It’s not the physical part of the swap that will be difficult( although it won’t be easy) It would be getting everything to work correctly without the shifter, and transmission in place. Not saying it can’t be done, but it will be a lot of electrical manipulation. The can system ties everything together and if one part is missing it doesn’t let many other parts work.

 

Yea, that's a good reason too!
But my reason is a lot more fun

 

My first advice would be to actually try an SL55 in MANUAL + SPORT PLUS or RACE Mode with the Paddle Shifters

You may find them addictive (and very fun) which is probably part why you haven't heard of many people doing a full manual conversion. Lets face it, almost all of the newer Hypercars have paddle shifters now which means a hybrid transmission like the SL55 has. There is a reason the system has caught on and taken over as the dominant type of transmission and shifting system in the past decade in almost all of the high end performance cars.

Hey,

I'm looking into possibly purchasing a SL55 from the 05-06 years. I've always liked the car, but the automatic transmission held me back. I recently checked into the possibility of a swap and see some new options since the last time I looked. I've searched the forum and google and am not seeing many people having done it...

I'm specifically looking at XF motorsport for the adapters kit that works with the Nissan 350z CD009 6-speed tranny and Mercedes swap shop, out of California, for the TCU end of it.

Has anyone done this or have any opinions or advice?

Thanks!

 

The good news is that the 6-speed from Chrysler Crossfires with the M112 V6 also work. Depending on the year you ultimately go with will determine the bolt pattern for the flywheel. Early M113s used the same flywheel bolt pattern to the C240, so a C240 flywheel should do the trick. If you go with a later car, the flywheel from the Crossfire will bolt right up. It's just another path for a bolt-on transmission rather than going the XF Motorsports adapter route for the 350Z gearbox.

You can also check out Jikjakz on YouTube who have both completed manual swaps into their W210 E55s with the earlier M113s. I believe his solution for electronics was to leave the automatic shifter in place, stuffed out of the way in the center console. Jikjakz actually details his whole process in his videos, which is also where he discovers the two different flywheel bolt patterns on the back of the crank depending on the year range of the motor. I believe even the Crossfire pedals will fit.

In all honestly, this isn't the place to ask a lot of these questions, because you won't get the answers you're looking for, unfortunately.

 

I really appreciate the responses.

I did see the videos regarding the crossfire options and thought they were very interesting. I wonder how much power that trans will hold? I believe I read it's rated at 350hp but many have not had issues with going much higher (including Jikjakz on YouTube)

 

They're pretty stout, from my experience. I remember helping on a one-off turbocharging system for a Crossfire nearly a decade ago, and I think it was throwing down close to 400hp at the wheels. Far as I know the car is still running and driving with the original gearbox. The biggest issue we had was with tuning the damn car. This was before the community had provided some solid baseline mappings for the M112. The means weren't there to tune the original MB ECU, so MS was chosen. I think the issue really had to do with the person who initially purchased the Megasquirt kit, had no idea what they were doing, At the time, I had already had a few years of experience with MS, but I wasn't "allowed" to attempt to tune it 🤷‍♂️

 

Looking to do the same, watched the videos of XF motorsports' manual swap for the E55 and thought if it worked for that car it could also work for the SL. Please share if you gathered any new knowledge