Builds The Mule: My OM617 swap and other improvements (3 Viewers)

[DPV7070]

Well, I'm not totally crippled, but certain positions (especially sitting for long periods) are painful.

I did decide to stab the engine back in today and I realized I made a huge mistake. I accidentally got the rear crossmember mounts mixed up with the engine mounts. The difference is the I.D. of the hole in the mount. I was so mad at myself! Cutting them off and starting over is not an option, but then again I don't want to half arse it. I'm still debating what to do. Anyways here's a shot of the engine in place and how low the xfer case will hang. You'll also notice the rear crossmember is gone. So I'll cut out some frame places and bend up another. It needed to go back about 6".

I did have to notch the structural ribs on the bottom of the floor pans to get everything sucked up (which i wasn't crazy about doing--but it was only a small section and if nothing else I cleaned a lot of dirt and rocks out of it) so I'm officially "that PO sumb*tch, but it also helped clear the twin stick linkages. A body lift wasn't an option at the point since my steering geometry is finalized and my cage frame ties were installed moons ago before I ever dreamt of doing all this.

Anyways, y'all let me know if you see me heading down the wrong road.

 

[DPV7070]

I've been working avg 14 hour days for the last few weeks since I can't fly I'm instructing SIMs and teaching classes. I wrenched for a few hours on Sunday and ran into a few more issues:

1. Radiator output (bottom) now has interference when I tighten down the engine mounts. So I'm not sure if I should just relocate the radiator or what? I'll try to get some pics.

2. Also starting to look at pinion angles for the front and rear driveshaft. I'm primarily focusing on the rear driveshaft right now, and it's pinion angle will be around 86* with the 4* shims removed. Initial measurements from the back of the tcase is about 74. The distances are pretty much parallel, but I don't know if 10* operating angle is too much. I've been reading the Driveline101 page over on 4crawler.com and it seems the max operating angle is based on RPM. If I wanted a more accurate measurement from the back of the tcase, what is the best way to measure that angle? There's not really a flat surface so I thought about just drilling holes in some scrap and using it to extend the surface on the same plane (still parallel, but easier to measure).

Starting to get frustrated with this thing, but I'm sure everyone does at some point.

 

[franklin40]

that engine looks real sexy sitting in there. you're making good progress. don't get discouraged please. I need what you're doing to help me out with mine!!

by the way is that the stock turbo you have on there? may have missed it as I've been following your build. it just looks so clean it makes me think it's new!

 

[DPV7070]

Stock turbo rebuilt with a slightly different A/R. Should make it spool at a slightly lower RPM.

 

[want2wheel]

If you have a flange that the drive shaft bolts to then you have a great starting point for measuring. You can make a bracket that has drops from the flange to a 90 deg angle that will give you level or whatever angle your transfer is set up at. I hope that is what you were asking. Everything is looking great don't stop now. As my boss tells me"remember the good times."

 

[DPV7070]

Well, the drivetrain is in. Only significant interference problem is I can't get the oil filter out with the parking brake cable the way it is. It will be fine for the time being, but I may relocate the oil filter housing.

Also got the brake master bench bled and installed along with the clutch master and slave.

Best score of the weekend was this high lift jack for $25

And a key machine and a ton of blanks for $30

I rewired it and it works like a champ...made about 10 keys so far. Pretty simple and fun.

 

[franklin40]

that engine looks sweet. what injection pump do you have on it? mine was a north american td300 that it came out of but my emergency shut off "stop" button had all sorts of links and was sitting on top of my valve cover. yours seems to be sitting off to the drivers side which is where the euro non turbo pumps sit. less linkages and a cleaner look for that pump.

 

[tucker74]

My oil canister hit the firewall quite a bit in the stock location, I think you went with firmer mounts which may help (stock allow a lot of movement). Looking good -

Tucker

 

[DPV7070]

My oil canister hit the firewall quite a bit in the stock location, I think you went with firmer mounts which may help (stock allow a lot of movement). Looking good -

Tucker

Oil canister has plenty of room, just can't lift the top off since there's that rod inside that centers the oil filter. I hadn't cracked it open for a long time so I forgot that it existed...whoops

 

[DPV7070]

that engine looks sweet. what injection pump do you have on it? mine was a north american td300 that it came out of but my emergency shut off "stop" button had all sorts of links and was sitting on top of my valve cover. yours seems to be sitting off to the drivers side which is where the euro non turbo pumps sit. less linkages and a cleaner look for that pump.

I'll have to check for the pump numbers. It's definitely not a non-turbo pump... All the linkages that we're sitting on top of your valve cover were for the cruise control, etc. I just removed all that stuff, but I'll use the linkages to rig up my throttle cable.

 

[DPV7070]

Made some progress this afternoon. I bought a bunch of aftermarket flexible coolant hoses, but didn't like it. Turns out the MBZ OEM stuff fits like it was made for a Land Cruiser. JACKPOT! When my dad was out to visit, we noticed the fan was pretty close to the radiator outlet, so we made a jig and shortened it by 1/2", which shouldn't hurt any cooling effect.

***NAPA P/n's***
Upper: 7558
Lower: 7468

The fan isn't as close as it looks, I've got a little more than an 1" clearance, I hope it's enough.

Also got the E-brake buttoned up (thanks to Georg @ Valley Hybrids for the backing plate). Speedometer moves when I turn the cable...yeah!

Tomorrow I should be able to crank her up and let it run a bit.

I still have the following big ticket items to complete:
-Driveshaft mods
-Brakelines, all
-Fuel delivery (need a new tank, found a rust hole in the original)
-Power steering hoses and cooler mount
-switch out MBZ alternator for GM 1-wire, or figure out how an external voltage reg would work...

 

[tucker74]

***NAPA P/n's***
Upper: 7558
Lower: 7468


Tomorrow I should be able to crank her up and let it run a bit.

Sweet, I'm going to pick a set of those as well to replace mine Have you done the exhaust yet? I'd recommend at least a down-pipe when you fire it up!

cheers!
Tucker

 

[handcannon]

Could you do me a favor please? I need the distance on the OM 617 from the back of the lower oil pan sump to the face of the fan blade, and some pics if possible. I'm considering putting the OM616 into a 1973 Datsun pickup and am assuming that the distance on the OM 617 will be the same since they are basically the same motor, except for the number of cylinders. According to Rockauto the 240D 1974-1983, 300CD 1978-1981, 300D 1975-1981, and the 300TD 1979-1980 all used the same lower oil pan gasket.

The Datsun has the tie rod in front of the front suspension cross member, limiting the available space between there and the radiator, and I want to be sure before I put too much time into the planning stage.

The Datsun is just over 1000 pounds lighter than the W123 body Mercedes making me think that this will make a big performance difference with the non-turbo OM616 and a manual transmission. And hopefully also make the Datsun a good DD because of fuel mileage.

Don

 

[DPV7070]

Best I can tell it's about 14.75".

Pics aren't great but I was "single piloted."

 

[DPV7070]

One more

 

[handcannon]

Thank you!! Good information and pics. Using that string line was good thinking. Now I just need to re-measure the pickup to refresh my memory and see if I have enough room.

Don

 

[DPV7070]

I didn't make any progress this weekend due to cramming for the ATP Part 121 Written exam, but I got that done and I'm glad to have that one behind me!!!

Focus for this week will be running new oil cooler lines. I'm thinking about ditching the Benz oil cooler and going to a "fin and plate" style -10AN fitting cooler. The Benz coolers are nice and large, but susceptible to cracking and puking out all the oil. I guess the big question is can an aftermarket cooler provide the correct amount of cooling for the OM617, which definitely needs an oil cooler.

 

[sggoat]

Made some progress this afternoon. I bought a bunch of aftermarket flexible coolant hoses, but didn't like it. Turns out the MBZ OEM stuff fits like it was made for a Land Cruiser. JACKPOT! When my dad was out to visit, we noticed the fan was pretty close to the radiator outlet, so we made a jig and shortened it by 1/2", which shouldn't hurt any cooling effect.

***NAPA P/n's***
Upper: 7558
Lower: 7468

View attachment 919139

The fan isn't as close as it looks, I've got a little more than an 1" clearance, I hope it's enough.

View attachment 919140

Also got the E-brake buttoned up (thanks to Georg @ Valley Hybrids for the backing plate). Speedometer moves when I turn the cable...yeah!

View attachment 919141

Tomorrow I should be able to crank her up and let it run a bit.

I still have the following big ticket items to complete:
-Driveshaft mods
-Brakelines, all
-Fuel delivery (need a new tank, found a rust hole in the original)
-Power steering hoses and cooler mount
-switch out MBZ alternator for GM 1-wire, or figure out how an external voltage reg would work...

The fan does not look exactly parallel to the rad--don't know if that is a prob or not

 

[DPV7070]

Driveline angles all look good, but I have plenty of adjustment to either side if I need it. We shall see!

 

[DPV7070]

Made some good progress on brake lines. The front is complete, now I'm just trying to figure out how to make the RDB flex lines the Poser included in his RDB kit (they're too long) work without any rubbing, etc. I'll get a couple pics of what I'm talking about later. For now here's some shots of the NiCopp brake lines. They come in 25' rolls, but I've got a pretty slick straightener, and a nice flare tool that makes perfect flares every time.

(Roller / straightener in the background)
The NiCopp line is super easy to work with and very forgiving. I had a piece with 3 90deg bends in it and was able to run it through the straightener and it came out 99% straight with only a few waves.

Perfect flares every time in about 30s.

Hopefully these clear the inner fender. If not I'll just make some new ones that do.

P/N for reference:

--Flare tool: K Tool Int'l p/n 7008. (There are a few companies that make this type of tool, but this one was the best price and has a lifetime warranty!)
--NiCopp 3/16" brake line: CNC-325 (available a lot of places, I got mine from Amazon)
--Tube nuts: M10x1.0 full threaded (M5L-3 from Fed Hill)

Need to clean, the garage before doing anything else today. Looks pretty slobby...