Om617 is 29 3/4" , om602 is 27" and om603 is 30 3/4" long, add 2" for the fans. I would go with the 602 but they are hard to find.

 

Dude, I must say, your truck is bad ass! I thought my buddys 4BT Ranger was badass, and made me want to do one in my mazda eventually. You are making me want to do this in my yota now!

 

Hmm, I had read the 603/606 was 32" long without the fan. That was from the crank to the fan pulley, but you can't always trust what you read on the internet.

 

The only reason i'm looking at the 603, is I have one found nearby...

Apreciate it fellas, anyone know the width's by any chance (with all the bells and whistles attached?)

By comparision the 22re in my 87' is approximatley 25" (measured about 10 minutes ago with a Iphone for a light)
The 603 would be approximately 33" long with fan and etc... (according to Transplanter), Which is about 4" past the firewall in my 87'
(anyone know just how much bigger the engine bay in the 89'-95' body syle is?)

 

Thanks! Its a pretty fun truck to drive now. Its kind of funny how many people think it has a Cummins in it.

 

Ok the engine bay in my truck is 31 1/2 inches from fire wall to the core support. The radiator is set as far forward as possible and is 32 inches from the firewall. The 617 is 18 inches wide give or take. It was hard to eyeball the tape measure in the dark. I realize the 603 is close and you have one located, but be very careful of the 60X series. They are good engines but had some flaws. They were known for cracking heads so check the casting number on this one. If it is an earlier one I would walk. Since 10/87 the bolt flutes on the exhaust side have been reinforced and the recesses (hollows) between the coolant ducts on the outlet side filled to prevent cracks in the cylinder head water jacket."

This appears to be a #15 head (although a casting number change is not mentioned) which would pre-date the next change:

"The reinforcements at the valve tappet guides and exhaust passages have been reinforced. Modified cylinder heads can be recognized by the cast no. on the intake side, see table."

Engine ----- previous cast no. --- new cast no. --- Production Breakpoint
__________________________________________________ _____

602 ---------- 602 016 03 01 --- 602 016 07 01 --- 09/89

602 Turbo----- 602 016 06 01 --- 602 016 08 01 --- 07/89

603 ---------- 603 016 10 01 --- 603 016 16 01 --- 10/89

603 Turbo----- 603 016 15 01 --- 603 016 17 01 --- 07/89

Also check to be sure the trap oxidizer has been removed because that can cause a myriad of issues as well. The 603 is definitely a lot more refined than the 617 though. Just be careful when you go to look at it. Its going to ne a darn tight fit to get in there. Be aware too that the mechanical fan is probably your slimmest option aside from the sidewinder.

 

Well I figured I'd post a little update. The truck is still running great. The only issue so far has been the speedometer cable which broke about a month ago and I still haven't fixed. I have ordered an extension from Marlin and am trying to track down the stock replacement cable as well. I've also had a few return lines come off the injectors which makes a royal mess. I guess I got a bad batch of line because the rubber portion seemed to crack. I replaced most of them again and it seemed to correct the problem. On another interesting note the truck made a small appearance in Diesel Power magazine which I thought was kind of cool.
I got a new toy for the shop a few weeks ago......
so I finally got some good shots of the oil pan clearance and exhaust.


Oil pan clearance complete with the aftermath of a loose return line.

 

Honestly, just about any 60x engines that you would find still on the road now, have been fixed or just aren't going to have the head cracking issues. I have a #14 casting "the bad one" engine with an intact trap oxidizer and 304,000 on it with no issues.

 

Taken straight from the engines in my shop, not a computer.

 

31 1/2" man, that thing will be shoehorned... oh well, I'm not above doing some custom work to extend the engine bay if need be...

I've heard of the issues you mentioned, and when I finally get to go look at it, I hope it has none of these issues...
(atm I'm planning on going to look at it tommorow evening if the guy is gonna be home...) If he isn't, it'll have to wait at least another week...

It's been setting about a year due to electrical issues (so the guy says) so, we'll see what it is when i have the oppurtunity to go look at it....

Appreciate all the info!

 

Subscribed for future reference sometime next year after my rubicon trip I will be swapping some sort of motor in just not sure what yet and I'm liking the looks of this swap good work joe and lots of good info in here.

 

Thanks Vance! I think you would be really happy with it if you did it.

 

How's your Top end power now? And also I'm running 37's and eventually will go to 39.5's so right now I need to regear my diffs but with the disel what gears do you think I should run if I did this swap. Basically I need to get my truck ready for rubicon next summer then after that I'm going to start a heart transplant so if 5.29's would be too much with it I'd rather not waste the money you know what I mean? Also is this a torque beast of a motor?

 

I asked this in another thread, so I figured I'd ask here. I have an 87 4-runner 22re with a blown head gasket. Engine has 250k original as far as I know. It's been sitting for about 5 months now because I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. I drive probably 50k a year , and half of those miles are with a 6x10 tilt trailer and a 800 lb mower on it. I also haul a 2200 lb trailer 600 miles or so 5 times a year. Can this engine handle that? By swapping, am I degrading the reliability? Can it pull those trailers?

Thanks for any thoughts.

 

Skipjack,
You should have no problem pulling those trailers with the om617. I have towed/hauled enough weight with mine that I overworked the brakes and couldn't stop, but never had an issue with power or reliability. They aren't torque monsters like most diesels, but still do WAY better than a 22r or V6.

 

Thanks for the info. How have you guys dealt with the ECU? Does the ECU out of the merc setup specifically for an automatic and does that effect how it works matched up to a 5 speed?

 

You never told me u got in DP mag! Thats awesome! They messed up my subscription so i dont have that issue

 

Mercedes has no ecu and the yota one is just left in place.

 

what month was the magazine you was in???

 

He's in the back of the October issue