617 Turbo into a Boat - Page 6 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

polarisrmk · #76 05-13-2010, 03:05 AM

Begining wire harness.... Temporary electronics mounting plate.

Glow plug relay home.

Adaptor and Custom flywheel.

Just adaptor

OEM Mercruiser coupler bolted to new flywheel ..... Dog wanted camera.

Not sure Mercedes ever meant the power steering bracket to be used for this but hey it works! Cleaner prettier mount for electronics to come in the future.

polarisrmk · #77 05-15-2010, 01:03 AM

I have been doing a few small things over the past few days here are some more photos.

Fuel Return. Tapped 1/8" NPT pipe thread into fuel gauge sending unit.

Motor is now mounted in the boat and aligned to drive. Here are the front motor mounts.

Two Pictures of Throttle linkage... Used stock linkage and cut up some of the cruise control brackets and mounted stock mercruiser throttle cable and studs to brackets.

woodrat · #78 06-03-2010, 01:01 PM

wow! really nice job! how did you go about fabbing that bellhousing adapter?

I thought about doing this with a 19' Bellboy, but I got sick of dealing with trying to find old Mercruiser parts, and finally sold that one and bought another Bellboy hull that can take my Yamaha outboard. But I think a diesel benz powered boat is a really great idea.

When I was looking into this conversion years ago, one of the things I was told by was to use a Volvo outdrive instead of Merc, since the Merc momentarily kills the spark while shifting and it would be hard to make a diesel work with that, whereas the Volvo has some kind of clutch. How did you deal with that?

polarisrmk · #79 06-03-2010, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by woodrat

wow! really nice job! how did you go about fabbing that bellhousing adapter?

I thought about doing this with a 19' Bellboy, but I got sick of dealing with trying to find old Mercruiser parts, and finally sold that one and bought another Bellboy hull that can take my Yamaha outboard. But I think a diesel benz powered boat is a really great idea.

When I was looking into this conversion years ago, one of the things I was told by was to use a Volvo outdrive instead of Merc, since the Merc momentarily kills the spark while shifting and it would be hard to make a diesel work with that, whereas the Volvo has some kind of clutch. How did you deal with that?

I purchased the adaptor and flywheel from 4x4 labs.

Mercruiser only kills the spark for a split second when shifting out of gear. It is not even noticeable to 90 percent of people. volvo also has engines that do this FYI. Mercruiser also makes a drive with a cone clutch, though it is more reliable than the volvo drive, Imo (all bravo drives) ....however i don't think this will be a problem in my application but i have thought of a few ways to take care of this if i do have the problem. The diesel only has to vary its power output for a split second for the drive to come out of gear at an idle. and I think the mercedes has this this feature built in lol , meaning the 617 is not the smoothest idling engine.

polarisrmk · #80 06-07-2010, 02:29 PM

With the help of a member here. I now have a completely functional aftermarket tach. My heat exchanger showed up the other day so i am headed out to get some hoses and fittings to get that hooked up so i can run longer than a min

polarisrmk · #81 09-21-2010, 01:12 AM

It has been a while since I have updated this. Just want to let you know the project is still going only much more slowly as I started a new job as a tech with MB. I have got the entire cooling system functioning now and breather tank. Intake silicone hose showed up the other day just have to fab some sort of brakets to hold it all in place. Drive is now on boat and engine turns propeller the most exciting day so far!! I am hoping to get some more picture posted but a little cleaning up of my temporary work is much needed ie: there are hoses everywhere!!! Next step and final step before trial run is some sort of exhaust cooling.... still mulling around what I am going to do about this.

spamman450 · #82 09-21-2010, 01:30 AM

I was thinking about your boat just this past week. I can't wait to see a video of the test run. Please keep us updated, this is such a cool project!

dagObx · #83 09-21-2010, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by polarisrmk

Next step and final step before trial run is some sort of exhaust cooling.... still mulling around what I am going to do about this.

If you are going to use a heat exchanger for cooling, you can dump the raw water from that exchanger into the exhaust stream. You will need to weld a nipple just downstream from the manifold & route the hoses from the raw-water exit on the exchanger to the nipple. Be sure to size the nipples the same as the hose from the exchanger. Use good stainless clamps.

If you are not going to use a heat exchanger, you can still route the water from the engine to said nipples...

Both ideas follow the basic arrangement of a marine cast-iron exhaust elbow, which already has the nipple moulded in the casting. You might want to visit a marine engine shop & see what that's all about. Might even find an elbow or two lying around for the buying.

Hope this helps...

polarisrmk · #84 04-04-2011, 07:49 PM

Bringing My project back out since it is spring and getting the boating fever. Sent the marine heat exchanger off to a local radiator shop to have some fittings moved and fixed. Turns out that the core tubes are leaking internally, meaning raw water and engine coolant are mixing

. The seller on ebay assured me that he had pressure tested the exchanger and it was leak free. Guess I will be requiring a new heat exchanger as this one is probably not repairable. If anyone has a spare one laying around let me know

. Due to the extreme cost of a new exchanger my project may have to be put on hold yet again.

kerry · #85 04-04-2011, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by polarisrmk

Bringing My project back out since it is spring and getting the boating fever. Sent the marine heat exchanger off to a local radiator shop to have some fittings moved and fixed. Turns out that the core tubes are leaking internally, meaning raw water and engine coolant are mixing

. The seller on ebay assured me that he had pressure tested the exchanger and it was leak free. Guess I will be requiring a new heat exchanger as this one is probably not repairable. If anyone has a spare one laying around let me know

. Due to the extreme cost of a new exchanger my project may have to be put on hold yet again.

I actually do have a heat exchanger for a marine engine laying around. I bought it to switch my Atomic 4 from raw water cooling but never used it. PM me if you're interested.