Thats pretty much the best advise. Small issue with it though. 90 percent of cars sold are automatic. Manual versions of cars are increasing difficult to find. I want a e90-92 bmw 335i. I can find 10 automatics for every one manual transmissions.
My 15 year old son wants to build a drift car and he thinks it’s no problem to convert an automatic to a manual transmission. I keep telling him that we’ll find the right vehicle that’s a manual, just be patient. Thank you for the video, I’ll have my son watch it. Hopefully he’ll now realize that it’s just not his “dumb father” who thinks this way 🤪
Yeah any reasonable drift chassis has a manual variant and isn't particularly rare anyway, like e36 or s13. Only situation to manual swap one is if you get a super good deal on the auto to avoid the drift tax
He just wants a clean, un-molested car to start with. He rightfully feels you won't find a clean, factory manual most likely. Because everyone else who drifts has done the same thing before him. The factory manual cars have all been but bought up, beaten up, hacked up (improperly), have problems now that they just want to chuck off to unsuspecting novice buyers. (Hopefully NOT you). And the clean ones done right, or un-molested, cost too much. Which justifies buying an auto and modifying it over time cost-wise.
@@mumbles005 Now THAT, I agree on 100%!! Excuse my long posts. But You don't daily your drift car - ESPECIALLY as a NEW driver, or drifter! You get something CHEAP, old, and/or beat up and LEARN on that. TOW IT TO THE TRACK if you can. Don't throw expensive parts at it first. STOCK ENGINE, STOCK SUSPENSION. Let him learn the car, develop his skill, THEN upgrade the car as he develops. NO STREET DRIFTING!! NO PARKING LOT DRIFTING!! TRACK OR NOTHING!! Many nice cars get totaled going over curbs and smacking walls & guardrails on the street! At least at the track you don't get in trouble. Maybe he wants a 240sx. Tell him to look at other cars. And be careful about cheap cars from other drifters trying to dump their botched projects on him. If he watches ChrisFix, he did the same thing. He bought a late 90's Mustang GT (factory manual!). Kept it stock, and built it as he got better. He also had another daily driver though. So he mainly drove it to/from the track.
@@mumbles005 no. too powerfull or it's a wiring nightmare. you're better off with a dropped, stripped mini pickup, like a courrier, a B2000 or something like that. cut the springs, drop the rear, strip everything. any 90's rwd car would work fine too. all it needs is a welded diff and stiff springs. 180whp is where you ideally want to be at. with a corvette you'll just hit a wall faster and harder.
Good point. I converted an '83 Suburban from a 700R4 to a Saginaw 4. I did it in my garage and it was VERY labor intensive. Replacing the pedal box, relocating the cross member, setting up the clutch master and slave as the mechanical linkage wouldn't work, lengthening the driveshaft. I probably ended up with spending 6 months on a project truck that didn't have a computer that barely fit in my garage. But, it was really cool to have the only 4 speed Suburban that I had ever seen.
I own a 92 Subaru SVX, which infamously only came in automatic. Also the transmission is made of balsa wood and glass so a manual swap is an inevitably when it dies, the car is rare enough that it's absolutely worth swapping if the need arises. [I'm cheating though, this car is an extreme edge case for this specific topic.]
I also own a Subaru SVX and I agree, a manual swap is something that crosses the mind of the owner of oneof these cars. They only made them in auto but from my understanding, they carried over many of the design features to the later STI's. The automatic 4 speed auto that come stock in the SVX are not up to snuff for the stock H6 torque and many people end up having to replace them anyway. For cars like this, I feel like it is 50/50. Since they are so rare, you are going to have the pureists that will say keep it stock and collectable. The enthusiasts will say to slap a manual and turbo and have the instant race car. However, it's never that simple. After doing much research, I'd be looking at putting close to 10k doing the swap in a car I paid 2000 for. Is it really worth it? If the auto transmission fails on me, I might look at the possibility at that point because I love the car and it would be worth it to me at that point. But don't fix what's not broken. That's my take on it.
Those early SVX transmissions were terrible. What did they expect using the same transmission that was in an imprezza and other lower power lighter cars of the Subaru lineup. I killed one of those transmissions in a 96 Outback. Luckily Subaru parts are highly interchangeable and easy to find. Now if I could only find a SVX.
Thankfully, Subaru has engineered their cars with interchangeably in mind. However, the SVX was such a departure from anything else they ever made. They only came in auto and NA engine as it was designed as a luxury touring coupe. It's a heavy beast with a slosh box transmission. Even with the pitiful automatic that's in the SVX, it is still such a fun car to drive. I have seen an SVX that had a manual swapped in from a WRX but even those transmissions aren't up to the task of handling the torque that the SVX motor puts out. Now, it might be beneficial to buy one that has already had the swap done but I am cautious about these because you really don't know what kind of corners have been cut to make that swap possible. If you can find one with a swap for a good price, it might be worth picking one up with the mindset that they have already done half the work. I say this because of the transmissions they have available really need some internal beefing. An STI trans could theoretically be up to task but if you go for any more power on the engine side of things, it will most definitely fail. These are all things to keep in mind when considering doing these sorts of modifications. My advice would be to come up with a realistic plan or goal for your car and do plenty of research. You might find out that doing a swap like these is just not worth it at the end of the day.
To your point, depending on the platform, there are enthusiast communities that have accomplished the swap and have catalogued the process and required parts. I would be surprised if such a community exists for the Vigor, but it's definitely possible. This is why forums should be bigger than Facebook for tech info.
I swapped in a manual trans into a 2000 4runner. It was actually pretty simple. The biggest upgrade after the swap was actually getting an ECU from a manual 4runner. The brain box didn't know what to do with the manual at all and it just drove funky. If you're curious, I posted a video talking about my swap
Manual to auto is a ton more work as you have to swap every associated computer and harness over. It's not a swap I would ever attempt. I've done auto to manual which as worked out well.
@@markmooney4770 that would work for everything except the roof and rear quarter panels as they're part of the structure of the car so the only thing gained is a different front end and doors, nothing gained in the frame or structural parts of the car. So if the reason for the swap is rust you've still got rust
I just finished manual swapping a Civic, cause, I'm dumb and like burning money. I /only/ needed a 5-speed gearbox, shift cables, shift cable brackets, shift cable spacers, and pins, shifter box, shift boot, shift knob, shifter boot trim, clutch and brake pedal, drill holes in firewall, clutch cylinder, clutch lines, clutch reservoir and bracket, clutch line brackets, secondary clutch cylinder, shift fork and boot, throw out bearing, clutch disc, pressure plate, flywheel, pilot bearing, lots of bolts, front subframe, front motor mount, rear transmission bracket, left and right CV axles, an engine wire harness, a PCM sub-wire harness, the driver's controls sub-wire harness, the M/T in-cabin fusebox, a new ECU. I've never driven a manual car on the road either.
Yeah I'm going through this on my Honda Civic right now because Honda automatics are terrible I think I have figured a way to trick the computer into thinking that it's in neutral
@@dsavage8751 yes, today is hopefully the last day of the project, the clutch lines are in and the flywheel and pressure plate is on. All that's left is putting the transmission in
Great video Eric! I love my older 90's Honda's and have personally performed an auto to manual swap in a 1992 Honda Accord. I live just north of you in Columbus and we both know the difficulties of finding a nice clean vehicle here. At that time I was lucky and found a nice clean rust free auto but not a manual. For me the decision was easy and the effort to convert it was well worth it.
I've done it a few times. Very few cars it's easy; most cars it's a royal pain. The older civic wasn't too bad to swap, but I want to say just about every other honda product required cutting and welding in addition to wiring issues.
Your username got me thinking, the Nissan S13 is one of those cars where it's easy- just swap the requisite components around and you're good to go. Not so with the older S12, which has a totally different floorpan between automatic and manual variants. Much welding and cobbling together of components from newer Nissans is required. I'd still recommend it in that car- it's 30-35 years old, you better be prepared for that kind of thing anyway- but it's only "straightforward" if you've done it a few times and have time to waste.
91 Integra. Just had to drill a couple holes for the manual pedal assembly, and drill a hole for a clutch cable. Everything was pre-stamped and marked from factory. Super easy.
@@dropinbiking92 I priced out a 2005 Civic for manual to auto. Was about $2000 for all new OEM parts minus the ECU and transmission. That was for brand new OE Engine Harness, Dashboard Harness, used manual gauge cluster, shifter assembly w/ cables, clutch pedal with sensors, new flywheel, clutch, pressure plate, new slave cylinder, new master cylinder and all the lines and hardware. New Driver's Axle (longer than the auto axle.) Two new engine mounts for the manual transmission. When Honda went to McPherson struts, it's a lot harder to get the transmission out too. With the subframe (as it designed for the car to be lifted off the subframe w/ the engine assembly and wheels still on the subframe.) The auto dash harness can be mutilated to remove the lines that tell the car it's in park. The auto engine harness can be modified to include the sensor for the reverse lights. The stock auto ecu can be used, but, it will likely be stuck in limp mode and not go past 4000 rpm. No welding. You could get all those parts from the junk yard for pennies on the dollar and there's plenty of civic's in junkyards. Main point - Honda still marks on all their firewalls where the clutch pedal goes still. Yay Honda. I wouldn't auto-to-manual anything other than a Honda, or T56 T400 LS everything.
Yeah a 91 Integra is WAYYYY more simple than a 2005 civic. I was lucky too. My 92 manual Integra got wrecked, and it's VERY hard to find second gen Integras not rotten away. So I found an automatic for $600. I didn't actually need to buy anything for the swap, I just yanked everything off the manual car before I scrapped it, made $150 from the scrap shell, and put it towards a brand new clutch, just because why not?
@Another Millennial that has nothing to do with eu rules. Here in the Netherlands you can tint your front windows up intil a serten degree. Rears you can black out if you want, no problem no paperwork.
Reminds me of my Dads wisdom way back after costing hundreds of dollars and a week of frustration...he said, after the job, "Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should...or will do what you expect!" Smart man there
So glad I got a manual car. I love it. Never going back to automatic or auto tragic. I dont care if they're faster and economical. It's pure driving pleasure I'm after.
My coworker had his 95 Lincoln converted from auto to manual. It was worth it for him because Lincoln didn’t make manuals. Turned out really good. Eric is correct though. “Is it worth it?”
When I was a young man, I would have said yes, it's definitely worth it. Now, as an old man, I must honestly admit the it's definitely not worth it. Manual transmissions no longer offer a substantial advantage in fuel economy, they're more difficult to drive safely on snow and ice, and constant shifting can become a real bore at times. Also, a properly maintained automatic can last the life of the car, whereas the clutch on a manual transmission will definitely not. Yes, I know that manual transmissions still appeal to the young and sexy, but I'm neither of those, anymore, so I choose the automatic.
Don't drive on ice, if you do, change your tyres. Once you're on the road, you are in one gear and it's like an auto anyway. I love the fact I can bump start my car (as long as there is voltage to run the ECU)
Manuals 100% last longer. The clutch in a manual will absolutely last the life of the car. Automatics have clutches in them too. I have had 2 vehicles go over 200k miles on the original clutch. My current car has 224k miles and is still on the original clutch. Good luck limping an automatic trans to 224k miles.
I have to disagree. A lot of manuals last the life of the car when not raced or abused (shifted improperly, grinding gears). And the clutch may not last the life of the vehicle, but it can and will last a long time, again, if you drive it properly - no racing or abuse. Many automatics, even when properly maintained, still don't last the lifetime of the vehicle. Sometimes, they don't even get to the suggested time - or mileage - service interval if it's poorly made. The same can be said for manuals, but it's mostly automatics. And neither tranny is safer if you drive too fast for road conditions...or your driving skill. To each his own.
@@stephendee7839 I had the 4l60 built and blew 2nd gear. Twice lol. I purchased a t56 from a buddy that owned a garage for 300$. The t56 would slip out of gear, found one of the plastic pads to the gear engaging forks chewed up, replaced those with brass pads, threw in a monster stage 3 clutch and some other goodies. Ran like a dream. I like manuals.
I have a ‘90 Thunderbird SC and did choose to do that conversion. However, there were also circumstances that balanced out the equation and actually tipped the scales well over to manual transmission side. The automatic transmission was about to fail completely (no OD, 1st and reverse slipping really bad, basically only thing keeping it going was a bottle of Lucas Oil transmission fluid). Thanks to a fellow SCCOA club member (also a skilled mechanic), who had the parts for sale and skill needed to install them, I was able to have him do the conversion for a little less than a rebuild of the AOD I had in it.
I have a '97 E150. I fix stuff, mostly electrical (light switch, turn signal assy., airbag, clock spring.) Some of the stuff is enraging (ask my neighbors - I moan like a crazy man sometimes) but the parts are essentially free. More modern than that requires a good scanning tool and you ain't gonna get away without it.
i own a 350z with an automatic transmission, i wanna swap it because i feel like people can think it's a cool car from the outside but when they see it's an auto...all their thoughts just become negative, mostly here in mexico, almost everybody drives a manual and having a sporty auto car just feels like everybody judges me everytime, also because is more fun to drive and maybe do a little drift with it
The Parking sensor on my Auto car broke so the car doesnt know when it is in the P gear. When I cold start the car instead of it idling high it idles high then quickly drops the RPM down right away. I realised that this was the Auto gear box telling my engine it isnt in P anymore so it has to lower the RPM to put it in gear even though it wasnt. So basically you are 100% right about the computer being different in Auto cars. Very interesting!
Small world, I'm one of the two people on the planet that owns two 1994 Acura Legend GS sedans! But seriously, I agree with what you have said here. I did a manual swap on my 91 Accord wagon and it was a surprising amount of work, even on a car that old.
I just got done swapping a automatic 99 Miata to manual. It wasn't just "change trans, pedals and go" like a lot of people think. It's also the driveshaft, power plant frame and some wiring that isn't exactly well documented. It took about a month working on the weekends to do it. In the end, the "no grinds, shifts smooth" manual trans I got grinds going into 5th and it idles weird. Was it worth it? For the most part, no lol but where I live, manual Miatas are actually kind of hard to find. For some reason, a lot of the Miatas here are auto. I have no idea how but they are.
Its sad, isnt it? Im not a Miata person per-se... But i get it. Its annoying to see sporty, fun to drive cars that are meant to be driven spiritedly and you look inside to find a soul-crushing auto lol.
Not really a Miata guy, but did you swap ECUs? An auto trans ECU in a manual trans application often results in a high idle. The auto ECU is calibrated for the drag from having to spin the torque converter while stopped in drive, but you removed the drag.
@@robertbeachz31 yes I swapped ecus. I have a manual 99 10AE Miata that I swapped the manual ecu with the 99 auto. The 10AE is my racecar and never idled correctly to begin with because it's got almost everything deleted and has check engine codes galore so as long as it still ran I don't mind it. The swapped 99 idles fine and everything, only problem now is it has a common Miata problem known as "idle droop".
I just looked up this video because I just bought an 01 Miata that’s an automatic because the price was right and I wanted to find out if I could switch it. I’m already regretting buying it 😢
If its an older non-computer controlled vehicle, go for it. It really is as easy as swapping the trans, and maybe rear gears. If theres a computer in the mix, just forget about it and do what Eric suggested, go find a manual trans car and buy that. Great advise, keep these videos coming.
Many auto enthusiasts/professional mechanics are not very good at electrical/electronic components. Yes, some Hondas/Acuras use different ECU's for MT & AT; it's just that the AT's ECU contains PCU as Eric says. I used to drive a Volvo 850T5R, which had a separate computer for the 5AT. Converting AT to MT usually does require another ECU, but if you can read the schematic and are good at wiring, you can easily fabricate conversion harness. Go to a junkyard and find an MT, rip out the ECU & connectors (HA Motorsport sells new connectors) . However, it's not worth it for most people as they think of cars as "investment". I consider my 04 TL 6MT as a learning tool & self-expression so I'll keep it until she vaporizes. For those who don't know the advantage of MT's, it is too bad but I am not going to get into the details as it would be a long essay. One thing I noticed is that those who can drive MT cars, in general, know a lot more about driving, not just transmission-related. People are getting lazier with automated everything; tranny, adaptive CC, smart-everything. I myself don't wish to be "driven/controlled" by cars; I drive them.
I did a manual swap in my 2006 Dodge Ram 2500 Diesel. Really wasn't too bad, just had to add a pedal, remove some stuff, and a quick reprogramming with the tuner I already had. Whole process took about 8 hours. Was it financially smart? Hell no! But it was fun. Newer cars I'm sure are a lot more work, but at least in the HD truck world it's not too bad.
I would watch the shit out of a video series based on swapping an auto to a manual. Might not be the most economical (or sane) choice, but I could learn so much from it! I won't tell you what to put on your channel, but I think a lot of people will watch it. Either way, love your vids, keep up the good work!
I purchased a 1994 Toyota T100 it looks like it was automatic before and it runs perfect it also passed smog hopefully my purchase will last seems tight and I will keep you posted in a year
I completely agree, though it depends on the car. Supra mkIV for example, will definitely be much cheaper to buy as an auto (and much easier to find, at least here in the UK anyway) I wouldn't even dream of swapping out a dsg etc for a manual these days or even a manual for a dsg, not worth the brain ache.
If I ever start my own car company, one of the key traits is that all my cars will focus on modifications and easy repairs. The ultimate in user customization. I would make the software customizable and easy to understand, so one can make their own things and have them connect to the computer system.
Yep I agree with you 100%. It is a colossal waste of your time and energy to do a manual swap in your Acura Vigor. However, I would very much like to see some future videos in which you might consider fixing up the blue Vigor and maybe put it on the road and drive it in the near future. That would be pretty cool. Assuming it’s not too far gone.
I wish you made this video 10 years ago! I was naive enough to try this when I was a teenager. Tried to put an engine/harness from my totalled 1991 300zx (auto) into a another 91 300zx (manual). Ran like crap, spent months trying to get it running properly. Every time I drove it, it broke down a few miles later. Eventually gave up and sold it.
I am one of those people that is open minded to transmission conversions but before I would even attempt it, I would educate my self with what exactly would be needed. There are several well documented conversions out there. Its just a matter of finding it.
Most people nowadays see these internet shows and tv shows the portray building a car as a super easy and can be done in a weekend. That’s where most of my projects come from, usually it’s either a kid that wanted to turbocharge their whatever, or a middle aged person who thought they could rebuild their car with nothing but autozone parts. It’s always the same story you’ll see the Craigslist ads saying “project car Xyz ran out of time or don’t have money to finish, my loss is your gain” and usually the car is a mess but ever since the early 2000’s when the car reality shows came out people think it’s no big deal to put a car together.
100% agree Eric it’s completely pointless and imo STUPID to five speed swap a auto just buy a manual shell or something lol. Much easier !! Unless it’s a classic car without modern technology. It’s not worth it!
Adam Wolfe there are some cases like with a E34 540i where the auto version can be had for $1500 and the manual is $5-6000. Yet the parts to convert will cost you $1500 which makes it more financially better to convert verses buying a manual version.
All that swapping seemed to easy to me when I was ignorant. Now I know what it takes to add a turbo, or swap an engine, or swap an transmission. It always best to start with the car closest to your bucket list because DIY isn't always the PITA that you want.
So what your saying is trying to switch my cvt into a stick might be even MORE of a problem compared to something like a normal automatic. Damn there goes my dreams.
Its worth it and honestly not that hard, I've done two auto to manual swaps, one 92 Camaro, and a 92 K1500 4x4 Chevrolet. The Camaro auto trans kept going out, swapped it out with a T5 and had no issues, same with the K1500, swapped it out, no issues and years of hassle free maintenance. The parts were cheap and I did all the maintenance so it was fairly cheap for both but if you aren't mechanically inclined to do it yourself, it can be expensive if you get someone else to do it. If I did it for someone else and depending on the car I would charge no less than 5-6k.
I did a manual transmission swap on a 87 ranger and 88 bronco ii. No problem with the 2.9 in it I did an engine swap from a 2.9 to a 4.0 with a 91 ranger. The donor was an automatic explorer for that swap. It took me 3 weeks to find a manual 4.0 computer to finish the swap. But after that. I could smoke 32 in tires with that truck Would I do it agian... if I had a POS donor car. I would. Well with 80s and early 90s cars
I had a 95 318ti automatic and a wrecked 97 318ti 5 speed that ran. I was able to in swap the engine and transmission as one unit into the 1995 car. Had to swap the engine harness and the ECU. Took 20 or so hrs of labor and made the car more fun to drive.
Eric, if people want to know what goes into the auto-to-manual conversion, I'd have people just go to any forum (I'm a Ranger guy, so Rangers, Bronco IIs, Explorers, and Mustangs are real popular) and read about people doing said conversion. And, people, think about this: Doing this conversion is like take a rear-wheel drive truck and converting it to four-wheel drive - it can be done, but it might not be worth the time, money, and energy you're going to have to spend, unless you're building a trail rig, using the truck to plow snow, etc. There is a trade-off with whatever you do. Having said that, I am working out the logistics of converting a 2wd, rear-wheel Ranger by putting all of my Ranger components on an AWD Aerostar frame and drivetrain. Main reason? The Aerostar vans shared the same platform as the Ranger. Is it doable? I think it is, given my research. Should I do it? I think so, but then again, I love AWD vehicles, like the 2002 Subaru WRX and Legacy. AWD is amazing in the snow, and since I live in a Rust Belt state (Michigan), I am hoping that everything goes off without a hitch. Point is, unless you have some idea what goes into a process like a transmission conversion, don't think bad of a guy like Eric because he DOESN'T do it. His reasons, IMO, are valid -- and I respect him because of his opinions, which are backed by sound logic, reason, and rationale.
I did a transmission swap on a 1997 Toyota T100. It was a lot of work, but a good learning experience. If you’re gonna do it, buy a donor vehicle. I had to swap over: transmission, front and rear driveshaft, transmission crossmember, engine wiring harness, throttle body, interior wiring harness, ecu, steering column, pedal assembly, radio, airbag module, cruise control module, seat belt connector attachment, Evap system, etc. The vehicle is in mint condition, and everything is OEM. There is no jerry rigged wiring or zip tied vacuum lines. To do it correctly takes several hours and is not cheap. The donor vehicle was a 400 dollar rust bucket from Vermont, but a new clutch, rear main seal, slave cylinder added to the cost. Parting the donor vehicle out after the swap can make back the money lost in the parts cost. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun!
I totally agree. There are several sport and performance models that have had transmission conversions done. So its just a matter of finding a well documented write up on what is going to be need for the transplant to be successful.
I'm in the middle of doing an auto to manual swap now on a 2012 Audi A3 quattro. It wasn't offered in a manual here, and Eric, you're absolutely right. The mechanical part (transmission, clutch, pedals) is the easy part. The wiring and programming are much more difficult.... I can't tell you how many hours I spent going over wiring diagrams to get the reverse lights to work, not to mention the clutch position sensor. Thanks for the video.
I kinda suspected this answer especially as a guy who's a computer science graduate with a love of working on cars. Maximized efficiency programming for your car's computer is going to be different based on the transmission. That being said, it would still be some cool vids. Still would rather see the "Dad's truck" videos tbh Eric. Keep up the fantastic work. Love your videos.
Agreed. I’ve done the swap before. Anything with a pcm and no manual option, hello standalone Ecu :/ sometimes just having it in automatic is easier. Stop and go in a stick is hell. You want a stick, buy a car with a stick, but if your vehicle didn’t come a manual option (my case my buddy’s Lexus lx) then no one is stopping ya, just have a lot of time, patients, and money on hand.
Why would you want to change gears all the time, if you could just sit back and let the car do it for you? Most of my cars have been manual and I don't get what's so great with them. It's like Homer Simpson said about driving, "gas, brake, honk. Gas, brake, honk". Why would you wanna add the constant shifting to that, if you're able to avoid it?
Changing gears gives me something to do during an otherwise very monotonous commute. I find it to be satisfying and entertaining. But I also understand why most people don't feel the same way.
I did an auto to manual swap on a 99 mustang a few years back. I did have a complete manual 00 mustang, so it wasn't too bad to do. If I did not have the complete parts car, I would not have bothered doing it. Great video!
Plz like this so Eric sees it. Maybe do it on a older civic. Like a really good example doin the ef. I would love to see u get a cheap d15 auto and change auto to manual and do the dpfi to mofo and also obd0 to obd1 conversion. This would help sooo many of us. Yes it’s been done on RU-vid but eric hasn’t done it and ur the man Eric!! Thanks for all your videos
IMO for a Foxbody, its worth it. Automatic cars in general saw less abuse so are in better shape. The price and scarcity of manual cars in good shape make the decision an easy one. That's not to say its easy or cheap, but worth it in that example. I bought my auto mustang a year ago and have looked for a manual thinking it was a 'placeholder' but in all of that time, not a single manual car came up that was in better shape or wasn't too pristine to be affordable. Overall I agree. Its not worth it for most cars, but for some cars it can be depending on your goals/needs.
It all depends on the car. I’ve manual swapped two cars, a ‘92 Miata and a 2000 Volvo V70R. The Miata was literally a drop out the auto, bolt in the manual deal (and pedals, shifter, clutch master cylinder...). The Volvo was barely more than that. The ECU just needs to be remapped for the manual trans, plus the stage 1 tune I’m getting anyway. Wiring was as simple as two wires for the reverse light switch on both cars, then two more for the neutral switch on the Miata. The Volvo needed a couple wires jumped for the park/neutral signal to the starter. Easy work for me, I don’t mind wiring believe it or not! Both cars run and drive beautifully! So if you want to do a manual swap, do your research on your particular car. I wouldn’t bother on something new (like within 10 years old) but most cars older than that could be fairly simple.
I have a 2011 mazda 3. It's a 2.5L super fun car to drive. However I bought it with an automatic. Well, long story short, the auto starting going out on it and instead of paying $2000 for a new one, I decided to do a 6 speed swap for $2100. It works and drives amazing. Totally worth it! Pain in the ass to swap though 😂
I think the thing that people don't realize is that you want to do a good job and not hacked things up, you can do it easily if you disable a lot of safety features and ignore various other components to achieve a rudimentary swap
I had a 99 civic that was manual. Unfortunately it got totaled by a Dodge pickup that ran up over the trunk. I bought a 96 shell that was previously auto. Long story short, it is 3 years later and I'm still transferring everything from one car to the other. Granted I'm a truck driver and don't have a lot of free time, but it is a lengthy process!
Easy way, buy manual, or a kit car & build it. NOTHING is like the old days of swapping. I sub to both the Eric channels and Scotty's . Like them all , they'er just different.
It's really easy if you know how it works. Actually I swapped my car from automatic to manual. Basically it's as easy as removing automatic transmission, and then putting the clutch and manual transmission. The next part is easy like switching automatic pedals to manual version and installing the components.
Agree 100% why your not swapping your Acura. I have an old civic auto for my beater car. I’d rather a 5 spd but the auto was there and cheap. Also, for your rear drum to disc brake conversion. In a more sport and track related area, yes yes and more yes. But when I swapped the rear end in my Jeep, o was asked a few times why I didn’t do the conversion. My reasons were, 1- the drums worked perfectly fine for stopping a Jeep at the speeds it would be doing, 2- the conversion cost more than the axle itself did for me 3- I would’ve had to upgrade a bunch more things to get them to work right and 4- my parking brake wouldn’t work (it’s a manual so I’d like to retain that feature
Some years ago I had a 1982 Renault 18 with automatic transmition, the TRANSMITION computer broke down and NO spare parts for it. The only óption i had was to swap to a manual. Best regards from Monterrey Mexico .
I did a 91 crx. It was acually easy. the firewall hole for the shift cable is already there. The studs to mount the pedals...already there. The computer is a total plug and play deal
Remember back in early 1970s my neighbor bought brand new special order full size Ford LTD with 3 speed on the column. Probably one of only 5 produced in the world. He used to always use 1st gear for about 20 feet then shift.
Some cars are tougher than others . I did a 1998 rs 2.5 Subaru conversion. I found a wrecked car and it was pretty easy. Hardest thing was finding a gas tank as junk yards bust them.
I’ve seen your video on ETC where you switched out an engine with and auto trans with an engine with a manual trans on a 2004 Acura TL for a customer and it worked out great since you had the PCM from the donor manual trans. You made the swap look easy, but it always looks easy on You Tube.
That was a vehicle that already had a manual transmission in it. If it had an automatic, it would have been a lot more difficult to do the conversion. Thanks for the comment.
I have seen videos of people converting a car with an automatic transmission to a manual transmission. There are some things to consider before doing this, one thing is how much will it cost to do the conversion, also how much time will it take to do the conversion, and also unexpected problems that will come up while doing the conversion. Also another factor to consider is where the person lives who will drive the converted car. If a person lives in a big city with lots of stop and go traffic, it is much better to have an automatic, because a manual transmission can become tiring to operate in stop and go traffic, with all the clutch pedal use and all the shifting of gears as traffic slows to a stop and then starts moving again repeatedly.
One good example with regards to easiest auto to manual swaps is mitsu galant 2.4l 8th gen, 1999 to 2001, you can swap with any 3rd gen 2.4l eclipse manual .
It was worth it to me in my old BMW E24, made the car much more fun and the ZF 4HP22 has a design floor that causes it to eat it's clutch packs if left in neutral. Cost at a shop was less than rebuilding the auto properly and I don't regret it for a second.
i,ve done an auto to 5 speed swap in my dakota. luckily it was so easy. trans, drive shaft, all the little stuff the manual has and the auto doesn't, and swap the pcm. having never done it before it took me 12 hours to complete start to finish.
In my opinion, the smartest way to do an auto to manual swap is to go to a self serve junkyard, find a car like yours that has a manual trans, and grab the trans with all the other parts you need such as the shifter, clutch pedal, mounts, bolts, brackets, wiring harness, ECU, and whatever else you need for your particular swap. If you can find a suitable donor car in the yard you could easily do a manual swap for under $500 that way, probably excluding the new clutch kit that you probably should get.
If the vehicle does not have a computer in it (say for instance a 1985 Ford F-150 with an Inline 6 cylinder) then swapping a manual is not ridiculously hard. But you have to find/swap in the pedal box, mounts, shifter, instrument cluster, and probably the most difficult part to find would be the Bell Housing.
Amen! I also get the question of converting a 2wd truck to a 4wd truck. It's basically the same answer... sell the automatic and buy a manual, sell the 2wd and buy a 4wd. 99.9% of the time it just isn't worth doing.
Completely agree with you. If you want a manual car, just go get one that is factory manual, unless you want it to be a project car which you'll be willing to build mostly from the ground up, like you did on the Fairmont.
I had a 1989 Dodge Shadow, 2.5 turbo hatch that I swapped automatic to manual. My experience does not invalidate anything that Eric is saying, and I did have an easier time at it than most. The original 3-speed auto was fully mechanically controlled which removed a large chunk from the equation. Even in that car, though, it did strange things with the idle control valve and behaved a little "off" until a new ROM was flashed for the ECU.
I've done two auto to manual swaps in my life. The first was an 86 Cougar XR7. Built the little 302 and couldn't hold an auto trans at the track. Wasn't a bad swap, got a junkyard transmission and clutch pedal from a Tbird. The second was a 3rd gen V8 SHO. A little trickier, finally found a second gen Probe GT V6 shared the Duratec bellhousing so I took that 5 speed and got the clutch pedal assembly and shifter out of the same car and welded up some brackets and all swapped in no problem. Had to go back and get the speedometer plug off the other car and cut and solder in the new plug, only down side was it turned the CEL on because the computer wasn't seeing the transmission inputs anymore. Found a guy who did custom tunes for Lightning's and he was able to get into my computer and delete the auto transmission files and turn the light off. It was time consuming but worth it in my book. Those old Acuras shouldn't be bad to swap if you wanted to I know Honda guys do it all the time, and Acura is Honda's luxury brand, but mechanically they're almost identical. I wouldn't start messing with trying to swap computers and wiring harnesses though if you did. I'd just find someone to delete the files, even back then Acura had a lot of systems that may not be happy with a different computer.
I'm swapping my 5L40E automatica transmission with a T56 manual transmission in my 2005 Cadillac STS. Not only manual is more fun to drive, but it's more reliable than automatic and I'll have more control of my car. I'm doing this swap for performance, not just for the heck of it
I bought a 2.7 biturbo diesel over 3 years ago, the manufacturer did not make this vehicle with manual transmission, but the person I bought it from had the conversion done a few years before, so I have 6 speed manual & is definitely faster from standing compared to automatic, I love the car 😊
I had a Cavalier with a manual and swapped it to automatic. Actually it was more like a base model Cavalier converted to an automatic transmission Z24. The worst part was that the two transmissions had way different mounts welded onto the body. I had to cut out the mounts from the base car and cut out the mounts from the Z24 and then weld the auto trans mount onto the base car. I took EVERYTHING from the Z24; wiring, ECM, BCM, Dash board wiring, brake pedal, wheels, tires, suspension, front sway bar, shifter, etc. The Cavalier was better in every way and was kind of a sleeper
