OM648 in a T1N?
Can you fit an inline 6 cylinder from a E320 CDI into a T1N Mercedes Sprinter Van?
It's got the OM648 engine which is the 6 cylinder version of the OM647 5 cylinder engines in the T1N Sprinters. It’s like kissing cousin’s isn’t it? So theoretically it should fit. Folks at MillionMileSprinter had a thought and here’s what came of it:
One would think it should swap in quite easily except for a few small details to consider:
It's 4 inches longer so the stock T1N fan won't fit.
The engine mounts don't line up.
The oil dipstick is incorporated into the oil pan which doesn't fit.
The 648 oil pan doesn't fit in the T1N frame so a new oil pan has to be fabricated. But you can't just squish two 647 pans together because the bellhousing that mates to the 648 block is larger in diameter to accommodate the larger 648 flywheel.
With the newly shaped oil pan, the oil pickup tube also has to be modified.
There's no mechanical vacuum pump on the front of the 648 block so an electric one has to be added in somewhere.
The width of the 648 including the super wide intake manifold doesn't fit, so a large chunk of the firewall has to be cut open and removed.
In removing said piece of the firewall, the accelerator pedal also is removed so another accelerator pedal has to be added.
This same intake manifold also interferes with the stock T1N brake booster so a smaller brake booster will be needed.
The selector arm off the side of the transmission that fits the 648 is different than the one that fits the T1N, so the transmission has to be opened and the arms swapped.
The 648 ECU which is needed to run the engine will need to be heavily modified to get it to play nicely in the T1N, so a standalone or piggyback ECU will be needed.
And that’s the short list… There's probably lots more that should be done.
This is all just hypothetical because this swap has never been done before. 👍🚐💨
Know of one that has been done?
