on a turbo 617 it wouldnt be too bad, the diesels allready have as much torque as a v8

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Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

As long as they would add one additional commandment for you to keep thy religion to thyself.
George Carlin (Wonder where he is now..)

1981 240d (engine donor 1983 240d) recently rebuilt engine hurray! - No more.. fought a tree and the tree won.

pearl black 1983 240d 4speed (Converted!@$$%) atleast the tranny was rebuilt.

72HP? Not the 300D.

YES...
For the OM616.912 -- 4 cylinder diesel, 240D from 1979-1985.

88HP for for the OM617.912 -- 5 cylinder 300D from 1979-1986



Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_300D

http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/pines/6633/w123engine.html

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'07 Yukon 2500
'13 Subaru Outback 3.6R
'13 Orbea Carpe 9-speed

Currently Benzless
Formerly: 300TD, S600, E55, 560SEL

---= The forest breathes, listen.
-Native American elder

That's a Euro market non-turbo five cylinder engine made after September 1979.

Yep!

You can pull small trailers. It's not the gearing (as someone mentioned), it's torque.

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'07 Yukon 2500
'13 Subaru Outback 3.6R
'13 Orbea Carpe 9-speed

Currently Benzless
Formerly: 300TD, S600, E55, 560SEL

---= The forest breathes, listen.
-Native American elder

I love driving my 79 TD, pulling out in 2nd is fine normally, and you have the "mash" button on the floor to force 1st gear starts on hills or in a hurry. even in the heavy wagon, there is plenty of acceleration from a standstill, the slowdown comes in around 50mph. so in the city or on relatively level highway, there are no problems with the cars. all that torque meshes well with the low gearing rear to form a nice driving excellent vehicle. that said, the amazing power and acceleration (comparatively of course) of the turbo models is nice to fill in the voids left by the non turbo models.
oh, and unless you live in a warm climate, actually, even in warm climates, look for an 80-81 non turbo, due to the glow plug issues of the serial vs. parallel wiring. the older styles can be upgraded to newer wiring, but you have to buy rare and hard to find large body plugs to do the conversion.

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

I have a 1980 300cd Non-turbo with the A/C servo. These will get up and go if they have a clean fuel system with fresh filters, fuel from a truckstop, and a diesel purge. After a diesel purge my non-turbo has much more power than before. However, the servo is shot and does nothing as all of them eventually, so I need the 600 dollar new servo to take care of that. Non-turbos have plenty of power and have one less system to break than turbos. I'm currently getting 22 mpg, half city half highway. Turbos probably get better mileage than nonturbos. 1981 would be the best year for nonturbos since they don't have the evil servo. Plan on putting away 600 dollars for when the servo breaks to get a new digital one. Oh, and non-turbos can be converted to 4-Speed manuals without too much trouble too .

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1980 240d
1999 SL500

Derburger, thanks so much for the info. It's responses like these that keep me coming back to this forum.

Lastly, to ALL of you - what's a reasonable price to pay for a 300D NA in good to very good condition? I have about $2500, but would like to spend more like $2000.

My '80 gets 27mpg.

Has the 3.46 rear end- same as my SE.

Great driving car- starts in first gear.

I like it better than my 126 car.

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'90 300SE 298k
-300K and it gets put into retirement.
'80 300D 255k Purchased new by family in 1980.

Had a:
1973 220 (gas)
1980 300SD
1992 400E

And the pricing on a NA 300D?

That is not a lot of money. You will be lucky to find a nice one for that.....you might get lucky though.

Tom W

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

If you have your $ in hand, you can simply bide your time until one that is nice and in/close to your price range pops up. Having $ in hand and being ready to pull the trigger can land you the right car.
I got all of mine fairly cheap, and just waited for the "right car".
Oh, and my cheap Mercedes have not been expensive, so while folks really like to quote the old "Nothing is more expensive than a cheap Mercedes", that is not an absolute truth.
Matter of fact, the "Nothing is more expensive than a cheap ________" is used referring to all kinds of things.......

Nothing has been cheaper than my cheap Mercedes......

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John