OM606 Swap FJ80

[Engineeringlimits]

I’m working on swapping my 1991 Land Cruiser with an OM606 from a 98 Mercedes e300td. The plan has been to keep as much of the drivetrain original as possible and integrate the OM606 as best as I can.
Reason for the swap (other than just being awesome) was due to the original 3fe showing signs of failure after 320k miles. The rest of the cruiser was in amazing shape though so it was a great candidate to be swapped.

Here’s a picture when I picked up the engine and trans out of a donor car:

Next step was tearing down the engine to put in heavier valve springs and do an overall refresh.

That picture was taken after the block was painted. After that I started reassembly with fresh gaskets and a rear sump oil pan (already in the picture). The original turbo that came on the engine was on the smaller side and leaking a decent bit of oil. After checking through flow charts I decided to go down the route of using a gtx2867r. I’m starting with a Pulsar turbo to check the power level and response before switching out to a Garrett unit for longevity. I designed an adapter for the oem manifold to go to the T25 flange and have a thermocouple for getting EGT data.

 

[Engineeringlimits]

A few more parts I designed at this stage included a downpipe bellmouth for the 5 bolt flange on the turbo, intake inlet adapter and a fuel heater block off plate. The downpipe bellmouth I designed and had 3D printed out of 316L stainless steel. Intake inlet adapter I designed and had 3D printed out of AlSi10Mg. Fuel heater block off plate was laser cut out of 3/16” 5052.

 

[Engineeringlimits]

Fab parts included capping off the EGT port on the oem turbo manifold. I tug welded it with a nickel alloy rod as the manifold is NiCr. The water pump housing had a tube coming out of the back that almost did a 180 degree turn. I welded a bung onto that to remove the need for a o-ring fitted tube as it was leaking.

 

[Engineeringlimits]

With the engine mostly reassembled in its final form it was time to start on mating the engine to the A440F. I started with 3D scanning the entire OM606.

I then 3D scanned the 3FE mostly the bell housing and the RH side of the engine for positioning in the engine bay when I get to that stage. I only needed one side to use for a vehicle for-aft reference with the original engine mounts so I could get the transmission location.
Now the fun challenge. I couldn’t locate an adapter on the interwebs so I needed to design one. Here’s a picture of an early model I was working with:

Not shown in that picture is the torque converter adapter that I designed and just got delivered from the machine shop. Torque converter adapter is made of 7075 and adds roughly 7lbs of mass to the rotating assembly.

And here’s a picture bolted to the OM606 flex plate so you can see how it will interface.

 

[TXIN]

Wow, really impressive quality. I need to learn to use some of this software...been really wanting to at least start using SendCutSend, etc.

Keep it up!

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Nice work!!! Ditch the a440f transmission. It fails. Likely to fail sooner with the OM606.

 

[Mytmousemalibu]

Looks fantastic! Im also an MB fan and own/have owned quite a few Benz, mostly diesels. I have a W124 300D that has an OM603 I drove for a good while till the -14 cylinder head cracked. I bought an OM606 to swap in it out of a wrecked E300D. My intent was to rebuild it in a higher performance form, around 600hp form factor, and got everything stripped down & cleaned. I made a fuel heater block-off plate as well. My plan was to fab a 316L stainless turbo header, big turbo, ExtrudeHoned injectors, rods, valvetrain, cams, etc. Luckily the injection pump I need is on my OM603, I intended to send it to get 8.5mm elements. I fully ported the head. Mine was almost completely clogged with EGR soot, I don't know how it ran! I stopped there for now wanting to investigate some ideas. I wanted to explore the idea of using a P7100 injection pump. I also wanted to manual swap the car which led me to the direction of a T56 or better yet a TR6060. I stopped there short of spending some big money. Now that I have some machining capabilities, I should return to this. My old W124 was starting to get some rusty spots so I also was considering finding a nicer donor car, perhaps an E190 to jam it in.
Currently the fun money is being redirected to my recently purchased JDM HZJ79 and machining related stuff. I could put the 606 in the LC but thats hard to justify with the 1HZ being basically new. More power will be highly welcomed but we'll see how a touch of boost & some VE pump tweaking does first. The Cruiser is never going to be "fast" anyway. I have other toys to fulfill that need. It does need some more horsetorques though. If I ever swapped it if not a 1HDT it would be a Cummins. Ill toss in some of my OM606 pics

 

[Mytmousemalibu]

My 606

 

[Engineeringlimits]

Looks fantastic! Im also an MB fan and own/have owned quite a few Benz, mostly diesels. I have a W124 300D that has an OM603 I drove for a good while till the -14 cylinder head cracked. I bought an OM606 to swap in it out of a wrecked E300D. My intent was to rebuild it in a higher performance form, around 600hp form factor, and got everything stripped down & cleaned. I made a fuel heater block-off plate as well. My plan was to fab a 316L stainless turbo header, big turbo, ExtrudeHoned injectors, rods, valvetrain, cams, etc. Luckily the injection pump I need is on my OM603, I intended to send it to get 8.5mm elements. I fully ported the head. Mine was almost completely clogged with EGR soot, I don't know how it ran! I stopped there for now wanting to investigate some ideas. I wanted to explore the idea of using a P7100 injection pump. I also wanted to manual swap the car which led me to the direction of a T56 or better yet a TR6060. I stopped there short of spending some big money. Now that I have some machining capabilities, I should return to this. My old W124 was starting to get some rusty spots so I also was considering finding a nicer donor car, perhaps an E190 to jam it in.
Currently the fun money is being redirected to my recently purchased JDM HZJ79 and machining related stuff. I could put the 606 in the LC but thats hard to justify with the 1HZ being basically new. More power will be highly welcomed but we'll see how a touch of boost & some VE pump tweaking does first. The Cruiser is never going to be "fast" anyway. I have other toys to fulfill that need. It does need some more horsetorques though. If I ever swapped it if not a 1HDT it would be a Cummins. Ill toss in some of my OM606 pics

Sounds awesome! I went with the 606 because of the power to weight ratio. I didn’t want to change the weight balance of the vehicle too much by putting a 1000lb engine in it. The trade off is torque but the 606 should have more than enough.
My 606 head was pretty clean as far as EGR soot goes. Intake manifold is another story but my powder coater burned it all out before powder coating it.

Nice work!!! Ditch the a440f transmission. It fails. Likely to fail sooner with the OM606.

The A440F that came in the cruiser has a fresh rebuild so it should be okay for some miles to come. I’m only planning on having a max of 400ft-lbs of torque. If it fails then I have a good excuse to 8hp swap it!

Wow, really impressive quality. I need to learn to use some of this software...been really wanting to at least start using SendCutSend, etc.

Keep it up!

Sendcutsend is awesome for the price and how fast you can get it. I have used them a bunch for their sheet laser services. Haven’t had a part to send through their machining service but I’ve heard good things about it.

 

[Mytmousemalibu]

The weight of 4bt, 6bt, or p-pumped 24v is definitely a thing. I'd rather not add a ton of weight either but its slim pickins for something in that class that is tough, reliable, easy to get parts for that are readily available, etc. Theres newer common-rail options but I bought an HZJ to stay as far away from complexity, electronics, modern quality (which is absolute trash). That really shaves down the options. A 606 is still a pretty good choice. If only there was a lighter 6bt...

I don't know why my 606 was sooted up so bad but with how caked full the runners were and the valves, im amazed it ran. Guess boost is the answer! It was a nasty mess to clean! The turbo was smashed in the wreck that totaled the car, perhaps it was breathing oil and the EGR was stuck open. Nothing else was wrong.

 

[Engineeringlimits]

Test adapter came in from sendcutsend to make sure the bolt patterns and dowel locations were correct. Cheap insurance by ordering a 0.04” thick 5052 plate. All bolt holes lined up well and the dowel locations were spot on. Here it is on the bell housing

Then here it is on the om606:

Now I can send the plate off to the machine shop and get it made.

 

[Mytmousemalibu]

Very nice!

Ill be using SendCutSend for my firetruck conversion in the not so distant future!
Superfastmatt seems to have really good luck with them & im impresed with their work.

Im asuming you're doing some fueling upgrades to make more power?
Dpuk has come a long way with his 606 offerings. Prior to him it was limited to Myna or Diselmeken. Unfortunately for bolt-on fueling enhancements your only option is a modified Bosch M-pump from an OM603 which has always been expensive and nobody in the States is setup to do M pumps. The UK or Europe are the places to go to.

Somewhat recently theres been some new, highly efficient air-to-water 3D printed intercoolers being developed. I wouldn't mind running one of those on my 1HZ when the time comes but they are probably very expensive.

 

[Engineeringlimits]

Very nice!

Ill be using SendCutSend for my firetruck conversion in the not so distant future!
Superfastmatt seems to have really good luck with them & im impresed with their work.

Im asuming you're doing some fueling upgrades to make more power?
Dpuk has come a long way with his 606 offerings. Prior to him it was limited to Myna or Diselmeken. Unfortunately for bolt-on fueling enhancements your only option is a modified Bosch M-pump from an OM603 which has always been expensive and nobody in the States is setup to do M pumps. The UK or Europe are the places to go to.

Somewhat recently theres been some new, highly efficient air-to-water 3D printed intercoolers being developed. I wouldn't mind running one of those on my 1HZ when the time comes but they are probably very expensive.

They do a great job and are really quick. I have only had a good experience with them so far.
As of right now I’m only shooting for around 300hp so I shouldn’t need to upgrade the IP. I’m using a DSL1 ecu rather than going the mechanical route. If I do need to upgrade the IP I’ll probably source it from benz injection here in the states.
Intercooler wise I’m planning on using an air to water setup. I have the intercooler and pump from an rs5 and csf heat exchanger from an a90 Supra. They fit packaging wise and are well engineered parts.

 

[TheBussman]

nobody in the States is setup to do M pumps.

not true, benz force is?/was doing them for a time, now benzinjection and OM6performance are.

 

[Mytmousemalibu]

not true, benz force is?/was doing them for a time, now benzinjection and OM6performance are.

Ill have to retract my statement! I was unaware of that! Its been a while since I had looked around at IP's for them. That's always good to have options!

 

[Engineeringlimits]

Finalized all the clearances and hardware for the adapter setup. Sent it out to be machined so now it’s just a waiting game on getting it back from the machine shop. Here’s the stack up in CAD how it should fit on the back of the 606:

I put in all the fasteners and dowel pins to have a full model. That way it’s easy to pull a bill of material and order all of them. I’ll place the order for all of the fasteners tonight from belmetric. Dowel pins are sourced from McMaster. Side note, the cad models from belmetric are really nice but I wish they had a no-threads option like McMaster.

 

[TheBussman]

A few more parts I designed at this stage included a downpipe bellmouth for the 5 bolt flange on the turbo, intake inlet adapter and a fuel heater block off plate. The downpipe bellmouth I designed and had 3D printed out of 316L stainless steel. Intake inlet adapter I designed and had 3D printed out of AlSi10Mg. Fuel heater block off plate was laser cut out of 3/16” 5052.View attachment 4139662View attachment 4139663View attachment 4139665

those metal printed parts sure look nice. is there a place you can send files to and they will print it for you? that exhaust adapter has quite the thermal shock do you think it will hold up?

Finalized all the clearances and hardware for the adapter setup. Sent it out to be machined so now it’s just a waiting game on getting it back from the machine shop. Here’s the stack up in CAD how it should fit on the back of the 606:View attachment 4140462
I put in all the fasteners and dowel pins to have a full model. That way it’s easy to pull a bill of material and order all of them. I’ll place the order for all of the fasteners tonight from belmetric. Dowel pins are sourced from McMaster. Side note, the cad models from belmetric are really nice but I wish they had a no-threads option like McMaster.

looks nice, how does this compare to the doomsday kit?

 

[Engineeringlimits]

those metal printed parts sure look nice. is there a place you can send files to and they will print it for you? that exhaust adapter has quite the thermal shock do you think it will hold up?

looks nice, how does this compare to the doomsday kit?

I’ve had really good experiences with craftcloud3d when it comes to metal 3d printed parts. That’s where the ones I posted came from. Just upload a stp file and choose a material, it’s really straight forward. As for the downpipe adapter, it should hold up fairly well. I was able to optimize the geometry and have a more gradual transition where it meets the flange portion. With all things time will tell but it should be a fairly stout part and I would imagine that it will hold up bettter than a casting.
For the transmission adapter, the doomsday kit mimics the 1fz bell housing pattern and mine replicates the 3fe. I don’t know if the bell housings are interchangeable on the transmissions between the a440 and a442. More so meaning taking an a442 Bellhousing and bolting it to the a440. So that was the main driver for making my own. Other wise the other key difference is how I’m adapting the torque converter using the single aluminum adapter. The doomsday kit appears to use a puck that gets sandwiched between both flex plates. I think my design is more simple and lighter at the end of the day but I don’t have one of their kits on hand to compare to.

 

[TheBussman]

I don’t know if the bell housings are interchangeable on the transmissions between the a440 and a442.

they do swap,

nice work, i have seen some of the other doomsday kits and they also look pretty nice. but i agree the less parts adapting to the torque converter the better.

 

[Engineeringlimits]

The adapter plate came in from the machine shop. Here it is with the torque converter adapter:

I put the dowel pins in and they line up perfectly on the om606 and the bellhousing for the A440. Hopefully I get some time over the next few days to get the engine and transmission put together. Then I can drop it in and clearance check everything.