mercedes diesel?

[anderpig]

anyone try running a mercedes turbo diesel and OD trans, size seems right but power wise?

[Tomahawk715]

You talking the 5 cyl?? Not put a tape to one but it seems a bit long if memory serves. Heck of a motor though-they call them the million mile motor in Europe.

[gun512]

yeah merc makes some good diesel's. They are the prefered motor for bio-diesel or completing a grease car conversion.

[randyscycle]

Actually they aren't that long. Probably no longer than the 230 I'd suspect.

True they are a "million mile motor" I personally have seen two of them with over 600,000 miles on them and still going.

The transmissions on some of them were problematic with the autos, and I don't believe they put a manual behind the 5 cylinder. They did do manuals in the 4 cylinder models, but even so, the 4 cylinder would barely pull the car it was in. Very weak. The 5 cylinder was like night and day, even with the N/A version.

[Binford]

Think they'd be a good candidate for a swap into an M715? (Or even a CJ!) Probably an odd adapter needed, eh?

[brute4c]

I drove one in Europe for close to 20 days that had a 5 speed....went up to about 75 MPH equivalent speed before it was just sloooooooooowly winding out

[Barrman]

Spicer has a early '50 or so Ford truck his dad put one of the 4 cylinders in. It fit with plenty of room. He said it didn't really have much umph when driven though if I remember right. Tacoma probably knows more.

[anderpig]

Just thinking out loud but should be smaller than a cummings 6 and alot are out there, turbo might not be to bad on power, then sneak it past the wife, could be harder than a install, just kidding she lets me get away with alot, and if i could get better MPG thats a good thing

[poolmike]

I have never seen info stating the manual trans/flywheel from a merc 4 cyl. will work with the 5 cyl. If the flywheel works, an adapter could be made to use a GM trans....hmmmm

The new 2.7 diesel has some power, and they come with a manual in Europe. It is something I've been thinking about for a while...

[randyscycle]

The newer Mercedes Diesels weren't the old ones. I think the 5 cylinder's stopped around 1985 or so, and the 4 and 6 cylinder replacements were more fragile and less long-lived. The also used bucket and shim valve adjustments, and when the timing chain failed (and they did so regularly) they would self destruct the cylinder head and camshaft.

Finding one of the good ones may prove a challenge, since there are so many still running even now. A dead one will cost a small fortune to rebuild. Back in the late 80's I remember that pistons were somewhere around $90 each, and other parts were pretty pricey too. Injection pumps were very expensive when they would wear out, since no one was remanning them then. That may have changed though.