W460 engine swap

[superapan]

I've had my 1985 W460 for a while. I love it, but the old OM617 has lost most of its former glory. I gave it one last service, replacing all filters, oils, and doing a valve adjustment. Clocked it 0-60 mph in 46 seconds. Engine swap it is.

I also have a 1993 W124 with the NA 300D OM606.910 engine. The engine runs great, after getting to the bottom of the hefty diesel leaks. The engine only has just over 100k miles on it, but the rest of the car isn't so good. A really bad paint job, lots of dents, some rust, and none of the electronics work. A perfect donor car.

Together with my dad I'll be performing the swap at my parents old barn, on a concrete killing floor. I find it suitable for the task!

I should say that when it comes to engine swaps, both me and I my dad are happy amateurs, but we figure getting the engines out should be pretty easy going. Famous last words?

I intend to keep the 722.4 tranny out of the W124. Mostly because that's what I have - it's conveniently bolted to the OM606 engine already. I hear it's not as sturdy as the 722.3, but I hope it'll suffice.

More pictures to come as we go along, here's an appetizer!

[EJHumber]

Time for a manual swap?

[superapan]

Originally Posted by EJHumber

Time for a manual swap?

That is a possibility. I hear the 190D 2.5 5-speed Getrag tranny is the one to get. Some BMW ZF models are good too, I hear. This will take a while, maybe if I find one on the way. Besides durability, it would certainly improve on the highway RPM. With current transmission it's pretty deafening, and I doubt the ratio is that much better on the 722.4, than the on old 722.2 (I think) that is hooked to the OM617.

[superapan]

Ok, making some progress.

We chose to first remove the OM606. The job was pretty straightforward, and took about 12 hours to complete. I figure one third if you know what you're doing. But we took our time and tried to document everything.

Nothing was really stuck, or cause too much problems. For clearance, we removed the cross-over IM, which I had learned from before is a real pain.



It came as a surprise that the radiator also acts as an ATF oil cooler. This could be a problem, as I had intended to keep the W460 radiator. Unsure yet as how to make the W124 radiator fit.



We ran into one slight problem. The OM606 is a rather big engine, and with the tranny bolted to it there was a problem getting enough angle to get it out of the engine bay. We could've shortened the forward lifting chains, but that was a bit too late with the engine almost out.



This was solved by cutting some metal. The forward hood stiffener seemed to be riveted in place, and as the car itself isn't a keeper this was a bit quicker...



Yay, we got clearance!



Success, one down, one to go!

[superapan]

No time to waste, lets get to the OM617!



This looks to be a bit easier. Notice the cute STT turbo kit intercooler on the left (conical air filter removed already). I reckon the turbo kit will be worth at least something...tho engine will be included for free



Another picture of the STT turbo kit with intake removed, I like!



Here we have some lebensraum, as opposed to working in the W124 engine bay.



On the W460, lift height will be a problem. We need to make the engine slimmer. Off with intake, exhaust, fan, generator and power steering - besides radiator.



Nice and easy, no need to grind anything off this time around!



Interesting find on engine mounts. They look to be in a pretty good condition, but I was surprised that they weren't in level? Is this standard equipment? I read of an aussie who had reused these mounts when putting the OM606 in.



That's it this time around! I'm going to be off for vacation for a while, we'll have to see about the next update!

[superapan]

Next update! Although you guys don't seem awfully interested, I figure it could be useful to someone else.

Passenger side mount (on left) had been cut by previous owner, making the rod too short for the new engine mounts (see in background). Replaced and welded a new rod.




Now to the exciting stuff. OM606 with a 722.4 is shorter than the old OM617. Plus I needed to convert the 3 pin to 8 pin. Solution! If anyone is interested, I have the CAD file.




Slowly back in place...


Major milestone. Engine in place and screwed tight. Remaining stuff is basically shifter, cooling, fuel and electrical (which is only starter, generator and glow plugs).


Next step, removing shifter from W124 donor.


Yuck. Mice nest under the shifter.


Reasonable find in an old G-wagen. 7.62 mm.


Seen Project Binky on Youtube. Cardboard mockups. This will be the adapter plate for the shifter.


To be continued...if anyone cares :p.

[tyl604]

Great pics; keep it up. Very interesting.

[chasinthesun]

Ill spend sometime each week studing your project from time to time .I have a mechanic friend who likes to talk of his previous vehicle accomplishments just like yours ,he also comes from Sweden or their abouts and has an interest in 4x4 type of vehicles ,nice barn by the way.The pic of the round in the shifter area maybe a good send off for the old 617 motor.

[alenehan]

Cool project. Keep up the pics!

[Desert Panther]

Enjoy seeing all the pics of the process as well. What's the story on that STT intercooler? I'm not familiar with that at all. Is it a Europe only thing, or???

[benzguy300]

Very interesting project did you finish it ?

[superapan]

Originally Posted by Desert Panther

Enjoy seeing all the pics of the process as well. What's the story on that STT intercooler? I'm not familiar with that at all. Is it a Europe only thing, or???

It's a Swedish company, STT Emtec. They provided turbo kits for these engines til a couple of years ago. They sometimes show up on Ebay, for instance this German ad.

Originally Posted by benzguy300

Very interesting project did you finish it ?

It's been left alone during the winter. I'm a bit stuck converting the OM617 stiff axis throttle linkage to the wire on the OM606. Hopefully spring sparks some new ideas...