Unique view
Unique view
After asking many questions and reading tons of build threads I finally tackled the engine mounts. Lots of wood cribbing and the floor jack got the engine exactly where I want it. It's offset 1" to the passenger side so the oil cooler clears the steering box.
For mounts I read an old thread about swaps and Curtis mentioned marine mounts. These babies are rated for 500lbs each, and my engine is ~450lbs. Very adjustable and easy to work with. Most importantly very low profile as I don't have terribly much room. The bracketry is 3/16 plate(dad wanted to scrap this random extra metal!).
Summer was still winding down here on the Outer Banks and after Labor Day the full blown busy season ends. So it was time for a pause from life and the racecar. In January 2020 I bought tickets to see my favorite band. Only took 2.5 years and 10 hours of driving to finally use those tickets, but worth the wait!
After being ejaculated on by a German man with a giant mechanical penis it was back home to work and the racecar.
It takes a long time to do anything 30 minutes at a time.
The RS5R30A is a big transmission and I'm mounting this engine slightly higher than the OM617 sat. So to achieve good drivetrain angles there is more transmission inside the cabin than I would have preferred. Oh well. Also visible where I had to notch the suspension crossmember and move the steering damper mount down 1". I have yet to finish patching that notch.
The trans crossmember is made of parts from an old HF engine mount and the factory Nissan mount. My crossmember bolts into the factory hole. Missing the photo of the finished piece.
Weird the way this Nissan mount works
Angle iron bolted up to the factory holes
A little bit of box tube and here we are
Everything fits in the car. Drivetrain angles are copacetic according to the Tremec app. Now the engine is back on the floor so I can pull off the trans and install the clutch parts. One more big part purchase in the driveshaft before the car can finally nickle and dime me to death.
2.5 weeks until it goes into storage for winter and I go back to my Tahome for 4 months.
I've been following with great interest. I'm excited to see how it performs. Most people dont have w116's and I dont know anyone that swapped in a VW engine with a Nissan trans. The MB forums would be crying foul but I love it. I'll be back in a w116 in a few months but a 6.9 this time ha
I'm excited for this, yet terrified that I'll screw something up. Secretly I don't really like building cars, I like driving/owning them. But you can't just go out and buy a 200SD TDI without a big stack of cash that I don't have!
A few years ago my dad made me a shift knob out of Surfite, resin drippings from building surfboards. I adapted it to the Nissan shifter with an M10x1.25
7 days until I leave for 4 months in Tahoe. My goal as of this week is to have the engine bolted to the transmission and sitting in the car on mounts. I pulled the drivetrain to install the clutch/PP/TOB and somebody(not pointing fingers) forgot to buy Pressure Plate Bolts. Hopefully I can get some ordered in in time to put this away next Thursday.
Why didn't I use my cart to install the trans on the engine in the first place?
The Hardy Boys: Case of the Missing Bolts
This handy little piece showed up which adapts the weird VW intercooler pipe to normal silicon.
Holding pattern
I leave for Tahoe on Friday and a friend wants to borrow my engine hoist for the next 4 months. Gotta get it all buttoned up.
New Exedy clutch/PP/TOB installed. Fingers crossed I don't have to split the engine and trans before the first drive. HAHAHAH
I had to clearance the crossmember for the bellhousing and a little extra for the slave cylinder. Of course I ran out of wire 3" from the finish. My welding is improving...
Send it home!
Back down on all 4 wheels for the first time since May. She's riding high with this lightweight TDI/5speed. I figure it's 150-200lbs less than the factory setup but obviously won't know until I'm back on a scale. Good bye until spring old friend
Made it to the winter home. Tahoe greeted us with 5 feet of snow. Time to trade in the 200TWs for studded snows.
Jealous of the winter home! Also jealous of the XJ, even if it is hidden by snow.
Those engine mounts are brilliant. Already looking on how i can integrate them into our Elantra. How easy are they to adjust height wise?
There are all different sizes of these mounts. This set has about 2" of adjustment using a 1" socket. Very easy.
Yo BbOy.....my apologies this thread has been a treat on a cold winter day(20 °) here in Texas . Had no idea you were waist deep in this and the shot above is exactly what I'm dealing with on my JD4410 tractor.......that stinkin' bolt way up there.....how are your knuckles? Definitely have this tagged in my watched thread whodathoughtit.....carry on
Thankfully all the knuckle busting was stripping the Passat. I spent more blood on that car in a few months than I did on the Mercedes in 9 years. VW packed that thing so tight. It's amazing they built the whole front end to slide 4" forward just so you can reach the belts
I brought my girl a third pedal home from my vacation. Thanks to my friend Matt at Kweik Classics for selling me one out of his collection. Apparently w116, w123, w126 and r107 all use the same pedal mounts.
Back to work on my project. I want to drive it this year damnit!
In reply to buzzboy :
Matt is good peoples. Hopefully, I'll be dropping my 6.9 off to him this summer.
Welcome back to the East Coast! Tunachuckers are running our Amazon at NJMP in June...you need to get the Benzo done and race with us up there, so there's a slower car we can pass.
I need to go racing again in general. I'm really missing it. I hope to end up arrive and driving somewhere this year.
I've been feeling a little down for the past two weeks, since I got back to my summer home. Finding it hard to motivate to work on things. But today I finally broke the seal and at least installed the new pedal set. It'll need a master and a reservoir then I can plumb everything
I've been putting this job off for 2 years because I was afraid. It's really not that hard
We have a throttle pedal! Pedal spacing is same as stock, so heel/toe is a bit difficult, but doable.
What do you call the skinny pedal on a diesel? It's not attached to a throttle or an accelerator pump, nor does it supply gas. Torque command pedal?
While waiting on some clutch and power steering fittings my radiator and after cooler parts came in. After this thread I decided to go with a racing 3 row Honda radiator and an MR2 after cooler. They will attach with this core support that bolts in where the original radiator and oil cooler mounted. This way I should get really good air flow through my coolers. Tomorrow I'll figure out how to mount a radiator I hope.
In reply to buzzboy :
It's the "Thrust Suggestion Stick".
Accelerator pedal. Would not be accurate if this had the old non turbo Mercedes diesel.
This is awesome! Keep it up!
In reply to buzzboy :
My dad calls it a "foot feed", probably from driving tractors.
wvumtnbkr said:Would not be accurate if this had the old non turbo Mercedes diesel.
Wouldn't you know it, the '79 300SD is the world's first TurboDiesel passenger car. The first MB to get the OM617 Turbo.
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