Need Engine Test Stand Inputs
 

I talked myself into going to the boneyard to pick up a spare OM617.95x in a W126 with 151K miles to use as a backup for my two 617s. I am getting nervous about the attrition rate of these engines as backyard WVO/biodeselers do their noble experiments.

Anyway , I located a promising candidate and will check it over a bit better to see that it has some compression etc.

The yard has a 30 day warranty policy, so I intend to take it home and install it into my 300D parts car (which has no engine or tranny) and crank it up. I also want to keep it in situ and keep starting it occasionally to keep it healthy.

Question is- what is the minimum I need to bolt onto the rear end to get it started? Can I just leave the flex plate on there? Should I bolt up a 240D/manual tranny flywheel? Will the starter shear the back of the adapter plate without a transmission there? Do I really need to tie down the tranny end of the engine to a rear mount?

Anybody done something like this?

Rick

Why not just fire it up in the car?

When I got my 617 I went out to the yard , found the one I wanted and jumped the glow relay for 10 seconds then jumped the pole to the starter and fired it up. You'll have to remove the line to the shut off valve of course but it should run.

On this one, the only bit that's missing is the primer pump. The hood is off the car and I am afraid that some water got into the pump. I'd like to try to purge as much fuel from it as possible before I try to start it. It's just too much to do in the field. I figure if I buy it I'll be stuck with the engine, but I am pretty sure I'll be able to tell by inspection whether it will light off. And it's $200 complete so probably well worth that in parts anyway.

I'd like to put it in my test stand and run it for several hours to determine if it smokes/burns/etc.

Any ideas about how to set it up with the minimum of effort?

Bolt it on the stand, get shorter bolts for the starter and hook it up too. attach a long hose into a bucket of diesel and you'll probabaly have to set it up with some way to cool the engine down if youre going to run it for a few hours.

What an ordeal. All day to get this engine from a totally disorganized yard. Cars stacked on top of each other. You could die there just trying to get back to civilization. I had to wait 4 hours for a guy to clear a path to this W126. They just would not believe me when I told them it needed to go almost vertical to clear the firewall.

Got it home and will probably play with it next weekend. I have a spare radiator to cool it with and I was able to keep the oil cooler and lines intact. I am inclined to think that I do not really need a transmission or flywheel back there to run this thing in place.

Anyone disagree before I make a total mess of this project??

Also- do the engine mount arms differ from a W126 OM617 to a W123 OM 617?

Rick