Big Red G a 1984 300GD Auto with an non turbo leaking engine needed a new power plant. I found a 1984 300D with a little front smash and took the engine out. Turbo. Now it fit just fine but there are some items that have come up where I need some help from member's past experiences. #1- oil presure gauge is electric sensor where 300D's are mechanical, Any idea on adapting. #2-vaccum system for the transmission is routed abit differently. #3-exhust pipes (they look like you have room on the lift but not on the ground) does anyone out there make the exhust down pipe. Those are the biggest head scratchers, the rest seems to just hunt and bent a little here and there. With any luck Big Red will be the fastest 300GD in the State (I think it's the only one in the state) Please any input will help. I know somebody out there has done it before. Thanks Chris.
The 300D motors have a hard line that comes out at the oil filter housing. You can get a mechanical VDO guage that can be connected to that hard line which is actually hard plastic. The VDO plumbing kit with that guage should be able to connect to the existing line with a compression coupling or run the new hose all the way to the filter housing. The other option is using a electrical sender from the motor and VDO used to make one that also connects to the idiot light circuit. It will require the matching guage but then both will work. I think when I do this I will go the electrical sender route. The idiot light is very un-Mercedes Diesel and the damage is done when that red light comes on. Let us know how you solve the problem. Best of luck,
Thinking about the same swap myself after I fix the rustbucket body. Would love to get feedback from you later after you're done - cost, problems faced, how it's working for you, satisfied/dissatisfied etc.
Well, it's in. Bent some tubes this way and that. Switched out some of the mounting parts and bushings, seems to work fine. Now the biggest problem so far is the exhust system. The down pipe from the 300d turbo comes out a lot lower then the non-turbo. Plus it will be hotter so I need to go to the larger pipe (I could use the old pipe but it would restrict flow thus loss of power) but there's not much room there. I am half thinking about running a pipe right out the side of Big Red and shooting the exhust over the roof, but I think that might look dumb. I will take it to a friend who is in the muffer business and maybe he will have the fix. As far as oil gauge, we are going to the plumbing supply to look for a step down fixture to allow me to use the 300GD gauge, if not then I will end up with an other gauge on the dash or maybe I will put into my center console, I have room since I don't A/C. I read on the Yahoo user group that one of the 300GD Turbos was overheating. It didn't say if they had an A/C or now, but they said it was 100 degree day. They may have been running the A/C. So, that's a little update, not on the road yet but we are getting close, will report back. Thanks for any thoughts, Chris.
a note of caution on the exhaust routing, as you noted the turbo runs hot. Try hard not to get it too close to your transfer case, as the excess heat from my cat has caused wear in my t-case due to excessive heat, and also lack of ability for the t-case to dissapate it's own heat.
a note of caution on the exhaust routing, as you noted the turbo runs hot. Try hard not to get it too close to your transfer case, as the excess heat from my cat has caused wear in my t-case due to excessive heat, and also lack of ability for the t-case to dissapate it's own heat.
-mserpe
Big Red,
While I didn't do the OM617A swap myself, the previous owner, who did the swap, neglected to change the exhaust (and other things) when doing the swap. I put in a 2.5 inch exhaust about 1 month ago and the difference is great. I highly recommend replacing the whole exhaust with something bigger. Just get it custom bent and installed.
Ensure you retain the oil cooler from the 300D.
You have to modify the oil pan from the 300D slightly to ensure it doesn't foul on the front diff at full compression.
You may experience overheating problems. I do as do others I have spoken with in Europe. I had my rad recored to a three row (from the original 2 core) and used a "dipple core" which offers slightly more efficient cooling. The temp now holds great in all but the hottest weather and highest speeds. My auto tranny doesn't help any with the temp rising, it is also cooled through the rad.
Good luck and tell us all how it works. Having not done the swap myself, I have many questions about what others have done and what their experiences are with the turbo engine.
Now my problem for the day is finding metric pipe fittings. I want keep the electronic oil pressure guage but the new engine (300D) uses a mechanical gauge. So I need to find an adapter to go from 12mm 1.5 thread male to 14mm 1.5 thread female plus it will have to be at least 2" long to clear oil filter housing. Then at the male end it can't be more than 10mm wide to clear. I have been looking on the net to find one already made to no avail. I guess we going to make one. As far as exhust, no problem, a friend of mine will make it out of stainless steel and bent it as we go (that's his business). During all of this playing around we managed to break a brake line. It's just something else to do. Chris
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