Who has a 617 powered car in the Salem, OR area?

[OM617YOTA]

My conversion has an odd vibration at certain RPMs, I think the flywheel balancing was a bit faulty. This is my first experience with a 617 and I am looking for more information on what is "normal" vibration. Along those lines, who in the Salem, OR area would accept a cup of coffee or lunch and some diesel fuel in exchange for giving me a ride in their car? I don't need or want to drive your car, just want to see how the engine feels at various RPMs.

Thank you all!

Edit: Actually I DO want to drive a 617 powered car, I just wouldn't feel comfortable at all driving a stranger's car and it seems improper to ask. I might need to find one on a lot somewhere and test drive it.

[Junkman]

People that bought these cars new were wealthy. The cars weren't designed to shake. The intended market wouldn't have accepted that.

[cooljjay]

There's a lot of little things that can cause vibrations....since this is a conversation....no idea what all else can be causing it...

[JB3]

go to benz soft mounts and engine shocks, made a huge difference in my conversion via idle vibration.

[Simpler=Better]

Timing, injector balance, compression, etc. can make things less than smooth, but the cars also have squishy mounts, engine shocks, a squishy transmission mount, multiple rag joints in place of u joints, and a squishy diff mount.

Your conversion doesn't have most of those vibration dampers anymore right?

[OM617YOTA]

Correct, my conversion has eliminated the vibration dampers.

Other people have done this conversion and report that the stock MBZ mounts are simply too soft for truck use. Starting a heavy load from a standstill or using the 4wd for more than just flat ground will tear the stock MBZ mounts apart. For this reason, I went with V8 truck mounts and didn't bother with the shock absorber.

I wasn't expecting luxury car, I was expecting what is essentially a tractor engine. I'm OK with normal vibration from an engine, the rocking at idle and such. During a narrow RPM band, the engine turns into a paint shaker, will vibrate your feet enough to make them go numb, and in addition to being uncomfortable I'm afraid it's going to break something. It just happens to be the RPM the engine spins in 5th gear at 70 mph.

[Simpler=Better]

Ah valid point. A specific RPM screams resonance to me though, while a poorly balanced flywheel would have the vibration increase with RPM.

Not that it helps you but hmmm.... Maybe strap a weight to the engine and see if things change?

[JB3]

Originally Posted by OM617YOTA

Correct, my conversion has eliminated the vibration dampers.

Other people have done this conversion and report that the stock MBZ mounts are simply too soft for truck use. Starting a heavy load from a standstill or using the 4wd for more than just flat ground will tear the stock MBZ mounts apart. For this reason, I went with V8 truck mounts and didn't bother with the shock absorber.

I wasn't expecting luxury car, I was expecting what is essentially a tractor engine. I'm OK with normal vibration from an engine, the rocking at idle and such. During a narrow RPM band, the engine turns into a paint shaker, will vibrate your feet enough to make them go numb, and in addition to being uncomfortable I'm afraid it's going to break something. It just happens to be the RPM the engine spins in 5th gear at 70 mph.

what are the 617 G-wagons using for motor mounts? those are pretty impressive 4x4s, I had thought they were using the same mounts as the sedans, but they may be using something different.

Interesting point, though id wager a lot of guys (myself included) who do these swaps use 30 year old motor mounts, so is it possible the use of a 4x4 killed some old cracked MB motor mounts if someone didn't use new? Were these guys who had the problems using the mounts they pulled out of the car with the engine, or did they destroy a new motor mount?

[OM617YOTA]

All good points! I have no idea what the condition of the mounts that were torn apart was. It's also "something I saw on the internet." A quick googling of G-Wagen motor mounts shows something much different and much more solid than the 300SD mounts my motor came with.

I've been wrenching since before I was interested in girls. I am definitely not the be-all end-all authority on anything and I'm not claiming to be, but this does not feel like any kind of vibration that would be acceptable for an engine to experience. It's violent. I'm afraid it would eventually break the oil filter housing off, with it's relatively large weight far away from it's relatively small mounting area. This is pretty serious stuff.

There's a local German motors shop in Salem, I think I'll see what they'd charge me to come take a ride and give me an opinion.