Manny Tranny W124 Question
 

Hello All,
Our 190E 2.3 has finally died (225k mi, ours the whole time and we never had to do anything but change her fluids) of cancer, among a few other things. She was a 5spd stick and I have been looking for wrecked w124 stick to do a conversion on my '91 300E. Now it would seem that I have most of the parts (as there is not that much to salvage off the old girl) to do a conversion.
My question: What parts will I need jumping chassis? I know I will need a center console peice and such, but will I need a drive shaft? a fly wheel? will the linkage be the same or will I need longer?
I have been heavily advised by some of the wiser members here (Thanks Larry!) to not attempt a conversion w/o the parts car next to you to pilage. How about this situation Larry? (and anyone else who cares to chime in?)
Thanks guys!
-Matt-

Also,
How much sh** am I in regarding the pilot bearing in the end of the crank.
I suppose it would be dreaming to hope that there would be one there already, :rolleyes: so how much trouble to get one put in?
Thanks
-M-

There's not going to be a pilot bearing in the w124. It's not too hard to put one in; I just used a fairly large socket (any hard metal cylinder should work) and a mallet.

Your 4-cyl. flywheel will NOT work w/ the 6-cyl engine. I'd think you'd need the w124-specific driveshaft and shift rods b/c of the differences in chassis lengths.

Chamorro,
Do you think the 190E trans wll have any problem w/ the 300E torque?
I remember a discussion on here about MB only making 2 5spds through the late 80s/early 90s, the regular and the getrag.
Am I insane to try and swap an '85 tranny into a '91?
Thanks!
-M-

I don't think it's insane.....I have the trans from an '87 4-cyl. (about 200k miles on the clock) on my 190e 2.6; did the swap towards the end of last year and everything's still holding up. That trans actually had a 124 part number.

Sorry, I can't give the torque-handling question a definite answer; I haven't found info on max. torque specs for the trannies. My setup is working for me.

I'm pretty sure that the same transmission is used throughout these models with the possible difference being slightly different gear sets for ratio reasons having nothing to do with strength.

Yes you will indeed need a flywheel and I fully expect the driveshaft to be of different length. Find a local drive shaft shop, take them the driveshaft components with dimensions and they can build it.

Good luck,