PowerstrokeJoe

I couldn't take the mess in the shop anymore so I took this afternoon to clean the crap out of the whole place and put all my tools back. I needed to get a place to put my truck back inside too. I moved the engine back to my work bench so I would have a place to lay all of the parts out in an orderly fashion.


I managed to get the picture of the crank journal off my phone too.

While I was on a roll I changed the oil in my Power Stroke. I hear people talk about how tight the 3VZE engine bay is...check this out..
Anyhow I figured I'd post an update because I think I may hit the deer stand for a while and this may be the only progress today unless I get ambitious and tear the engine down some more.

pyrojoe22

Well look at the bright side, you don't have to worry about your differential hitting your oil pan or any of that if you're staying with the IFS. I'm curious about your steering, however.

B-yodaful

NO joke I just picked up on 80 mb for $300 and I'm going to do the same swap. cant wait to see what you do good luck.

poppypizza

Got My Interest as well, keep us all updated!

aviator

Nice looking 944 in the background there...

PowerstrokeJoe

I am fairly sure that it will clear the steering...at least according to my measurements... I hope.
B-Yodaful- I hope that this thread can help you in some way. Congrats on the MB!

poppypizza- I will do my best. I have reached a point where I am going to slow down and wait for some money to come in. My income really slows down in the winter.

Thanks aviator! I basically have it done aside from the body work and paint. Hopefully next spring I'll have it back on the road.

805surf

Envious of your shop, tractors, everything! haha

yotasavg

I like this thread for some reason... I think it's your attitude. I'm sure this project will pull together amazingly!

PowerstrokeJoe

805surf- I am very fortunate to have this place to call home and be able to work here as well.

yotasavg- Thank you very much for your kind words and encouragement! It is comments like yours that will keep me going when I get frustrated with this as I am sure there will be many challenges to come. I am doing this in hopes that it will help someone out who is doing this either now or later on.

riddarunner

HaHa...Been there. I have sat infront of the 4runner many nights just trying to figure out how i was going to make it happen. In the three months i was actively doing the swap I spent about 1/3 of that Time thinking and problem solving.

yodacrawler89

Subscribed ! ! ! im about to do the same swap in my 81 pickup im just hee hawing around about buying 4x4 labs adapter for 700 or make one myself . love the build dying to see how it comes out. if i see your adapter plate and it comes out good i just might make one myself . good luck man

pyrojoe22

hey Joe, I finally started looking at my engine tonight, and pulled out the oil filter which smelled fine. Then I pulled the diesel fuel filter, which smelled like diesel, but it was full of black fluid. You see seem to be knowledgeable about diesels, so I figured I'd ask you if this is a bad sign. I have a year warranty on the engine, so I can take it back if need be. I haven't run it yet, waiting to pull it apart and clean it out first. Thanks

EDIT* I called some diesel mechanic friends and found that it could be many things, a stretched banjo bolt, bacteria in the fuel since it's been sitting for a long time, or the previous owner had been running waste motor oil

PowerstrokeJoe

Riddarunner- I have a feeling that I'm going to wear the drivers seat out just sitting and staring lol.

yodacrawler89- I just can't see paying that much for an adapter. I am probably going to have about that in my whole build when its all said and done. One major hurdle for me that seems to escape most people is I have the V6 with the R150 trans. Nobody makes an adapter for it. At the same time I am very nervous as to how its going to turn out as I am not a machinist. Once I get it going I will be glad to send you pictures and measurements and anything else you want.

pyrojoe- I would venture to guess that the black you are seeing is bacterial growth. Generally when people run used oil through them the fuel will be thicker and smell different than normal diesel. ULSD also acts almost like a cleaner so to speak. Our main tillage tractors sit all winter and come spring the first thing we do is drain the water separators on the filters. Generally the diesel comes out dark for the first few seconds and then gets clear/red. I wouldn't be too worried but I would be sure to hang that thing and fire it up and see what it does. Its hard telling when the fuel filter was last changed. I would run a can of Diesel Purge through it while you are at it. All you need is fuel and a set of jumper cables with a battery. At least that way you have the peace of mind. One thing about it mechanical injection is pretty darn hard to kill lol. Best of luck to you!

aviator

I may be wrong here but I 've seen a pic of an adapter plate someone on here made for one of these swaps and there was no real "machining" involved... what they did was make a cardboard template of the bell housing marking out all the bolt holes etc. then they did the same with the tranny... they transferred the marks to a 3/8'? 1/2"? steel plate and traced the marks out... they cut the outer edge with a torch and used a grinder to make it smoothish... the other holes they just used a drill press... did'nt look super pretty but worked...

pyrojoe22

Ya, you should easily be able to make your own adapter plate, and I have complete faith in you just from reading this thread. You'll have to counter-bore the holes for the bolts holding the plate to the engine, to completely recess them in the plate, so that if the tranny outline touches where the bolts are, the tranny will sit flat against the plate instead of on the bolt heads.

riddarunner

The thing about the kit is that all the figuring is done for you. definant 4x4 used to make adapters and they went through a lot of revisions not using a cnc machine and the transmissions they were atached to kept leaking from the input shaft seal because they were off by only mm. The 4x4 labs kit also comes with the toyota flywheel already machined and the pilot bearing adapter keeps the fly wheel concentric. The mercedes crank has nothing to keep the fly wheel concentric so that was the job of the flywheel bolts so if thoses holes are off you will be out of balance.


Why wouldent you just get a 4cyl crossmember? you would gain a gear driver tcase

pyrojoe22

4x4labs sell their bushing and flywheel for $200, and the adapter for $400. So why not just buy the bushing and flywheel and make your own adapter? Or am I still missing something?

Also, a fun idea I came up with today. How about putting in a 5 speed out of a 96-05 toyota. They are the same length, and have 26 spline. I'm just unsure of the bellhousing and if it'd bolt up to the old transfer case

yodacrawler89

Yea that sounds like a good idea . i was very skeptical about doing the adapter myself because of the balancing . they say it will ruin the whole motor and they say that you need to take the toyota flywheel and get it blanced the same as the the benz flywheel . to keep everything running smooth . have you guys herd the same thing ?

PowerstrokeJoe

Aviator- I guess I am just worried about all the holes and things lining up. I'm going to make one out of plywood first just to make sure lol.

Pyrojoe- Thanks for your continued support! My grandfather is a retired army engineer/ machinist who worked on the atlas missile project so I am hoping to pick his brain on this as well as use his machinist tools and stuff. I have the countersink bits for the drill press and I am going to look for bolts tomorrow. As for the 96-05 transmission if I am not mistaken the 96-05 trucks still use the R150 and R150f. I believe they switched to the R155 in 06+. I know the R150 has 2 different input shaft lengths that I think was before and after 1996.

Riddarunner- I'm going to give it a shot just for nothing else than if I don't every time I drive it I will always wonder if I could have done it.

Yodacrawler-I have heard many thoughts on this but I am going to go on a limb and speak from personal experience here. The flywheel from the 22re and the 3vze both are heavier than the stock MB one. My experience with these is that the heavier flywheel will not cause the vibration issues. Also the lower rpms of the diesel should help that case. I am not going to balance mine. I am sure others will differ in opinion form mine but I have built a few engines and none have come back yet.

Others have asked me why I don't go to the 4cyl drive train. For me I believe the R series transmissions to be the best ones as far as strength and it is what I have to use. Also I have yet to see a conversion that uses one so I am issuing myself the challenge. As for buying the flywheel. Forgive me if i am wrong but I plan to reuse the V6 starter and the flywheel is from a 22re. The ring gears I believe have a different pitch and number of teeth and I really don't want to buy another starter.

Ok now for today's update. I have decided not to tear the engine down any further at the moment. I am going to redo the bottom end and put it back together. I believe my tick was the vacuum pump. Once I get it all back together I am going to fire it up and see. Hopefully I can get on with the swap in the next week or so we shall see. Thank's to everyone to has given support to this point! I so appreciate it. I look forward to getting on YotaTech everynight!

22REFORME

All seems logical to me... I don't think the adapter plate should be as intimidating as some seem to think it is. Even though they don't make a kit for your exact application its all the same pricipal. As tight as it is the only problem you may encounter in my mind is a clearance issue. But your not going to see that unless you get it all mocked up. I think you'll be alright. Good luck ill be watching