If you have a complete donor car available close by, are competent with tools and have a moderate level of experience with auto repair, I say that it could be accomplished in 3 to 5 evenings of work.

For a 240A-240M swap, a few days would do it (assuming parts ready, shop, tools, etc.)

AFAIC, the effort is worth AT LEAST a few days effort to get a manual in that car. An auto in a 240 is like asking a house cat to haul a travel trailer.

**POST EDITED TO REFLECT A FIRST TIMERS ATTEMTP AT A RETRO.

I've been playing around with my 4-speed tranny. Cleaning, replacing seals, painting, etc.

The gear ratios I got while checking it out were:
R:4.5
1:4
2:3.45
3:2.25
4:1
"Jacob- The 240 4-speed works well, however it does seem like a long step between second and third." These ratios would explain why.

These were just eye-ball and paint lines numbers. From what I have read, the 5-speed is identical to the 4-speed with an OD (ex. 0.8:1) gear.

I'm pretty sure there are different ratio's available in different trans's, but I'm not sure where I saw the specs at. I'll look through the old Hollander books at work and see.

I've noticed that the OLDER (cast iron/unit construction) tranny has a more linear ratio. Did yet another install with one and it's a lot smoother between shifts.

Also, Lance, bearings can be had for the 4-speed, just LMK if you need #'s and such. Would hate to see you have it out and apart and NOT do bearings (if it needs them.)

Hi, I have a '87 190D w/ 2.5 non turbo. It has the 4 sp auto; I am converting it to 5sp manny from a '84 190E 2.3 donor car. I have been told that it would be easier swap trannie than putting the 2.5 in the 190E. The gasser, body wise is in better shape. The 2.3 barely runs & quickly fouls the sparks; thus it is my donor.

The 2.5 is solid @ 187K, no leaks and doesn't use oil, but it is a dog. I am hoping that some injector work and trannie switch to the 5sp will speed things up. The 2.5 is getting 33 to 35 mpg on the hiway with auto.

This thread will surely help me with my swap. The 2.3 and 2.5 (must be non USA models) used the same manual trannie. But, I haven't found any thing on the flywheel. I was hoping to use the flywheel from the 2.3, but now I have concerns about the balance of the crankshaft after reading about the 5 cylinder in this thread.

Does anyone know about the flywheel for 2.5 manual?

Hey..

The donor car I have is a 1983 240D. The car that I will be putting the manual transmission is also a 1983 240D. Does it matter which adapter plate I use ?

Are there any seals you need to change on the tranny prior to installing it ?


Thanks

Those adapters are probably the same.

If your tranny is leaking, replace the seals; if not, I'd leave it alone...not that hard to pull and fix later on...

How many seals would there be ?

Dunno...2-5 probably. There certainly would be a pilot shaft seal plus a tailshaft seal and, if your's has the seals under the shift arms, there would be those three o-rings also.

You should ask TomJ, he has torn down several manny trannys...I haven't had a Benzo tranny apart yet.

Kamil, check your PM.

The input and output seals (can be sourced at slightly different sizes if dealer can't get) and the three shifter seals which are O-rings (just seal-pick one out and go down to the HW store and match it up, get 3-4 of them, lube them with superlube grease for install.)

Also, you'll probably destroy the front housing/bearing guide gasket taking the housing off to get to the seal, so try to order one of those too. When the dealer says they're back ordered till hell freezes over, just use gasket maker.

Tom,

When I set the trans on it's face (Input shaft end) to paint it, it left a pretty good puddle of dark red ATF. Since I don't have anything to install the tranny to, how deep of a job will I get into to replace that seal and any others along it's path?

I never planned to open the case, it's only got 197k miles, the fluid was not bad and there was no grinding going gear-to-gear while I was towing it (Only about 1 mile w/clutch pedal depressed).

EDIT: I already replaced the shifter o-rings before I started painting.

Why aren't there any FSM's for the MB transmissions?
 

I've searched and searched and I still haven't been able to find any FSM's for the MB trannies. I'd be afraid to tear into one without knowing what the specs are. I've only found a mediocre one for the automatics by ATSG.

The input shaft seal can be done without taking anything apart aside from it's housing (with the release bearing guide tube.) Just take the inside cover off to do that seal by itself and you should be ready to go.