Mercedes Diesel Swap?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

U

uberhahn

10 Year 15 Year 20 Year
Joined
Oct 27, 2004
Threads
34
Messages
210
I recently drove an older (85) mercedes diesel sedan ( a 300D) with an automatic transmisison. In europe, these vehicles were had with a manual trans. This engine is a 5cyl turbo.

The older Unimogs used a similar 6cyl engine.

Mated to the correct transmission (adapter to H55?), why couldn't the 5cyl Mercedes be used with an FJ. The size seems about right. The engines are cheap, parts are available, and durability of these engines is unsurpassed.

Has anyone entertained the idea?
 
Isnt this essentially what those Brazilian made Land Cruisers are? Banderiantes or whatever?

I know on the LCML there was a discussion about MB diesels in Cruisers a few years ago. You might go to Birfield.com and do an archive search.
 
yep, 4x4 Labs is currently working on an adapter that will allow you to mate a 240-300D Mercedes diesel to the Toyota tranny. Still in prototype and working out the bugs.

give 'em a call and ask for Luke -- he can fill your ear with all of the details. sounds like it will be really cool ;)

-dogboy- '87 FJ60
 
It seems 4X4 labs has been working on a Mercedes adapter for years. I finally gave up asking.
You would have to score a flywheel. Would have to come from Europe or Australia.
Hard to come by. 5 cyl manual trans cars never came to the US.

Hopefully 4X4 labs comes out with an adapter and flywheel. They said they would come out with a Chevy adapter before the Toyota version.
 
Dogboy2, did you get some new information out of 4x4labs? Amazing. I gave up on ever hearing from them when three or four emails and two phone messages went unanswered.

My Mercedes thread is [thread=55814]here[/thread] in the International section, although there's nothing much to update just yet...

I'm just going to use the Mercedes tranny instead of trying to off-center balance a Mercedes flywheel and then adapt a Toyota tranny. We'll make a divorce plate for the split transfer case and go to town.

At this point, I've got the Mercedes engine tuned up fairly well, and it feels good in the car. Turned up the fuel this evening, and wow, it actually hurries now! Much better. :D


Alex
 
Alex,
I talked with Luke at 4x4 Labs about a month ago or so. He had refined the CAD drawings at that point and was seeking investment capital to tool up the part. From our conversation, it sounded as though he was short on $$$ and time to move forward into an actual working proto. Also said he wanted to get one made and tested on his shop rig before he went into production. It sounded as though he is still a ways off from actually being able to offer them for sale.

That's all I know right now...
-db-
 
I thought I heard that engine although great is a bit underpowered for the larger cruisers?

Rob
 
Here is my experience with the mercedes inline 5td engine. I have been into cars for a while and now own 2 fj-62's. I worked as a mechanic for a few years but not any longer. I have a friend who is a mechanic and mostly works on the old MB cars, he swears by them. He had to deliver a bunch of mb parts to a customer on the east coast and decided to take his 83 MB wagon. I taged along and made a deal we could tow my Alfa Romeo back to NM if we shared expenses. The MB was packed down with heavy tools and parts, behind we towed a trailer with about 2000 lb's of engines and trannys. I thought it was doable but thought my friend was a bit nuts, the car ran flawlessly and we cruised at 65 the whole wat to NY, not a hickup. The MB had 270,000k on the odometer but it was broken, granted the car was maintained by a MB mechanic. For the return trip we loaded the Alfa on a tow dolly, filled it with his tools and packed up the wagon, the Alfa with mics tools and tow dolly weighed aprox 3500 lb, the car had about 350lb inside, Again the car ran flawlessly, a little hotter on the temp guage but it was summer in the south so pretty hot outside. we cruised back going 60mph and once up to speed the car still had some passing power. Off the line you realy have to mash the throttle to get boost, but it was a rather comfy ride considering the weight we were pulling. Anyhow enough with that. I think the engine would be capable in a LC, and may be a great way to get better mpg. By the way we averaged about 22 mpg on that trip.
 
22mpg would be good...

Seems like one of the key features we all love in our 2F engines is the low-end grunt...any idea how much torque the mb engine has at low rpms?
 
That's less than the stock 2F. If I'm not mistaken, the 2F was rated at 210 lb/ft and around 150 hp. Am I wrong?

:beer:
 
That seems stupid.

The engine would have to work harder to pull the heavier truck, therefore the costly conversion would have a minimal mileage gain. Just pop in a 6BT, or even a 4BT.

:beer:
 
uberhahn said:
I recently drove an older (85) mercedes diesel sedan ( a 300D) with an automatic transmisison. In europe, these vehicles were had with a manual trans. This engine is a 5cyl turbo.

The older Unimogs used a similar 6cyl engine.

Mated to the correct transmission (adapter to H55?), why couldn't the 5cyl Mercedes be used with an FJ. The size seems about right. The engines are cheap, parts are available, and durability of these engines is unsurpassed.

Has anyone entertained the idea?
Click to expand...

been talking about doing this for a long time now. long before 4x4labs came into the picture. but i will give you the informaion i remember.

There is a place in Southwestern Africa that has already developed an adapter for this. I tried contacting them a few times but no answer. One of the 3FE guys on the 3FE maling list lives in the same area and I asked if he could get in contact with the shop. I forget his name right now because its been such a long time. But you might hit them up and see if he still has the information. If you like I will see if I can find the shop again but it was a real pita finding it the first time.

Brazil... toyota land cruisers in brazil used the mbz deisel. but i cant remember what transmission they used. a while back i asked the guys on the diesel ml about it. ofcourse i cant remember what information was gone over... think im coming down with old timers disease.


ofcourse there are some other diesels too... but this is all i remember about using the mbz.

I used to own an 1984 240D. Man was it slow. Yes it got great mileage. I got between 28-30mpg mixed. Thing weighs about the same as my FJ55. Gramma using a wheeler could out run me... I had fricken school buses passing me like I was not even moving.

you might be able to mate the 300D engine with a manual transmission from a 240D. Also there are some of the 5 speeds here in north america. good luck finding one though.


Just do what I was going to.... make the conversion identical to the suzuki samurai VW diesel conversion.




ok thats about it.
 
GLTHFJ60 said:
Just pop in a 6BT, or even a 4BT.
Click to expand...
Go ahead. And then sit down and cry when you discover that your truck won't pass an emissions test. An FJ60/62 is in the 1/2-ton pickup class, so you can't swap in an engine from something any bigger. Whether you're in an emissions area or not, technically you're required to follow EPA rules. In my case, it's not just some abstract idea. I will have to get the truck inspected by the county's emissions technical officer before I can get it emissions tested -- no emissions, no license plates.
 
polarweasel said:
Go ahead. And then sit down and cry when you discover that your truck won't pass an emissions test. An FJ60/62 is in the 1/2-ton pickup class, so you can't swap in an engine from something any bigger. Whether you're in an emissions area or not, technically you're required to follow EPA rules. In my case, it's not just some abstract idea. I will have to get the truck inspected by the county's emissions technical officer before I can get it emissions tested -- no emissions, no license plates.
Click to expand...
Or,,,,,,,Just move away from emissions test areas! Iv'e got a 4BT in a 60 and it's not keeping me up at night because of some emissions BS. Besides, do the people doing the test know what the hell they are talking about? most likely not.
Nowhere on my motor does it say "Cummins". For all they know, it's a factory Toyota diesel from 1985. My title says "D" for fuel type and that is good enough for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom