I did find a local shop that makes custom torque converters. If they can weld new pads on the Chrysler TC and balance it for a reasonable price, I might go that route. If not, I will probably drill through the flywheel to match the four bolt pattern that is on the Chrysler TC. Then I will have my centerline to line the trans up to measure for the adapter plate between the engine and trans.

Regards,
John

 

here is some of pics from my engine mounts.some are not the greatest pics but you'll get the point.i hope this helps you.
vlado

 

Nice work!!!! Those look good. I brought home some scrap steel from work, 1/4" plate. Thanks for the pics. After I get the adapter plate and the converter sorted out, I can test fit the engine. I need to get some new flywheel bolts too. Maybe I will try to find bolts that are not torque to yield. Grade 8 should do the trick.

Thanks again,
John

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Talked to the torque converter shop today, they do not want to mess with it. They told me you cannot weld new pads on the torque converter. I will probably just drill the flywheel, or make an adapter plate to make the Chrysler converter match the Benz bolt pattern.

John

 

Hey John ,

I did not get a chance to mention ; when I sawzalled and ground the stock mounts off and added the New mounts they ended up about 3 to 4 inches( back not forward ) closer to the firewall !! It may be different for your application , but that is what I had.

I agree with Vlado ... drilling the merc plate should not do enough to throw out of balance !!

 

I found a local junkyard that had a 617 flywheel for $40 so I bought it. My plan is to drill the new one just in case something goes wrong, I still have the original. It should not be a big deal, both converters are about the same diameter, the flywheel to crank bolts will clear no problem with the Chrysler converter. Did you guys use torque to yield (stretch) bolts for the crank/flywheel bolts?

Thanks for your help,
John

 

i am not sure i understand your question but i used original mercedes bolts and i just had them tight on and i didnt use any specific torqe spec on them.
i hope this helps

 

I was told that the flywheel to crank bolts are "torque to yield" AKA "stretch" bolts. They have a skinny spot between the threads and the head of the bolt. I was told they were single use only, once you remove them, you have to replace them. The ones I have are the 12 point 12mm head bolts. I just did not want to take a chance and have the flywheel come up and see me. I noticed Hulkgreen had large hex head bolts on his flywheel.

Thanks,
John

 

I was extremely unhappy with the 12mm 12 point bolts in the mercedes crank ..... I had to grind 6 of the 12 off because they rounded !! It was time consuming and a real P I T A !!

I went to a bolt specialty shop and got the metric M 10X1.5 ( i think this is the size ) in a GRADE 8 and torqued to like 70 in increments of 30, 50, 70 . and in a cross pattern with a torque wrench !!

With this kind of swap no one will know which way is correct till one of us has a component failure !!! Then we all need to stay in touch with each other so if one of us has a failure he can tell the others !! We are now part of a family of a few and we must stick together and share finished product info !!

BUT ; the mercedes is supposed to have brand new bolts put in once you remove the crankshaft bolts !!

 

Thanks Hulkgreen!!
I wanted to buy regular bolts for it anyway. The factory ones you are supposed to torque to 29 ft lbs, then go 90 degrees. I just did not feel comfortable with that. I will try to find regular ones with the same thread size.

Regards,
John

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I received the new transmission parts so I threw it back together tonight. The new reverse band is made of Kevlar, so it should hold up pretty good. I hope it works after I get everything put together! I am going to talk to one more machine shop tomorrow about welding new pads on the torque converter. If they can't help me, I will drill the flywheel I just bought. I still need to make a spacer to adapt the snout where the converter goes into the crank. I will probably make that out of aluminum. After that, it's the motor plate. A guy at work gave me a 4.0 starter to mock up to see if ti fits. The gear teeth look the same as the Benz flywheel. The 4.0 starter is tiny!!!! Is it a gear reduction starter? I hope it cranks that oil motor over!!!

Regards,
John

 

i had an 85 cj7 for a while and i always wanted to drop a diesel in it. I bet that thing rocks!