54 GMC, S10 swap, OM617 diesel

[Bomp]

Rolled out 125+ miles. Congrats man. Bet you had a grin from ear to ear on all those miles.

[DieselRat]

You bet!

Heres a short clip. I'm sure there will be more to come.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CirNvVY2P7c


Not sure why its making you re-direct to youtube for this one...

[99 to Life]

thanks for the vid, gotta love some driving footage.

[MalibuSSwagon]

Amazing job on the truck my friend, congrats.

[DieselRat]

300+ miles and counting. No issues to compain of. Figured out my speedo is about +2-3mph which I can totally live with. Now I need to calculate some fuel mileage, but I can tell already. Its good!

[99 to Life]

awesome, glad to hear. How about PA upping the title and plate fees about 60% and claims of higher fuel tax all to "help" pay for roads? what a scam, one bad winter and they pull this garbage. good your getting good miles.

[DieselRat]

HA yea, apparently they forgot to fix the roads around me. We watched these fools basically pouring in asphalt, then running over it with their truck and half way smooth it out, then move on to the next hole. It was better off as just potholes let alone a whole half mile of highs and lows.

[joedoh]

love it! I had an 83 300SD that I bought in rochester NY and drove home, you arent kidding about the highway revs those diesels will take. but talk about lag! you had to be good at spotting those holes in traffic and putting your foot down about a week early! Ours developed the never-shut-off problem and mystified my wife. She called and said "I have the keys, and the car is still running..."

what a cool swap, I love weirdo stuff. you get a gold star.

[99 to Life]

PA road workers (9 guys watching 1 guy in the hole) wasted money. I just blew a ball joint and had to get towed home at 11:30pm cause I hit a pot hole so bad. Though.... this was on dirt roads. Luckily though, cause paved roads coulda been a worse situation. keep driving man, nice weather is around the bend.

[DieselRat]

450 miles and counting. Havent really done much to it other than check my wheel spacers torque and cleaned up a few things.

My tank holds a little over 6 gallons, drove about 150 miles and figured my fuel mileage at about 25mpgs. Thats running it pretty hard too. Washed it this afternoon and snapped s few pics. Also painted my wheels black which definately made an improvement in the look!

[99 to Life]

awesome news and great mpg. why only a 6gal tank? some all black tires and or wide whites will really set it off, though it looks great right now. diggin the engine bay.

[DieselRat]

Sort of a long story on the tank. I originally had ordered a larger tank, 2 months later no tank. So in somewhat of a hasty decision went with a slightly smaller tank to avoid the continued run around and delays and BS from this guy. It turned out to be a lot smaller and now I'm stuck with it. So eventually I may change that up, but for now Im running it.

[99 to Life]

hey atleast your getting really good mpg.

[48ChevBagged]

Thats awesome. It turned out really nice. It feels good when you get one done enough to drive it. I can't wait to finish this customer build I have been doing and get back on my 4bt truck. I'm ready to get mine on the road.

[Purcell69]

Man what a great build! Gotta love those little Benz diesels for long life and economy.

-Joe

[mattcrp1]

Congrats on TOTM, any news on this truck?

[DieselRat]

Haven't been on the site in a few weeks, maybe even a month and log in today to find out I won truck of the month. Pretty sweet!

As far as news, the truck has literally needed nothing since I stopped working at it. Just been driving it! There are some things I need to go back and do, but that wont be until winter comes around. Still has some things that need finishing that I just put off in favor of driving it this summer!

Shes getting broken in nicely with probably around 2500 trouble free miles so far.

[playinsafe44]

You did a great job with your truck. Do you have a top speed? Will you be able to tow with it? Really making me re-think my options.

[DieselRat]

Ive had it up to 65 easily, never had it on the hiway really to wind it all the way out. You could tow with it, the manual trans really brings the engine to life over the stock auto MB trans. If it wasnt so low I wouldnt hesitate to tow my boat and stuff with it, I would just end up tragging fenders in rough parking lots etc.

The downside is you ge what you get with the engine, theres not easy or cheap power adders for it.

[Diesel46]

Your truck looks great! I have been collecting parts to do a very similar project. The biggest difference is mine is a 1946. I bought a complete running 1984 300d and a basket case pickup. I have an S10 frame and I also have a frame clip from a 78 Malibu. The 46 on an S10 does not fit as good as the AD trucks. Not sure what is best yet. I got an ax15 from a 2wd Cherokee and an adapter from Koch enterprizes. Is that where You got your adapter? I have been gathering parts for 4 years waiting to finish some other projects. I am glad to see you have been getting 25MPG. I was wandering if you tried lowering the Idler arm and the steering box on the frame to lower the drag link to help clear the oil pan? Does the motor sitting so high in the frame effect the way it drives or handles? It is very encouraging to see your truck. Thanks for posting all your pics!

[DieselRat]

Originally Posted by Diesel46

Your truck looks great! I have been collecting parts to do a very similar project. The biggest difference is mine is a 1946. I bought a complete running 1984 300d and a basket case pickup. I have an S10 frame and I also have a frame clip from a 78 Malibu. The 46 on an S10 does not fit as good as the AD trucks. Not sure what is best yet. I got an ax15 from a 2wd Cherokee and an adapter from Koch enterprizes. Is that where You got your adapter? I have been gathering parts for 4 years waiting to finish some other projects. I am glad to see you have been getting 25MPG. I was wandering if you tried lowering the Idler arm and the steering box on the frame to lower the drag link to help clear the oil pan? Does the motor sitting so high in the frame effect the way it drives or handles? It is very encouraging to see your truck. Thanks for posting all your pics!

Thanks for the comment, I will try and answer some of your questions.

I did use an AX-15 from a 2wd jeep, I have lots of friends into jeeps (thats sort of what spawned the idea for the OM617 in the first place) and after many 2wd to 4wd trans swaps, 2wd trans are a junkyard item in the 4x4 world of jeeps so that was a no brainer! I did get the koch enterprises adapter, which was inexpensive and spot on as far as hooking it all up.

As far as changing the steering setup, I didnt even try. The way the steering is in the first place is goofy IMO, I didnt want to mess with any of it and try to change angles and pieces. It was easy enough to notch the pan that the headache of changing steering arms etc just wasnt something I wanted to get into. Besides all that, pelican parts has lower oil pans for around $20 if I failed and needed to buy a replacement pan. I really enjoy welding, and it was just fun to notch it and make it work that way. Also as far as it being set up so high, I actually like it and it really worked out well. It looks like it belongs there, not all sunken in like a 350 looks. My driveline is still low to the ground, but I did do a trans tunnel inside (again I like welding so it was fun to construct) Other than the clanking and rattling of old tin, it drives amazing. It steers easy, even with a manual steering box, and has no body roll or feeling of unbalance. For being my first 'complete build' it all fell into place nicely, shifter position, pedals, etc. Feel free to ask any other questions or I would be glad to show pics. I had to sort of figure all this out on my own without much to look at since I still haven't seen any others done in an AD truck!

[DieselRat]

Oh and Diesel46, just saw you were in hanover PA. I don't do a lot of car shows but maybe well catch up at one some day!

On a side note, I have a lot of PMs and such, and I really havent updated in a long time. Basically my huge push to get the truck driving was due to my 2nd child being born in April. I wanted it at least driveable by then because I knew my time in the garage was going to be super limited after that. And it has been! I have no done a THING to the truck all summer, but drive. It needs a good washing and vacuum, but haven't had a single hiccup yet. Later this winter I hope to get back into it and fix up some things and finish some things. Rolled out about 3000 miles on it this summer, not as many as I was expecting, but its a good start! Thanks for all the positive comments!

[Diesel46]

Congratulations on having your second child on the way, that is great. They are a blessing. That is sure your first priority. We have three kids, all moved out now, I thought my projects would go faster now but that is not happening. Now its projects at their houses and grandchildren. What gear ratio are you running in the rear of your truck? Some of the things I read it looks like I may need to run 4:11 gears to be able to use 5th gear. The 300d with the automatic transmission with no OD and no lockup torque converter spins almost 3000 rpm at 65 mph. If I use the s10 rear that I have with 3:42 gears, tires about 2 inches taller than the 14s on the MB, and use the 5 speed OD manual trans, it looks like in 5th gear the engine will run about 650 or 700 rpm slower. I don't know if that is good or bad. It seems like these MB diesels like to run higher RPM than some other diesels. I will be busy for the next few weekends but maybe If I buy you breakfast some Saturday morning you would take me for a ride in that cool truck!

[DieselRat]

Ive never been good at calculating that kind of stuff, and with no tach I cant tell you what RPMs I am turning... BUT the rear. I got. I pulled from the junk yard out of a 4x4 blazer i believe is 3:55. I can pull hills in 5th gear as long as Im not lugging it alone. I usually rev it out until I see about 10psi of boost then shift. Granted I have stock s10 14" wheels and tires so with a little taller tire I could see that slowing me up some.

[Diesel46]

From what I understand the Mercedes flywheel is balanced to the engine and some guys say I need to balance the Jeep flywheel the same. Some say it does not matter. Did you balance yours?