Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomguy
Frank: I forgot about first-gen Intrepids (and others) with the 3.3. According to Allpar, that 3.3 and 3.8 started in 1990, not related to an earlier design. I also forgot that Chrysler made a 4.0 version of the 3.5 V6, and put it in the Nitro, longitudinally, attached to a Benz 5 speed (NAG1) trans. Not much more HP than a 3.5, but more usable torque, and already attached to a RWD transmission.
I can measure how wide my Hemi in my Jeep is if you're feeling really daring! Haha.
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Thinking about this option more. I looked up the Dodge Nitro, and it seems they had a 6-speed manual (not 5-speed), as an option to the automatic, and I think this was the same manual that can be found in the Crossfire, the NSG370. Crossfire 6-speed boxes are popular for owners of M113 engines because they're a direct bolt-on. So if I'm talking about a 90-degree Dodge v6 with this MB transmission, why not talk about the Mercedes M112, or even better, the M113, instead? But those won't fit into the car easily so it's a no-go.
My friend is really incapable of coping with annoyances. I don't want to have the headers hitting the frame because they're too close, and I don't want rock hard motor mounts that make the whole car vibrate.
I went to the junkyard to take some measurements. The M113 is about 24" wide at the valve covers, and about 26" wide at the widest part of the exhaust headers. A 560SEL M117 was 26" at the valve covers and 28.5" at the headers. (All approximate measurements, with tape measure and eye-ball).
This guy
1976 Mercedes 240D M117 5.5 liter | Retro Rides
did get a 560SEL engine to fit, by making custom low-profile headers. It's still too tight for me, but maybe the smaller M113 (or dodge v6 / etc) with something like this could work.
I am interested in seeing high performance M110s, M103s and M104s though. Using a mercedes straight 6 just seems so much easier. There's no space issue, and I can keep the matching transmission. I'm sure the m103/104 will need a tailshaft mod but that's not hard.
2JZ is a legend, but the NA version makes about as much power as an M104 so I might as well stick with MB. Unless it responds to NA tuning much better than the M104, but I feel like if I asked the internet how to NA tune a 2JZ, the internet would laugh at me and tell me to turbo it.