It's worth it to get a magnifying glass and line it back up. If you look close enough there will be some kind of mark that will show how they went.

 

How high do u have the engine sitting in the engine bay? Did u angle ur drivetrain at a certain degree? Was taught engines should be set 2-5 degrees for self bleeding but I don't want vibration from my driveshaft. What size alternator do u have? I'm going to get a 17 electric fan, I measured the stock Comanche radiator and the size will work also measured om617 fan and is 17 inches. I'm getting a pulse width modulated fan controller. Mostly likely will run an aftermarket oil cooler out front. Also I searched Toyota om617 swaps haven't investigated much but someone did swap the ac compressor and alternator, I'm also from Florida and a.c. is mandatory lmao. Plus ease of repair if anything is to break will look into it. What adapter did u use for the trans? Did u have the flywheels balanced?

 

Place the engine as far back possible and as high as possible, this will require you to tilt the engint back about 4* the the highest part of the engine is the timing valve cover over the timing chain. You will be surprised how high you can go without contacting the hood, well above the fenders due to the curve in the hood.

115amp AL-129X alternator from a Saab 9000, this and the rest of the info you need is in this thread.

 

I've been following this thread since it started and I just wanted to say thank you for the fantastic information and all of the great knowledge shared!! It's allowed me to pursue my passion of swapping my 99' TJ with the om617. My two main struggles: motivation (i'm doing it in a friends driveway..) and organization. I'm at the point where now, the engine is all hooked up to my trans and bell housing adapter. It's in the jeep, and now I'm finding the sweet spot where it's going to sit before I weld in my mounts.

I was curious how you found your ideal spot. I know drivetrain angles are of a concern and too steep an angle will hurt your driveshaft and u-joints. How did you determine where yours will sit?

My engine sits super low in my bay. I have my build thread on this forum but I have another on another forum with more info and lots of pics. I hope it isn't in poor taste to post my own link to another forum. I was going to DM you but I figured it would be good information for anyone stuck in the same position as I am.

OM617 into TJ Wrangler Build Thread

I've had diesel benz's over the years and fell in love with them. Then I got a TJ and fell in love with it. It's one or the other so why not have the best of both worlds heh heh heh


I see in the post above that you want it as high up and far back as possible. That puts a steep angle on my engine, with the front being up high and the back being low. Is this normal?

 

I started this build to share all the information I had gathered over a year of Internet searching. At the time there was not a single complete source of information so I did my best to put what I found and what I have learned in one spot. Please feel free to update this thread with new information for others.

As far as engine placement priority is as follows; #1 steering and oil pan clearance, #2 AC Compressor clearance, #3 driveline angle. Try to keep the transfer case within an inch of the factory location, this will allow for factory driveshaft lengths. As far as angles are concerned my engine is at 4* with no issues. I would plan on running double cordon drive shafts front and rear, will will most likely want to upgrade to these in the future anyways so just do it now and don't worry about the angles.

I think my sigle greatest accomplishment was figuring out the gauges by machining grooves in the flywheel as no one had working gauges up until then, I see people are now using this technique on other diesel conversions. Please feel free to share the info and this link on other sites. This is a great forum and I'd love to help it grow.

 

Theres a great wealth of knowledge in this thread and I'm very thankful for that. Thats quite a feat about the whole flywheel thing. I've seen people stick a magnet on their pulley or something like that, and a sensor picks up the magnet to determine RPM. I'm hoping to get mine drivable enough to make it 20 minutes home where I'll then take care of the sensors and whatnot. Gotta get it out of my friends yard.

Thanks again everyone for the info! I'm hoping to provide the same in my own thread as well.

 

I've had some inquiries on how the Jeep is doing. It's running great! Here's a video.

https://youtu.be/H_ZJ8_dSws8

 

Nice job Evenglass .
so now im looking at a 4.88 gear set for my Dana 30 and 44

 

Got a couple questions

A) on the flex plate . You had that balanced to match the MB plate . Now maybe im not thinking this through right but since you ran an 700r4 , how much difference is this really going to make with a torque converter attached to it ?

IE wouldn’t the converter and plate have to be balanced as a unit so as to not throw it all out of balance again ?

b) with the engine mounts you fabricated . Specifically from engine to frame.

Im assuming you did this because the MB mounts were to long , to short or didn’t allow for your engine location needs or was it a case of the factory arms not being strong enough for a 4x4 application ?

Thanks for all your help and again , fantastic thread

 

The engine's rotating assembly is in a way externally balanced via the flexplate. Mercedes tried to get the assembly as close to neutral as possible and then fine tuned it with the flexplate. Even the crank pulley is balanced on the engine. How much does it matter? Not sure but for the $100 peace of mind it's worth it. I can tell you mine spins without vibration. As far as the torque converter, they should all be neutrally balanced, including the factory Mercedes one. The fliud in the converter also helps with balance.

The factory engine arms are plenty strong and nicely designed. They just don't work for many reasons; too long, too high, in the way and the factory rubber mounts the connect to suck. All in all not worth keeping the Mercedes arms.