I bought a 1979 240D nearly one year ago. It was my first own diesel Mercedes - my dad had a 1992 300D and currently daily drives a 1997 E300D, so I've been around them for a while.

The 240D was my trusty daily driver until September, when something happened with the original OM616. I think the timing chain skipped, but I have not torn into it too far yet.

I started trolling Craigslist and found someone giving away an OM617a and 722.315 for free (engine had a melted piston), so I decided to start documenting my rebuild of this engine.

So far, I've got the engine down to a shortblock. I have new cylinder liners, new piston, wrist pin bushings, rebuilt the turbo, lift pump, and definitely some other things I'm forgetting.

I will post pictures later tonight.

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Milan Brown 1979 240D, rebuilt OM617.952 turbo diesel, rebuilt 722.315 transmission (my only daily driver)

Instagram: @maximed93

Sounds good to me ~

I'm waiting for the pictures, you should be taking them during the initial teardown .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Interesting...please post pics!

Will you leave the 240D differential? Automatic or manual?

Good luck!!!

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"Rudeness is a weak man's imitation of strength" - Eric Hoffer

So, here are the promised photos.

Picked up the engine and trans from craigslist. The guy told me it would just be the long block, turbo, and transmission, but when I got there he threw in all the accessories as well. Pretty good score, cost me nothing but gas and time.









Got it back to my garage and started tear down. Doesn't look great, piston is completely melted.





Melted aluminium from the piston stuck to the prechamber. I was able to knock the big pieces off, and drill out the aluminium that was stuck in the prechamber holes. I don't have pics of that at the moment.




Got it all set up on the engine stand. Then stripped it down.







Took the head and block to have them hot tanked. I couldn't stand working on such a oily, greasy, dirty mess.



I can't seem to find a lot of my other progress photos. I did start to polish out the valve cover - I always wanted to do this on my OM616 but never had the time to set it aside and polish it out properly, as it was my daily driver.





Pulling the turbo apart for the rebuild



Painted my motor mount arms and intake manifold "cast aluminium silver". Motor mount arms were covered in some kind of hardened epoxy with a bunch of sand and grit stuck in it. Had to sandblast it off.



The 240D as she sits now...in the parking lot at work, awaiting a new engine and transmission.



I am going with an automatic transmission for this swap - I would like to have a stick shift, but seeing what kind of money people want for the manual transmissions made me reconsider. My 240D has an auto in it as well, so using that transmission was out of the question. Going with a 300D rear end as well, as the 240D rear end is geared too low if I am not mistaken.

I will update with teardown pics of the OM616 - I have the prechambers out and 2 of them had a lot of brown residue on them. One was soaked in oil. One looked fine, just the normal carbon buildup.

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Milan Brown 1979 240D, rebuilt OM617.952 turbo diesel, rebuilt 722.315 transmission (my only daily driver)

Instagram: @maximed93

On the highway the 240D diff would rev hard and redline around 80-85 MPH but it would get you there in a hurry

If driving mostly around town the 240D diff would give nice acceleration at the cost of some fuel economy. The 85' 300D's had a good all around gear ratio, I don't recall the exact # though. If you can pick I'd try to find an 85.

Good luck!!!

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"Rudeness is a weak man's imitation of strength" - Eric Hoffer

1985 CA 300Ds had a 2.88 rear end, most other years had a 3.07 (I just looked it up).

I have a lead on a 3.07 for $125. They are also plentiful at junkyards out here in the early W126 chassis.

Not sure what I'll do yet. Maybe I'll keep the 240D rear end for a while just to convince some people on diesel power, haha.

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Milan Brown 1979 240D, rebuilt OM617.952 turbo diesel, rebuilt 722.315 transmission (my only daily driver)

Instagram: @maximed93

Got some more progress , but not much - currently stalled because my daily driver Honda (with the head and block in the trunk in the photos above) was stolen. Had to spend a ton getting it out of impound. Someone's 8 mile drive is going to cost me ~$500 overall.

I did get the valve cover polished out a bit more.





Also got my turbo blanket and modified it to fit.



Started looking into the transmission I have, and figured out I would need to swap tail housings to have my speedometer. Does anyone know if I can swap the tail housing from my 722.117 on to the 722.315? Or do I have to get a 722.303 tail housing?

Max

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Milan Brown 1979 240D, rebuilt OM617.952 turbo diesel, rebuilt 722.315 transmission (my only daily driver)

Instagram: @maximed93

Why a turbocharger insulating blanket ? .

TIA,

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Hey vwnate,

No reason in particular - I found it for cheap on eBay and decided to pick it up. It will keep underhood temperatures lower as well. I've also wrapped the exhaust.

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Milan Brown 1979 240D, rebuilt OM617.952 turbo diesel, rebuilt 722.315 transmission (my only daily driver)

Instagram: @maximed93

Thanx .

When I lived Down East we'd occasionally wrap the entire exhaust, it made them last far longer and reduced underhood temps too, I was just wondering .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Funny you say that - the only other time I've wrapped an exhaust, I did it lower down the exhaust towards the muffler and it rusted out (despite the SoCal climate). I feel relatively safe wrapping the manifold though, if any moisture gets in there it will dry out quickly. I have not heard many people say that wrapping the exhaust exhaust increases longevity though.

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Milan Brown 1979 240D, rebuilt OM617.952 turbo diesel, rebuilt 722.315 transmission (my only daily driver)

Instagram: @maximed93

Small update - I've been busy with life and other projects.

I did get a cheap Harbor Freight welder for Christmas, so o got to work on my rusted out battery tray. It's not pretty, but I'm not super concerned as it will be hidden under the battery anyway.



Also got the cylinder liners out - block will be ready for reassembly by around mid January hopefully.





Engine/trans is ready to pull out, except for the fuel lines and drive shaft bolts.



Also tried on a 19" W240 Maybach wheel, just for giggles (I work next door to a wheel repair shop). I kind of like the look, but most definitely can't afford these. Also would need a 1" spacer to keep from hitting the upper ball joint.



That is really all for this update. Very frustrating not having time to actually get things done with the engine 10 feet away in my garage.

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Milan Brown 1979 240D, rebuilt OM617.952 turbo diesel, rebuilt 722.315 transmission (my only daily driver)

Instagram: @maximed93

Looking good to me .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Finally have another update! My OM617 is at the machine shop now. New liners pressed in and bored to 91mm, having the block decked,but trying to take as little material off as possible. Can't wait to get it back!

Also, got my old engine and trans out. Of course, I planned this out on the first rainy day we had out here in southern California, but it's done.



Now I can weld in my expansion tank brackets and start prepping the engine bay for paint.



Does the car have to be up on jackstands to pull the sway/torsion bar? I want to paint it and install some new bushings.



Engine and trans safely on my garage. My dog wanted to inspect the engine before I get to tear it apart.

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Milan Brown 1979 240D, rebuilt OM617.952 turbo diesel, rebuilt 722.315 transmission (my only daily driver)

Instagram: @maximed93

I'm keen to hear about the sway bar R&R, I've already discoverd replacing the bushings in situ isn't hard but the whole bar out should be interesting to say the least .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better