I have a pristine 93 300D parts car with no doors/trunk lid/hood... moron cut them off wires and all... and the chain broke, gears are shot, cam shattered, lifter blown apart.
annd yesterday a client gave me a 90 E320 gasser with passenger's side impact damage compromising the subframe etc.
hood is damaged, but maybe fixable... parts like that come up in yard all the time.
sooo... now I'm thinking hmmm. inline 6 gasser doors and trunk lid, perhaps hood, but hey. uh, I could swap all this into the 93 and have a decent car... I could also cut the damaged frame out and have mine welded in... but I don't like the idea of fixing a wrecked car.

or I could just take the interior, doors, and such and get a new/ rebuild the current 602...
whatdayaall think?

aside from my crazy luck with getting free cars...

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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 really don't know how to vote on this. It's like a multiple choice question without a choice that I like.

I have done lots of swapping around of engines, transmissions, body parts to make a car the way I want it. Heck, my first car was a 48 Chevy that I bought out of the wrecking yard in pieces. The guy told me which car I could get which part off of. Probably the most humbling way that a kid could have his first car, a KIT!

I recently got a parts car for my 64 Galaxie 500 so that I could get the whole manual transmssion set up to get rid of the automatic in mine.

All that said, so that you can see that I'm not above swapping parts, there are still lots of complete, nice old MB's out there if you look hard for them. I expect that for the same parts handling effort, you could part out your cars and make enough to buy a cherry car the way you want it.

My $0.02 and enjoy the project whatever decision you make!

I once put a Isuzu turbo diesel in a small tray that previously had a gasser, easy job.

The 320 is a good motor, & would be fine in the 300D body. Pity about the wiring damage in the 300D. If you use the 300D body you dont have to worry about a salvage title, that could add to the value.
The 603 motor is likely to be an internal mess, probably best for parts only.
If it was me & I had the time, the 320 in the 300D body is the way to go, its a newer car as well.

Good luck with what ever you decide!!

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Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club group

I no longer question authority, I annoy authority. More effect, less effort....

1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
1980 300D now parts car 800k miles
1984 300D 500k miles
1987 250td 160k miles English import
2001 jeep turbo diesel 130k miles
1998 jeep tdi ~ followed me home. Needs a turbo.
1968 Ford F750 truck. 6-354 diesel conversion.
Other toys ~J.D.,Cat & GM ~ mainly earth moving

oh I wish it was a 603 in the 93... it's a 602... missing a cylinder there...

There is your answer! get a 603!

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1959 Gravely LI, 1963 Gravely L8, 1973 Gravely C12
1982 380SL
1978 450 SEL 6.9 euro restoration at 63% and climbing
1987 300 D
2005 CDI European Delivery
2006 CDI Handed down to daughter
2007 GL CDI. Wifes

It all depends on the value of your time.

Taken on face value, it appears to be an immediate go. You've got all the required parts to make a decent and functional vehicle.

But, unfortunately, the devil is in the details. How many hours will it take to do the swap..........including chasing all the little details that will be missing and also chasing all the inevitable problems that will surface.

How much money can you make if you directed that time toward paid repairs?

That's the final cost of the swap...........you might find the number staggering.........

swapping engines sounds like a wiring nightmare.

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08 R320 CDI current

Past
95 E420
87 300D Turbo 5spd
90 300TE
83 300SD
85 300TD
92 400E
85 190D

Part them out and use the money towards a better vehicle/(less work need to run).

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92 300D 2.5L OM602 OBK #59

I thought about doing a similar job on my 300SD after I raided the drivetrain out of it, although I was leaning towards a domestic V8 and auto to just get it resold. In the end, it simply looked like more work than I wanted to put into my non-project vehicle, and so I parted it out and scrapped the carcass. I probably could have gotten $1500-$1800 with a GM or Ford small block, but in the end I would have had so many hours to get it right that it just wouldn't have been profitable.

Part it out, friend...

Part them.

If you want a decent 160,000mile 603.960, I pulled the head from one this morning.

Repairing the diesel car with a diesel engine sounds fairly practical, just a pain to patch the wiring and vacuum lines into the doors, trunk no big deal. Alas though, you don't have a working diesel engine.

Putting a gas engine (a '90 E320? Not until '94 IIRC) in a diesel car, whether an M104 or M103, lots of wiring changes from cruise-control to ignition and ECU, even figuring out how to change the fuel system over to electric fuel pumps and the proper pressue, lots of work and IMO not worth it as a gas '93 is worth little, especially if a conversion from diesel.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

majority is leaning me towards parting both...
it's not like I have teeming amounts of free time or anything, just got the itch when the man gave me the car.
soooo, now I have two complete interiors for a 124, one black leather, one creme tex.
I now have doors, and a trunk lid too. and a driver's headlight, and the drivetrain from both cars...
make offers!

That is the question ? Part of an ongoing discussion!!

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It's always something simple
91 300D 603.960 (from japan) 194K
92 Toyota Diesel Landcruiser HDJ81-t 116K
02 Golf TDI new head courtesy of PO
87 300D
97 BMW 525 TDS Wagon 5spd
bunch of Onan and other diesel generators

yes. I will get you that valve cover, and you've never given me a price for the head and all. just lemme know!

Good luck registering a diesel with a gasser engine....

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth