Dont worry about hurting your engine with to much boost or power, the om617 will hold 300+hp on all stock parts with no problems, the turbo starts to run out of efficiency at 20psi. We have run our shop truck with the rack limiter removed, torque management cranked, 21psi boost and water meth super hard for the last 2 years, taking it to the diesel drags, gettin 3, 000 mi out of rear tires and not had a single problem with it and still will hit 40mpg. Dont waste your money on a snow water meth kit, buy a Devils Own brand, from them or me (tdswaps) I spoke with both companies at the sema show and Devils own is a better kit and much cheaper, digital progressive controler, finer atomosation nozzels ect. Small company with low overhead keeps his prices low and frankly, the guys from snow are dicks. I (tdswaps) will be starting a build thread here on a 300hp om617 powerd semi mid engined 93 toyota pre runner/tuff truck

 

That sounds amazing. Can you put up a video? I've heard some pretty outrageous claims but have never seen any of them backed up with a video or dyno chart. Thanks for the tip on water/meth. My trip to SEMA fell thru last fall.

Thank you

 

There's videos on my website (tdswaps.com) and on youtube of the 2wd truck and the build of the 300hp truck will be up soon, just about done collecting all the parts. The om617 is capable of way more than what people think and without spending any money on it, most of them are out of time from timing chain stretch and the boost reference line to the injection pump is plugged which severely kills performance. I am working on 7.5 mm elements for the pumps,vgt and regular turbo upgrades and air to water intercoolers for th 617 as well.

 

I would like to see a set of compounds on an OM617. I think it would really flatten out the power band.

Are you still running the ALDA?

 

Ive done my research on boost, and Ive read reports of bent rods at as low as 18psi all the way to 30+. There was a guy over seas running over 300hp but it only lasted for about 509 miles till it blew up at 30psi on the highway.

 

I run superchargers with turbos to flatten out the torque curve. Dont get rid of the alda, just spend some time adjusting it right. If you remove it, your throttle gets stiff and you lose drivability and about 1/4 of your throttle travel. Removing it doesnt give you any more power, just keeps the engines from fueling more than needed at low boost, so the old ladies wouldn't be offended by thier luxury Mercedes belching black smoke. I have removed it and adjusted it every possible way, till I found the best combo. Your ip timing from the factory is set for quiet/smoothe running(ie retarded)not for performance, try advancing it a few degrees and see what that does for performance. You cant hurt it by going to far unlike retarding it to far.

 

Research and actually doing it are two different things and just because a guy builds an engine and posts it on the web doesnt mean he did it right, there are also plenty of guys running them maxed out with no issues as well. I have 13 om 617s in my shop at the moment and have modded every one that went out the door and have given the same mod instructions to my customers and haven't had one problem yet, plus our 380,000 mi engine in our shop truck, which gets the bejusus drivin out of it. How many guys have built a small block chevy to stock hp specs and blown them up????

 

Wow, it sounds like you've put a lot of work into. The only problem I see is lack of engine bay room for the typical swap. If I ever find the correct hood scoop, Id like to try a top mounted intercooler like a Subaru. Do you know if it's a simple process to clock the intake side of the turbo to allow for an intercooler install? Also, are you running a manual boost controller or did you just adjust the wastegate?

 

Clocking the turbo is easy, run an air to water ic from frozenboost or similar. Just ran a bleed off to the wastegate. Im tired of all the nay sayers who say it isnt a good engine for a swap, or doesnt produce enough power, most of those comments come from people who have never even seen an om617 in person, let alone actually worked/owned one. Its my business to know what they are capable of.

 

I will be mounting my inter cooler and my oil cooler in the hood via diy hood scoop. I will be doing what I saw on power block tv this weekend

I hope this link works, it is so awesome from a fab point of view.

http://www.powerblocktv.com/episodes...ont-bumper-fab

 

I looked at frozenboost a while back, but I still havent figured out where to put an extra radiator and fan, the intercooler, and the pump. Id like to just set one up without the hood on for ease of installation and do some performance and dyno testing and see if it's even worth it. That would be the biggest selling point right there.

P.S. It's a lot of fun talking to someone else about this that has ideas. It's been a while since I've traded ideas with anyone. It's no fun being a lone ranger pioneer.

 

Mikem, check out where I mounted my oil cooler. I havent had a problem with it yet although Id like to angle it for a scooping effect. Even after a hard drive on a 110 degree Fahrenheit day the oil temp was still just fine.

 

I think a top mount would be beneficial if he is having egt issues at speed. I was considering one because that is where I would have needed the extra cooling of air had I kept going with my swap. I was looking for a 2000ish 4runner hood scoop for mine and I had a wrx intercooler I was going to mount over the engine.

Also, a VNT turbo would be less complex and easier to package than a superturbo setup and give similar results up to a certain power level. The only problem is an electric controller is the best way to control them and they are not readily available. There are some nice manual setups on peachparts that work really well.

I know this is your business, but sorry to say, these are not performance engines. Yes you can modify them, but they're not going to be reliable like a real performance engine.

 

Just watched that Trucks episode. Thanks for sharing; I'm tempted to make something now.

As far as adding all this extra stuff to the engine bay, one must consider ease of working on the motor. The top mount IC will just be one more thing to remove before getting access to the top of the engine. Not saying I'm against it obviously, just putting that out there. Right now I have to remove the throttle bracket to change my oil filter.

 

I do like the frozen cooler link, water to air seems good but I’m not sure I will do a IC or not. Nut I do want to get the oil cooler in the hood. Im not sure if I will do a front scoop or a cowl type yet.

 

Have you thought about making a compound turbo set up? I kind of wonder what a VW TDI turbo would do as a high pressure turbo would be like. They are a VGT design. I guess the only issue would be figuring out how to control cylinder pressures then so the head gasket or something else didn't get damaged.

 

I know this is your business, but sorry to say, these are not performance engines. Yes you can modify them, but they're not going to be reliable like a real performance engine.[/QUOTE]

So tell us all about how you are the expert on om617 performance and know more about thier potential than somone who does it for a living? Is it because you are the only person on this planet that has gone through 3 om617s in his rig because he couldnt figure out how to get them to run correctly in the first place? How many diesels are made as a (performance engine) in the first place? I have read the advice that you have given out on other forums and unless you actually know what you are talking about, wich when it comes to Mercedes diesels, you obviously dont know as much as you think and have been giving uneducated and incorrect advice. And congrats, I think you are the only person on this planet that has something bad to say about an om617 swap... lonely?

 

Completely forgot to mention that on the way home from Christmas break, a piece of the casting on my alternator broke off and fell inside, causing self destruction. I decided to replace it with a 105 amp GM alternator. I went with the CS105. It was so similar in shape and size that it bolted right up! The difference is AMAZING!!!! I can now turn EVERYTHING on at idle and everything is fine. By that, I mean I can turn on all 8 lights, the cd player, and air compressor and I can tell that I don't have a huge voltage drop because the compressor sounds different when it is shorted of power. With the stock alt, I would have to slightly rev the engine to get the compressor enough juice to run at 100%. As far as wiring goes, I should have done a tutorial when I installed it. I used 2 AWG wire from NAPA with a 120amp fuse. I left all the stock wiring in tact; I just upgraded by putting that 2 AWG wire from the alt to the battery and another from the battery to the engine block and chassis. I will probably upgrade the wire to the starter at some point, but for now I'm broke, and the alt wiring cost $60.

The transmission came from Marlin Crawler today. Today is exactly 6 weeks since I ordered the tranny. Although I'm very displeased with the wait time (website says a week and the salesmen said 3-4), I'm pleased so far with the transmission. It is cleaner than I could have imagined, it came in a big rubbermaid with zip ties holding the lid on (my favorite shipping method), and everything looks like it's brand new. I also saved a lot of money over the last 2 months by being forced to ride my motorcycle in 5 degree weather and snow. I would have taken the truck in heart beat if I could drive it, and that would have wasted a lot of money with idling it to warm it up. Plus, people look at me like I'm nut when it's snowing in Kansas and I'm passing them on the motorcycle

Stay tuned. I get the shop after we close on Saturday night to put my transmission in with the truck on the lift this time Hoping it goes very smoothly. I will take the truck out for a brief drive Saturday night, then going for a wheeling trip first thing Sunday morning. Can't wait to use 5th gear again!!!!

EDIT*** I forgot to brag about how awesome it was when my alternator failed since I have a mechanically injected diesel. Doesn't require juice to run, so I drove the rest of the 2 hours with my headlights being the only thing drawing current.

 

This thread is awesome! it may have took an hour and a half to read it all but I did it! and I'm glad I did, I'm hoping to do a 4BT Cummins swap in my 89 eventually, but I figured i'd do a body lift and SAS first.
Well Good luck with your truck and keep up the good work

 

[QUOTE=pyrojoe22;52047846]Completely forgot to mention that on the way home from Christmas break, a piece of the casting on my alternator broke off and fell inside, causing self destruction. I decided to replace it with a 105 amp GM alternator. I went with the CS105. It was so similar in shape and size that it bolted right up! The difference is AMAZING!!!! I can now turn EVERYTHING on at idle and everything is fine. By that, I mean I can turn on all 8 lights, the cd player, and air compressor and I can tell that I don't have a huge voltage drop because the compressor sounds different when it is shorted of power. With the stock alt, I would have to slightly rev the engine to get the compressor enough juice to run at 100%. As far as wiring goes, I should have done a tutorial when I installed it. I used 2 AWG wire from NAPA with a 120amp fuse. I left all the stock wiring in tact; I just upgraded by putting that 2 AWG wire from the alt to the battery and another from the battery to the engine block and chassis.

That is exactly why I supply mounts for the GM cs130 alternator with my kits. The˟toyota alt is to weak and the merc alt isnt very reliable and not stocked everywhere.