Finally Completed My Engine Rebuild For My 300SD

[rrgrassi]

[QUOTE=barry123400;2403878]

Originally Posted by MBZ123

x3 on the final $ tally

This may bring up the old expression of if you have to ask the price. You really do not want to do it. It can be less painful to the mind if you do not keep track as you go along as well. Just a few hundred here and there is all you will remember.

The block was well seasoned before the rebuid so hopefully with regular oil changes the engine will now go past 300k more.

I want to know purely for the cost of removing and pressing in new sleeves. Was it cost effective to DIY or would one be bettereserved buyinga Metric Motors rebuild...

[engatwork]

Have ya'll priced pistons lately?

[Scruffyguy1981]

Hey guys- I apologize for not getting back sooner. I had a paper to write and a test this morning. I wasn't expecting so many comments! First, thanks to all. I'll try to address as many questions as I can in this reply, but if I forget someone just let me know.

1. Total Price

Now that's an interesting question. For me the totals (including the machine shop bill for the liners) is around $2100.00. Keep in mind I also replaced all of the cooling system hoses, fuel hoses, expansion tank, motor mounts, flex discs, carrier bearing and support. I figured why leave aging subsystems when I'm putting all of this time and money into the engine. If I had the means to press out and in the liners as well as align hone them, and access to the tools to knock out the valve guides, press new ones in and ream them it would have been around 500.00 cheaper. The shop did excellent work, and resurfaced my block deck as well (the liners need to be shaved evenas they will protrude slightly) Yes that is a lot of money, however the end result- I will have reliable transportation for many years and no car payment to worry about. I'm into the car roughly 2700.00. That equates to a car payment of 45.00 a month for five years.

2. I have already fired the engine up. I did so before I installed the transmission just to be certain that timing was right and that there'd be no surprises once it was in the car. I only ran it for roughly a minute as the cooling system was not installed. Everything sounds great!

3. The valve cover--- I spent a lot of time deciding what to do with that. Originally I was going to polish the aluminum to a chrome appearance, but decided that would be far more labor than I have time for and I also wanted the engine to look a little more modern. The answer? I threw the valve cover (largely degreased already) into the dishwasher with some simple green. I then bead blasted the cover. It was then painted with flat black paint and a paint I picked up at ace hardware called anodized bronze. The cover actually has some what of a metallic fleck appearance that the camera couldn't pic up. Using an exacto knife I very carefully scraped the paint away from the star to leave it polished aluminum.

4. The hoses on the fuel system in the picture were just what I used to fire it up from a gas can of fresh diesel. I have a new cigar hose on the car.

5. I agree the transmission looks dirty in the pictures, but it is actually quiet clean. It was washed down in a parts washer. The aluminum is stained and being as ocd as I am I would love to polish it, but time doesn't permit. The car was moved from it's original location of disassembly to a friends house. Unfortunately his neighbors were less than amused to have it in his driveway and reported him to the county. Now I have to have it back together and out of there before the middle of this month unless I want to have it towed by the state. People are funny. It's not hurting anything, there's no parts anywhere, its just parked in his driveway.

6. I had no idea there was a new fan! I would prefer a lighter plastic over that heavy metal one. I'll look into that in the future.

7. The vacuum pump is not new. Fortunately (or unfortunately as the case may be) the defective oil cooler lines coated everything in a nice protective layer of oil. I simply cleaned it, used some aluminum polish and a scotch bright pad on it. There was no oil in the line coming from the pump so I have no reason to believe it to be bad.

8. The EGR--I'm unsure of Utah law on diesel emissions. It is there simply for visual check, nothing more. The vacuum line will be plugged internally.

9. This is a donor block-- those who remember from the beginning know that the #5 connecting rod decided to visit the outside world (the reason I bought the car for so cheap). Keep an eye on your oil cooler hoses! If the P/O had replaced them there never would have been a problem. The original and now deceased engine only had 174k on it.

10. I thought of keeping the accessories off, but decided not to. For one it is much easier to install them with the engine out of the car. The engine was pulled from the car with them all on, and the combined weight of the accessories is negligible. The engine was pulled using a spreader bar and chains, however I opted for straps for its return in order to avoid damaging the valve cover and second firewall. The straps are more than adequate (if you look you can see them wrapped for redundancy). The MB manual also states to use nylon so I figure if it works for them then why not. Since I don't have access to the overhead shop crane like I did to take the engine out it will be interesting putting it back it, but still doable.

11. Cost of pressing in the sleeves. The labor was around 500.00. I also had the shop do my valve guides and regrind the seats though, so it would be somewhat less than this. The liners were around 40.00 each x 5. I would have skipped this, but the liners on the donor engine were right at the wear limit. Considering the cost of new pistons (almost 300 each) it was much cheaper to have the liners replaced.

I hope I answered everyones questions......it's hard to keep track.

Thanks again for the feedback!

This engine was an interesting challenge just because of the was MB does things. I'm used to working on bigger diesels-- in the 8-20 Liter range. Overall though it was just another engine.

Nick

[engatwork]

You didn't need to replace the pistons? The price I threw out included new pistons and liners.

[Scruffyguy1981]

Originally Posted by engatwork

You didn't need to replace the pistons? The price I threw out included new pistons and liners.

Pistons were in spec and showed virtually no wear. I'm very fortunate---that would have been an unwelcome 1500.00 addition )

[barry123400]

[QUOTE=rrgrassi;2404183][QUOTE=barry123400;2403878]

It was just an attempt at humour. I am always interested in the cost of an event like this as well. I think he did pretty well.

[snookwhaler]

What caught my eye was that shiny paint on the head!!

[Scruffyguy1981]

Originally Posted by snookwhaler

What caught my eye was that shiny paint on the head!!

Its all over the block too . Not going to let it turn into a slobbering greasy whore like the old engine.

[NoSparkNeeded]

I've "ground up" restored 6 vehicles in my life, doing EVERYTHING except the machine work, so I know what an accomplishment you have. Congrats, it really looks good. Money well spent. I understand about the monthly "car payment", a lot of folks don't. Adding what you have learned in the process, you have the best possible value that you could have made for yourself. It always amazes me that people at work will buy a brand new piece of junk, and think that is the best value, only to throw it away 5 years later and buy a new one. If you do your own work, and in some respects even if you don't, it's always better to keep a proven valueable, reliable, automotive "platform" going, rather than ever buying new. I'd NEVER buy a new car. That is what is cool about these cars. We have all the data needed to determine that they are worthy cars to keep going.I kept my daughter's Toyota 22R motor going until the body rusted off at 300K. The per mile cost was very low over time. There are several vehicles other than ours that are worthy of rebuilds, but I read somewhere that the OM617 is the most reliable automotive powerplant ever built.

[Scruffyguy1981]

Just an update. Spent the day degreasing my engine bay, replacing those PITA monovalve hoses and have the engine resting in place on its mounts. With any luck everything will be hooked back up and ready to go by tomorrow afternoon.

[Aquaticedge]

Very cool, Post some pics of the final install!

[Scruffyguy1981]

Ok, it's been awhile. Since February whn I posted the rebuild pics I have logged a number of miles (notebook is down in the car, will have to get the total later) around town, taken a trip to Hoover Dam, Palm Springs, Seattle, and Twin Falls, ID. A new diff from a euro 500se was put in. 2.24 lsd. The old diff had a serious problem causing a severe thunk and play (pics to follow). Anyway that was a little catchup on my project so far, but the reason for this post is to share the completed install pics :-). I need to order a new breather hose since the one one there recently disintigrated. Now onto suspension and cosmetics! Thanks for everyone's help and support! Sadly this post has taken an hour since I had to do it all from my phone :-/

[Skid Row Joe]

Just gorgeous!

You did replace the water pump while the engine was out, right?

[79Mercy]

Congrats!! Looks like you did a very good job. If you can post a video of it running, we'd love to hear the sound of a fresh 617.

[woodrat]

wow!

that's all, just "wow!"..