Let me call this "my official build thread OM617 mercedes" (1 Viewer)

[jstncse]

10 months ago I bought a well used FJ40 from a guy in Farmington. It had a transplanted 250 six in it that was done in the early 80's.........and I thought, that's great I can swap a smallblock into it without even thinking about, but...............................................somewhere along the way I began to think that a 4bt cummins would be cooler, which it would but it would not be cheap. So with cheap being my first priority, I started looking for various fuel injected inline six swaps to make but kept coming back to the sound and smell of burning diesel which leads me to where I am today.

5 months ago I bought an even more well used Mercedes 300sd and pulled the engine out of it. I then started reading about Mercedes swaps and adapters and torque and tuning, and just about everything that you could think of...............I've talked myself out of the swap and back into it, I've pull the engine out of the FJ and put it back in. I have been convinced that it will work and just as convinced that it won't work. Well today I have pulled the little six out for the last timemaybe, we will see.
The Mercedes to Chevrolet adapter has been built, the remote oil filter adapter has been built, and almost all the gaskets have been replace.

It's put up or shut up time.

 

[Daisy 53]

Good luck bud!!
Looking forward to the complete makeover...

Daisy

 

[jstncse]

My FJ

Kinda of crappy telephone pics

 

[2manycruisers]

redline cruisers had one at cruise moab this year. seemed pretty cool, though I heard comments of underpowered even with turbo. Of course, most cruisers suffer that same problem....

good luck with it.

 

[1911]

redline cruisers had one at cruise moab this year. seemed pretty cool, though I heard comments of underpowered even with turbo. Of course, most cruisers suffer that same problem....

good luck with it.

Justin (Redline) parked it next to mine (same color, same tube doors) at the FJ Cruiser Summit in Ouray last July, and I got the tour and a pretty good look. It was a customer's rig so I didn't get to drive it. Lots of room for it in the engine compartment. Ran well, did fine on the trails. Justin did say it wasn't over powered, but he also said that the owner decided not to re-build the engine and that compression was low. It definitely got me to thinking about a diesel, though I'm leaning towards the Cummins B3.3 with turbo and computer for mine.

have fun with the build jstncse

 

[jstncse]

Well not much happened tonight. Managed to pull the engine out last night and all I managed to gut was the battery box and the exhaust. I'll try to do better tomorrow.
I have some pictures of the adapters that my father has built for me, I will try and post them soon.

 

[505 crusher]

Cool project. What transmission does it have? A long range tank and 10 gallons of spare fuel is a lot of miles. What kind of mpg are these swaps getting?

 

[jstncse]

It's the factory 4 speed, nothing fancy. Checkout Mr. Manny on pirate, he has one pushing 35s and is right at 20mpg. Check out this video if you have 15 minutes to kill. It's just a on highway video from him but you can link to some of his rubicon videos from it

boring video of my om617 equipped fj40 around town... - YouTube

Managed to get the trans/transfer case out tonight. Tomorrow night is an off night so hopefully I can mate the trans to the engine on Saturday to make sure everything lines up.

 

[jstncse]

Mated the trans to the engine today. I had to make a few adjustments to 2 bellhousing bolts and one dowel pin hole but overall everything lined up well.

I choose to use the Mercedes starter and that meant that I would need to cut the bellhousing to clear the starter. I should be ready to put the tranny back in tomorrow and start on motor mounts tomorrow.

 

[DanS HJ-45]

20mpg eh? <snicker>

Justin has said that about the OM617 in that 40, but I don't know what he's basing that on. I did Argentine Pass on a run he was on with that truck a few months ago (three diesels on the RS 40's only run, the Mercedes, a 3B-turbo, and a 13BT) and didn't see it have any issues with power, but I did notice it was smoking more than our 3B-turbo up high, but not by much.

I'm a Toyota diesel nerd, but I wouldn't discount the Isuzu, Mercedes, or Cummins diesels (in that order of preference, for me). I also wouldn't hesitate to turn up the boost on any turbo diesel--as long as you've got a healthy and big coolant system. More boost = lower EGTs (dramatically), higher engine temperatures, but a lot more power too, and you can always back off the throttle and let the rack unload the fuel schedule a bit if you don't want all the power right then.

Very cool, I assume that's one of the Advanced Adapters, right? I don't know much about the Mercedes diesels specifically, but I do have a decent stash of Toyota diesel bits if you find yourself in need of something that might be useful on the Mercedes...

Dan

 

[505 crusher]

I'm a Mercedes diesel nerd. Glad I'm in good company

Does the adapter have provisions for the locating dowels? I would try to emulate the stock setup as much as possible, those little pins can save major heartache down the road.

You may be able to get better than 20 MPG, depending on the condition of the engine. Turning up the boost and fuel quantity on these pumps is easy. The only problem is too much fuel (black smoke) and melting pistons. I have set up a couple with air to air intercoolers, and mild boost (around 13 psi) that will net 27+ mpg in a 5000 pound car with good compression numbers.

I think these diesels have enough oomph, really it will all come down to gearing it right. The Euro Gelendawagens had plenty of power with good mileage out of a naturally aspirated 3.0 617. They had around 4.88 gears with a 31" tire though.

I have a solid stash of 617 parts, cars, tools etc. If you need something feel free to ask.

 

[jstncse]

My father and I built the adapter and it is doweled. I modeled it after one that is being built to install an chevy auto behind the Mercedes. My FJ already had an advanced adapters adapter to get from the H42 to the chevy engine so it would have been alot easier to buy the adapter instead of build it but what fun is that.
I got the tranny and transfer case back in this morning, also set the engine in and built motor mounts for it.
Now the real work begins, all the misc stuff that has to be done.

Dan and 505 thanks for the offer on parts and tools, may need something sooner or later.


Engine going in

Very tight exhaust:

And one with the engine sitting on it's own mounts

 

[brooklynkid]

Gotta love it. A German FJ! is that a straight 5 cylinder or 6 your putting in? turbo?

 

[jstncse]

Turbo 5 cylinder. I won't gain much on a 2F or the GM 250 that was in it other than a whole lot of cool and an engine that is willing to rev a little higher.

 

[brooklynkid]

Turbo 5 cylinder. I won't gain much on a 2F or the GM 250 that was in it other than a whole lot of cool and an engine that is willing to rev a little higher.

True, but the marriage of two time proven beasts is just awesome. I remember my dad use to say the Germans build the best most reliable diesel's, hence he always had a Benz, also I believe GM basically screwed the USA by introducing the worst diesel engine and changing the course diesel innovation and production since the 70's.

 

[jstncse]

International/Ford aka Powerstroke is to blame for the diesel revolution, GM just refined it.
All my other vehicles are GM products including an 09 duramax.

 

[brooklynkid]

OOOOPS . Sorry thats just the NYC bluntness in me coming out. No offense meant toward your GMs.

 

[jstncse]

OOOOPS . Sorry thats just the NYC bluntness in me coming out. No offense meant toward your GMs.

No offense taken. I can be somewhat blunt myself

 

[jstncse]

I managed to get everything mocked up this week and pulled the engine back out on Saturday morning. I still needed to modify the oil pan and remote mount my oil filter.
The pan had to be cut even though I am going to do a SOA, I took 2 1/2 inches out of the pan and it barely clears without a lift.

I mounted my oilfilter on the frame where the steering box was.

It will be pretty easy to change, as long as it isn't covered in mud from the tire.

All I lack from starting it up is the electrical and the oil cooler lines.
I will still need to do the SOA and build a fan shroud before it can hit the road, but its getting closer.

 

[dubestoy]

super thread!

great work man. 5 yrs ago I bought a cheap MB 300 TD sedan to run vegie oil. I put about 25K miles on straight waste vegie oil, the car ran a little rough when cold before warm up , but otherwise was great. I used the Plantdrive single tank system which is ok in our climate here in Hawaii. I ran out of sources for clean non-hydrogenated oil, starting useing biodiesel 100, and that is where the problems started. ( got a bad batch from a friend who makes it)
but anyway, 4 X 4 Labs makes the adapter for the OM617 to the NV4500 or other trans.. .been reading up on it. building an adapter is way out of my league, my hats off to ya !