Finally FORCING myself (despite being completely broke at the moment, but as in all life, you have the most time when you have the least money....) to finish my 300D Turbo motor rebuild so I can have a running MB again (OK, I have the 220D that runs like a top and handles like a race car, but the alarming rate at which it is losing rusty pieces of body parts causes other drivers such a fright that I'm afraid someone's going to run off the road...)

The rebuild is for the motor from the 300D I did the four speed conversion on years ago (link on this forum some damn where??)

So far; machine crank for proper pilot bearing for 4-speed (the machined-cup idea worked for about 8 months at a time before it would spin) - Had to machine the crank myself as trying to find ANYONE to machine the pilot hole out to the proper dia to press the bearing was like pulling teeth - if anyone needs machine work like this, I have a 14x40 engine lathe in the shop now....), press-out cyl liners, install new liners, hone for OLD pistons, deck block ($400.) Send off crank assy (rods, pistons, pins, clips, bearings, flywheel, dampener, pulley, etc.) to race balancer for dynamic balancing ($250)

Build so far:





We pulled a 300D turbo motor from a customers car last summer and put a used 300D into it. I kept the core for possible parts as it had lower mileage than my 300D (hey..., mine only had 339K on it when I pulled it...)

Their story was that it ran out of oil.

It did. When I hoisted it and started to tear it down, the oil pan had been caved-in (his wife hit something she managed to forget to tell her husband about...) and the dipstick tube had punctured the pan, but since it protruded a bit from the hole, it limited the leak to ensure a slow, painful death.

Here's the first thing I found to be an "issue"

Spun rod bears in 1 & 3:









More pics later (1&2 mains were also fried)

PS. Please LMK if this is a waste of bandwidth to post this s**t and I'll take off. Most here have done this before and have little interest, but some of the new people like seeing the horrors of a broken 617....

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1984 300D Turbo - 4-speed manual conversion, mid-level resto

1983 300D - parts car

1979 300TD Auto - Parts car.

1985 300D Auto - Wrecked/Parts.


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"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there". Lewis Carrol

Good stuff. This was the engine you were looking to pull the prechambers?

So, India was a no-go after all?

Interesting pictures, thank you. I think it is safe to say that most of the members here have probably not done this depth of work on their engines.

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1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

Yeah, came down to last day, everything was packed, bills paid-up, mail stopped, etc., and they just couldn't get a money transfer through that they said they started the week before. That was the last straw to a lot of things. Just too much saying "you'll be SORRY!" if I went. The one-way ticket that changed airlines twice and stopped over three times (with long layovers -but not enough to get a room to sleep- all along the way) was a bad sign too.

So...., now I'm trying to get all these projects that have sat for WAY too long done and out of my hair, allowing life to flood a new adventure in (you know how my life goes!)

Working on a deal in Southern India for a biodiesel plant. Will LYK how that goes.

How did the injectors work, BTW?

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1984 300D Turbo - 4-speed manual conversion, mid-level resto

1983 300D - parts car

1979 300TD Auto - Parts car.

1985 300D Auto - Wrecked/Parts.


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"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there". Lewis Carrol

Besides the aforementioned reduced idle torque I'm very happy with them. The idle is noticeably more quiet and smooth, there is a bit more power on the top end, the night haze is reduced and I got a 2-3mpg increase out of it (I'm up to 27.3mpg). I bet that if I could get both pop stages set right it would be even better.

I've got a dyno session scheduled for today at 1pm. No water injection this time but I'm hoping the more efficient turbo, intercooler, W115 intake and modified injectors will give me the additional efficiency/power needed to brake the 100hp mark again without altering the IP's internal settings. I'm going to look for a $500 beater/backup car in the next few weeks so I can really start tweaking the power settings without the fear of losing my only car.

Dyno results

Tom:

Not a waste at all. If nothing else I'm able to see how beefy the bottom end is on the 617. Impressive. Total loss of oil is probably the only thing that can kill one.

Great work.

Bert

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'81 300CD - 180K, cannot be killed by any conventional means
'99 Ford Escort - good MPG