turbo motor in a non turbo
 

I have an extra turbo motor from an 83 laying around that needs bearings, possible machining on the crankshaft, clyinder sleeves and maybe pistons and rings.

I am considering putting this motor in the 77 if the motor in the 77 needs some work. I prefer design of the turbo motor. Some of my ideas include putting this motor in without the turbo and swapping parts over from the 77 motor to the turbo motor, How much is this possible?

You could do that, but why would you want to make a turbo engine a non-turbo? Manifolds etc should bolt right up. The thermostat housing will be different between the two engines.

I am sorting some long term things with the car so I my go with the turbo. Ill figure something out when I get around to it.

Dont do it, your car wont not run and idle smoothly, we have done this before, we took a 300SD that has been rear ended and we took out the turbo because the turbo has lots of free play. We place it in a W123 300D and the result was CR@P, it was slow, VERY rough idle, tranny SHIFTS HARD... My suggestion just do a straight swap with the turbo its a lot more easier and smoother and faster...

dont turbo engines have a lower compression ration than an NA engine?

I like Turbo's.

Higher, actually.

The poor performance is due to the camshaft. Turbo engines do not have valve overlap because the high exhaust pressure would push exhaust back into the intake. That means no natural cylinder scavenging and poor efficiency when a turbo is not used.

so in theory, one could swap cams?

I still like Turbo's.

turbo motor compression: 21.5:1
non turbo: 21:1

I was thinking of using a 617.952 lower block because of the oil jets to lube and cool off the pistons and usinga good head from the non turbo motor making necessary changes so it runs good ie change camshaft etc

I have found the non turbo to be quicker off the line and doesnt have the turbo lag

Yes, but it would be quite a lot more work than leaving the turbo installed and swapping in the turbo exhaust system to the car.

Thats entirely due to the much lower differential ratio.

If you were to put a 3.46 in a turbo or a 3.07 in a non-turbo, the turbo car would walk all over the non-turbo in any situation.

No one is addressing the transmission differences...

As an owner of a '77 300D with engine troubles, I looked in to a motor swap over a year ago. a '77 auto transmission doesn't have a vacuum modulator, and most people here seemed to feel the transmission would either fail, or simply be an unbearable pain to live with if a turbo OM617 was put in front of it. No one had real world answers, though.

This thread is now of extreme interest to me. Maybe someone will come forward with some good solid info on whether or not a non-turbo to turbo swap is possible with the original '77 non-vacuum modulated transmission in place.

I've been contemplating doing the same thing ('82 turbo in a '77), and it looks very plausible to me. I can't speak whether the shift points would work for the turbo (I suspect they would be close enough), but getting rid of the vacuum actuation I would think would be a plus. The '77 had the old tried and true kick-down cable/rod, so you could just switch all the linkages to the newer motor, with possibly a few mods to get around the turbo, and make it work pretty easily. It might not be as heavy built as the tranny used behind the turbo on the newer car, but unless you are doing burnouts, I bet it would hold up fine. It seems to be a very smooth shifting transmission from the small amount of driving I've done with it.

You would also need to do a little changing of the throttle linkages, as well as changing out the glow plug system to the newer pencil style controls.

You make an excellent point about the transmission linkages. I stood in salvage yard one day and looked back and forth between a nonturbo/non-vacuum modulated car and a turbo/vauumc modulated car. It didn't look impossible, but it certainly looked as if some creativity would be required when it came to the linkages.

...As for the non-vacuum modulated transmissions being smooth, well, that may be subjective. Mine shifts like it thinks it should be in a school bus. I'd call it a firm shift, but firm might be putting it too lightly.

Swap in a stick while you're at it!;)

now youre talking. Thinking of special ordering a 5 speed manual from the
dealer.

The only problem with doing the swap I have in mind is I dont have another tranny for the turbo engine. the tranny for the turbo engine is different from the non turbo.

Ill do a compression test, clyinder leak test, coolant flush with citrus acid powder, valve adjustment and a diesel purge then make a decision.