Auto to manual conversion
 

I love my 84 380 SL but would love it even more with a 5 speed manual transmission. Is it possible to pull the auto transmission out and replace it with an MBZ manual?

A company in Australia, http://www.big-toys.net/cgi-bin/detail.cgi?0&20 , does 5 spd conversions on the 6.9 and 6.3's and I asked them about doing a 560SEL and they said they could. It was expensive though but would be a top quality conversion. They have pedal boxes etc.

Matt.

Best bet would be to get the parts from a Euro junk yard. I have a W126 with a manual trany but it is gray market. I have heard that a lot of the cars were manual in Europe. I believe some sl's came over to the US with manual transmissions so that may be a source here in the states. If you find a donor car it should not be hard to do. There would not be any need for aftermarket pedal boxes as the chassis comes with a clutch on some models with them. All you need is a clutch master cylinder and possibly a smaller brake pedal. The master cylinder is located inside the car and gets fluid from the brake reservoir. You may even be able to use the 6 cylinder transmission. The shift rods may be hard to convert if they are from a different chassis, but even that is not that hard.
My wife would love for me to convert the car to automatic, but I say no way! It is kind of strange driving a big sedan with a manual but I like it!

Mattman, Silverboat,
Thanks very much for reply. Very encouraging information.
Iowa Pete