Mercedes OM606 turbo Diesel 80 series Land Cruiser (5 Viewers)

[LandCruisinMy93]

UPS ships motors? That's the first time I ever heard that, and my son has been driving ( 18 wheelers) for them over 10 years

I've had 3 shipped UPS freight over the years and I got a shipping quote for them to bring one from Ontario Canada recently. UPS freight isn't the cheapest method for shipping motors but they ship pretty much whatever class of freight that pays.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

So I went to pick up the replacement motor from UPS freight and low and behold....Its the wrong damn motor. So not only did it take 3 weeks instead of 1 to get here, but it wasn't even the right motor. Called the Salvage yard and told them and they replied, We don't even have any diesel motors to send you because those cars were inventoried wrong. So I just ate shipping and fuel cost to go pick it up, lost the motor I was originally going to buy and am waiting for my money back to try and get another. I guess its time to start searching yet again.

 

[Bryan Plunkett]

sorry to hear man. What salvage yard was that? I've been burned before, but not that bad. Forget the salvage yard, buy a full car on CL,

Here is a potential donor vehicles in the state. A little pricey, but I'd consider buying it and parting out the rest of it. I sold the trans and ecu/cluster/key on mine for ~600$. I Imagine you could make a good bit back once you sell seats, wheels, rear diff etc.
1999 Mercedes E300 Turbo Diesel

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

sorry to hear man. What salvage yard was that? I've been burned before, but not that bad. Forget the salvage yard, buy a full car on CL,

Here is a potential donor vehicles in the state. A little pricey, but I'd consider buying it and parting out the rest of it. I sold the trans and ecu/cluster/key on mine for ~600$. I Imagine you could make a good bit back once you sell seats, wheels, rear diff etc.
1999 Mercedes E300 Turbo Diesel

I appreciate that Bryan. It was Hacks Auto Sales and Salvage in Caneyville, KY. They were nice enough guys, very helpful. It just appears that their Inventory Guy has been doing a crap job...their words...they had another shipment headed here that around the same time and that was screwed up too. The slow shipping was the shippers they used, not their fault, tracking data showed the motor was picked up the 30th.

 

[thatcabledude]

Holy crap... Damnit man

 

[Nostradamus]

I used U-ship to book shipment of my 1HZ from TX to WA, and the lowest bid came from UPS. They delivered it w lift gate service and pallet jacked it right into my garage. Easy peasy (and cheap)...highly recommend U-ship.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

I used U-ship to book shipment of my 1HZ from TX to WA, and the lowest bid came from UPS. They delivered it w lift gate service and pallet jacked it right into my garage. Easy peasy (and cheap)...highly recommend U-ship.

CaneyVille, KY to UPS freight Eugene , OR $250 is what I was charged shipping. My quote from Ontario CAN to same destination via UPS was over $800 My last motor from PA to EUG via UPS $450 shipping UPS wants something like another $150 for liftgate service to my residence.

Holy crap... Damnit man

I know, Super Frustrating. If I wasn't so deep into this project I'd probably abandon ship.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

@thatcabledude I should have had a V-8 LOL.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

well, while I sit here thumb in rear waiting for a refund I have set off to brainstorm solutions for swap issues. Mainly the issue of an air intake so I can go back to using my snorkel once the cruiser is up and running. I was just cleaning my handgun and came up with a ghettotastic air filter housing Idea. Ammo can air filter housing. I keep my cleaning brushes, oil and solvent in an old 9mm can which spurred the idea. I can't find Aluminum ammo cans...except old Nazi relics that I would rather not pay big money for and also I'd rather not carve up history. So, I'm Thinking larger/taller than necessary can, make a planogram out of some card stock and carve up the ammo can to fit better and look less ammo can like. I would likely remove the carry handle to make it even less like an ammo can. Then I would add intake ports and mounting tabs where necessary and either run a reusable cone air filter inside or make a frame to hold a flat element...or make it to where I could run either. I like versatility. Maybe I will go to the military surplus store and see what they have to offer. Any thoughts?

EDIT: I went to the surplus store, they had huge stacks of Ammo cans but nothing that looked like it would work size wise. Then I found a lid of about the correct size and couldn't match it to any of the cans. Then I realized it was a "saw box" or "fat 50" so I'm going to buy a new one and make the filter box out of that. I also got a quote for an airbox from diesel adapters of $350+shipping. I'm in the same state just south so I would just go pick it up anyway; but apparently there are no provisions for a snorkel anyway. I'm not paying that much for an airbox I still have to adapt to the snorkel myself. I would rather just make one. Heck, I could have flanges made for a flat element and make an aluminum box for that price.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

Hey everyone, So while I wait for my refund and make comprehensive lists of things to do while I wait to get another motor I have been getting E-mails and messages regarding this swap.

I recently sold my OM617 project and the kid who bought it was interested in an adapter set. I have an ad on Craigslist for the Isuzu diesel I originally was going to use in the cruiser, which has spurred a few people into asking me why I didn't use the motor and what route I went. Out of those few that have asked, a couple have asked if I would do a Mercedes Diesel swap for them. Of course I have addressed this in the Q&A section already, but I didn't realize that there would be so much interest. So, to those looking to go this route I am not currently offering the adapter setups or swaps. The reason is that I want to have it thoroughly road tested before I start swapping other peoples vehicles or offering adapters. Hopefully I can get this thing on the road and put some miles on it soon. As soon as I'm confident that it is worthy of production I will consider doing swaps and potentially selling the adapter and flywheel. If the demand is great enough I may consider developing adapters to the A440/442/343 and would rely on the community for help, meaning looking for local members with factory transmissions outside the vehicle, spares etc.. to template and take measurements. That way I'm not buying transmissions to develop adapters. Anyway, I wish You all a Happy Thanksgiving.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

Hey a little update, still waiting on my refund. Apparently as of yesterday morning they hadn't even submitted it. I'm getting a little upset now. If this keeps going on I will have to start being unpleasant with the folks of Hacks Auto. Meanwhile I have put out a request to a company up north of me for pricing of FaroArm scanning work. The idea is that I've been asked to make an adapter to a different transmission or if I would consider it. I figured I would open a hypothetical can of worms, where I have different transmissions scanned, dimensioned and patterned. Cost dependent of course. Then I would develop adapter plates for the transmissions to fit the OM606. I will of course need to either purchase the individual transmissions to do the torque converter flexplate or find local members with transmissions laying around the shop that are willing to let me borrow them for measuring. If I decide to do this and make an offering of adapters available to the community I will at some point need to either purchase another cruiser as a test platform, which will take some time to come up with the money or I will put a call out to beta testers. All of this is hypothetical and money based. I'm just a regular joe, I don't own, operate, work in a machine shop and I'm not made of money...trust me I've checked. If you'd like to see more adapters for our cruisers for this engine leave a comment. Tell me what transmission and your actual dedication level to an adapter would be. Meaning please no "I might kinda sorta maybe want to have an A440f adapter but I don't want to pay more than $400" looking for something more like "I would definitely be interested in an A440f adapter" adapters aren't cheap to have made. Machine work and material cost is quite a bit of money when you don't own or have access to the equipment. I will definitely not gouge anybody though. I'm not looking to get rich, just to bring something to fruition that is beneficial to the community.

 

[thatcabledude]

Any reason not to use one of those universal canister style air filter housings?

-Other than not being near as awesome as the ammo can idea!

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

Any reason not to use one of those universal canister style air filter housings?

-Other than not being near as awesome as the ammo can idea!

I actually ran across those while searching for filter housings. I don't know how water tight they are. I'm assuming you're referring to the spectre inline cone air-filter housings?

 

[thatcabledude]

What I'm talking about:

Ironically although installed on a swapped K5, it's hooked to a 80 series snorkel. Lol


Edit: Saw your post... Im pretty sure that was the Spectre one.

 

[thatcabledude]

It's been on there a couple years and it stays clean/dry inside.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

@thatcabledude That's the one I was referring too. I've seen a lot of LS swaps use them as inline filters. I wonder how they hold up to submersion. They're about triple a "Fat 50" can, but may look cleaner. Especially since I have a 90* silicone elbow for the HX35/40 I could probably make something decent with what I have laying around the shop and that. Food for thought.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

Update: yesterday December 1st I finally got my refund for the wrong motor, yay. But out of the 5 possible candidates for replacement they all disappeared off car part except for the one in Canada who wouldn't ship to the US. I got online and found 3 on fleabay 1 looked really rough, 1 the guy said had 145k miles and was out of a longtime customers car. Long story short the car made it to California less than a year before the sale from California according to the vin and had 61k Miles. He kept making stuff up and then the engine sold. So I bought an entire drop out from LKQ with sub 140k. It only cost me a cool grand more. I'm not happy at the moment for refund taking so long and costing me so much more but I'm sure I will find happiness in a guaranteed low miles motor with spares from a reputable nationwide parts supplier. Anyway, I purchased it yesterday and I'm having it liftgate delivered. I'm waiting to see when that will be. Meanwhile I'm going to start disassembly and modification of a few things.
Nobody has chimed in with adapter desires here, yet I've had dozens of Mercedes swap related questions and requests as well as some random guy asking if my Isuzu ad was for Mercedes parts and asking for information about motor swapping his Mazda? Anyway, I will hopefully have it on the road by Christmas.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

So, while I'm waiting for my my motor to arrive I ordered some parts from Japan. The trouble indicator light lenses for the gauge cluster. If they're the right ones I should have the little glow plug indicator in the gauge cluster like factory. I will de-pin one of the unused lights for the wire so I can get the indicator working with the glow plug relay. I ordered an additional 5 lenses in case any other diesel swapped guys want to run the Glow Plug Indicator in their cluster also. When I get the lenses, as long as they're correct, I will do a short writeup.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

I received my replacement motor today! Starting tomorrow morning its GAME ON! I will have to figure out how to get my cherry picker back over to my brothers house though lol. Here is the new motor from the pictures taken prior to shipping. They pressure washed it, it did arrive with a couple of damaged parts too. The oil Pan has a split in the bottom from what looks like a forklift strike. The intake has a couple of places where the runners were beaten in/ cracked through, but I have to replace the pan anyway and I have a spare intake. The injection pump was going to get sold to recoups cost, but they cut the end off the control pigtail. I may swap the control off the last pump and sell the last pump for its plungers and the new pump as a replacement. I have to say, the new engine does look a lot better than the old one. I just hope the intake and oil pan weren't damaged before they pressure washed it. I guess I will find out tomorrow.

 

[psmbfuer]

Congrats on the new motor and refund. I hope that everything pans out with this one, despite some of the damage.