I want to convert the sluggish and unreliable electric driver's window of my 1983 240D from electric to manual. With 1979 donor parts car side by side how much trouble can it be?

i would imagine if all of the bracketry and bolt patterns match up it should be easy

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

Yeah but is the arm that pushes the window rivetted or bolted? And are there any discrepancies in window tracks. I dont want to go inside the door panel and then discover I need specialized tools that i aint got.

that i couldnt tell you. if it is riveted its easy enought to rerivet. the only tools you should need are basic ones and maybe a drill bit(if you have to replace the slide)

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

Any reason not to pick up a good motor with reg?

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I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

Do you have a bad connection.. Maybe take the door panel off and watch the regulator and motor to see if you have a bad regulator or motor or just a bad connection...Jm

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James A. Harris

It's easy to pull off the door panel. I got mine off in about 10 min and back on in about 5.

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1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

Yeah but logic tells me there's no reason for driver's window on *any* car to be electric. And according to service records the driver's elec motor and reg on this 240D have been repeatedly replaced at approx each 80k miles since the car was new. The way I drive that means less than every 3 years, so I'd rather take the path of least resistance and fix it once and for all.

C'mon lets face it, electric windows on Vintage 123's suck and rarely operate without problems. I will throw the unreliable driver's electric window motor as far I can into the woods after installing the manual hand crank replacement.

I think the rear windows are worse. Both rear window motors in my TD would not work properly in less than 1 year after I bought it.

that i put the 300 in when i sold it three of the four windows had been converted. i didnt do it personally but they didnt charge me much. i had extra doors with the crank windows and took them out and they switched them. the crank comes thru the switch hole. not a perfect fit but they worked fine. the drivers window never failed so it is still electric.

in an old car the crank windows are a dream.

tom w

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Electric windows are quite reliable. I don't see why you would convert it instead of just fixing it. The usual problem is sticky linkage with can be with both systems.

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Adam Lumsden
(83) 300D
Vice-President of the MBCA International Stars Section

i had the parts and the windows kept failing by blowing the fuses, indicating some kindof electric problem. so putting in the crankers fixed in one try. and it is pretty permanent.

tom w

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

You might want to tap the brake on such an inaccurate statement.
I do have a manual window on my drivers door, but that is because the whole door came from a 240 that already had the manual crank. It works fine, and it probably won't break, but at times I do miss it being electric....

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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

they dont suck...when they are working fine. maybe if you ran them all down and up once each time you drove them they would stay in good operating condition.

but they suffer mostly imho from lack of use. as noted above, on my 240 the drivers window was still working fine after 22 years. the other three were problematic.

tom w

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Thats probably true about em not seeing enough use and wintertime cold weather makes em even worse. And theory of mine on electric window crappiness with Vintage 123's is that old cracked rubber window strips on outside door sills let water into the doors. I've tried to fix the weather strips by reinforcing them with black electrical tape. Neatly done the black tape resurfaces the weather strips and hopefully strengthens their seal against water.

It looks like its gonna rain today, otherwise I was gonna spend this afternoon converting to manual hand crank driver's window. Also messing with fiddly bits like installing a cb radio, power washing and undercoating the wheel wells and possibly pulling all the door panels. I want to change color on them and the seats from black to red, like classic MB finbody color combo of black body shell with red interior.