300SD Conversion to 4 speed Manual - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Silver Boat · #16 12-17-2003, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by The Warden
I would venture to guess that you'd have to fabricate a pedal setup, since AFAIK there was never a 126 sold in the U.S. with a manual tranmission (there's a couple Euro 126's with manuals, but they're extremely rare). I don't know on the 116's, though.

Beyond that and the shifter linkage, the biggest issue might be figuring out where to put the clutch master cylinder...

That's all that readily comes to mind; sounds like you have the engine/tranny side planned out.

Good luck!

I have a 1980 280SE euro w126 chassis that has a manual 4 speed. It is nice to dirve. I am sure they have the mounting points for the clutch pedel so that should not be much of an issue. I would think hardest part would be linkage and mounting the transmission to the motor. If you photos of anything give me a PM as I have a digital camara. I am considering selling my car as it needs some exhaust work and that is the kind of the last straw, but I am sure I will wind up fixing it again.

mr. Goodwrench · #17 12-17-2003, 01:41 PM

Since the flywheel and crank and dampener are balanced as a unit, the 240D flywheel will be out of balance. However the 240 flywheel can be balanced to match the 300. However:

If the post by "GURKHA" is correct the 300 starter will not engage the smaller diameter 240 flywheel ring gear. Maybe a standard 300SD flywheel is available from some friends in Europe?

#18 12-17-2003, 07:01 PM

I've seen previous discussion of this, at least for replacing the automatic in a 300TD (123 chassis).

Search the diesel archive at www.mbz.org.

As I recall the discussion, Mercedes did not fit a manual transmission to the turbo engines because they had too much torque for long run reliability of the transmission. The same chassis with non turbo engines were available in Europe with manual transmissions.

As I recall, if you drop in the 4-speed, you might expect to replace or perform major repairs after 100k miles.

Gurkha · #19 12-17-2003, 08:50 PM

As far as I can recall the 5 speed TX-18 ZF transmission is rated up to 160bhp and is also used in MB commercial vehicles under heavy load conditions and therefore the turbo 300's 130bhp would do no harm.