No, I had too many other projects, and lost my job along the way. So, I thinned down the to-do list. I actually just finished swapping a 300SDL 3.0L into a 1990 350SDL, and installing a OM603 from Pull-A-Part into that 300SDL since it was a direct fit. The 300SDL/350SDL swap was fairly straight forward, but I still want to do the 617/603 swap in the future. If you find anyone who's done it, I would be interested to hear from them also. I have an OM617 with 24,000 original miles (among many others) that I've been saving for years for a special project. Not sure what to use it for yet though. I bought it from a guy selling all his recently deceased fathers cars and parts so he could clear out the garage to sell the house. I went to meet him for a 81 300SD his dad owned that he listed disgustingly cheap. I saw the engine wrapped up in the corner of the garage with writing on it displaying the mileage and price he paid for it ($2800) and asked about it. He was so thrilled to get rid of it, he let it go with the car. He told me he was going to scrap it at the metal recyclers on Monday (this was Saturday) OUCH!! That would have been a shame.

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1987 300SDL #1, 1987 300SDL #2, 1980 240D, 1982 300SD, 1994 S350, 1990 350SDL, 1991 350SD, 1985 300D, 2005 E320CDI

Gone, but not forgotten: 1981 300SD, 1982 300SD, 1987 300SDL, 1983 300TD, 1980 300CD, 1981 300SD #2, 1987 300D, 1987 300TDT, 1980 300D

Hello all! For all others looking for info on this swap you will need the following to complete swap:

30mm deep 12point socket for tranny tail shaft swap
1" taken off of 420 driveshaft
Turbo overboost sensor "from a SD or D" to shut off engine with key
Driver-side firewall cutting for oil filter housing
As for linkage on the transmission selector just remove the lock nut in the 420 selector rod and thread the threaded pin back on.
Oh and main vacuum hose from pump to master cylinder or booster.

Still playing with temperature sensors and tach!