Peter Frederick wrote:
Putting the 617 in is more complicated, as you need different front springs and a different drive shaft -- at least the front half. Tranny will bolt right up, linkage will work, etc, but the driveshaft is shorter, probably have a hard time finding one (although the 615 auto driveshaft may fit the 617 manny tranny).
Don't need to bother with springs much, just maybe spring spacers down the line for a proper conversion. Front halfshaft is different, shifter linkages are different, transmission crossmember is different (though, same crossmember as 240D auto), and auto driveshaft will not work. The 617 manny flywheel is different too, but some folks have used the 616 manny flywheel with no problems - longevity is still up in the air, though. The 5-banger was factory balanced differently than the 4, which explains some of it.
Toss in driveshaft rebalancing, pulling dash to install pedal cluster, etc, it's not an easy swap, but doable. Figure a week in a well-equipped shop to do the swap, and another week to sort out niggling issues.
-- John L. Ervine 1981 240D 4-spd 267+kmi 1980 300TD 168+kmi 1980 300SD 277+kmi
