pan, and prepared for exhaust manifold installation. Not a whole lot else to talk about, but here are some pics, and you can see the oil pump drive and the little slots talked about earlier in the thread. These slots are where oil drains out from the main crankcase into the oil pan. This is effectively a windage tray. It is also the main bearing girdle. Those tiny slots is where the pics of the rotating assembly were taken from a few posts back. A look from above at the main girdle The slots between the main bolts are where oil drains back. The slots are pretty small, and the reason the pics of the rods and pistons were difficult to get Brand new oil pump chain and tensioner That single pickup for the oil pump is an S/CL-class style pickup for a single front sump oil pan. A look at the girdle from the other side. Notice the lack of drainage slots on this side. Upper pan has been sealed. Lower pan is a temporary one, as they tend to get scratched up and dented. This one is already dented. Lower pan is not actually sealed, just bolted on. There is a brand new one waiting to be installed after the engine is in the car. View of the right side of the engine.
M156 Into a Crossfire - Journal
This weekend there was time to work with the "507" engine for the new project. It was the slow, tedious work for removing the front timing cover to gain access to the oil pump drive components. I neglected to take pictures of any of this, unfortunately. The oil pump chain and guides needed to be changed from the C-class type dual sump pump and pan to the S-class type front sump, which is the same style of oil pan and sump setup that the Crossfire uses on its stock M112 engine. The idea was to closely follow what the original setup was, so as to have fewer issues with this conversion. If you have never pulled the front timing cover on one of these, or on a M112/M113, the work is straightforward, but there are many seals that must be replaced, and all of the RTV has to be removed, cleaning all surfaces, and then re-apply. It's slow, messy work, and not the most photogenic work.
