07 Sprinter V8 LS 6.2 Conversion Engine Swap

Rpmextreme

Rpmextreme

Member
Well the weather has been a lot nicer and we spent some time on the swap.
Engine-trans is in.
Power steering plumbed
Fuel system done
Exhaust built
Driveshaft done
Radiator done
Shifter cable done

Hit the key and she fired right up. First start video is below.

I still have to button up some wires and do some programing to get all the little things working and the warning lights off, but for a first start it has a working tach, speedo, coolant temp, PRND shift indicator and check engine light with the stock dash

Now we are getting somewhere.

http://www.rpmextreme.com/video/IMG_0906.m4v
 
Rpmextreme

Rpmextreme

Member
SvenOz said:
Great job. How’s the last part going. Isn’t that the part where you need to work your real magic?
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Yes. Just to find time to finish up the little things. paying jobs have to come first...... although Im ready to go drive this thing.
 
S

SvenOz

New member
Rpmextreme said:
Yes. Just to find time to finish up the little things. paying jobs have to come first...... although Im ready to go drive this thing.
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Yeah, paying the bills gets in the way of the real stuff, the real fun.

So, couple of thoughts and question:

Thoughts: Re Tacho, is it accurate (and tops out) or inaccurate. If the later, have you considered just replacing the dial display with a calibrated one? If the former, if, accurate and tops out, have you looked in the ECU etc settings for the Merc. I know eg they have diff ratio recorded in multiple Customer, such as for auto trans, plus ABS, plus instrument cluster. Perhaps you may be able to change the setting to appropriate needle movement for petrol, and swap the dial display? Otherwise, thought about overlay, such as a standalone Can-Bus Tacho in front, linked to the LS signal.

Question 1: Totally appreciate this is a lot of work, and no doubt, your business venture to generate income. Obviously in Aus, am not about to ship a van to you for a swap. Are yo considering any kind of 'kit' (with a premium for your profit), eg your little magic box, engine mounts, etc, just the necessary stuff. We get plenty of cheap LS engines from wrecked Commodores, and the VATS is easily disabled to make swaps easy (physically), its just the bits your working on that are needed. Any idea of pricing if you will?
 
Rpmextreme

Rpmextreme

Member
SvenOz said:
Thoughts: Re Tacho, is it accurate (and tops out) or inaccurate. If the later, have you considered just replacing the dial display with a calibrated one? If the former, if, accurate and tops out, have you looked in the ECU etc settings for the Merc. I know eg they have diff ratio recorded in multiple Customer, such as for auto trans, plus ABS, plus instrument cluster. Perhaps you may be able to change the setting to appropriate needle movement for petrol, and swap the dial display? Otherwise, thought about overlay, such as a standalone Can-Bus Tacho in front, linked to the LS signal.

Question 1: Totally appreciate this is a lot of work, and no doubt, your business venture to generate income. Obviously in Aus, am not about to ship a van to you for a swap. Are yo considering any kind of 'kit' (with a premium for your profit), eg your little magic box, engine mounts, etc, just the necessary stuff. We get plenty of cheap LS engines from wrecked Commodores, and the VATS is easily disabled to make swaps easy (physically), its just the bits your working on that are needed. Any idea of pricing if you will?
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The TACH is accurate. Yes it will max out. I can get a GAS cluster from Merc with a higher TACH limit. I probably will at some point but at this time I will get everything else working first and then swap it out.

At some point I may offer it as a KIT or just electronics. We have the engine mounts, harness, computer stuff, fans, hoses, lines etc... figured out but there is a lot of other stuff that would need to be done if you are doing it yourself.... driveshafts, shifter cable, exhaust etc...
 
Rpmextreme

Rpmextreme

Member
We also found the front end was a little lower than stock due to the extra weight of the engine. We installed a 2" front coil over setup from Agile Offroad.



 
S

SvenOz

New member
Rpmextreme said:
We also found the front end was a little lower than stock due to the extra weight of the engine. We installed a 2" front coil over setup from Agile Offroad.



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Is that the standard 250 rate spring that AO supply? And is it spot on or is a slight different rate better?

I know there is exhaust etc, and to add to it, am actually looking at a 4x2 to 4x4 at same time, so already up for a tail shaft (well actually 2 and 2 drive shafts to boot)

Keenly waiting. Without the electronics able to be sorted this will not be started as wont be able to get it on the road here.
 
Rpmextreme

Rpmextreme

Member
SvenOz said:
Is that the standard 250 rate spring that AO supply? And is it spot on or is a slight different rate better?

I know there is exhaust etc, and to add to it, am actually looking at a 4x2 to 4x4 at same time, so already up for a tail shaft (well actually 2 and 2 drive shafts to boot)

Keenly waiting. Without the electronics able to be sorted this will not be started as wont be able to get it on the road here.
Click to expand...
Stock springs the way AO supplied. It looks to be level on the lowest setting. I have not driven it yet, but it will be driven real soon.

With the fitment of everything I really don't think this will work with a 4x4 sprinter.
 
Rpmextreme

Rpmextreme

Member
I drove it today for the first time. She runs good and sounds BA. I tried to do a burnout but the dually tires had too much bite. lol
 
Rpmextreme

Rpmextreme

Member
OK so the first issue has been noticed. The power steering doesn't work very good at idle and slow speeds. We are using a GM truck PS pump and the stock sprinter steering rack.
Does anyone know what the stock sprinter power steering pump puts out for pressure?

We did find a restrictor in the return line, we removed it and it didn't really change much. Im guessing that this GM pump was made to work with a steering gear box which usually requires more volume and pressure than a rack style. I would have guessed it to have over sensitive steering but we have the opposite.
 
M

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
The sprinters have pretty significant caster (2-3 degrees on the early models). Does the GM pump have a pressure relief spring/valve? If so you may be able to swap the spring for a heavier one (or just shim it a little). That will get you higher assist pressure.
 
Rpmextreme

Rpmextreme

Member
We got the AC working today. still have a few random warning lights that I need to address. so far so good.

I also noticed a little shimmy or vibration in the rear when accelerating. Im going to look at the angle of the transmission output compared to the driveshaft.

Then I will see about raising the power steering pressure to see if it helps the low speed assist.
 
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