Mutt The Race Truck

[DanStokes]

Guys - the engine in the Avanti is set WAY back - I'd guess 18" or more. The driveshaft is probably about a foot - the cute lil' thing was sitting in the trunk and took up no room at all.

David - MORE AVANTI PICS!!!!! I want to see the shots of the concrete plug coming out.

Dan

[Beagle]

Which year OM617 Dan? I'm seeing several versions

Did I understand correctly that you traded the 'bomb for this and did that include your groovy new rods? Ah well, this is an interesting deal.

[DanStokes]

Beags - Traded body for body (unless you count the blown SBC). I still have all the stuff for my 250s including several engines. Ideas brew in the back of my head..... Oh, and the M-B is a1984 from a 300SD.

But here's today's effort:

First is the poor man's Bridgeport. I carefully holesawed the whole deal first then cut it apart with my trusty HF chop saw. That saw was cheap but so far has been a lifesaver. You'll see what the big holes accomplished as the pics reveal. Wish my drill press ran slower - probably ought to put some effort into resolving that.

Second shot is the set-up to drill the holes to mount the spacers to the truck and then the sway bar mounts to the spacers. In that pic is the transfer punch. Don't know if all y'all know what that's for. It centers off an existing hole so the holes line up, as in this pic. A transfer punch is NOT intended as a center punch, just a marker so you know where to center punch. The bracket on the right already has the holes drilled and I dropped the bolts in so I could evaluate the next set of holes.

Here is one of the brackets deburred and painted and in place. Everything lines up great. You can see the shortened end link - pretty short but it seams great. At first I freaked a little because the steering linkage and the sway bar are only about 1 1/2 inches apart then I remembered that they move together as the lower control arm go up and down. Silly me!

A shot of the bracket from the side. I have no clue how stout these brackets need to be. I could weld in a cross brace or make spacers between the top and bottom of the bracket or..... but I have no way to evaluate if it needs to be there.

Had to stop there as Mr. Bloodsugar was heading for the basement.
Dan

[Beagle]

if you nut-sert or put a piece of tubing to keep it from collapsing and a longer mount all the way through it, and box the ends, I bet it will be as strong as the truck. Looks great, I'd run it as is and keep an eye on them. I bet they are fine as is.

I can't see the short bolt radically changing any leverage? If I remember they are pretty much straight up and down, it'll change the rate a litte I think but without a bunch of math, I'd be hard pressed to tell you how much.

I was looking at the OM617 stuff yesterday, this guy is so far not much talk and a helluva lot of action.

http://www.superturbodiesel.com/std/thread-3644.html

I looked up his shop to see if there was more information on the MB,

5014 Frank Aiken Rd Powder Springs, Ga 30127

Probably a bit much for a day trip... I was thinking it would be closer than the 450 miles it is showing in maps. The compound turbos is what I would be very interested in. His philosophy on the benz is a lot like gasser thinking, or it made sense to me.

More air, more fuel. If it smokes, you need more air. If the EGT is too high, you need more air. I hope that is right because it's probably the first time I've made sense out of a diesel's operation.

[silver_bullet]

Dan,
it the bar is too close to the steering linkage, you might try flipping it...not sure, but it might get you a little extre clearance...as far as the strength goes, i recall factory drop brackets on some trucks being nothing more than strap steel...Looking Good!!

[DanStokes]

I think you pretty much have it. The Ancient Wisdom has always been that a Diesel will make more power as long as you throw fuel at it up to a pretty high limit (LOTS of fuel). The OM617 is reported to need fuel and boost raised together to get power out of them. Tim built the turbo to have a bit more boost and about twice the volume (I like that thinking - folks forget about volume) and I'll have the fuel pump done once I get a few more checks in the bank. Found a place that actually seems to know what they're doing and I'm going with them.

Plumes of black smoke out the tailpipes is NOT a sign of a well-tuned Diesel. You should get a bit at initial load (like when you release the brakes on a brake torque) but it should clear shortly as you spool up. Otherwise it's just wasted fuel. Watch a winning pulling tractor - you'll see lots of black smoke as they hook up but it turns clean as they progress. When they add propane and/or N2O a bit further in the run the plume turns brown, which is a high concentration of NoX. Very efficient but an environmental disaster although the quantity in the big picture is pretty small.

I doubt the Mustang in the clip really got much load on it so it's hard to tell if the plume would have cleaned up under load. A full dragstrip run might change things a lot.

I think I'll go ahead and make a set of spacers and get some longer bolts to go all the way thru the brackets. I have some bits of 1/2 black steel pipe left from the plumbing projects. Can't hurt and they'll be easier to install.

Dan

[DanStokes]

Dan,
it the bar is too close to the steering linkage, you might try flipping it...not sure, but it might get you a little extre clearance...as far as the strength goes, i recall factory drop brackets on some trucks being nothing more than strap steel...Looking Good!!

Thanks for the idea. I did consider that but the bar is pretty flat - not sure that, in this case, there's much to be gained. This will give me a couple of inches which is a definite step in the right direction. The next step is to drop the engine back in and see how badly the steering hits - 'cause it will! Then it's a pan mod.

Dan

[DanStokes]

I should have shot more pics - but I didn't being Christmas eve and all.

Lowering the sway bar was fully successful and I might even leave the pan as is. It would fit just a tad better with a scallop front and rear - I'll chew on it. Anyhow, lowering the sway bar allowed the engine to drop down and it basically clears the steering linkage. The top of the cam cover is mighty close to the hood line so I'm back to lowering the engine a bit more. Still, it's sitting in there pretty close to where it goes and it's clear that it WILL fit. Much to my surprise, the sway bar fit MUCH better with the stock length end links, which work great. Life's a mystery.

Also going to have to cut into the crossmember and make a lowered mount for the engine mounts. The M-B mounts sit absolutely flat with a bolt up from the bottom and I think it's easier to adapt to them than the make new block mounts.

All in all, it feels great to have the engine and trans roughly where they go and to see that they fit.

Dan

[Monk]

Dan......curious, what kind of gearing do you opt for on a project like this?

[Beagle]

Dan......curious, what kind of gearing do you opt for on a project like this?

30" tire, 2.73's, twin (sequential) turbos and a powerglide! lol... kinda. I love to feel turbos load up against a gear.

[DanStokes]

Right now I have a squatty little tire (Khumo ECSTA's - probably 26" or so) and, Terry says, a 3:08. I'll start there. Really, I have no clue what the combo will want and the thing to do is try it and see where it runs. I suppose the first step in fine-tuning will be to try taller tires but you have to start somewhere.

Dan

[Fordplay0621]

Stick it in the weeds, lower it way down. Always liked that truck and it has a History to.

[Russell]

Dan, I think those tires are shorter than that. I ran the numbers last time. I was in town. With the 4500 rpm red line it should run right over 100 as it sits. Assumeing its making the power taller tires will pick up mph.

[tardis454]

Right now I have a squatty little tire (Khumo ECSTA's - probably 26" or so) and, Terry says, a 3:08. I'll start there. Really, I have no clue what the combo will want and the thing to do is try it and see where it runs. I suppose the first step in fine-tuning will be to try taller tires but you have to start somewhere.

Dan

I have a 7.625 2:73 S-10 rearend if you want a lower the ratio...

[DanStokes]

I think it's a Big 10 Inch (remember that tune?). J Giles I think. Anyhow, step 1 is to run it and get to the end of the track!

Dan