16,242 miles later, I wouldn't go back to an auto on a bet and, she's on the threshold of another conversion...to a five speed! Stay tuned.

__________________
Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Ya, how much coffee have you spilled?

Time can really fly when you are having fun!

Too bad your old 4 sp. is twitchy, as a normally aspirated wagon just screams for a standard. Keep us posted on the conversion to the 5, and photo-document for sure.

__________________
Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

Oh, this is too weird. A full year without trouble and twice now in the last couple of days my clutch has failed to completely disengage when stopping for a traffic light...hmmm. One pump of the pedal fixes it but what a PITA if it needs a slave cylinder after only one year!!!!...so much for quality replacement parts.

__________________
Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

I am tuned! i want to hear about the 5-speed. this is a project i plan to tackle in the near future and following you through it would be great. I am mostly wondering what NEW parts i need to have on hand. Also, my trans will be coming from 280e, is it possible that i can use these driveshafts without any shortening? It seems om617 and m110 might sit at same depth in the bay.

First of all, welcome to the forum.

You know, this thread is pretty old; the last post to it was over 1 1/2 years ago so, you need to check out this thread: Conversion to manual

Sorry but, I don't have any complete answers about your particluar driveshaft because all my manual trannies and shafts came from diesels. But, FWIW, excepting the coupe, the back end of the shafts are all the same so I guess you could measure the length of the front segments and compare them. There's about 3/4" or so of adjustment allowable in the splined section.

Make sure you match-mark the segments before disassembling them so that they can be reassembled properly and preserve the balancing. If you have to fab-up a shaft, you'll need to balance it anyway.

Good luck!

__________________
Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

I have read, re-read, and then read a couple more times the manual conversion thread. Thank you for the painstaking details. I thought that this thread must have come after that one as you are refering to a car you did a swap on and then drove 16k. Please fill me in on the story here. What is your highest mileage manual conversion and have you done a 5 speed?

The car referred to in this thread (my wagon) is the only car on which I've done the conversion. This thread was to commemorate and anniversary of competeing the swap.

Haven't done the 5-speed yet; in addition to other things, I got tied up with the resuscitation of a $650 SDL and promised myself not to have more than one money pit project at a time. The SDL is finished...well, almost (we're driving it daily), so I can start the 5-speed soon.

With a manual already in the car, the 5-speed is fundamentally a tranny swap out. I''ll have to install the shifter from the 5-speed donor car and, possibly fab a new rear cross member, R-5th speed shift rod and driveshaft. There is a (very) remote possibility that the length of the 617 engine with a 5-speed bolted on will be the same length as a 617 with an automatic. If that's the case, I'll use old driveshaft and rear support from the automatic. If not, it will be fab time.

__________________
Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Notice the posting dates for a more complete timeline to the story. It has been fun to follow.
And then there's Sybil...........

__________________
Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John