Well as long as I'm gonna burn--I need to threw my two cents in about that STUPID front sump oil pan.....who never planned THAT to fit a .....chevy pu, jeep, landcruiser, etc.........and the oil filter placement... if you can change your oil with out jackin your vacuum lines you're lucky.... and the 123 center vent system -never heard of any that worked--and.......

well, I think I got the vacuum thing sorted out. I went for a test drive today for about half an hour. woo hoo! this thing is awesome! a little slow though but I still have a lot of tweaking to do before this thing is really road ready. The "park" position of the transmission doesn't seem to have a detent to hold it in place, and I haven't replaced my e-brake cable yet, so the only way I have to keeping the vehicle in one place is wheel chocks

second order of business will be getting a muffler put on this thing. It isn't that loud while idling, but it revs up pretty high for that 1 to 2 shift
and it gets LOUD!

I think it is shifting correctly, as the shifts seem pretty smooth, and everything above 2nd gear appears to happen normally. however, the 1-2 shift seems high to me. The tranny may have been doing this while it was in the 300SD, but perhaps I never noticed it as I had a proper exhaust system.

its pretty neat to look down through the hole in the floor and watch the output shaft of the tranny spinning like crazy. I think I might have a plexiglass window put in my "tranny hump" before I put it back on.

sweet.

we want a video

__________________

I love seeing how others tackle the same issues I came across while repowering my 88 Jeep Comanche. So many of these issues I could address for you, IF I could remember exactly what I did and what I used. My donor car was a 78 300sd.

If you would, give me a rundown of what your current problem points are. I found fixes and work-arounds for most of what you have tackled already on your own, but maybe some collaboration will help iron stuff out. Even though my project died in Katrina, I still have it and can take pictures of what I've got and refresh my own memory of my work arounds. I really need to get off my butt and get it back on the road, it really was a pleasure to drive.

Subscribed

You are the guy who's jeep pickup got totaled in the hurracain ,arent you?
I saw posts of you in other forums while searching for benz swap info when I first started messing with benzes. i wish these engines were more swap friendly.

Yup, that's me. Still got the MJ, will get around to messing with it sooner or later. Once I do, I'll properly document stuff and have a thread for it.

I'm so happy to see so many other folks using these motors! I didn't have all this information to pull from when I did mine, I had to make everything up as I went. I had to pull so many of my ideas out of my BUTT! But, when you have a bullet-proof motor as a starting point, it makes everything else so much easier..

Yea, I had a tan 86 longbed commanche,amc 151/4 speed, I drove it back and forth to california 3,4 times--the last time i was sittin in a shakies pizza parlor in Ontario,Ca-came out -it was Gone. I loved that little jeep, It REALLY needed a 5th gear though-Bad! Lately i have been thinking of a j10 with a 4bt cummins in it.

Ignition key powered shutoff:
I used one of the mercedes electric vacuum solenoids from the donor car. Probably a a/c control of some sort, I honestly don't remember. I found a source from the fuse block that was always on in both the start and accessory position, and off in the off position. This part is important to remember because most accessory ports are off in the start position. Also important is to remember to poke a very small hole in the vacuum line between the valve and the IP, to leak off the vacuum in the line, or else it holds the vacuum and you can't restart!

Oil pressure sender:
Using an off-the-shelf manual oil pressure guage and the provided threaded fittings, I used the mb pieces at the base of the filter housing, and silver soldered a 1/8 copper line to the barbed end of the fitting, grinding it down to fit through the hole in the threaded cap. Then I used the brass fitting that came with the oil pressure guage, sliding the threaded end over the protruding 1/8 copper line and soldered that together. It was ugly but did what it was supposed to do. I never did try to play with a MB electric sender, but it if you find a ground-operated guage that will read properly with the resistance of the electric sender, or figure out how to modulate it, it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Shifter:
Don't laugh, but for the first few months, I used a simple flat head screw driver that I hammered through the tranny tunnel, welded a flat washer to the tip, and used the MB shift linkage rod and grommets. It worked in reverse order, but the detent was strong enough that all you had to do was count the notches. Once I decided that was just one step below "deliverance"(insert dueling banjos here), I eventually mounted the MB Z-gate shifter on the tunnel, and it worked perfectly. I never got around to installing the electric kick-down (WOT) button, but intended to use a VW WOT switch on the linkage on the motor.

Engine RPM vs. rear gear ratio vs. tire size:
I got lucky and the core of the mb speedo cable was the same shape and size as that of the jeep, and the cable reached from the tranny to the cluster. The threaded cap was different, of course, but I solved that by splitting a 1/2 copper tube and used it as a coupler, with hose clamps to secure it to the cable housing and the speedo input. With a 4:10 rear end, I found that a 31" tire got me within 10% accurate on the speedo. With that combo, my guess is that the final drive was close to that of the Mercedes with the 185/70-14 tires and 3:06(-ish?) rear. It maintained 80-85mph on the highway comfortably and take-off from stop was more than acceptable. I think I averaged between 25-27mpg on the highway.

Side notes:
I went out of my way to re-use as many factory MB items as possible. Simple philosophy, actually, that when something breaks, I either want to be able to pull it from another parts car, or buy it at any auto parts store. Nothing worse than having to re-make from scratch a one-off piece. Stuff like that only breaks away from home! Of the few pieces that I did manufacture myself, I made more than one for spares while the info was still fresh in my mind, and had a good one as a template.

junkie -- that's awesome info! interesting to hear about your oil pressure sending line solution -- I was thinking in that direction myself before I ordered an adapter. I'll have to see how the adapter works out.

If sharing info helps you, you are liable to see or learn something I overlooked and will in turn help me! The more times the conversion is done and into the more platforms, the more that will be learned.

Here is a M12 x 6mm tubing compression fitting. I've actually taken this brand of stainless fittings and cut them and welded (with SS wire in my mig) them together to make my own.
http://www.swagelok.com/search/product_detail.aspx?part=SS-6M0-1-M12X1.0RS

__________________
Currently driving a very clean 1985 300SD from the West Coast.

Nothing worse than having to re-make from scratch a one-off piece. Stuff like that only breaks away from home! Of the few pieces that I did manufacture myself, I made more than one for spares while the info was still fresh in my mind, and had a good one as a template.[/quote]

there is one thing worse--having to go buy new stuff from a mercedes dealership!

You know, you'd be surprised sometimes, even I'm regularly impressed that some parts are cheaper at the stealership than they are from the generic auto parts stores. Of course that doesn't include weird stuff, some stuff is still so outrageously ridiculous.

It appears that the latter half of the original exhaust system on the 300SD is a different composition that the front half. The back half isn't rusted while the front half is, and they behave differently when being cut by an acetylene torch.

Is the back half of the exhaust on these cars stainless?