300D automatic trans to manual

I visited some young hooligan friends in Portland over the weekend. Over the years they have been putting 240D flywheels from engines with manual trans. on 300 motors and converting them. I don't believe that any of the conversions are more that 3 or so years old. Since the engines have dynamic balancers on the front, would the only issues be longevity of clutch. The tranies seem to be pretty durned bullet proof!

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Diesel Engine Specific Aid

Main issue is weight and balance

Hi Larry, It has been a while since I have heard the term hooligan :-). I know people are doing this conversion and in my humble opinion, what have you got to lose?? So why not? If you have a hooligan license anything goes, right?

The only time I did this conversion myself was when I used a flywheel from a 300D euro 4-speed manual model. That flying is somewhat lighter than a 240D flywheel. All engines have their flywheels balanced at the factory with the crank at installation. Changing flywheels can lead to imbalance and vibration. It happened to me on one 240D manual that I changed to an automatic. Never could get rid of the vibration. On other conversions vibration has not been much of an issue. So in the real white coat world you should have the crank, flywheel, and front balancer all balanced together. But in the hooligan arena if it works then so be it.

Weight and Balance

I hope I am not hijacking the thread but I have a related question. I have a 615.912 from my old 79 300TD that I am putting into my 1972 Land Rover Series III. I removed the flywheel from the engine prior to learning the importance of marking the position on the crank. To compund things I am replacing the 615 flywheel (automatic) with a 614 flywheel (manual) to accomodate the clutch. I know I can take both flywheels to a machine shop and have the balance matched but how can I determine the correct position of the flywheel on the crank if I did not mark it? Thank you, Landrovered

Bellhousing pattern??

Being sort of new to the Benz thing (hands on that is) and having a sorted hooligan past myself i stumbled onto this thread and have a raised brow since this has been a slow burning question i have had in the parking lot for a while now. so just to clarify -- are we saying the bellhousing pattern is the same on the 240D as the 300D? I always thought it would be very cool to be able to drop a 300D into an older 60's wing style benz with a 4 speed. if this is the case, and the patterns do match, i would definitely want to build one from the ground up where i would balance the flywheel, crank and front balancer as well as go through the rest of the engine, tranny, and so on, so as to have an older classic style benz with some solid 300D turbo power and manual 4 speed driveability. What a blast that would be!

Any info on this topic would be appreciated!?

If anyone who has done an auto to manual (300D, 240D or the like) conversion could share their experience or any tips, it would be very much appreciated. Hope its okay that i ask this....

BELLHOUSING PATTERN?

Okay then...... Maybe the question i should really be asking here is: are all mercedes bellhousing patterns the same? ie, will a gasser 5 speed manual bolt up to a 300D? i get the whole flywheel weight and balancing thing, but all i wanna know is are the patterns the same?

land rovered why not?....

why not spend the bux on a 200 or 300 tdi as opposed to a heavy, under powered (comapred to the tdi) MB engine? or even easier a 2.5 na? i think a perkin will even mate up easily to the landies. seems like a lot of math for a large head ache. just my 2cents. let me know how the conversion works though. i am looking for a landy too. i need a diesel for the cheap fuel. i gots moutians to climb. i didnt mean to be a naredowell. just curious abouit the reason behind such a swap. thanks.

WOW, someone actually chimed in!

when you say 200 or 300tdi are you talking about a mercedes engine or a VW TDI? Ive been looking at the 1.9 and 2.0 VW tdi as a conversion into my Syncro Vanagon as well as the Toyota mini truck or 4runner based on its power to size & weight ratio, and its availability an reliability. please elaborate.