looking at the pictures the shifter might come out pretty close to where my manual 240D is now. Hmmm......
Minus the shifter linkage.
Remove the shifter and you have a square hole.
This would allow for the Chevy boot and shifter..........

Oh No not again... RESIST THE URGE ...RESIST THE URGE..... TOO MANY PROJECTS....

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Experience : what you receive 3 seconds after you really needed it !!



86 300SDL 387,000? Motor committed suicide
81 300SD 214,000 "new" 132,000 motor
83 300SD 212,000 parts car
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91 F700 5.9 cummins 5spd eaton 298,000
66 AMC rambler American 2dr auto 108,000
95 Chevy 3/4 ton auto 160,000
03 Toyota 4runner 180,000 wifes

I tentatively measured the MB shifters at like 8 inched to a foot further back than the NV3500 shifter, which would probably come up somewhere under the climate control, if you just bolted it to the engine, unless you managed to space it way back, or used another tranny, like a tremec which has multiple shifter location options.
Im sure you could make it work though! Would be a hell of a project to make this NV3500 work in an MB body though.

Ill have to scrounge around for the shifter linkage bars and shifter and take another pic to show how much further back they are

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Here are some more pictures of the transmission adapter plate - to spur you on!

It is a really nice casting - and it weighs in at 2.7 kg - just so you know.

It is held in place with 4 M10 (I think) bolts - strength rating 8.8 - coarse pitch thread

Attached Thumbnails

     

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I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

You can buy an adapter for a 700r4, and they are plenty stout to handle the 180# of torque from the om617, but I'd like to point out the gear spread is identical to the mercedes transmission, first in the mercedes is about 4:1 with top gear being 1:1, with the 700r4 the range is roughly 3:1 in first with top gear at roughly 0.8:1, changing the final drive to 2.5:1 assuming you have a 3:1 final drive will have a nearly identical effect.

The 700R4 is cheaper to rebuild and upgrade than the Mercedes trans, but then it needs repair more often. I rebuilt one for a friend's K5 blazer, and at 80k it was trashed inside. First and second were ok, it slipped like crazy in direct and OD though, once I got it apart there was almost no clutch material left, all the steels were blued horribly. That was with a stock 350 in front of it.
On the other hand, can you find a 2.5 rear gear for this car?

napabavarian,

I think the conclusion math is wrong: 4:1 x 3:1 == 12:1 overall first gear.
To adjust a 3:1 on the 700R4 for the same launch you'll need a 4:1
rear end.

Based on the final drive ratio, the 3.69 from a 240D should be pretty close.
<3 % 0.8 = 3.75>.

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--frankb

1982 300TD 617.912 <NLA> . 1975 2002 E10-EFI . 1976 914c6 . 1983 MG LMIII <NLA>. 1988 Montero / 616<NLA> . 2001 TLS . 2005 Saab 9-5 Wagon

he wasn't saying that the 700R4 needs a 2.5:1 ratio to match what MB had... he was saying that instead of putting a 700R4 in, you could just install a 2.5 rear end, and have the same mileage as putting in the 700R4.

the difference of course is the locking torque converter. the MB trans does not have it, so putting in a 2.5 rear gear would introduce more slip in the TC!

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