Retrofitting a manual gearbox to an auto' car

quietsailor

Has anyone on here ever taken part in a project to replace an earlier (pre 90's estate) automatic box with a manual one in an estate. It's a project I'm thinking of starting soon, I'd be willing to share ideas/photos once it gets started on the thread as well but does anyone already have photos of this?

specifically I'd like to find out about
- Do they have the same mounts/can a bracket be fabricated/bought to adapt mountings
-are the bell housing's the same ie will a manual box mate to the part of the engine the auto box just came off
- do wiring looms need to be changed
- does the dashboard need to be replaced/warning lights changed

MercMad

I would advise against such a job, having been involved in several.

Going from auto to manual is a bit easier and most cars will have the same mounting points but the actual mounting brackets will be different. It would be better if you had a donor car to swop as needed.

There will be extra wiring on the auto car which will be unused.

You will need a different drive shaft, you will need a flywheel and clutch as well as a new pedal box (real pain) as well as various levers.

Really not a job I would take on.

What car is it anyway ?

Bitten & Hisses

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=59673774&postcount=129

This one, I'd say.

carchaeologist

Whats wrong with autos,auto mercs are the only way to go!:p
Id prefer an auto to a manual if i was buying one.

quietsailor

Are you stalking me bitten and hisses??

That particular car seems clean from the interior photo but I have to work mom around to having a "work in progress" dumped parked in her yard (I live in the city so I've no space) before I go buying machines. But it comes close to exactly what I want - 86 W124 250TD manual diesel (in white) - not one bit choosy am I.

@mercMad I wouldn't mind the technical challenge, the engines I trained on, you could have strapped even a merc diesel engine in the crankcase and everything would have ran away sweetly. (20,000 Kw or thereabouts) I'd probably buy a reconditioned engine and gearbox so at least that much should fit together, hopefully those vendors would supply brackets as well. The wiring alright I'd ask advice on, I'm weak on wiring diagrams, once its explained to me I would be happy but I don't wire 12V on a regular basis so it would bew unfamiliar teritory

@carchaeologist, don't like autos, I just prefer manuals even though we've had both in our family, Dad preferred autos - '93 E300D auto and 98 C250D auto - My own car was the aforementioned '86 W124 250TD and I still prefer the '86. So did Dad actually, the 300 let him down a few mornings going to work and my 250 was pressed into service, actually when I used to go to sea for 4 months he used to drive mine all the time, funnily enough it always seemed to need a service just after I came home :rolleyes:

carchaeologist

Cool,well,if you think you are up for the challenge you should go for it,if its the car you want!:)

unkel

quietsailor wrote: »

W124 250TD manual diesel (in white)

They are built to last alright. The odometer of the last W124 250TD manual diesel (in white) I sat in was just short of one million kilometres :eek:

galwaytt

merc auto's superior in quality to merc manuals - apart from anything else, the conversion wouldn't be worth it, money-wise.