Originally Posted by VaiFanatic

I've been driving the 500SE off and on, and I'm just unhappy with the automatic in it. I've got a T5 from a turbo'd 280ZX, but after all my reading in the Non-MB trans swap thread, I'm wondering if I want to go through the work for a one-off fabrication, where when time comes for a flywheel/clutch replacement down the road I'm engineering a replacement again.

If I'm going to do all that work, may as well swap in a motor that's already got the aftermarket there for manual transmission parts. The LS is so cliche... but it just works.

I've manual swapped my F350, and I'm about to do the same to my '98 Durango, but the thing about those two is that the motors in both of those had manuals as factory options (the 5.9 Magnum V8 in the Durango was also used in the Ram trucks, which came with the NV4500 in the heavier duty trucks), so those swaps are pretty straight forward.

I'm happy to continue living with the Euro M117 in the 500SE, but I'm tired of that gearbox, and I've no interest in rebuilding another 722.xxx. Decisions, decisions.