i have a good running 85 300td 175000m no fluid loss or consumption between service intervals.however it has hada hard life, from a driver, commercial pick up& del wagon. the interior & body codition make it not cost effective to repair. my thought was to "transplant the 617 &w4a " into a domestic or imported mid size p/u. ive heard stories of chev v8 being used to replace mer engines however never seen 1.LOOKING TO BUILD A DRIVER NOT SHOW TRUCK.any info personal experience addys to w/s addressing this issue would be appeciated.. in closing emmisions, ,registering, & licencing, are of small concern as there is no veh insp again many thanks regards KG4YUB

 

I know a guy in town that has a Chevy LT1 powered Mercedes Benz.
He has done 5 or 6 conversions. He does them right...but I have only seen him do gas to gas conversions.

 

I know a mechanic near Hampton, VA that did 617 turbo diesel conversion on a W 126 SEC V8 coupe. Not sure if he can or wants to transplant MB diesel into a pickup truck, though, as he is an MB mechanic.