Mercedes OM617
 

Has anyone else played with the Mercedes OM617 I-5 3.0l turbo diesel engines?

In 2005, I swapped one from a '78 300SD into a '88 Jeep Comanche. Very strait forward swap. I-5 engine fit very well into the engine bay since it was designed to accept the 4.0l I-6 gas motor. Power output was good for vehicle weight and economy numbers were in the high 20's. I was in a rush to get it on the road, so it didn't turn out aesthetically like I would have preferred, but it was the first go at it, and I have now learned what to/not to do.

Attachment 56584
Attachment 56585

Now working on a conversion for my wife. Repowering a '91 Wrangler with the same motor. But having transfer case selection issues. Making a 2wd Wrangler is out of the question! I won't consider separating the motor from it's matching auto tranny, either, as it is virtually bulletproof. So that puts me trying not only find a divorced transfer case, but also dealing with the short drive line. Current plans are to stretch the jeep, and/or simply move the rear axle back. I can move it back 10" simply by using Dodge Dakota rear leaf packs. We shall see how it goes! Here's the new victim:

Attachment 56586

:rocking:

That Jeep project sounds like you have your hands full!

Without a doubt, hands definitely full. I've been doing a lot of reading up on past attempts to mate the mercedes motor to other transmissions. You never really seem to find any truly useful information. You would think that with these motors being the most dependable, bulletproof diesel motors ever made, the motors lasting long after the chassis, that there would be a lot more of these motors in other applications. Well, I take that back, you would think they would be in more automotive repower applications.

I've put them in boats, trucks, gas cars, and in front of pumps. I love these things.

VWdieseljunkie,
Nice job on the Jeep conversion. I've put a '76 617 in a Ranger. Hope the attached link works. Phil
Phillyburger - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Awesome job on the ranger, Phill!

I'm so very glad to see that someone else has done a similar project so that I can see how certain obstacles were overcome. If it weren't for that front sump, everything would be so much easier!! I've even thought about trying to make a dry sump, but never felt real comfortable with a design.

How did the little ranger drive? Did you get to drive it for a while before swapping the rear differential? I kept the 4.10 rear in my jeep, but stepped up to a 31" tire to compensate. It kept the odo off by 1/10th of a mile. I like what you did with the drive shaft. Gonna have to give that a try myself.

Are you still driving this truck?

Thanks, I added descriptions too,with the pictures on photo bucket, to help anybody attempting this for the first time, although my computer skills are lacking. I have had the truck on the road for about a month. Driving with the 4:10 rear end was just unacceptable, the one I have in it now is just right. Truck might be a little heavy in the front, the new heavy duty springs just hold it where it should be, and thats all. I did drive the truck before the swap, about 3 miles. What intrigues me is the sound of that engine and so I love driving it. It's a sweet ride, nice for country roads. I have a problem with the power steering, when stopped or at very slow speeds, the steering box moans, especially if the rpm is very low, when turning. I can feel it in the wheel, although it turns fine, with little effort. We think the MB pump is just not compatible with the Ford box, maybe underdriven, so I'm going to start work on mounting a Ford pump in the high position. Any ideas vw diesel? Phil

I have always used the mercedes pump, and silver soldered the steel lines to whatever fittings were needed. I used a ford mustang rack and pinion for the comanche, the power steering was excellent with no problems. Are you using the mercedes pump or the ford pump? If the ford pump, it may be a rpm issue that you might correct with pulley size change.

I'm using the MB pump, the original 1976 version that mounts low on the drivers side. I also silver soldered JIC ends on the pressure hoses. I believe your right, the more I think about it, that's probably all it is, just a speed problem. If the engine is revved up, the noise goes away. Have you ever set the valves on one of these engines? Phil

It's not too tough of a job, after you have done it the first time. The most important thing is the wrenches and feeler guages. If you don't want to buy the wrenches, you can make your own, by bending up a pair of normal wrenches, just make sure they are long handled. Get a "Robert Bentley" manual if you can find one, they are far far better than chilton's or haynes manuals, but you will need the warm/cold gap specs reguardless. Look at the cam lobes while you are in there, look for any metal shavings sitting on top of the head in the little "dips" in the casting. Look for old oil buildup. Peek down the timing chain and just get comfortable with what all is in there and where and all.

Thanks for the advice, I'm hoping to do a cam timing check at the same time. I have the little haze in the air around the tailpipe and I'm trying to figure out what's causing it. Compression warm is 300 on all and the injectors pop-test perfectly. I've worked around diesel engines all my life and never found one I like as much as this one. When we started it up on the floor, with no muffler it was still quiet and purred like a kitten. These have got to be the best buy out there for a quiet running diesel. Of course I do like the VW 1.6. Phil

0m617
 

I have a 1997 dakota ex cab with om617 diesel engine
runs great and early s ford truck had the divorced transfer cases

Great news, we are not alone vwdieseljunkie. Robby, can you post a picture? Phil

Very interested in photos and more information Robby! I had looked into the Dakota also, but never came across one that could be had fairly inexpensively. Real curious about clearances under the hood!

As for the xfer case, I've been talking with a fellow named Luke at 4x4labs.com. He's been talking about making a flywheel and bell housing adapter for the 617 motors to mate to GM transmissions. If all goes well on his end, I hope to see one of these adapters in person. That will make my plans much easier. I have alot of access to GM 4x4's that are in non running condition for parts.

Got any photos Robby?

sorry but the best transfer case for you would be from those litlle suzukis samuray not expensive at all and divorced like you wanted it
i have also a brazilian 3.9 cummings f250 verry nice totally original 90xxx miles on it
classic.70s@hotmail.com

this is the engine in the right place on the dakota you also need a litlle fuel pump to pump diesel for the injector pump goin uphills and a center hanger on the shaft you cant only put a u joint on your tranny what you have to do is reproduce the picture of an mercedes very strait it no u joints and redoit on the dodge dakota listen good for it clubcab and extended cab only or f 150 long bed no chassis cuts or anything engine sits a litlle bit to the passenger side so you can change the oil the intercooler is from a volvo and the engine mounts only remove original ones and do a flat plate with 4holes like the original run a strait peace of metal goin to the old dakota mounts reinforce it the rubber i used model t from ford give you a litlle more vibration like real mercedes rally cars superchargers are good to but reduce the amount of psi max 13 more then that you will burn this engine you can take amoust 200 hp from this engine never overheat it

Sami cases have a High range reduction. That would increase the rpm's in 2 hi. ford 205's are big and heavy. if you can use a right hand drop case divorce mounting a Toyota gear drive case would be a lead pipe cinch! Turn the ears off of the 3 bolt flange and the center out of a Toy multi pattern pinion flange. Weld them together insuring its lined up square. Roll on in a OM617 motivated YJ!

Im glad I finally found some folks with automotive know how!
I somehow got the idea to put a MB 617 I-5 turbo diesel in a 2000 S10 pick up truck. It was a huge project. I also mated it with a 95' F-150 5 speed manual tranny( it actually worked out well!). Shes on the road and Ive got almost 400 miles on her. Does 75 on the highway no problem gets up and goes too. With the straight piped 5" exhaust out of a chrome stack in the bed it sounds bad ass. Any questions about the tranny adapters i had to machine let me know.


Check out the pics
Truck pictures by hevyfoot_blacksoot - Photobucket

Does any one know tricks on how to pull more horses out of this engine? injector pumps? turbos? injectors??

The plungers in the pump are the rate limiting step. Seems like the next plunger up is much too large. Figure out if you have a 6.5mm pump (or 5.5) Most pump shops can only come up with 10mm replacements.(7.5-8 Ive heard is ideal) Adjustments can be made with the boost reference can. (like an ALDA compensator) The small T-4 compressor Housing and Wheel on the factory Benz Hot side with a small intercooler will help tremedously. Same EGT warnings you have heard before! Them pistons are real spendy.

That's pretty neat hooking it to the ford trans. I'm guessing that trans has a od?

divorced transfer case
 

have you considered a transfer case out of early eighties datsun 4wd pick ups?

they used three drive shafts.
downside is that it seems that even when in two wheel drive, they would make the power go through a set of gears. instead of straight through.

that seems to eat power and fuel in 2wd. but otherwise a very tough little box

ocd

Nisson had a divorced case for a couple of years back in the 80's. Both outputs came out of the bottom of the case. Real tough cases, I ran one in a jeep with toyota axles and a roller cam 470 inch pontiac for about three years on the street and trail riding. I think twisted one output shaft off.

S-10 with Mercedes
 

I'd like to see anything at all about the adapters you made, the flywheel, clutch, etc. you used, pictures of the adapter, assembly, finished installation, info about fuel mileage and performance... Anything!

I would definitely like to know about what was used for flywheel, pressure plate and clutch, starter, pilot bushing/bearing, the whole nine yards. I've got plenty of ford gear boxes laying around, and pretty sure I've got a ford tranny with xfer case.

I've got a datsun/nissan dtc, just haven't pulled it to play with it, they are supposed to be very tough, and they are gear driven. I will probably use it in the MJ, as I will have plenty of wheel base to play with, but the YJ will be a problem in it's self. Still waiting to hear from 4x4labs.com on an ax15 conversion.
:w2:

Same here....can you please post about your setup.

Thanks.

hey, you guys do some cool stuff. i had a 2 gen dakota for years, and i loved that truck. it was hard to get rid of it for a full size ram. i always wondered what would happen with a diesel in it, i never thought on putting those merce. diesels in it. are they the same motor thats in these new sprinters, just more mechanical????

Unfortunately, no, they are completely different animals. It would be cool if the were!

I think I have decided to take a different route on my wrangler project. Still going to use the OM617 and trans, but I think the only jeep part I am using is the body. Currently trying to find a full size blazer or 70's pickup to get the frame and azles from. Set a DTC dead center of the axles, put motor and tranny in front of the dtc, then set the tub over the motor. Either that or I've got to start butchering up the frame of the wrangler to get it long enough for the driveline, and I'd just assume keep the wrangler frame and driveline intact like it is and use it for my VW diesel engine.

I have a 56 Jeeb cj 5 with a T90 transa and am trying to get this idea together. I would like to put one of these 5 cylinder mercedes turbo diesels in this thing. What did you have to do with your bell housing to mate your transmission to the mercedes diesel? What could you tell me that might make life easier for me with this swap?

Thank you.

I used the mercedes trans, Blacksoot used 5-spd ford tranny with success. Luke@4x4labs is supposed to have figured out the quirks for mating the on617 with a few generic 5-spd trannys, but there's been a lot of folks holding their breath for a looooooong time on that subject. We have to eventually work the problem out on our own and get some info out there so that folks can take it upon themselves to mate these motors up to the trans of choice. As soon as I get my honey do list and all my rat-killin done around here and get my shop built and running, I'm going to be spending alot of time on the subject. I'd rather get all the information figured out and put out there so folks can make their own, or at least take the info to the machine shop of choice and get their own made.

One day.... one day.:c:

Hi guys i am glad i found this web site and am glad to see more people thinking same as i do.I recently finished diesel swap in my 87 jeep wrangler with 3.0l td engine and i mated that engine to jeep trans and was able to keep all jeep original parts.Engine fitted in like a glove and so far i put 800-900 miles on it and no problems whatsoever also i put 4 in stock on it and sounds great that i am going to put another one soon.The way i did this swap i didnt have to mess with drive shaft and trans stayed in its place.the whole swap was relativly inexpensive as i bought donor car and got all the little things that you dont consider important at the beginning of swap and i sold rest of the car for parts to help with cost and now i am DIESEL HAPPY

Hello and Welcome!

Very interested in any info on the swap and pictures!

pictures i will take tommorow as i should have done before.but swap was relatively easy if you have some skils of course.i bought 18x18x5/16 steel plate and with home made tool for hole transfer transfered all bolt holes,made cutout on bell housing for starter clearence as i had to relocate it and modified jeep flywheel to fit mercedes engine. that way i kept jeep original clutch,starter,trans stayed in same place and all drive train.made engine mounts and welded to frame and even transfered all sensors so my oem gages in jeep are working.everybody that has seen jeep with this engine says that it looks factory built.:bike:

elements available
 

Hi,
I made custom elements for MW (617a) and M (603a)-IPs.
The MW's are 6mm diameter plungers with modified geometry of the control edges.
The larger seizes (OEM) can not be used, the cam lift is 10mm starting from diameter 8mm.
The small 5,5mm IP has only 8mm cam lift. My SD 82 is running with the 6mm MW elements since 7 months.

For the M (with 7mm cam lift) diameter 7mm elements are available, not yet custom made.

Further mods of the delivery valves are not tested up to now.

Providing sufficient air the potential of the elements will bring the kick.
(I am currently working on the turbo charger swap but I can already feel a performance increase)

Tom

Can't wait to see your pictures! That's the neat thing about these motors, they are very similar in size to the 4.0 I-6 gasser motor the jeeps had, and even in my Comanche truck, seemed to fit very well.

here it is and good luck with build

Excellent! Vlado, do you have or can you get a picture of the oil pan, showing how close it is to the front diff?

no pic of oil pan but i run 2 in shackle lift which only gives me 1" of lift on axle and for what i use it clears good.the only thing i could tell you is if you put any suspension lift it will clear no problem and even if it is 2-3 in close that suspension is sturdy enough not to cause problems.i have thought of couple things that i have seen with mine and you can take driver side corner of oil pan cut hole and weld it inside out or you can grind off gusset on your front diff to clear even more.but if you put lift on it it will be fine:ok1:

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ps:front pumpkin is only thing you have to consider and and when you look at it if that suspension went that far it would cach less than 1/4 in,aproxymetly.those are some of the things that you will have to tweak in when you set engine in anyways as you will have to make your own engine mounts than you can play with it

Excellent info Vlado! I have some specific questions now:

1. How many miles have you driven it since you got it operational?

2. Do you have a tachometer? If so, what is your engine rpm for 65mph in 5th gear?

3. Do you have an EGT guage? If so, what is your egt reading at 65mph in 5th gear?

4. Does the jeep transmission feel like it is well matched for diesel's power band?

5. What are your complaints so far with this motor in the jeep?

Wow, I wish I could come and drive your jeep and experience it myself, first hand!

great projects guys :pca1:

i have put little over 900 miles since swap and so far i dot have any complaints with engine.i drove this jeep up till last weekend when i decided to strip paint off and fix rust on jeep.curently i dont have tach. and i am curently working on getting one set up. i heard that older mercedes alternators had pole on them for tach but have yet to find it.i didnt put egt gage in it so cant answer that question.just tonight i found that theese engines are running 3000 rpm's at 65 mph so i am going to figure out my gear ratio since this was only info that i was missing . as far as trans goes i read somwher that these ax-15 trans are medium duty and they will hold to the power of this engine and also i personaly dont have any problems.only thing i dont like in this trans is gear ratio and especialy 5 th gear too high.but rear end gear ratio should take care of that

i just got done looking at your picks of your ob617 to trans adapter :U:its so beutifully simple but how did you git the right alignment ???
i have the motor to install in my 87 jeep comanche with a 4" lift 33" and a sirvis bed. Curent motor is a gas:booo: 2.5L, ok gas motor not ok for me i need that black smock noise