717 Transmission Swap indecisiveness

[Dieselfanatic]

Hello all,

So given a choice between these two benz diesels, which would you prefer to have a 5 (or 6) speed manual trans?

1995 E300

- or -

1987 300D

?

I'm planning on doing the swap on one of these, and keeping the auto on the other. I know the 300D would haul some serious butt with the 5 speed, but the E300 would get some killer mileage

[Diseasel300]

I'd imagine you wouldn't see much difference in power or mileage between the two assuming you could actually do the conversion. Same chassis, different engines, but similar power. I'd suspect that the N/A engine would be nicer to drive with the manual trans than the turbo since you wouldn't have to re-build boost after every gear change. Since you're dealing with <10HP between your two options, I'd imagine in the real world it would probably be slightly faster as well. The turbo engines are naturally suited to an automatic since the boost is maintained and power continuously applied during accelerating gear changes.

[Dieselfanatic]

Good point! I'm definitely doing the conversion. It's just a waiting game until I chance upon the right donor