What's a COMPLETE 4spd stick conversion worth?
 

I have the chance to buy a COMPLETE and I mean complete 4spd stick changeover for a 240. It is the aluminum case 4 spd. pedals, shifter, bolts, flywheel, clutch slave and master and other stuff I forgot. What's it worth??

That's always a tough call. If you must have it........and the seller wants $1.5K...........then you'll pay it because you won't wait for another one.

I'd guess that $1000 would be a reasonable price for the complete package. Others have stolen them for much less..........

Be patient and wait for a wrecked or rusty parts-car to come along. I bought a rusty, but driveable stick-240D two years ago for $600, as a possible conversion-donor for my automatic 240D. Howebver, I decided my 'parts-car' actually drove too well to gut the poor thing, so I've been fixing her up a bit instead. Meanwhile, I could have gotten a couple more parts (but not driveable) stick-240Ds for under $400. So, if you're not in a hurry....

Happy Motoring, Mark

You're In So. Cal.
 

Where there's lots of beater $500.00 stickshift 240D's you can drive home and junk out .

Don't be foolish , Pick-A-part (also loads in So. Cal.) will sell you all the parts you need for under $500.00

Be aware that converting to manual tranny is nice but won't make it any faster , it'll just allow you to easily overspeed the engine , turning it into yet another for sale beater stickshift 240D that leaks oil and smokes too much.....

OTOH , stick shift Diesels are nice drivers .

Like anything else it is worth what you're willing to pay for it.

I bought a complete kit including the rear driveshaft, but minus the crossmember (though from what I've read it wouldn't be the right one to use anyway) for and I only paid $200 for it. It even came with a fairly new looking clutch disk and pressure plate...

Gotta' admit that I think I got pretty lucky on the deal though.

Just sold my set of goodies for $500.

$300 is a reasonable price for stock 240D parts. $500 if the driveshaft is already modified (cut). $1000 is far too much unless the transmission is a fresh rebuild.

I would willingly pay four hundred, more than that would be done if necessary but grudgingly.

A stick will transform a two forty from being an intolerable drive to an engaging drive. Its faster and more economical on fuel as well. I have converted a couple of two fortys and a couple of three hundreds, and never regretted any of them.

I paid $300.00 for all the parts from the salvage yard.

if you want to pull everything at the PNP its about 3 hours work, sometimes less. I see a 4 speed in this area about ever 3-4 months. The cost to buy everything unless you catch it on half price day is between 200 and 250 depending on how diligent they are marking and charging individual parts. I wont sell one less than 450 without the modified driveshaft, its not worth my time and effort to pull all of it, pack and ship it for $200. If you can pull the stuff yourself, and you can spend many weekends watching until one shows up its worth $250, if you cant go every couple weeks to check and dont want to deal with pulling it yourself at a yard, then 400-500 is usually what you can find it for.

I paid $160 or so for all the parts I needed for the lemons car. The problem with pnp is that you don't know what your getting (get the warranty!). I bought a w123 200D with 109k a euro hitch, triangle and 4 speed for $550. I paid $1000 for my euro 300D with 4speed stick and all the proper setup. I also drove it for a year and sold the shell for $100.

If you have space to store an extra vehicle, without getting hassled by your neighbors or local government, you're definitely better off with a parts-car. Especially if you can test-drive the prospective donor before you buy. And you'll have on hand any special little clips, brackets, or other special parts needed to complete the conversion - parts you could easily overlook while wrestlng major stuff out of a salvage-yard wreck.
Otherwise, you could be getting pot-luck buying the conversion parts at the Pick-N-Pull or elsewhere.
Though, two summers ago I was tempted to gamble on the first manual-shift 240D that I found at the Virginia Beach Pick-N-Pull. Except for the accident damage that brought it there, that 240D was in excellent condition.

Happy Motoring, Mark

If you pull the parts yourself you not only save money but you get to learn how things came apart so you can put them back together. If its a "package" deal, Im guessing you wont get "everything", theres always something missing, a little bracket or something. Much better to have the cars more or less side by side.;)

Ok, the first reason to change to a stick shift is the problem with keeping old automatic transmissions going and working correctly into their 3,4,5 decades...
A manual trans rebuild is a known quantity.

Where did you get that idea about overspeeding the engine as a result of having control over the gear the car is in ?

I had reason to really wind up my 240 when I first got it... and as a result I think it would really be hard to overspeed the engine if you have the car attached and the transmission hooked up to it..
The only overspeed situations I have ever heard of had to do with working on the engine /fuel delivery and not having a safety cut off for the air.. operator error in other words... although not necessarily the current owner or the guy working on the car at the time...
There is a natural tendency due to the lack of overlap of the valves for these engines not to overspeed under normal situations... meaning if set up normally you would have to really try to overspeed it using your foot on the fuel delivery push mechanism inside the car.. have forgotten what we call it instead of gas pedal...

I really think that around town the stick makes the 240 an acceptable car due to its peppiness... but once you need to integrate onto a freeway I think a stick shift ( 5 speed ) 300 would be the ideal car ( normally aspirated ).

Where ?
 

I got the fact , not any " idea " from living in a college town and watching hundreds of stupid kids run cherry stick shift 240D's into the ground in a year from keeping the throttle pinned 24/7 .

Yes yes , we all know there's a governor but it's a saftery device , not a shift point indicator....

There's theoretical discussion OnLine then there's fact and experiance from being a Journeyman Mechanic for 40 + years....

I agree , a 5 speed manual tranny 5 cylinder Diesel would be a nice car but then I know how to operate it within it's design parameters , few do .