My Official OM617 Toyota Pickup Repower Thread

[JB3]

Originally Posted by JB3

I strongly suggest adapting mercedes stock mounts if possible. I did the same getting rid of the GM mounts on my conversion. Big difference in vibration.

I found some 3 or 4 inch pipe with a slot cut in it part way makes a great mount surface, on my phone at moment but will post a pic of what i mean soon

pics of what I did. Like danstokes, I did not install the shocks. I was planning to, but it didnt really seem necessary

I may have had more room to work with than you, but my goal was using stock arms and stock shocks. Cutout in the pipe allows room for a tool to undo stock allen head bolt from the arm

[mach4]

Just a thought...if you can get your hands on the support arms from a 617 that came in a W114 you can make things a lot easier for yourself. These were not threaded but rather had a thru hole for a bolt and nut. When you're trying to get the engine lined up its a ton easier to drive a bolt thru and stick a nut on it than trying to thread a steel bolt into an aluminum casting from the bottom where you can't see very well.

[Dan Stokes]

I just ran a drill bit thru mine. 7/16" IIRC.

Dan

[mach4]

Originally Posted by Dan Stokes

I just ran a drill bit thru mine. 7/16" IIRC.

That works...

[Stretch]

As far as I'm concerned it is parts made like this



that makes Mercedes ownership such a pleasure - look at the quality Sir!

[ROLLGUY]

Originally Posted by Stretch

As far as I'm concerned it is parts made like this



that makes Mercedes ownership such a pleasure - look at the quality Sir!

Agreed! And has anyone seen one of these break? I have not. Another testament to the quality of design and materials used in the building of these cars. How many other cars made in the 80's can be compared? I think none....Rich

[OM617YOTA]

Man, you guys say "what a pleasure to own" and I think "holy hell what a pain."

How much experience do you guys have wrenching on American and Japanese marques? I know all of these parts are built to a high quality standard. I know I've had issues with my particular engine that are outside the ordinary experience for most owners.

That said, there's so much on here that makes me go "WHY do I have to tear apart half the engine to replace that part!? A three year old could have designed this better!" that I've been seriously soured on Mercedes.

[Stretch]

Originally Posted by OM617YOTA

Man, you guys say "what a pleasure to own" and I think "holy hell what a pain."

How much experience do you guys have wrenching on American and Japanese marques? I know all of these parts are built to a high quality standard. I know I've had issues with my particular engine that are outside the ordinary experience for most owners.

That said, there's so much on here that makes me go "WHY do I have to tear apart half the engine to replace that part!? A three year old could have designed this better!" that I've been seriously soured on Mercedes.

I've done quite a bit on British and Japanese stuff - but I've never had a solid "happy that was well engineered" feeling from the produce from those countries. Worst experiences have with out a doubt been on French junk.

I'm hoping to start on 1950s / 1940s American soon!

[t walgamuth]

Originally Posted by OM617YOTA

Man, you guys say "what a pleasure to own" and I think "holy hell what a pain."

How much experience do you guys have wrenching on American and Japanese marques? I know all of these parts are built to a high quality standard. I know I've had issues with my particular engine that are outside the ordinary experience for most owners.

That said, there's so much on here that makes me go "WHY do I have to tear apart half the engine to replace that part!? A three year old could have designed this better!" that I've been seriously soured on Mercedes.

What part were you replacing that required disassembling half the engine?

[Simpler=Better]

Originally Posted by OM617YOTA

Man, you guys say "what a pleasure to own" and I think "holy hell what a pain."

How much experience do you guys have wrenching on American and Japanese marques? I know all of these parts are built to a high quality standard. I know I've had issues with my particular engine that are outside the ordinary experience for most owners.

That said, there's so much on here that makes me go "WHY do I have to tear apart half the engine to replace that part!? A three year old could have designed this better!" that I've been seriously soured on Mercedes.

Part of that is the 30yrs with no maintenance, and part of that is a 30yr old design, the last part is us(&you) being picky.

That being said, I've enjoyed the reliability of my domestic 4cyl gasser. It knocks when cold, is slow, has no ac, etc. but I don't worry about it too much. If I blow it up another engine is $250 away.


Stick it out with the 617 but don't sweat it too much if it isn't perfect.

[ROLLGUY]

I once saw a photo of the throttle linkage on a Mercedes Benz (it actually looked more complicated than that of a 300D) with the caption that read something like this: "This is why Germany lost the war". Al kidding (and throttle linkages) aside, I still hold to the opinion that the W123 was the most and best engineered car of it's time. That may even hold true for other models of that era. Every day I see a different 80's vintage Mercedes Benz on the road, and I very rarely see ANY OTHER MAKE of 80's car on the road. Not even Japanese.....Rich

[mach4]

Originally Posted by OM617YOTA

Man, you guys say "what a pleasure to own" and I think "holy hell what a pain."

How much experience do you guys have wrenching on American and Japanese marques? I know all of these parts are built to a high quality standard. I know I've had issues with my particular engine that are outside the ordinary experience for most owners.

That said, there's so much on here that makes me go "WHY do I have to tear apart half the engine to replace that part!? A three year old could have designed this better!" that I've been seriously soured on Mercedes.

Definitely understand your sentiments...

We have a Honda with 260k miles, essentially the same number of miles as my diesel SL, (engine has about 290k) and the only non-maintenance items (belts, hoses, tires, battery, brakes, fluids, etc) we've replaced is the starter. The Mercedes on the other hand requires quite a bit of maintenance (valves for example) and I've replaced quite a number items to keep the car roadworthy...stuff you think would last better - ball joints, tie rods, vacuum pods, injectors, wheel bearing, viscous fan, driveshaft bearing and support, and so forth. Oh and welding in subframe support gussets because of improper design of the a arm supports that tend to break off.

I don't think you can beat a Honda, Toyota or Subaru for trouble-free and economical transportation. That said, I much prefer my MB 107 to even the Corvette for driving and am more than willing to put up with the maintenance hassles.

[JB3]

Originally Posted by ROLLGUY

Agreed! And has anyone seen one of these break? I have not. Another testament to the quality of design and materials used in the building of these cars. How many other cars made in the 80's can be compared? I think none....Rich

Maybe its the corrosion but im not as impressed by the engine mounts. Ive seen more than one welded one, and numerous fractured blind threaded hole mounts from the 123 era, fractured around the threaded area

[JB3]

Originally Posted by Dan Stokes

I just ran a drill bit thru mine. 7/16" IIRC.

Dan

Id keep an eye on this. The ones from a 115 drilled through with a smooth hole have a lot more aluminum support in that area. Drilling right through might build in a failure point on one designed to be a threaded hole. Not that i dont agree that this is an attractive idea for sure

[t walgamuth]

Originally Posted by mach4

Definitely understand your sentiments...

We have a Honda with 260k miles, essentially the same number of miles as my diesel SL, (engine has about 290k) and the only non-maintenance items (belts, hoses, tires, battery, brakes, fluids, etc) we've replaced is the starter. The Mercedes on the other hand requires quite a bit of maintenance (valves for example) and I've replaced quite a number items to keep the car roadworthy...stuff you think would last better - ball joints, tie rods, vacuum pods, injectors, wheel bearing, viscous fan, driveshaft bearing and support, and so forth. Oh and welding in subframe support gussets because of improper design of the a arm supports that tend to break off.

I don't think you can beat a Honda, Toyota or Subaru for trouble-free and economical transportation. That said, I much prefer my MB 107 to even the Corvette for driving and am more than willing to put up with the maintenance hassles.

How old is your Honda? Newer vehicles have every part built to be more maintenance free.