New member, never touched a Mercedes before. I have a customer we have done several crazy projects for. He has a 1958 190SL and a 2003 CLK320. He wants us to put the 3.2 drivetrain into the 190. I'm looking for someone to do the harness and the computer. Appreciate any help.
Jon

To use the OEM computer, it would seem likely that all the original inputs will be necessary, some of which will probably be wheel speed information. If all the inputs can be satisfied, then the "someone" could have a fighting chance.

The only way that engine is going to run is to get standalone ECM, and then the only way that clk transmission will run is to get a standalone TCM. - both these options will outprice that complete intact and roadlegal CLK by atleast double.

a better way would be to be find an old 3.2 straight six from a 1994 E320 - with the old hydraulic transmission. Its ecu is pretty straight too meaning not much different than wiring a later toyota.

__________________
2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

We just finished a 57 Chevy pickup with a 2015 Duramax and Allison trans for him, as far as I know there is only 1 guy in the country that can do a stand alone for these. The 57 every module that the 2015 has and it all works, less emissions and torque management. When he gets an idea and that's it. Has anyone reworked one of these harnesses and reprogrammed the computers in one of these that anyone is aware of?

What is the end use / goal of this project?

What suspension / brakes / differential are you going to use?

What condition is the SL in? These cars are worth $$$ and it might be better to build a SL body from scratch on another chassis.

Other than making the engine and trans physically fit, the electrics won't be as complicated as some may make it out to be if you use all of the stock systems. Basically you need to make the engine / trans / computers think they are still in the CLK. This amounts to feeding the proper wheel speed to the ABS computer. In order to keep the engine computer happy a way to fool the evap test into passing or not running may of may not be needed.

With careful reading of wiring diagrams / shop manuals, you can discern what computer systems can be separated and what ones need to stay with the engine. Making something from scratch is a sure way to end up with a mess.

Another consideration is to do a SL body on a CLK chassis. Have a look at:

With minimal mods to the body, this still can be more or less viewed as a 190E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTgjWD7a67M
80's 190E body on C63 AMG Project
Channel CHERAL AUTO
~~~
This car was stretched / widened / fabricated so far away from a 190SL I won't call it a 190SL, it looks more like a 300SL kit car with wheels that are way out of proportion of with the rest of the car.
https://mercedesheritage.com/classic-mercedes-culture/600hp-190sl-mercedes-bent
190sl amg sl65 Richard Mott

The car will be nothing more than a toy, he has LOTS of cars and this is just another one in the collection. The 2003 is nothing special, its just a low mileage rusty New England car picked up for short money and runs great, not the end of the world sacrificing it. We have done several LS and Coyote swaps, harnesses and computers are readily available. I don't have any connections in the Mercedes world as far as who does something like this. WE generally build drag cars and modified American Muscle cars as well as one of a kind projects for this customer. (we are currently building him a 53 Pontiac convertible with a Chevy Trailblazer engine) AS far as suspension and rear goes I have to get both cars in the shop. It would be nice to use the 2003 rear to keep it a complete package.

Can you just run a basic megasquirt setup on the engine and reflash the tcm?

__________________
1993 e300
1995 e320
1994 e320
2006 s500 4matic
2004 Jeep wj overland
2001 Ducati 748
2004 Honda shadow aero

I run a Holley Dominator on my race car with every kind of sensor you can imagine, I was wondering the same thing, but I haven't seen the engine yet to know what it has for cam and crank sensors, will we have to make something. I know an engine is an engine so in the end it will work, just trying to make it as easy as possible. I always learn working on oddball things for this guy, the problem is we seldom if ever get to apply what we learned on these odd projects.