PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - How bad would a 2.47 be in a 300D with a 4 speed?

junqueyardjim · #12 03-29-2016, 04:18 PM

I just got my 83 240D back today after having it laid up for a year. I am to old to work on it much, so to make the engine switch to a pre 85 617 Turbo I had to ship the job to my friend Paul. He did a great job, I just put 15 miles on it with that 80 SD junkyard engine that I bought about 6/7 years ago. No smoke, runs cool and runs really good. I did have Paul do an overhaul on the turbo and it performs great. Almost instant 10 lbs on my boost gauge. I am running the differential from my 85 which is the 2.88. She will run that first gear in a heartbeat and 2nd, 3rd and 4th are pure delight. To my way of feeling and thinking, it probably was the best performing ride I have ever had in a W123 with a 617Turbo. Driveline is a little sloppy, perhaps not driving the 4 speed for 16 months gave the operator a little time to rust up also. Anyway, by the time I got it home, I feel that I really lucked out with the engine. As I reported a number of years ago on the post when I bought that engine, it was a hot afternoon in August and I jumped it from my W123 and without the glow plugs it fired up immediately, after sitting in the junkyard a couple of months. But I was running that 85 617 Turbo with a pilot bearing which I freeze shrunk to install and I was fearful it would lock up and and really be a mess to get apart. In this case, the clutch did disintegrate and caused a lockup, but the pilot bearing was still OK, after about 20,000 miles of city use. But now my new engine will take the pilot bearing, I have a new clutch and resurfaced flywheel, held my breath when first running it because again I put on the flywheel using only the factory balance, no marks, just put it on and I find it satisfactory. Now I am a little more heavy duty truck oriented then most of you guys and with trucks you just get use to the vibs at low rpm. If you don't like it, shift down a notch and you will be happy. I find the "drive" of my car, with both the 617's that I have used, to be extremely flexible, fast (for a 617) and very fun to drive. I would never put up with a 300D with an automatic and I just can't believe that Mercedes Benz held on to that old junk slush box for as long as they did. Amazing, and they continued right on with it until the early 90's I believe.