Mercedes 300D Marine Conversion

[ted655]

Thanks.
What is an opinion on the Borg Warners?

[hartley]

Ted655 ......You have a MB300D and wish to mate a marine gear to it ...riight? .Now first things first,is the MB manual or auto ,if manual no problems if auto may be problems ,you will have to obtain a manual flywheel from a wreck perhaps ,although manual 300D's are pretty scarce over here ,perhaps not the case where you are .also do not take it as given that the manual flywheel will bolt up to the crankshaft flange .....check first
Also you will find this exercise much easier if you use a borg warner gear ,now after all that ,and you wish to do this ,it is not all that difficult ....but you will have to have access to a lathe with a swing of at least 18 inches ( hobby lathes will not do ) or perhaps you know someone with such a lathe..If you get all this figured out and if you wish I will give you all the info you will need to complete the job ....cheers Hartley

[FAST FRED]

What is an opinion on the Borg Warners?

Great , cheaper than T-D and with 25 years of marine use , a used one might be findable.

FAST FRED

[Cleopatra23]

Wiseman of Stuttgart used to marinise these. He mated them to Borg Warner Vee drives so its all been done before. The power output of about 15HP per cylinder should not any give heat problems if the cooling system is OK. Best regards from David.

[Gary Gear, Ph.D]

I too am interested in replacing a pair of Mercruiser 470's with OM 617's. With fuel prices moving the way they are, diesel and bio diesel becomes much more attractive. The Merc. series 1 out drives can easily handle the torque and the RPM range of the OM 617 is very close to that of the 470.

Because this is a high reving diesel, ring and cyllinder wall life has never been particularly better than a gas counterpart. But it certainly is one of the engines of choice for bio conversions for some very sound reasons.

Mine is really a Lake Powell boat so long distance (60 miles between fuel stations) is common. Fuel effencicy is much more of an issue than speed. I'll be coming down from 340 HP combined to about 250 HP combined.

Anyone mated an OM617 to Merc. outdrive?

G

[sailinphelan]

Ted, I too am considering putting an MB (probably 300SD, dry stack) engine in my houseboat. Any progress with your conversion? Mine had a 302 Ford driving a Volvo/Penta dual prop stern drive.

I did once make a conversion plate to put a Chrysler slant-6 into a 1960 Land Rover; it still runs by the way, 15 years later.

PJ