Cool project car on Fleabay.
 

That's a great one...its good to know you can easily drop a 617 into that chassis. It's too bad the rest of the car isn't super clean, but it would be an excellent daily driver for sure and it would be nice to get 25 MPG out of that chassis.

I'm not a big fan of these hacks (although this one appears to be a decent job). I wouldn't pay much for an engine with an unknown history in a beat up body. He will probably get a few $1000 from someone.

I like it enough that I looked on ebay for a SEC body.I know the history of my motor...:D

Hmmm.... If only I could get my 300CD outta here...

That's pretty cool, looks to be a decent swap. It'll probably go for too much, like someone already said for a motor with unknown history, but for the right price I'd definitely like something like it. Good to know that the transformation isn't too difficult for when I'm flush with cash and time :)

300CD is pretty, I saw one today for the first time and was quite impressed.

its nice but i like a W123C better

If only that thing had a manual tranny...

How was the tach driven on the OM617? Would the replacement tach/clock included in the auction even work with the diesel?

I even know what to call it:

"FRANKENDIESEL"!!!

He doesn't mention changing out the differential. I would think that would have some pretty tall gears for a 617 to turn. It may do 80 without vibrations, but how long did it take to get there? My guess is a 240D auto would blow its doors off......Great fuel milage though

Anyone have the rear axle ratio chart for the SECs? ForcedInduction?

diff ratios: http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showpost.php?p=1624782&postcount=2

That looks like a good install, I know one person (not me!) who is intereted except the car is on the other side of the Rockies

stock gears 2.47:1
I'd be happy with it if the engine is strong. I love the 2.88 in the 123's and a 126 has a little less wind drag but more weight so maybe it would feel a little slow off line but it would come into its own at over 85 MPH :):)

Hasn't Icefire done a couple of these swaps?

I would guess he started with a 300sd as a doner. If so he would have a rear differential and gauge cluster that would be right for the conversion. It looks well done to me. I would at least look if I were closer.

He stated it has the stock rear which would be 247. I imagine it is fine to drive not nearly as slow as a 240 and will probably get 30 highway if the engine is decent.

I wouldn't mind having it or one like it.

Tom W

why would you do this... the gasoline version is so much better...

better at what?

In my opinion he made something the factory should have made.

I'm sure the V8 runs very well with a broken timing chain. ;)

This discussion came up before on Mercedesshop
 

Poster #1: "A Diesel in a 500SEC coupe? Who would want to do a thing like that? "

Poster #2: "That would be like cutting its balls off"

Poster #3: "Yeah, I know. My wife did that to me"


:D:D

I'm sure you're correct. This guy had a beat-up SEC with a bad engine (worthless) and a 617 donor engine with unknown history (almost worthless), so he stuck them together in hopes of picking up a few $1000 on fleebay with his unique car. Someone will probably buy this thing and just drive it as-is. :confused:

It's called entrepenurial profit...the money he makes by taking things which by themselves have limited worth and combining them using his time, talent and risk of capital is rewarded by the market. Happens every day with every product you buy :D

Yup, as long as I don't have to drive it. Someone will probably be happy with the result, and this guy will make a few bucks.

It will be interesting what it sells for.

Tom W

You guys are beating it up a little hard, but I like it. Well, not the color. But I like the idea, and the fact that it can be done. And yes, I would burn WVO in it. But then again, I have never been a numbers matching person.

You know, just thinking out loud again:eek:. How many choices are there for a two door coupe diesel? He may have just increased it by 200%.

200%, were there originally 0.5 choices of diesel coupes?

I doesn't matter, he's already trashed it.

Peruvian diesels
 

Just look at Cuba, and places like that, and you see it all the time.

I've seen some really amazing stuff cobbled together down in Peru

I hired a cab to see the Nazca lines starting from Lima, and went in a 1966 Oldsmobile F85 that was powered by a Nissan diesel engine. It ran fine, and the body was in great shape.

They had cars called petroleros, which were gasoline engines that were modified to run on a mixture of cheap gasoline and kerosine.

I especially recall one that was a 1957 Chevy 210 sedan that was a Petrolero and it emitted a huge, black,oily, gaseous cloud of black smoke as it trundled down the road towards the beach. It looked like a motorized bonfire going down the road, but it ran.

That place had to be seen to be believed. Lima is the most polluted city I ever have been in.:grim::D

I'm sure it will run, I would just rather see it parted out than hacked up like that.

I'd look at it if I weren't in San Diego for the next week.. That thing is probably 20 miles from the house.. :(

Craig, I don't see it as being "hacked up". No fenderwells cut, or other things butchered to put the diesel power in it. Obviously a difference of opinion as to what is considered "hacked".

Obviously.

Its not like someone put a sbc 350 in a pagoda or 600.
There is no shame in customizing a common car like a 123 or 126.

That place had to be seen to be believed. Lima is the most polluted city I ever have been in.:grim::D[/QUOTE]

Sounds like a trip I took to Santo Damingo years ago. So many old cars running......but how? NOS parts stores?:D:D

I agree that it isn't such a bad thing. It is a bolt in conversion. The coupes are mildly collectible some day maybe. It is a thing that I would do if the circumstances were right. I bet it will get thirty mpg highway if driven seventy five or under.

With the v eight they will do about ninteen at best, running sixty five.

Tom W

Bid is over $2K. Looks like his time may have paid off.
Reserve not met. :eek:

I'm waiting for the right SL body for my extra 300 turbo drivetrain. I can't wait to have the top off and smell the french frys.

My only complaint about it is that he didn't start with a nicer donor car. Had it been a really nice midnight blue or black body with a nice leather interior in either palamino or black and I would be a serious shopper for it. I have no argument with fitting a diesel into one of these sleek coupes...I think it really shows some ingenuity. The fact that M-B didn't feel there was sufficient demand in the market for them at the time is the only thing that stopped them from making the same thing and selling it themselves.

For one, I'm glad the car that he destroyed was a beater. If had been a nice car, he would have installed the correct engine.

If I find a nice body for it I'll do it right away. they look awesome. the swap seems rather simple. no need to hack into the wiring harness even. kinda like my 617 into 450SEL-swap...
once you have issues inside the doors of an sec, you are ****ed though. that's like a labyrinth inthere.
those cars in europe are for pimps only on the other hand:D

Keeping them going (Peru)
 

Sounds like a trip I took to Santo Damingo years ago. So many old cars running......but how? NOS parts stores?:D:D[/QUOTE]

Actually, improvisation. Ingeniuty. Kicks in when money is low but talent is high.

In Peru, sometimes, if you know where to look, you will find used auto parts flea markets, with parts spread out on blankets by the side of the road. Parts are mismatched and fabricated from scratch, and ANYTHING that works will be used.

Want a paint job on your 1978 Dodge Monaco that was an old taxi back in the USA?

House paint is fine for a job like that. The paint looks like it was applied with a broom, broadside on, afterwards.

The cars, trucks and buses are run into the ground and ridiculously overworked and overloaded. Their tires are bald as eggs

Used cars trucks and buses that failed the strict safety and emissions tests in Japan are bought absurdly cheap, shipped by the boatload to Peru, cleaned up and converted to LHD and immediately sold andput into service without further ado.

Some of the buses around Lima still have the commmercial Japanese characters painted all over the outside of them, it is funny and jarring to see.

To a lesser extent, cars, trucks and school buses and salvage title junkers are exported from Miami to Peru.

It is pretty funny to see a Dodge Maxivan in a Peruvian town being used as a bus with the words "Shuttle to Airport" still written on the back, in English, where English is not spoken at all.

Old VW beetles from Brazil, gray market Mercedes W126 280SE sedans, 1956 Ford Station wagons with 9 mattresses on their roof, Romanian Aro Hunter 4x4 jeeps, Lada Niva cars, 1966 Chevy Bel Air sedans, Peruvian assembed CKD Dodge Coronets from the 1960s-1970s, Daewoo Ticos from Korea, it is all there to marvel at in Peru

Remember that car probably sold for about 57K when new in 84. Benz did not ever market high end cars with diesel engines.

I wouldn't mind one with a 617 turbo and a stick.

Tom W

Ditto.

I think this is great what this guy did. Did he do it to make money on e-bag. who knows? He has a shop and a lot of parts laying around and maybe thought maybe this might work, besides he said he is a MB mechanic with years of experience.
There are people with dreams that get shot down by the negative remarks of less motivated people. they stick out their necks to get criticized.

Good thing the Wright bros, didn`t listen when they hacked up a bunch of parts and flew at Kitty Hawk.

I thought about this kind of a project for a while, one of these days.
the 617 engine is a good engine, simple w/o all the complicated dodads of the new junk being forced on us. they get good mpg over the gas hogs. and nothing like the smell of a smoke belching Diesel, and the PURRR as I go cruising down the highway:D.

If this SECD wasn`t on the other side of the world, HMMM:rolleyes:.

Charlie

Wouldn't it be a 300SDC?

You are right, details, details:o.

Charlie

Road Trip!!;)

300SDC TURBODIESEL would be correct for badging purposes.