TN 300 Vans - motive power

[NickVee]

Hi,

I've just joined this forum looking for more info about a dear old 307D based Westfalia camper i've owned for about a year now.

I really like the van - it has definite old skool charm and dignity BUT, boy, is it ever slow! It trundles along fine on the flat and level but any up grade kills it. There are donkey carts that go faster up a hill.

So my first question is this: Does anyone know if the 307D was ever fitted with the 2.9 diesel engine (mine is a 2.4) and if that is a reasonably straightforward swap?

Nick

 

[Sprint'n'Go]

Hi Nick and welcome to the forum.

I ran a 307D LWB luton van commercially for 7 years upto mid 2001 and covered approx 30k a year in it and to be honest the lack of speed didn't bother me apart from when trying to pass large lorries, as the small speed advantage I had of perhaps 5mph could be wiped out as I tried to escape from the slipstream in some cases which left me stuck side by side with an artic and the only option would be to drop back until we reached a good downhill stretch. This was during my 20's so I couldn't claim to be a plodding old driver. After an engine rebuild i had the rev limiter set a little lower so the van maxxed out at 65mph as in my opinion this was enough. Before that the poor thing would scream down the hills at speeds of upto almost 80mph if I let it which is probably why it needed a rebuild at around 200k.

The great thing about these vans is the simplicity, no electrics to cause problems when they are having a bad day. The only thing that seemed to crop up with any regularity was the spring eye bushes at the rear of the front leaf springs, i had to replace these a couple of times and its a bugger of a job with a BFH and plenty of washing up liquid. These probably failed due to overloading the front axle. Make sure you get the grease gun on the steering swivels at every service, there are 2 grease nipples on each side, pump in the grease till it oozes out of the king pins and wipe up the excess.

I also thought about trying to fit the 2.9 engine and discussed it with a merc mechanic while they were still regularly servicing those vans and his opinion was that it may be possible if you had the complete doner vehicle to swap bits from. I am sure you would have to swap crossmembers, radiator, engine, gearbox and also probably rear axle to get a final drive ratio to match the new power levels.
The 307 was dropped towards the end of the production run of the T1 and the 308 and 310 continued to the end in 95 when the sprinter was launched so i guess you would be looking for a 310 doner as there is little point in doing all the work to upgrade to a 308.

 

[NickVee]

Ah ha...

Hey Steve,

Thanks for the reply. Rev limiter, hey? Is THAT what that funny little knob on the central dash is for...?

Keep turning it one way and t'other with no discernible difference... Presumably clockwise for faster?

Good insight on the ramifications of engine transplant - that's quite a lot of other things to be swapped - still, the bits don't cost so much if you find the right 310 donor vehicle. Think it might be worth doing... that Westfalia stuff has added a lot of weight to the vehicle and the poor old 2.4 really struggles up hills. As for top speed, that's fine - 65-70 feels fast enough - especially with the sensitivity to side winds....

Mind you, the van HAS covered around 200,000 kilometres - so the present engine could just be rather tired... Drives sweetly enough, though.

I'm inclined to hang onto the thing, despite the rust around the windscreen frame. The Westfalia James Cook is a charming vehicle - a bit like a grown up VW T1 or T2 camper bus - and with infinitely more character than most of those overgrown square white boxes on wheels that most campers have become.

Mind you, Merc/Westfalia recently reinvented the Cook concept - but based on a Sprinter - better still - but very expensive...

<http://www.emercedesbenz.com/Apr06/06MercedesJamesCookVotedCamperVanOfTheYear2006.html>

Nick

 

[Sprint'n'Go]

Hi Nick

The small turny knob on the dash was an idle speed adjuster. If yours doesn't do any thing then chances are it has been disconected or snapped. I cut the cable on mine when it began to fray and got into a bit of a tangle around the accelorator linkage on the engine. All it was used for was to get the engine to run a little faster when starting in the middle of winter so it wouldn't dance around so much after starting.

After the engine rebuild I carried on to 370,000 miles and it was still sweet as a nut but just drank a lot of oil (it always did before too) and I mean a lot.

Mine also rusted through around the vents below the screen, I carefully cut a sheet of zinked steel(probably 1.5-2mm thick) to shape including openings for the vents and slid it under the bottom edge of the rubber screen seal and then riveted it along the bottom behind the bonnet where the rivets couldn't be seen and I suddenly had the tidiest rust free cab you ever saw. Just remember to seal around the edges with something suitable.

I don't remember mine being twitchy in a cross wind. Are your tyres inflated enough? I used to put 90 psi in the back and 80 psi in the fronts. this also gives nice light steering if you keep on top of the greasing. Those pressures would probably be too hard for your case but I would recommend going to the tyres max pressure of 65 or possibley a little more to 70 or 75.

I know what you mean about the overgrown white boxes. My dads A class rapido is plain ugly in my opinion. I much prefer the vans that retain the original mercedes cab, a good looking design that also works well.