240D question
 

I looked at a 1980 240D w 4 spd manual. What's odd was it had a coolant temp gauge in F and an oil pressure gauge in psi. Was that standard for that year? The shifter console was not wood but looked like black plastic. Was that standard?

What year 240D's came with a 5 spd manual? Was that an option or only a Euro thing?

The 240 was the "entry level" Benz at that time. Plastic instead of wood and english guages were common.

I do not know about the 5 speed. That would be a great swap into a 300D.

5-speed was Euro-only, starting with the '84 model year I believe. The earlier US-spec W123's used English units for their instrument clusters - perfectly normal.

they never came with a 5-speed in the US:mad:

The 5 spds were around before 84. The one in my 78 I took out of an 82, definitely a "euro option" tho.

yes, and I personally like the look better than the wood.

me too :D

I like the black also. I am thinking of refinishing just the console from Zebrano with minor cracks to matt black.

It might be allot easier to find one in black at the wrecking yard, just gota make sure it has the right holes to accommodate your switches. I also like the black better.

Why did Mercedes change to metric gauges then? You know people will never get used to Metric in this country.

There are no pick&pulls around here and the used parts places wants big $$$ for parts. I was gonna just lightly sand mine and spray with black wrinkle paint. I think that would look good and blend in.

I don't know, they probably changed it for authenticity reasons and to make worldwide shipping easier. No other country in the world uses Fahrenheit. Besides, metric is easier and makes more sense, especially when it comes to temperature: 100C is the boiling point of water, 0C is the freezing point. 212F and 32F are such arbitrary numbers.

"Besides, metric is easier and makes more sense, especially when it comes to temperature: 100C is the boiling point of water, 0C is the freezing point. 212F and 32F are such arbitrary numbers."

The 0C and 100C degree points may make more sense, but Fahrenheit degrees are nearly twice as precise and for industrial measurements actually are more useful. Also what is so special about water or ice? As for metric in general, none of it really makes any more sense than the english system, especially when you consider that no one is using time measurements that are in any metric format and they are never likely to be!! Ditto for angular measurement, it is degrees, 360 of them. Not metric either......

It's not really that difficult to master SI units, my kids seemed to catch on in elementary school without much trouble. Next time you see a commercial electric motor (in the U.S.), take a look at the nameplate and see what units are used for the temperature ratings and the temperature rise. ;)

BTW, performing some engineering calculations in english units is actually a PITA, ask any first year engineering student to explain F=ma in english units and you will start hearing about "slugs" and the difference between pounds (force) and pounds (mass). It won't be pretty. :D

Another example:

1 newton-meter = 1 joule
1 foot-pound = 0.0012850675 BTUs

It's just like learning another language (something else americans can't seem to handle), you just have to think in SI units instead of trying to translate everything back to english units (i.e., 80C = good, 120C = bad).

BTW, angles are measured in radians, not degrees, for any type of analysis; and both radians and degrees are dimensionless so they are neither english or SI units. Degrees are just arbitrary numbers, but radians are driven by the math and would be the same in any system of units.

I agree with Craig that metric is much easier to handle. Everything is a power of 10. For example, 1 meter = 100 centimeters so converting between the two is a breeze. Yards, feet and inches are not as easy, especially when you deal with area let alone volume! Regarding water, what's not special about it? It's 70 something % of our bodies, and we were talking about measuring coolant temperature. For those running low antifreeze solutions it's especially important to know where the boiling point is. Precision is a non-issue. If you want higher precision than 1 celsius, just add a decimal point.:cool: