And speaking of our exhaust systems...
Does someone here know what size it that pipe? Is it metric? 60 or 70 m.m.?

Awesome project - It's great to see someone putting the best diesel engine ever made into a truck chassis. In my opinion, its too bad Mercedes never made a pickup truck using the 617, or maybe the 603, even better. Though I love my 300D, I think the diesel really cries out for off road/hauling use.

With fuel prices at record highs, I think that Mercedes could take a bite out of the pickup market in the US if it put a Bluetec diesel into a truck. I'm guessing that this hardly fits the brand image, however.

Seems that light truck engines are usually designed for more low-rpm operation, more idling, more internal forces than their car equivalents. I'm not sure the bluetec is the perfect choice, more likely the ??? engine that is in the sprinter.

I would love to put a 603 in a LandRover, feel that it would be a good match and not much less HP, but the additional weight is one detractor, with all of the complexity of mating it to a ZF transmission, ... if I had the resources.

I suggest a turbo muffler. It will growl but not wear you out on the highway.

Tom W

I second this comment 100%.

I'm in 100% the same situation.

I'd say go for it. :D

Awesome, a fellow straight pipe runner! :D

Its barely noticeable inside the car. My dad's SD has stock exhaust and sure its quieter, but my car sounds better. :D I'd say cabin noise goes up maybe 10% over stock at the absolute most. Probably less. Outside noise while accelerating behind the car is probably 60% louder than stock, which is almost no noise at all. On the freeway you can't tell much difference at all. The engine is already loud. :D Especially when cruising at 80mph (like I usually do).

Thanks for all the comments. I'll probably take a shot without it and see what happens. I'll run the pipe in a way that I can add a muffler if I need to.

I have a 616 in my short Land Rover and it's been perfect. It's a little lacking in the highway department but it does everything else very well and returns 25mpg all day long. Even better off-road. This truck is a long wheel base and with 125hp and the gearing I've chosen, I hope it'll cruise at 70 all day and still have good off-road manners. Guess we'll see in six months or so....

jim