The ratios I have in my car (from the Nissan chassis) are either 4:11's or 4:38's, I haven't taken the time to find out which. However, after the 31" tires the gearing works out just about right. I calibrated my speedo off my brother in laws Suburban and my indicated 60mph is actually about 55mph. At any rate, going back to the MB rear suspension at this point would necessitate cutting the back half of the Nissan frame out. I'm not even considering that. The main axle improvement I'm thinking about right now is putting disc brakes on the Nissan rear axle. I'm very interested in the 4 speed conversion for later down the road, though. On the MBZ.org dieseltech list most modifications are discouraged but those guys say you have to have a flywheel that is match balanced to your crank in order to mate a 4 speed to a 5 cyl engine. What is the real story on this? If you want to, send me an email,
broth@sanjuan.edu, and I'll send you an article about building the car with some photos.