Depends on the Indie. I would think to take out your automatic, figure out the parts of the manual you have and install it would take at least 10 hours- more like 15. $100 an hour = $1500. If you leave the car and he can do it when he's not doing other work perhaps $700. $500? Not in South Florida if you ask me.

Perhaps it helps that my indie has been doing oddball mercedes related things for me for a good long while. This is not the first stick conversion he has done for me.

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.

Oh, and be sure he uses the stick flywheel bolts because the automatic bolts are a bit longer and if he puts them in the motor won't turn over!

IIRC new flywheel bolts are recommended, but sometimes they can be measured at the neck for stretch and if they pass can be reused.

Tom W

__________________
[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.

Well today was productive in a way.

I got a visit by a local boardmember charmalu. There was much chit-chat and exchanging of information. Charmalu has a very nicely kept 85 300TD with a lot of nifty tricks on it. Lots of ideas were presented just looking at what he had done to his car.

One thing shone through more than most though.....His engine bay was incredibly clean. Clean enough to eat off of? Pretty darned close fro sure. Id take a chance eating off his engine bay than I would my girlfriends car. First thing that needs to be done.....clean the engine bay.

Armed with a variety of chemicals and cleaning tools I waged war against dirt, grime, sludge and some weird stuff I couldnt identify that was green in color. Im pretty sure the environment, the ozone layer and my lungs are worse off for it(Ill probably get deported out of California for this) but it was worth it....I think. Ill tell you tomorrow as it was dark when I stopped.

In the meanwhile, heres the tale of the tape for the transmissions and the driveshafts.

This is the 722.118 transmission from the 1978 300CD vs the 4speed manual from the 1981 240D



the measurements were from the end of the tailshaft to the front edge of the transmission case. the difference was 6 1/8". That would be "added" to the stock stubby (13 3/8") to make a total length of 19 1/2".



The original length of the stubby from the 24D was 24" measured from the edge of the coupler surface to the center of the 2 hex flanges at the spline interface. In the end 4 1/2" was lopped off and rewelded(balanced too). I also got new driveshaft centering bushings pressed on as the ones on the driveshaft were shot.



No machine shops are open on Saturday. Dont they know I have a flywheel to be checked for balance? The nerve. Guess it will have to wait till Monday. That will give me time to get a clutch alignment tool. Chevy 10spline as I recall.

Gavin

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Don't add to the 300CD's driveshaft, cut out of the 240D driveshaft.

Yes, early 90's Chevy S10 IIRC.

Isn't that stick tranny gloriously compact? It is a lot lighter too.

Tom W

__________________
[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.

Right, The stock 240D was shortened. I think I may have written that poorly (it makes sense in my head).

difference of transmission lengths + 300CD stubby length = new length of stubby shaft. Subtract necessary amount from stock 240D stubby length to get to "new length of stubby shaft". Hmm...that still probably didnt come out right.

Indeed. the 4-speed is very compact. I was surprised when I one-handed it out of the donor car. (this is the unbreakable transmission they speak about?). Its lighter than the 5-speed FWD transmission in my mazda.

Gavin

all this talk of a stubby shaft is making me nervous.

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 are referring to a bushing inside the shifter itself? I have only seen one shifter with the reverse lockout that worked properly. It is going into my car as a replacement for the one I have.

I saw a 116 v8 with a stick at the yard today!!!

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http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg
1995 E420 Schwarz
1995 E300 Weiss
#1987 300D Sturmmachine
#1991 300D Nearly Perfect
#1994 E320 Cabriolet
#1995 E320 Touring
#1985 300D Sedan
OBK #42

Perhaps only charmalu, gets the significance as he saw the "before", but man what a difference simple green and a paintbrush will make. The underside is almost as clean. This is a quantum leap difference in cleanliness.

I liked the effect so much I did more cleaning today. I did however have some time to check out some parts for the conversion.

Here are the adaptor plates. 81 240D manual plate on the left.... 78 300CD auto plate on the right.



Just a little different. I have read that for those who have done the auto>manual conversion many hadnt needed to change the adaptor plates as they matched. Not so here. Its a good thing I took the plate from the donor 240D.

Heres the stampings on the plates. The first is the 240D, the second the 300CD.




Finally a shot of the 240D adaptor plate and new pilot bearing installed.



Tomorrow I will be making a stop at the machinist to check the balance of the flywheels. Ill be making a stop at the junkyards as well. Rumor has it that new 240D has shown up in the yards and I want to check the layout of the shift linkage.

Gavin

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Yes, there is a plastic bushing that goes on the end of the shaft the shifter slides and swivels on. It is white plastic and shaped like Abe Lincolns hat. When it wears out the shifter gets sloppy and it is hard to get the exact gear you want. With the shifter out of the car it is pretty simple to change, and it will feel like a new shifter again.

Tom W

__________________
[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.

WOW!!! What a difference, I`ll be over for dinner .

I can`t believe this is the same engine compartment. amazing what a'little elbow grease can do.

this is going to look so good you won`t let your GF drive it
nice job.

Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

That may just be because of it being a non-turbo 617. The plates from my 300TD and 240D were identical.

I suppose that could explain the difference....although you figure that both cars are non-turbo. Another variable could be the whole pre/post 1980 configurations.

Sent the flywheels off to get spun up to check the balance. As it turns out there is only one place that has the facility to check the balance of the flywheels in Santa Cruz. This will take a couple days to get the results so looks like the final assembly will be over the coming weekend.

For those who have had the flywheels checked for balance, what was the price you paid to have this done? Im a bit curious.

I did get the rebuild kits for the clutch slave/master cylinders though. Is it bad when the "fluid" in the slave/master are the color and consistency of mud? Also disassembled the shifter mechanism and cleaned/relubed everything. Had to file down some of the edges of the sliders as they prevented smooth operation. Things move much better now.

Also went back to the junkyards to check on the new addition(83 240D) and sort out the shift linkage order. Not sure why this one is in the junkyard as its in pretty decent shape. Maybe Ill pull the transmission....before charmalu gets to it first.

Still have to do a bit of wiring and shortening of the shift linkage. Another question. The shift linkage has extruded(?) threads. That is the diameter of the threads is actually thicker than the shaft itself. Running a tap over the shortened shaft would have the threads be at half height. I know people have done this before, but has anyone had issue with stripping bolts/threads?

Almost there.

Gavin

Got the flywheels spun and checked for balance.

The auto flywheel was in fact zero-balanced. The manual flywheel was off of zero by about 11grams. The machinist said that in effect they were both originally zero-balanced. The slight imbalance was corrected (machinist said it wasnt that bad, anything over 25g is "bad" in his eyes).

Since the flywheels were not balanced to the crank it seems that its not critical to have the flywheels indexed to a specific spot on the crank.

Time to see about the minor electrical work.

EDIT: found this nugget of information.. Auto -> Manual Transmission Conversion Has Begun.

naturally since this is for an 84 it probably doesnt have anything in common with the wiring in the 78, but one can hope.

Gavin