I looked at a 1980 240D w 4 spd manual. What's odd was it had a coolant temp gauge in F and an oil pressure gauge in psi. Was that standard for that year? The shifter console was not wood but looked like black plastic. Was that standard?

What year 240D's came with a 5 spd manual? Was that an option or only a Euro thing?

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 161K now
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

The 240 was the "entry level" Benz at that time. Plastic instead of wood and english guages were common.

I do not know about the 5 speed. That would be a great swap into a 300D.

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RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

99 W210 E300 Turbo Diesel, chipped, DPF/Converter Delete. Still needs EGR Delete, 232K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K

Gone and still missed...1982 w123 300D, 1991 w124 300D

they never came with a 5-speed in the US

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

5-speed was Euro-only, starting with the '84 model year I believe. The earlier US-spec W123's used English units for their instrument clusters - perfectly normal.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

The 5 spds were around before 84. The one in my 78 I took out of an 82, definitely a "euro option" tho.

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

Why did Mercedes change to metric gauges then? You know people will never get used to Metric in this country.

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 161K now
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

I don't know, they probably changed it for authenticity reasons and to make worldwide shipping easier. No other country in the world uses Fahrenheit. Besides, metric is easier and makes more sense, especially when it comes to temperature: 100C is the boiling point of water, 0C is the freezing point. 212F and 32F are such arbitrary numbers.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

"Besides, metric is easier and makes more sense, especially when it comes to temperature: 100C is the boiling point of water, 0C is the freezing point. 212F and 32F are such arbitrary numbers."

The 0C and 100C degree points may make more sense, but Fahrenheit degrees are nearly twice as precise and for industrial measurements actually are more useful. Also what is so special about water or ice? As for metric in general, none of it really makes any more sense than the english system, especially when you consider that no one is using time measurements that are in any metric format and they are never likely to be!! Ditto for angular measurement, it is degrees, 360 of them. Not metric either......

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1961 190Db retired
1968 220D/8 325,000
1983 300D 164,150

I agree with Craig that metric is much easier to handle. Everything is a power of 10. For example, 1 meter = 100 centimeters so converting between the two is a breeze. Yards, feet and inches are not as easy, especially when you deal with area let alone volume! Regarding water, what's not special about it? It's 70 something % of our bodies, and we were talking about measuring coolant temperature. For those running low antifreeze solutions it's especially important to know where the boiling point is. Precision is a non-issue. If you want higher precision than 1 celsius, just add a decimal point.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

It's not really that difficult to master SI units, my kids seemed to catch on in elementary school without much trouble. Next time you see a commercial electric motor (in the U.S.), take a look at the nameplate and see what units are used for the temperature ratings and the temperature rise.

BTW, performing some engineering calculations in english units is actually a PITA, ask any first year engineering student to explain F=ma in english units and you will start hearing about "slugs" and the difference between pounds (force) and pounds (mass). It won't be pretty.

Another example:

1 newton-meter = 1 joule
1 foot-pound = 0.0012850675 BTUs

It's just like learning another language (something else americans can't seem to handle), you just have to think in SI units instead of trying to translate everything back to english units (i.e., 80C = good, 120C = bad).

BTW, angles are measured in radians, not degrees, for any type of analysis; and both radians and degrees are dimensionless so they are neither english or SI units. Degrees are just arbitrary numbers, but radians are driven by the math and would be the same in any system of units.

yes, and I personally like the look better than the wood.

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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

me too

I like the black also. I am thinking of refinishing just the console from Zebrano with minor cracks to matt black.

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 161K now
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

It might be allot easier to find one in black at the wrecking yard, just gota make sure it has the right holes to accommodate your switches. I also like the black better.

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

There are no pick&pulls around here and the used parts places wants big $$$ for parts. I was gonna just lightly sand mine and spray with black wrinkle paint. I think that would look good and blend in.

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 161K now
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked