How does the 1986 300DT 8 cyl stack up for reliability?
It has 190k miles and I was considering converting it to BD-20.
Mike

 

I didnt know the 86 had an 8 cyl. in it. I can tell you that 170K is very little miles, but reliability depends on specifics of the car. What is the oil pressure hot/cold, and the engine temp hot/cold, and the tacho hot/cold? This will give you a very very good ideas of the car's future. Otherwise MB diesels are always incredibly reliable. The fuel lines may be a little tough to replaace to synthetic rubber if you are gonna go bio D instead of dino D.