6 speed box in a W202 /W208?

[slowcars0]

Hello Everyone,

A new member here !

I recently acquired an "old" ladette (W202 2.5 TD manual 1997) for moderate non track tuning.
Apart of stage 1 remap I'm interested upgrading to smoother Mercedes 6 speed manual.
What Mercedes gearbox I should look for, especially one that will need minimal amount of adaptions ?

have read on forums options are:
W203 c270 6speed manual
SLK/CLK 230 6speed manual
S202 year 2000 manual 6 speed (could be a myth)

will appreciate good advice

does anyone know if Carat still in business ?

 

[MrGreedy]

Apart of stage 1 remap I'm interested upgrading to smoother Mercedes 6 speed manual.
What Mercedes gearbox I should look for, especially one that will need minimal amount of adaptions ?

have read on forums options are:
W203 c270 6speed manual...

I had a w203 C320 6 speed manual, which I loved, and wished I still had it, except the 1st and 2nd gears and change between them.

Very notchy, and shocking when cold. Summer was bad, winter was unusable and you would need to set off in 2nd. Once hot and in summer, less of an issue, but still a pain. 2nd to 3rd and other higher gears were awesome.

I believe that Merc designed and tested the box indoors, and hence didn't pick up on this issue from 'cold starts' as it was always room temp and above.

There is apparently (when cold) not enough space/clearance for the thick cold oil to get out of where it's not needed during 1st gear activities. A modified part is available with a revised oil channel to improve the shift.

I think I heard this from either a long serving Merc parts Manager or an experienced transmission specialist when I enquired about gearbox rebuild, or maybe between them from both. Maybe the Merc parts Manager commented about how he could tell that loads of this specific part had been ordered, and the gearbox guy said he'd done a few of these, but obviously it's a box split job, so i was waiting for clutch to go (which it showed no sign of doing).

Gearbox oil changes did not help.