I think a valid question is whether the 5-speed would make a turbodiesel Benz any quicker in a drag race. An automatic does a great job of keeping a turbocharged engine in its powerband, since you never have to back out of the throttle under acceleration and RPM remains more constant.

Also, a diesel engine revs slowly, which wouldn't help acceleration with a manual trans. Still, I think a manual would be neat and definitely more fun. Also, fuel economy would be better and the driver would actually be able to perform smooth gearchanges, which, as we all know, are often not possible with the automatic.

Aaron Dolezal

Being my 85 with 472K achives 26MPG @ 80MPH in 4th gear, I would imagine it would be upwards of 35MPG in 5th at 65.

John

Aaron,

For a sunday drive the automatic is fine, but for rush hour traffic a stick would be faster from a start. The auto upshifs too quick to take full advantage of the top end of each gear. When Im at a stop (driving to work) light and the light turns green, I drive my auto like a stick. I get up to speed a lot faster than letting the trans determine on its own.

John/ TD

Yeah, I drove a lot of different combo's in trucks. Having 5 reverse gears is a little wild, I think you'd like it. I've tried reverse in top gear off road before, its wild.

~George~

Randall,

When the first 124 came out, Road and Track absolutely raved about it. I still have a copy of the article. As one person in this thread said, "Road and Track must be owned by BMW", but they drove and loved an '86 manual transmissioned 300E.

MB sold about 700 or so in '86, in the US. They withdrew it in '87 and sold another 350 or so in '88 then, I suppose, gave up. The doctors, dentists and their wives just didn't care for a manual transmission.

I understand your love for the BMW's. The BMW is typically a lighter built and nimbler handling car than a corresponding MB. My brother is a BMW person and considers an MB to be a tank. He is right, the MB is a tank, that's why I drive them. I drive 50,000 to 70,000 miles a year, and tanks last many miles. It's the longevity of the MB that keeps me driving them. My brother only drives about 15,000 miles per year and still seems to experience more problems per year than I do. In spite of this, if I only had to drive 15,000 miles per year, I may very well have been driving a BMW all along.

I lived in Germany from '69 to '71 and had never heard of a BMW before I got there. A friend of mine bought a new 2002 in the winter of '70/'71. We broke it in April of '71 by driving it straight through from near Frankfurt to Barcelona for the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix. It was a great drive and definitely made me a BMW lover. I don't dislike BMW's I love to drive them, but again it's the longevity that keeps me in the MB, not it's handling or nimbleness.

Enjoying the thread,

Turbodiesel,

For the record: my 84 300d with 617.912 non-Turbo diesel got 32mpg when new in the summer and 30mpg in the winter (NJ), averaging 80% hwy driving at 70mph.

Larry,

I couldn't agree with you more. The longevity of the Benz is fantastic. It is only after the last few years where I drive 40k miles per year that I have truly come to love mine at the economics of keeping a 17 year old car.

Do a search on E-Bay. What percentage of cars being sold with over 150k miles for over $1000 are Mercedes???? I'll bet the number is over 80% Anybody have the time to do the math???

Prosit!

__________________
'06 E320 CDI 51K miles
'02 VW Jetta GLS TDi 120k miles
'99 Ford E350 7.3L Powerstroke 200k miles -sold
'84 Euro 300D 5 spd manual 317k miles - sold

Larry, I couldn't agree with you more... They are different animals. While both strong cars, I would tend to trust my life more with the Mercedes. And the Benz is easier to live with, less fussy. The only thing a BMW does well is give the driver an excellent feel of confidence, and I swear its engineered in to the car. BMWs are no better than anything else, but they are designed to make the hardest of corners easy to take. They also exaggerate sensations to a great degree, where a Mercedes hides you from them. You could coax a Benz to do it just as well, it just wouldn't be as easy. A Merc is like the girl at the dance who doesn't like to dance. But she could if she had to....

This is an interesting debate that has not answered my question. A question that stems from our interest to convert one of our 300TDT to 3 pedals. My conclusion is to just go for it. More research and parts gathering to do, but the big parts are about to be acquired.

__________________
83 300TD (need rear wiper assembly dead or alive)
84 300SD Daily driver
85 300TD almost 400k miles and driven daily.
98 E300D *sold
86 300SDL *sold and made flawless 10 hour journey to new home.

Last post in this thread was nearly two decades ago. There have been more than a few conversions since this thread was made, I believe you can find some on this site.

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Milan Brown 1979 240D, rebuilt OM617.952 turbo diesel, rebuilt 722.315 transmission (my only daily driver)

Instagram: @maximed93

Renntag, it is very do-able. Pretty much bolt-on, once you have all the parts.

The driveshaft issue is probably best solved by modifying your existing driveshaft.

Finding the correct flywheel is a challenge, and it has to be balanced to match the driven plate it replaces, and you need to mark the crank to preserve the orientation.

Find the other threads that detail the path. Best to have donor car next to recipient while you perform the upgrade.

What year is your car?

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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.

I've done the conversion 3 times, it's feasable.