Now to all the details that will make
the engine and transmission work in their new environment.

 

The new throttle pivot mount. Together me and my good friend Leif worked out a new way to mount the old pivot to the turbo intake, and to make the Mercedes throttle linkage compatible with the Chevrolet throttle wire. This part mounts to an intake mounting bolt, and with another bolt to the intake.

The throttle cable mount was welded to the engine hoist hook, which mounts to the cylinder head with the two rearmost intake bolts. The other end of the cable mount snakes around the intake runner and bolts to the oil filter housing. Time consuming but pretty simple to fabricate.

As the Mercedes turbo intake was designed for a non intercooler installation, it needed a new inlet tube. A hole was cut in the manifold and a piece of aluminum tubing welded to it.

A lot of ToDo lists. For every item checked off, a few new ones are thought up.

Tubing from the turbo to the cooler, and on to the intake have been done. A red free flow air filter is mounted directly to the turbo, but will most likely be moved away from it later, to allow cooler air to be sucked into the engine.

Even if the engine bay of the Caprice is nice and roomy, it's started looking pretty busy. The intake has been cleaned, painted and mounted along with tubing to and from the intercooler. The throttle linkage is now functional, and the front part of the exhaust system is done, it ends in front of the rear axle for now. The glow relay is still to be connected. Still lots on the to do lists. (March 2014)

The middle part of the exhaust pipe. The Y in the foreground will split the exhaust into two pipes for a classic two pipe look.

... And the rear part of the exhaust system, minus the tailpipes, which will be welded on after the trailer hitch is mounted. Now the Chevy is almost ready for start up.

A lot of tinkering with the glow relay and other small stuff got us close to the point of the first firing up of the Benz diesel in the Caprice. The tank was filled up with diesel fuel, engine block and radiator with coolant, oils checked... Time to fire it up. After a lot of running the engine on the starter, the oil pressure light didn't go off. The glow relay was connected, and the engine sprang to life. The oil lamp was still burning, and the engine shut off. The oil pressure sender was pulled, and it was totally dry. As was the oil filter. No oil in circulation at all. We gave in for the night.

A couple days later after a tip from a forum, the oil filter housing was pulled from the block. It contains a back pressure valve that obviously kept air from escaping and thus oil from getting into the pump. The filter housing off the engine, it was cranked, and oil started flowing out almost immediately. Yes! As all was reconnected and bolted together, the engine was cranked till the oil light went out and then fired up.

The shifter linkage looks close to stock to anyone who has done some wrenching on a GM product. After a bit of bendig and tweaking it works perfectly. As the shifter axle on the Mercedes tranny is about two inches off towards the rear, all kinds of axles and mechanisms were thought out, but in the end the original Chevrolet shifter linkage worked just fine after the Chevy U-connector was welded to the Benz shifter arm.

More and more ToDo lists. Not all boxes checked yet, but as all work under the car is done, the snow tires were put back on, and the car jacked down from the jackstands.

Out from the garage for the first time in a few months. A quick wash later the hearse looks real slick. Lots of details still to be done, but it was time for a test drive. The engine ran, the transmission shifted, and the brakes braked. Even the Mercedes power steering pump worked the Chevrolet steering box ok, so it was a real success.

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