Originally Posted by greazzer

Bingo ... the NA drivetrain was my R&D backdrop. If something went horribly wrong, no biggie IMO. So far, so good.

I got my 617a from a 1985 300D. It has ceramic coated pistons, SureSeal rings, a mod'd pump by Goran, mod'd injectors, no Power Steering (manual), manual brakes in the making, vacuum pump delete, 115 long runner intake, 150 AMP altenator, and the list goes on. The goal was the reduction of parasitic drag off the engine and ultra simplicity. I am thinking of getting the engine bay painted before dropping in the "real" engine. The five speed is a Getrag 717.400 just like the one I got now, except is shifts flawlessly.

I don't think one can hook up a turbo to a NA engine without running into the possibilities of problems down the road.

I still plan on finishing the 300D NA engine. I got the mod'd intake, and other goodies to hook up plus I have to drive that around for a while to make sure all of my R&D is without any problems before I switch out the drivetrains. I am thinking Spring or early summer 2014 for the swap. That should be enough time.