I had a MB mechanic tell me a while back to do this if i ever had the parts. Has anyone done it? I ripped the stuff out of my 300d parts car. Looks pretty easy minus the overflow tank. The 240d fenderwell doesnt have the sheetmetal supports for the tank. If anyone has done this let me know how you did it. I supposed i can cut the welds off on the 300d and weld them to the 240d but it seems like quite a bit of work. I'm going to try bang this job out this weekend if possible. Also, do the tranny line holes need to be plugged in the radiator, or can they be left open? One more question, is the pully/clutch fan a direct replacement for the 240d pully and fan? I would like to use that too if possible. Thanks in advance.

__________________

Drill thru the spot welds on the overflow tank bracket then bolt it or pop rivet it onto the 240. Yes, you can leave the trans cooler fittings open. Fan clutch and fan? dunno, 5 cyl 300d is longer than a 4 cyl 240, so might not be deep enough to go into the fan shroud. The fan must be the same distance from the face of the radiator to be effective. Ideally the fan blade should be half way within the shroud looking at it from the side.

__________________
81 300CD (sold) 1972 280 SEL 4.5 (sold) 1966 250 S 4 spd (sold) 1974 450 SL (sold) 86 BMW 325ES (sold), 1973 280C (sold) 1988 300 SE.

I built up my own coolant expansion tank mounts using some aluminum stock I scrounged up. This was however in a '79 300TD with a turbo engine transplanted into it.
carnut has a point about the distance from the fan to the raditaor, its important and the fan shroud needs to fit properly also or your not goinog to have the proper air flow necessary to cool the radiator.

An alternative is finding a shop that will custom build or recore an existing radiator to three row pipes. That will run so cool a 240D would hardly even get hot on the hottest day while climbing a 6% grade with 600 lbs of cement in the trunk.
BTW, I carried 1200 lbs of ceramic tile in my 300TD and my engine will NOT overheat with the above described three row radiator, the shop that made it up for me (Sun Valley Radiator) no longer does that for some reason, maybe it was too much work or they lost money on me and another Shopforum member that told me about them Oh, yeah I did have a real ordeal stopping the car with all that time in it!
DDh

__________________
'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

but I wonder if a 240D would even be able to climb a 6% grade with 600 lbs of anything in it?

__________________
'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

The fan should work. from my experience with converting to a 617 in a 240, I realized that MB made the engines identical, only with one more rearward cylinder added (why the 240 has a huge gap from the firewall), otherwise everything is drilled, mounted, and built to fit up exactly the same on the middle & front end of the engine. I in fact have the original metal clutch fan for this engine in my 80 240 working beautifully, with the original 240 radiator.

__________________
Chris
64 190D R.I.P.
80 240D W/617 engine -for sale
82 240D -for sale

Why would you want to do it? If you are having overheating problems you should fix the cause.

I'd use a non-turbo 300D radiator. Its bigger but it doesn't need an expansion tank.

What if the radiator is the cause? Didn't think of that one, did you? Turns out radiator has a tiny leak, so this will be my next step. It would be stupid to spend any money on my 240d radiator when i can do this and be better off. I already have the setup out of the 300dt and the radiator isn't more than a couple of years old.

__________________

The tank mounts are welded all the way across, no spot welds here! Still won't be a problem, i'll just get them off of there with a cutoff wheel!

__________________

No need for the attitude bud.

Since you already have the parts, good for you. Its overkill but it won't hurt anything either.

This is a drop in replacement. Identical radiator except that it is wider. The 240D has a blocker plate next to the radiator (opposite the oil cooler) that you remove.

I did this on my 240D when the original radiator went tango uniform. I had an 81 300D parts car and everything was plug 'n' play.

Jim

__________________
14 E250 BlueTEC black. 45k miles
95 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 66k miles
94 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 152k miles
85 300TD 4 spd man, euro bumpers and lights, 15" Pentas dark blue 274k miles

I took a radiator, clutch fan and oil cooler fron a '79 300d and put them in my 240d. It works well. I can run the A/C on the hottest days and the temp stays at 180deg. The fan sure made the car alot quieter and I'm sure it takes less hp to run it.

__________________
My Truck.. 2007 DODGE, 5.9 Cummins, 6spd stick, 4X4. My car..1977 240D, OTHER WHEELS...1955 VW Oval window bug, European Delivery (Holland) with a 1700cc, 2 barrel, Porsche drum brakes. 1939 WILLYS Pick-up. 1967 Triumph 200cc Tiger Cub. 1976 Honda 550F 4cyl Motor Cycle.

The pulley sure looks different. I guess i'll have to get them side by side to compare them. Anyone have any idea how much more coolant the turbo radiator holds over the 240 radiator?

__________________