Engine swaps are common jobs, often making a mockery of two perfectly good cars by creating one mismatched gimmick in an effort to drum up some hype.
This is no mere engine swap scenario. It’s a project that took over five years to complete. This creation here was the revival of a Mercedes-Benz 190E with a modern hand-built AMG V8 from a C63, chassis included.
The transformation has been documented in Piper Motorsport’s Facebook album which as of now contains 163 photos from the project, of which two cars had to be completely butchered in order to make this crazy German amalgamation possible. It goes way beyond the limits of anything we’ve ever seen baring a Mercedes badge.
“To make a long story short…” the Facebook album description reads, “the 190E will feature the engine, transmission, entire driveline, suspension, brakes, fire wall, dash, electronics and even the floor pan from the C63 AMG,” so it’s no wonder it’s taken a full five years to close out. “The exterior will resemble the old school EVO style 190’s, perhaps with some added DTM style flare. Enjoy the ‘Evolution’.”
The 6.2-litre V8 is more than twice the size of the original four-cylinder found in the 190E, meaning that it simply couldn’t fit in the ancient shell without moving the oil coolers, the A/C and brake master cylinder. The monstrous creation also needed a shorter wheelbase, a custom centre console, a 2×2 roll cade and three-point harnesses to add a little peace of mind. You can imagine that a vehicle with this much power would simply be too wild to tame. If all of this wasn’t enough, some DTM-style wheels by fifteen52 were added as the icing on the cake.
And this was all for a paying client. A very patient paying client by the sounds of it. The undisclosed Mercedes-AMG fanboy (or fangirl) was after an exterior facade that replicated the 1990 Mercedes-Benz 190 E 2.5-16 Evolution II, the automaker’s winged menace.
Source: thedrive.com
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