Calling G gurus! Left side 460 fuel filler/saddle tank

Other options and considerations

Your "small tank on the left" is the saddle tank for that side, I'm pretty confident. From the EPC it looks like these things came in different configurations.
1- plain center tank with a pipe filler
2- saddle tank on filler side like you have Dai
3- saddle tanks on both sides like I have

The saddle tanks are about 3 gallons each, adding a total of about 6 gallons to fuel capacity with two saddle tanks and the connecting pipes (vs the single tank I had). As far as availability, I don't know. Fire up your EPC, turn off the data filtering, and go into the fuel tank area. You'll find the pix and PNs.

I too like the idea of a loadspace floor spare tank. And with the switching valve that Craig sells for the SVO kit, I don't have to worry about having the additional tank plumbed into the main tank at the rear.

My favorite diesel bogie has always been a magical "1000 mile range", and I don't think a loadspace tank has to be more than about 6" deep to get me there at 18 MPG and my current tank....One of these days.

But I think you're right, Dai, an added tank is probably the best way to go since it gets me other value added things in addition to the starting tank.

Got a line on a nice '79 TD with 130k original miles. Motor still in the car, I can run it, have any anciaries I want, etc etc. Not least of all, with motor in car, I get thw vehicle VIN so I can look up any motor parts I eventually need with the EPC. Looks like this is really going to happen.

-Dave

Hey fellas. I also have both saddle tanks and have been toying with the idea of running SVO/WVO. I currently run Biodiesel with great success. I have noticed a bit of rust in my pre-filter which I attribute to the BioD stripping the deposits leftover from the DinoD! (I hope!) When and if I decide to go Veg-oil I would definitely run a new separate tank. That way you can always have both options. There's a filter/heater combo made by Davco that seems really cool. I'm hopefully going to meet with Steve and Craig soon to discuss options. I hear that Steve's truck is great with the turbo and taller gears. 3:90, I think? I eventually will go this route as I'm a little unimpressed with 88hp! I'm curious what kind of mileage Dai gets, because I'm having a hard time breaking 20mpg. I thought it would be better. I know Dai's is a SWB, but the weight difference isn't that huge, right?
Anyway, here's a pic of that new filter system.

Captain Spalding's search confirmed, the RHD Gs have the filler on the RH-side as well. If ordering a new filler tube for the LH-side saddle tank, you might want to consider the long, protruding tube option (shown on attached image). It makes it easy to pour fuel in from a jerry-can.

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Pardon my abreviations

by 300TD I only meant the engine was 3 liter turbodiesel. The car is a 300SD of 1979 vintage. The engine is a 617.950.

This brings on a question.

Do the normally aspirated engines in the 300GDs have a smooth bottomed (on the outside) oil pan like the 617.950 motor, or are their oil pans covered with that waffle pattern and extra strengthening ribs to the trans mounting bolts like the ones fitted to the 617.951 motor?

This is the only differnce between the two motors that seems it might be significant to the G. Right now I think the whole situation surrounding this .950 motor I have access to means I'll buy it regardless. But if MB fit the ribbed pan to the motors in the G I'd try to get ahold of one to use.

Indications are good on this motor though. It hadn't been started in 3-4 months but all we did was put a battery in, let the glow plugs cycle once, and it fired right up and ran smoothly. Ambient temps were about 45 degrees though, so I'll go back in the morning and try it when it's more like 20 degrees out.

I've known Craig a long time from my D90 days. When I get to doing the SVO stuff he'll provide the parts. That'll probably have to wait though since I only have a total of $2200 budgeted to do this swap and I want to try and do as many things as I can with regard to getting a good clean install of the motor for now. I'll do the second tank and SVO stuff some time later, hopefully this summer.

-Dave

RE: Pardon my abreviations

Dave, sorry; 300TD is the designation for a 123 chassis station wagon and they didn't see a turbo motor until '81. We have and '83 300TD turbo with 330,000 miles on the chassis and it is fantastic. When you said TD I heard 'wagon'.
The GD's have a waffle pattern. However I would not bother trying to source one. The turbo motor pan you are using should have an alloy sump with a stamped steel pan below the pickup. It is two piece with a gasket and a better setup. It holds a quart or so more oil than the G stock one piece sump and is cheap to repair or replace if damaged. We smacked a road hazzard in the dark with PK's sump. I had the new pan in the car the next day. I think the later Turbo sumps are reinforced with the waffle thing and are two piece. After taking my stock G sump off with the motor in the truck I will welcome the Turbo sump setup. This is my opinion others may dissagree. I expected to find some special windage baffles around the pickup for extreme angles in there. Nothing special except a milled area in the casting for the pickup to seat into. I will be happy to help you source a later sump with the ribbing if it is a problem to come up with one there. There are a phenomenal number of the 617 motors out there.
130,000 miles is nothing for one of these motors. The 300TD I sold to buy my G had that on it when I bought it. Sold it at 300,000 and is still going strong. If they start up from dead cold and settle into an even idle you have a good one. It is good you have a donor car because you need the glow circuit relay box and other components. Heat shields etc.. I plan on using the stock turbo motor air cleaner on mine. Craig has very kind things to say about you.

-Dai

RE: Pardon my abreviations

My fault, not yours on the TD confusion. I have to be careful around REAL MB people. []

I went by and started the engine this morning. It was about 15 degrees out, and before sunrise here in Golden at about 5400 ft. One glow cycle and it started right up. Idle took maybe 2 minutes to smooth out fully, but that's not bad considering it was just sitting there. There's some light white haze at cold start, but my old LR used to do a LOT worse than that, and it was running clear after driving about a block. I can't actually "drive" this one because the trans is NG. But anyway, I'm going ahead buying this motor.

I think I have the best of all worlds here. Mark is keeping the car, but he says I can have anything and everything associated with the motor including all belt-run accessories, block heater wiring, tach trigger box, all the wiring junction blocks, glow circuitry and relay...any anything else we're forgetting. He said if I think of anything else I want, to just let him know and come by and take it.

And as for the oil pan, I think I'm again getting the best of all worlds again. The engine is a 79 (617.950) and pre-EGR, which I like. The later 617.951 motors came with the beefed up oil pan, but they all had EGR (not a big problem to rip it out, I know). Well, I mentioned to Mark this morning that I was trying to find out if the 300GD's came with a strengthened oil pan on their normally aspirated motors, and if they did I was going to try and swap mine over to the strengthened pan from the 617.951 motor. To that he says, "Oh, I've got pans like that on scrap motors, you can have one." So I'll get the nice simple '79 motor with the beefier (but still 2-piece Al+steel) oil pan from the '81+ motors.

I'm really reading the signs that this was meant to be. I just know I'm going to get this motor in and go, "Why did I wait so long?!?!" The answer is of course I was chicken when too many things were unknown to me. Getting to look at and drive Brian T's conversion, and talk to Dennis about parts really sealed the deal.

One more cool thing for us geek types. Mark still had the MB "introduction manual" from when they first brought the 617.950 engine to the USA in the 300SD in '78. He said at that time MB would send out these "here's what's coming, and how it's different from what you've seen" manuals to the techs prior to introduction of a new model. It's really interesting to read. They tell all the little things that are different, and why it was necessary to change them. Those were the golden years, man. He loaned me that manual as well as the 617.95- engine manual to keep as long as I need them.

It's going to be fun to document this swap.

-Dave