Heres one for the unusual books : I have a 1946 dodge pickup that has been started as a streetrod project .... and I have to be different so I am searching for a Mercedes for a doner . I believe that the 300 td would be a good choice because of the 100+ h.p. rating . I plan to use the suspension and all to make it a daily driver with late suspension and brakes ,that I won't have to work on all the time . I will want from time to time to pull a small car trailer with my wifes 41 Plymouth coupe on board to local car shows . Did Mercedes make a standard trans. for the 300 or would the auto do the job ? should I look at the 4cyl. models or stay with the 5 . Any advise info or help would be greatly appreiciated . Thanks for the space !!

jerricuda,

The 300D turbo was never imported to the US with a manual transmission. Your only hope for that would be to find a Euro model as a donor car. The automatic transmissions on the 123 turbo cars are varied, some are Borg-Warner, some are MB. Some are tough, some are not, all are expensive.

Due to stringent inspection criteria in most European countries, plus the high speed autobahn driving in Germany, the 123 diesels are now aged and rare in Europe. But by doing some internet research of auto dismantlers in Europe, you could find such an engine/transmission combination. With a manual, the right rear gear set and a little patience, I believe it would tow a relatively light car like the Plymouth with no problem.

This would be a really neat swap. It's not hard to get the idea that you're a Mopar fan, so the Chrysler/Daimler thing is probably entering your thinking here.

After rereading your post and thinking of the four cylinder, I have an idea how you can probably build this from two different US MB donor cars. Depending upon your determination and patience, which most street rodders have plenty of, you could craft a five cylinder manual. Since you're swapping this engine/trans combination into something other than a 123 Benz anyway, by doing lots of parts scrounging, you could make a manual 300D turbo by using a 240D four speed manual and a 300D Turbo engine. You need to do lots of research, but I believe it could be done.

The manual and automatic 240D's actually have slightly different crankshafts for the pilot bearings, but I understand that you can make an automatic crankshaft work for a manual. There are adapter plates on the back of the engines between the engine and transmission. There is an early and a late engine. The late is what you are looking for, because all of the early ones were non turbo anyway. I expect that with a late 300D turbo engine, and a late 240D adapter/flywheel/clutch/transmission, you could put everything in the same pot and stir to come up with what you're looking for.

This will require parts from at least two donor cars, but these cars are now getting pretty cheap.

BTW, you will hear many naysayers about this here, because; a. most MB people are not street rodders(I built two in my younger years, a '40 Ford Coupe and a 37 Ford sedan delivery) and b. you will find very few MB enthusiasts who would give a shot glass full of cold spit for a manual transmission. Stick to your ideas and make sure you send us a picture of your completed masterpiece.

Best of luck with it,

[Edited by LarryBible on 05-21-2001 at 07:13 AM]

Thanks for your support help and informative input .Now all I need is to find the cars , so if anyone out there in readerland has a parts car or reasonably priced running turbo diesel in the northwest or within appprox.500 miles of Boise , I am in the market to buy . Also what is a good compression reading to look for on a used engine ? Thanks Jerry

jerricuda, I like your idea ,I built a nice 81 K5 2wd Blazer
last summer taking out the old 250 six 3 speed colum and putting in a warmed up 454 with a 400 tranny, many little problems but mucho fun, going to do the body work and paint this summer. Now to your manual 300 I sure hope it works as I have a tired 74 240 D with a good tranny and body and a real nice 81 300 sd with only 70k on the engine but I fear that in the near future I'll have to replace the tranny in the SD . So have been looking for a totaled SD with a good engine to shoehorn into the 240 and a spare auto tranny for the SD So if you figure how to get a 240 flywheel on a 300 engine I hope you will let us know. I bought my SD from add on autotrader.com which sometimes will have a few 300's that need repairs of on kind or another at low prices...
William Rogers..........