mercedes sprinter engine into 1989 W460 with auto transmission

It seems the future of the classic G-Wagens' is evolving into a conversion path. I personally have not looked into this topic academically, but we do have some members doing this sort of work more frequently. 

I know that, depending on what you looking for, from your conversion the cost are £4000 - £6500 and plus. I feel (personal opinion) given that sort of money you are better off trading this model for a latter one, but given the lack of supply on the latter ones your option is limited unless your budget stretches to £30000 plus.

So, we can argue a case for conversion, high as it may seem. This is your personal investment and have to perhaps accept the return on resale may not cover your investment and in order to maintain some esthetic valve you will need to document the conversion and draw history of the donor parts. 

I do not know if you may achieve speeds of over 70 mph with the conversion in place but touring at 60/65 mph has a small difference in journey time compared to traveling at say 80/85 mph. You would be breaking speed limits, increasing fuel consumption and stressing your vehicle etc,etc...

I can not immediately answer if the sprinter engine will mate to your automatic gearbox? The consideration is what side the starter motor sits at? 

Alternatively, re-manufacturing your own engine may cost £2500. Where are you loosing oil from?

I am hoping our expert members will contribute to your answer but be prepared for having some £5000 or so, in loose change.

Hi

The late 90's Sprinter engine is a good strong unit, and the pre CDI models are relitively easy to convert into a G Wagen.

The engine i assume you are talking about is the 310D / 312D Sprinter with the 5 cylinder OM602.980 DELA unit (2.9ltr)

Against the OM601.943 4 cylinder (2.2ltr) 308D models.

208D/308D/408D models are circa 80bhp - 4 cylinder

210D/310D/410D models are circa 100bhp - 5 cylinder

212D/312D/412D models are circa 120bhp - 5 cylinder

The difference between the 100bhp and 120bhp 5 cylinder models is all electronic in the ECU, basically just a chipped version.

OM602.980's have the Starter Motor on the Left side.

OM617.931 (300GD 460) has the Starter Motor on the Right side so you will also need a suitable Gearbox to match the Sprinter engine.

Although the OM602 Turbo will obviously be a performance improvement on the old engine, it will not be a real quick motor or have that much more torque, and dont expect fuel figures much above 25mpg.

Plenty of G's have been fitted with the turbo varients of the OM602/ OM662 5 cylinder and a few with its Multi Vavle brother the OM605 but i would say that a 6 cylinder turbo OM603/OM606 would be a much better long term solution and if you have a very competant converter / mechanic then they do start at a lot less money than that quoted for the base engine, or even a complete doner car.

As Rakesh has said, expect to pay £4k plus for anything worth having, closer to double for a 6 cylinder done anything like properly.

Gav

602 sprinter engines in both 310 and 312 variant are not easy to fit as they are direct injection rotary pump ecu controlled.

Also they are now ALL high mileage [have seen 400.000]

Much easier is the 662 SSangyong , inline pump turbo i/cooled ,fit a 1995 on 5 speed auto from any car and buy the danish gearbox controller for around 500 euro

Another advantage with the 662 is that they are all likely to be much lower mileage ,however they are getting harder to find.

I have posted on this subject on this forum