Any kind of foam will do. Its just for noise. I removed mine and it's fine.

Detailed pictures and info are required. Lots of people want to do this conversion.

Dave

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1970 220D, owned 1980-1990
1980 240D, owned 1990-1992
1982 300TD, owned 1992-1993
1986 300SDL, owned 1993-2004
1999 E300, owned 1999-2003
1982 300TD, 213,880mi, owned since Nov 18, 1991- Aug 4, 2010 SOLD
1988 560SL, 100,000mi, owned since 1995
1965 Mustang Fastback Mileage Unknown(My sons)
1983 240D, 176,000mi (My daughers) owned since 2004
2007 Honda Accord EX-L I4 auto, the new daily driver
1985 300D 264,000mi Son's new daily driver.(sold)
2008 Hyundai Tiberon. Daughters new car

Bruce,
I too will be following your conversion closely because once I get a couple of issues out with the 300D (new half shaft) and 300SDL (PM on tranny and a new serpentine tensioner assy) , I plan to take my wagon off the road to rehab the a/c. I have to pull the dash to r&r the evaporator for the retrofit back to R-12 so doing the conversion to manual controls (I have two full sets of controls and assd. parts plus a parts car with a complete manual dash) at the same time seems logical.

A question:
The manual system has a siamesed heater core (L & R) with a double valve controlling water flow to the two halves of the core. What is your plan for dealing with the control of water to the single core in the ACC heater? I'm thinking that there's probably an off-the-shelf, cable operated Toyota, Nissan or Ford valve that will to the trick.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

RLeo
The auto ACC system is also the siamesed heater core. It just does not control either half separately like you can in the 240D.
If transplanting the manual evaporator box then Use the controls that come with the manual system. Control of the water to the 2 halves is via the cables that go to the "manual mono" valve location. The manual system uses a small control valve. Doing the replacement will include replacing the mono valve as well as the cables that go from the "manual mono" valve to the round control knobs at the center consol. The donor car will give you everything you need. The only problem will be the wiring harness and how you will handle that.

http://www.peachparts.com/Wikka/W123Evaporator

Look at picture # 88 shows the 240D valve control. Notice the picture before it of the red 300TD, they use the same holes in the firewall. The only difference is the manual control valve in the 240D and the 2 cables going to the valve. The W123 firewall has the holes for this already there.

If you want I can mail both of you all the pictures I took, on a CD, when both the 300TD and the 240D had there evap replaced. Most are on the WIKI in the DIY section but I have some I did not use. And I took them at 2M resolution which helps when looking for detail.

Dave

__________________
1970 220D, owned 1980-1990
1980 240D, owned 1990-1992
1982 300TD, owned 1992-1993
1986 300SDL, owned 1993-2004
1999 E300, owned 1999-2003
1982 300TD, 213,880mi, owned since Nov 18, 1991- Aug 4, 2010 SOLD
1988 560SL, 100,000mi, owned since 1995
1965 Mustang Fastback Mileage Unknown(My sons)
1983 240D, 176,000mi (My daughers) owned since 2004
2007 Honda Accord EX-L I4 auto, the new daily driver
1985 300D 264,000mi Son's new daily driver.(sold)
2008 Hyundai Tiberon. Daughters new car

Randy, I removed the entire heater/ evaporator box and all of the controls from the 240 to put in my wagon. I also removed the neccesary portion of the wiring harness from the 240. I had to cut a couples of wires and I recorded where they went to on the 240.
Dave, what about the foam on the flaps? Are you saying its not neccesary?

I'm really looking foward to doing this because I HATE THE CLIMATE CONTROL!

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a few mb diesels

That makes sense. Thanks for the clarification.

__________________
Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Dave,
Thanks for the generous offer of the pics; I already have them. You sent me a CD about a year ago.

I was going to try and keep the existing heater core and, AFIK, it only has one inlet...this is only from memory which, is getting worse all the time. If I do have to go with a manual core, I probably wouldn't go through the trouble to pull the manual core from my parts car but instead, purchase a new one.

__________________
Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

The heater cores appear to be the same, both have three aluminum pipes going to the core. The boxes however are very different. You really need a donor car to do this conversion and once you have the dash off, its not difficult to remove the heater/evaporator box on the 123. The 126 however is a different story. It is a nightmare by comparison.

__________________
a few mb diesels

I converted my climate control to manual by changing cars.

That's the best way to do it.

Actually, I'm sorta spoiled by the auto climate control, it is pretty nice when you get it working correctly. Whenever, I drive my wife's 240D I get tired of playing with the manual controls all the time. Yesterday I drove it about 5 miles wondering why the heat wasn't getting warn until I remembered what I was driving.

Both systems are fine, the only advantage of the manual system is that it really has nothing to break. The auto system can be a hassle to troubleshoot, but you still can't spend more than about $500 fixing it. Compared to new cars, either system is very cheap and easy to fix. Given a choice, I would still take the auto system because the cost difference is negligible, and I like to be able to "set it and forget it."