OM617 Performance

Boostin' & Roostin'

2,221

07-27-2010, 10:59 PM #14

(07-27-2010, 09:51 PM)GREASY_BEAST The thing is, everything pales in cost compared to the pump. A 3" Mandrel-Bent turbo-back exhaust can be built for less than $300. An intercooler can be fitted for less than $200. You can't get a performance IP for less than $1200. The shape of the damn downpipe is absolutely irrelevant. Just get a big exhaust pipe and let the stuff out. Its all in the injector pump, and there are lots of people working on that. Read some threads by Tomnik, DervTuning, and Rudolph_Diesel before you go running your mouth about shit that doesn't matter AT ALL. The problem is that no matter how crazy you get about scavenging and intake fluid dynamics, there is no way you are going to get around the fact that the OM617 is a two-valve uniflow engine. Even with the high-performance 4-valve crossflow OM606 all you need is enough airflow and a myna pump and you can have as much power as you want.

The high end development considerations that you are talking about that would be worthwhile would only center around how to make the turbo spool faster, and how to keep things cooler. Even so, it is really simple stuff and there's no "data" to be collected. The fact is using caveman tech it is possible to make more power than is possible to put on the road, and get good mileage if you want it...

EDIT: Furthermore there is no need to "compare turbochargers" in the wild on these engines. The method you are advocating is called "guess-and-check" and it is most certainly NOT what any intelligent race team will do.. There is a reason they have computers and math and stuff...

(07-27-2010, 10:05 PM)yankneck696 OK, here's my opinion & we all know what an opinion is worth... How the hell can you standardize performance on cars that have had up to 7 previous owners, unknown maintenance records, hundreds of thousands of miles and are at least 25 YAERS OLD ??? If you have about $7-8,000, buy a rebuild (maybe up to 10,000) & buy a dyno, full datalogging system with flowscan, too. you now have about a $50-75,000 investment on a 25+ year old vehicle. What I LOVE about this site is all of the variations, ingenuity, trying different things, engineering phenomenal parts & even TOOLS.
All I have ever had for a Merc Diesel was an old 240D engine & STUFFED into a Samurai with a ford probe turbo adapted to a hacked & welded 617 manifold. Behind the Sammy transfer case, I had an old Datsun transfer case mounted backwards to run 2 rear axles (first 8" Toy open always drives, 2nd, LC 40 rear offset diff welded) & a LC40 front axle in the front. Ran it on veggie on a hacked up system with a pair of Racor FRG 900 filters. Made my own TIT fuel lines to preheat the veggie & an ace hardware valving setup to switch over from the diesel in an outboard tank to a beer keg for the veggie. If I remember right, it was 4.56 gears running military hummer tires & rims with homemade adapters. Wobbled like a 450pound hooker running from the cops, but I drove it for 3 years while (Of course) working at a junkyard. Built it there, too. Fixed it every monday & tuesday night after work. Ran it in the swamp endlessly each weekend, won alot of bets ( lots of Natty Ice) & pulled out alot of trucks much larger, went alot of places that $30,000 - $50,000 trucks wouldn't dare. It's still running as the parts pulling truck at the yard & the only "fabrication tools" I had were a drill, sawzall, torch, cheap harbor freight 110 fluxcored wire feed welder & parts from every make & model of car & truck we had. Even hydraulic steering from some weird military forklift. To round it all out, the side & rearvier mirrors were from a '72 dodge aspen, cable operated. Oh, the winch was from a Duce, hydraulically driven with a pump I found in the trunk of a car.
There's your baseline...
"Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible" Frank Zappa
I guess what I'm trying to get at is that we all do what we want, we try different things, no 2 cars will EVER be the same on this site, but you can get alot of inspiration to do alot of persperation from this site. Read all of the back posts & see the evolutions of some of the projects. There will never be kits for these cars ( except the old 240 turbo kits from 3 or more decades ago). I havent touched a merc in 3 years, I think. I check this site every day & input what I do to possibly help others. Peace & MOD IT !!!!!

Yeah! I thought I was the only one for a sec.... whew!

This post was last modified: 07-27-2010, 11:00 PM by Captain America.

1982 300D Turbo ... 3,6xxlbs, No fan, No AC, Hood Stack, No ALDA, No rear bumper and stuffed front, A/W Intercooled, Injectors by Greezer and HUGE Pre-Chambers with help from OM616 & Simpler=Better, Fuel Cranked up, 60 Trim Compressor wheel, EGT, EMP, Boost 50" Rigid Radius bar on roof Aux tank for a total of 48 Gal Of Diesel! Odyssey PC-1750 Battery in trunk, 27"x8.5"/R14 Maxxis BigHorn Mud Terrains, In June '14 issue of Off Road Mag

AX15 Jeep Trans swap in progress....