MB 616 diesel powered Astro build
 

MB 616 diesel powered Astro build - Page 2



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Calling JB3 you're famous again mate!

it's curious how identical the Astro front subframe looks like my 76 Firebird.

Nice project! That box you indicated on the master cylinder is the primitive rear ABS if memory serves me.

That is a ton of work to put into such a crap-pile van!!!!
The custom adapter plate I bet is worth twice what the van was......
Somebody sure can weld, though!

Back when I had a Datsun Maxima diesel wagon there was a guy on the nissandiesel forum that swapped in a LD28 from a Maxima into his Astro van. A solid six cylinder 2.8L engine with a cast iron cylinder head...and you could add a turbo with factory parts from the L28T gasser engine.

he's making good progress. I wish I'd known he needed good subframes... I've crushed 4 rust free astro's...

as for the look of the subframe compared to an F body, yeah it's similar, but WAAAY shorter, and MUCH beefier than the F bodies... (I've got 4 first gen F cars...)

I can't fathom how slow that is going to be when its finished.

Lol, pretty good guess, adapater did cost twice the money I paid for the van.
Crap pile is a relative term, I like those old astros. Same kind of sickness that makes mb enthusiasts spend thousands restoring a old 123. :D

Link is from page 2 of that thread. I'm also turboing the 616 on page one, and interestingly that shorty astro is a mere 200 lbs heavier than a 240D. (Stripped as it is for work)
I think even with NA it might have similar performance as a regular 240, though this is all estimation. The gear ratios in the T5 I'm using and the astro 3.71 rear end are all slighty more advantageous than the stock mb ratios also.

Lol, whunter has called me out. I hadn't intended to post up this project until it was actually running and I could see if it worked. Now that its up though, ill just slowly update it with my other threads on it. Now I really have to get it done, too many lenghty unfinished project threads out there. :D

touche! :D

I would use that van to go pick up all the mb parts I regularly haul back from the yard ,all it needs now is a plastic fantastic front grill off an sec.My yard outback is starting to look like a mercedes boneyard out of one of those paintings from past vintage cars of yesteryear.

Some progress, this is whunter signed us up for. :D endless boring chevy pics

So the clutch pedal, which is a major hurdle of the manual swap is just about resolved, some final welding to do once I have the right angle, but it hangs in the correct area finally-
from the outside, this is where the slave is supposed to poke through on vans that had this provision. Turns out that if I had done this on an 87, there would be stock holes and I could just fire the pedal in, but since this is an 89, they didn't punch them, which complicated how to fit the pedal in-

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8d816f03.jpg

after drilling a bunch of little holes and carefully working with the hacksaw and dremel, the hole for the slave was finally cleaned up-

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...pse6dc6340.jpg

stock chevy clutch master for manual astro applications-

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...psdf6bb00d.jpg

mounted outside and inside-

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...ps20b2a750.jpg
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...ps91c44841.jpg

For where the pivot needed to go, drilling some horizontal holes in this tiny inaccessible area was not really possible, at least for me, and I decided to instead cut a slot, build a pivot, and weld it up when I had it fitted properly.
this is where the hole is supposed to be i think, matches on both sides with this weird little curve-

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...ps48d95e35.jpg

I notched out that whole area on both sides- (not the cleanest cut in the world, but ill dress it up before I weld.

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1c338816.jpg

meanwhile with the pedal I made this little pivot piece with a couple ears for welding-

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...ps74cec50a.jpg
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4e28f1cc.jpg

fitted it lines up pretty well, now to weld it in-

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...psf6fcc184.jpg
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...pse5b2d23a.jpg

overall, this was a huge pain in the rear. Pics later once I weld it in (if I do a good enough job to display to the world) :D

and if you'd posted this before you started revamping the rust on the first one, I'd have GIVEN you an 87 shorty work van with a low miles diff, and new springs... rust free of course... original owner right here!

the sickness I have for MB's started with Astro's... I had 6 (4 astro's 2 safari's...) now I've only got the one 2000 long body... (I GOTTA get the intake gaskets changed some day...)