OM616, OM617 Benz engine in Series LR?

Update: I did find this:

Something to start with Because I'm in the auto body business, I know what restorations can entail. I would spend some time and find the nicest truck I could with the money I had. I figured for every dollar spend going in, I would save three on the other end. So after spending weeks pouring over print and web adds, I settled on a Series III truck outside Richmond Virginia. Ten hours and five hundred miles later I found my self crawling around a badly beaten, rusted and abused hulk of an old truck. Not wanting to bounce home empty, and after much negotiations, we struck a deal and I headed north with the old girl and a lighter wallet.

Now that it's home, let's see what we've got. After driving the old girl for a few weeks, I began to see the troubles I had. I started taking a tally of what was still good, and what would have to be replaced. As you can imagine, one list was substantially longer than the other. All the body panels were pretty much beyond salvation including the rear tub, which had the common Ser. III corrosion problems at the rear seatbelt brackets. The upper and lower doors were shot, as were the inner and outer wings. The hood frame was just lace work. And then the bulkhead...Well, this made all the other body parts look good! It had been patched more than once, and even these patches had rusted out. The only panels worth saving were that windscreen frame and the top. All these panels would have to be replaces if I was to end up with anything to be proud of.

The frame suffered from a similar condition. It had been patched numerous times and most of them had failed. When I stopped driving my new pride and joy, the right side of the bumper had risen a few inches thanks to a break in the frame rail directly about the front axle. The frame, among everything else, would have to be replaced as well. I was faced with not just a "frame-off" restoration, but a NEW frame restoration. Those of you familiar with Land Rovers will not find this too worrying, but at this point, I wondered what I had gotten myself in to!

Among other things such as a badly deteriorated body and a very rusty frame, I wasn't very happy with the stock Rover engine and the power it offered. If I were to truly turn this truck into an expedition ready, completely reliable vehicle, I would have to find and adapt an alternate power source...Preferably a diesel. I like the longevity they offer not to mention the savings in fuel costs. But diesel engines aren't as popular here in the states as elsewhere in the world. And only one company has offered them in passenger cars for any length of time and in any numbers. This company was Mercedes Benz. Their line of diesel engines has a legendary reputation for toughness equal only to their reputation for corrosion prone bodies. With a little work, I could find a good donor car with not too-many miles that would offer it's heart to my poor ailing Rover.

After a few phone calls, my engine of choice was found and it's shipment secured. Twenty-four hours and nine hundred dollars later I had a 1981 Mercedes 2.4L diesel with 109K miles sitting in my driveway.

and pressure plate bolted to the backside. This was to prove to be a very simple engine to adapt to my new truck. A feed and return fuel line, three wires and a throttle cable was all that was necessary to run this simplest of engines.

There were, however, a few things that had to be made and changed for this new engine to go into a Land Rover. The main thing was an adapter plate to mate the Mercedes engine to the Rover transmission. It was built in a day from a single piece of 6061 aluminum plate. Care had to be taken to assure a precise centering of the input shaft to the flywheel and clutch. The Rover input shaft matted to the Mercedes flywheel, clutch and pressure plate with very little modification to the clutch plate. The pilot bearing was machined from a piece of bearing bronze. The outside corner of the flywheel had to be cut slightly to fit inside the Rover bell housing. With these things done, the two came together with little problem.

The oil filter housing was another thing that needed some modification. Because of its placement far back and away from the engine block, it was going to interfere with the bulkhead. There are two mechanical valves inside this housing that perform some important functions that I wanted to keep. One is a high-pressure relief valve and the other is a thermatic valve that bypasses the oil filter until the engine reaches operating temperature. The top portion of this housing had to be removed, capped off and taped for oil lines leading to a remote filter location. It's a straightforward change, but care must be taken not to damage the two enclosed valves. They are plastic and must be removed before any welding is done.

The motor mounts had to be fabricated and were done so with the engine in place. Again, very straight forward and simple to do with some scrap steel and a mig welder. The only other thing that had to be modified in regards to the engine was the oil pan. The right side corner had to be removed and re-shaped to make room for the front differential housing. With the help of parabolic springs and military shackles, I have no clearance problems even over the toughest terrain.

Doesnt anyone in the Anglosphere (i.e. y'all that didn't, you know, "rebel"..UK/NZ/Oz..) use a Benz engine? And of course i don't see much on Perkins, Gardner or Stuart Turner in LRs anymore are they dead?

This doesnt quite do it either-still interesting....

DID YOU KNOW?- The Land Rover 2.25 diesel engine had many lives outside the Land Rover. It was used in the Leyland Sherpa van and the Austin FX4- the classic London 'Black Cab'. Under the global BMC brand, it was specially adapted for use in boats and small trucks. Boats sold in America with the engine used adverts showing a motorboat towing a water-skier with the slogan 'ski all day for a dollar'.

Land Rover was one of the first companies to offer a small capacity high-speed (don't laugh!) diesel engine in its vehicles. At a time when petrol was cheap and petrol engines were tough and reliable, a diesel that was noisy, difficult to start and would top 45-50 mph on a good day didn't make much sense. The diesel option only really went to two sorts of buyers- farmers and specialist buyers who used their vehicles off-road all the time or in wet conditions where a petrol would flounder. Because of the diesel's agricultural image, the combination of short wheelbase, truck cab and Ifor Williams load bay cover with a diesel under the bonnet is a very common one for the Series III. The MOD on the other hand only took its Series IIIs with petrol engines because they were more powerful and easier to service.

Land Rover did much work in the early 1960s into producing a 'dual fuel' engine that could work on both petrol and diesel. Presumably it would have some form of adjustable cylinder head for compression, a switchable ignition system and fuel injection. It didn't come to much, but it did mean that Land Rover produced two engines, the 2286cc petrol engine and and the '10J' diesel of the same capacity. The two engines shared the same block, timing gear, cooling system and many other small parts. Abo ut 75% of all the 2.25-litre engines sold from 1962 to 1985 were petrol. It offered power, reliability, simplicity and not unreasonable fuel consumption (15-20mpg for an engine in good condition). The diesel was reliable and a good workhorse, but was lower in power, slower and its injection system required specialist knowledge to service.

However, as fuel prices began to rise, fuel consumption became important. By 1985 about 60% of the Series IIIs sold that year were diesels, and owners reveled in their 28-30 mpg.

So here we go, a comparison in theory and practice of the Series IIIs most popular powerplants.

Petrol

A classic powerplant that will run for ever and ever and ever with only the most basic servicing. A totally standard 4-cylinder, OHV, Zenith carburetor- fed engine that presents no difficulty for the mechanic to service.

The engine develops 74 horsepower at 4000 rpm (with a maximum speed of

4500 rpm), and 113 lb-ft torque at 2000 rpm. This means that a SWB Series III can be wound up to 70 mph if needed, although 60-65 would be more realistic. The engine's big cylinders produce healthy amounts of torque that allow heavy loads and trailers to be moved around in safety. The engine has no problems with reliability, and usually the only problems are caused by the piston rings and oil seals being out-lived by the engine they're fitted to. Because the block is designed to cope with the much higher stresses of a diesel engine, the petrol powerplant is under-stressed and will last for ever. This also means it will take plenty of tuning. 100 horsepower has been tweaked out by gas-flowing the manifolds, raising the compression ratio and fitting sporty valves.

The big problem with this engine is modern use is its thirst. 2.25 litres is a large engine, and it is fitted to a heavy vehicle with no aerodynamics. In 109s (especially Station Wagons) the engine has to work hard. Fuel consumption normally averages around 18 mpg, but this can fall to 10 mpg if towing a heavy trailer. This means a range on a tank of fuel of under 200 miles for an 88, maybe 210-20 for a 109 (they have bigger fuel tanks, but also higher fuel usage). Off-road, the engine does have problems. The torque peak of 2000 rpm is a bit on the high side, meaning that to keep momentum through mud or on rocky ground you have to travel a bit faster than is comfortable. The low compression ratio (8:1) means that braking on steep hills leaves much to be desired, often needed careful use of the brakes. The ignition system is adapted for off-road use, but still conks out in the wet.

Diesel

Land Rover's 10J diesel engine was released in 1962 and was kept in service until 1985, and as the Did You Know? spot at the top of this page says, made it's home in several other applications. By the time its life ended, it was out of date. It is a typical, old-fashioned diesel, with in-direct injection, mechanical injector system and dismal power figures for its size. It produces 62 horsepower at 4000 rpm, with a maximum speed of 4200 rpm. Total torque is 103 lb-ft, which comes at

1800 rpm.

This means that a diesel Series III has a top speed of 60 mph, but you'd go deaf if you held this for long (its a noisy engine), so 50-55 is a better plan. Of course, this stunted performance is compensated by good fuel consumption. Land Rover quoted 28-30 mpg for an engine in good condition, and this is achievable. If worked hard towing, 20 mpg can be the worst to expect. In moderate off-road the engine will gently sip fuel all day, if full use of the engine's torque is made. The engine is very reliable, needing less day-to-day tinkering than the petrol.

As the graph shows, torque is this engine's strong point. Whilst the total is lower than the petrol, at low speeds the diesel has much more (at 1,000 rpm the diesel produces 92 lb-ft, the petrol 72 lb-ft). This means that trundling through mud, water and rocks is easy. Engine braking is impressive (23:1 compression ratio) and the engine will keep going in water as long as it has air to breath.

The disadvantages are clear. Lower power means that acceleration is glacial and the engine lacks top-end torque, meaning that hills have to be taken at a crawl. The diesel has a reputation for being a bit on the weak side, but this is because many engines have been thrashed into the ground. Like all old diesels, if they are serviced well with regular (and frequent) oil changes they will chug on forever. If neglected they will quickly fall apart. Off-road, the low power means that steep hills are a challenge (but they can be done), and sand is an almost no-hoper (sand requires light, powerful vehicles, a diesel Series III is underpowered and heavy). If something goes wrong, adjustment and repair of the injector system requires expensive professional work.

Conclusion

The petrol is powerful, faster, bomb-proof and provides good towing torque at road speeds. Off-road it will go almost anywhere, but its lack of low-speed torque and waterphobic electrics limit it when the going gets extreme. It will guzzle fuel.

The diesel is a reliable workhorse that will work hard all day on a cupful of fuel. It is good off-road, being torquey and waterproof. However it is underpowered on the road, noisy and requires faithful servicing.

As much as it pains me to say it, the better option for day-to-day use is the petrol. Considering that most Series IIIs spend 90% of their time on-road, the petrol engine is ideal. It provides adequate road performance, yet off-road will match the diesel in 9/10 situations. A good LPG kit will effectively halve the fuel consumption, making it cheaper to run than the diesel.

If you work your Series III, spend a lot of time off-road or are on a very tight budget, the diesel makes sense, but hopefully you aren't the sort of driver who likes to get everywhere fast......