Just since you mentioned in your orginal post.. That you were not that familiar with MB's.

These engines the cylinder/piston wall clearances on diesels are TIGHT. If the shop bores it like a chevy- you'll have problems with longevity. The key is someone with the right equipment and when you tell them to bore it to 87.50 mm- they can hit that. If they ask for the pistons so they can "hone them to fit" bewary.

Without rings, the piston should take some effort to push through the cylinder..
Maybe you could get a used later model engine cheap? I'm not the 220D expert by any sense of the word. Larrybible has rebuilt several 240d's and can fill you in on the equipement required.

I do seem to remember some engine series had SOFT blocks and were not good rebuild canidates. I was thinking it was early M110 engines...

Michael

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Michael McGuire
83 300d
01 vw A4 TDI
66 Chevy Corsa
68 GMC V6 w/oD
86 300E