Transmission swap: auto to manual...
 

Hi all! I am entertaining the idea of swapping in a manual transmission and wanted feedback on whether this is actually doable. Thoughts?

P.s. this is just a preliminary idea.. don't get me wrong I love the auto. When I initially bought the car it was going to be my daily driver. It no longer is, and the idea of a stick is more enticing.

sell it and buy a manual, shouldn't lose too much, may even be able to break even since the auto is valued at more than the manual.

If you try to swap you will just be dumping money into parts and labor.

You'd likely be better off selling it and buying a manual. Our finding someone to trade.

Thanks guys I am more interested in discussing the technical aspects of a swap. I.e. would the wiring harness, clutch pedal components, etc.

I bet it is doable. I bet you even have a circle cutout in the firewall where the clutch MC would go.

You'd have to get a manual ECU, trans, clutch, flywheel, pressure plate, clutch and brake pedal, wiring harness, and driveshaft though.

Sounds pretty stupid and expensive when you could fairly costlessly change cars.

why is there ALWAYS some noob in EVERY car forum who asks about swapping from an auto to a manual??!!! ITS GOING TO BE INSANELY EXPENSIVE AND YOU MIGHT AS WELL BUY A NEW MANUAL!!!! SMH

Why is there some asshole in every thread who complains about people not knowing everything about cars? The reason why we have these forums is to communicate questions/concerns/advice to help others.

Its not a big deal guy, im sure there is a question you will ask that seems noobish to someone else.

Yes very expensive right now... I think this depends a lot on part cost... Right now while there are not many of these in junk yards = pricey... If you wait 6+ months and are patient eventually parts will get cheaper from wrecks... Then, if you do your own labor, this might not be crazy expensive.... You can sell some of your parts from auto... I know, who wants a used auto right? Well somebody that tears theirs up or wants a shell to build for track usage like all out drag racing. Again you would need to be patient trying to sell those parts off. Soooo... I think it depends if this is a long term project or if you are wanting to do this like tomorrow. :-)

^^ This. Way to early in the game to consider doing otherwise.

My DD is a manual. That was the mistake you made. Switching it is gonna cost way more. Should of just bought a manual in the first place. Why wouldnt you lol. If its cause of city driving n traffic you made a bad mistake cuz its not a problem at all just bc of those things.

sell it and get the one you really want! best of luck

I've swapped two cars from auto to stick.. Both cars were "old" at the time.. A 93 probe GT and a 90 Isuzu pickup.. Neither were difficult swaps.. The pick up much easier then the car.. But I had access to both vehicles at the same time.. I bought the probe from a dealer for 87$ as it was abandoned and had a bad engine.. And ruined interior... My car had a bad trans... I'm a ASE mechanic so no problem... The pick up was going to be sent to the junk yard as it was rear ended, and the guy didn't want it on his property.. IF you had a diner car.. Then easy peasy.. If you had a hook up on parts... Easy peasy.. The chassis come off the line the same.. I've entertained this idea if I can come across the parts.. But I'm not going out my way to buy them.. I personally don't see how I could get more then what 20k for my car... Still owe 31k as I've only made two pay,nets.. So trading it in or selling it then buying the stick... For what it would cost I could swap it for roughly the same money... Also.. One swap I'd love to do would be RHD it.. I love the looks I get out of my 66 beetle for being on the "wrong side" when I drive lol

I swapped a Nissan Maxima from auto to 5spd manual. Wasn't bad at all.

Some cars lend themselves better to this sort of project than others. If your objective is to have a properly working MT FR-S as soon as possible, then sell the auto and get a manual. If your objective is to work on an interesting project, then start scavenging parts or better yet pick a car from 3-4 decades ago to do it on; earlier cars are much easier to work on.

Sounds like a good reason to go with a lot of aftermarket drivetrain upgrades. If you're going to spend the money on parts and labor- may as well get better than stock for a marginal increase in cost :)

I've been thinking of next year trading my auto since I'm sure there will be more manuals to be had. However, I really want to see if they pop up with a Release series or at least more options factory installed (preferably performance wise). As much as I would like to put money into the one I have right now, I'm trying to be patient...

Here's a rough list of parts which you will need:

-Transmission
-Clutch
-Flywheel
-Clutch MC & SC with Lines
-Clutch Pedal
-Brake Pedal
-Shifter Assembly
-Transmission Mount
-Driveshaft (Including carrier bearings)
-ECU
-Transmission Wiring Harness (Could potentially include engine harness)
-Dash Harness (Probably)
-Possibly Final Drive (I can't remember if autos have a different FD or not)

It will be a lot of work and money, but certainly not impossible. However, to minimize cost, downtime, and work just sell the auto and get a manual car.

My reasoning was I came from an '07 335i auto, and thoroughly enjoyed keeping my hands planted on the wheels, and my full attention on the road ahead.

I've driven manuals my whole life until that car.

To be clear, I am not regretting the decision to have an auto. I realize the pro's and con's. I'm also aware of costs associated with a transmission swap. I started the thread simply to see if anyone has done it, and to chat about it.

I won't take offense to the comments, not on a forum. I will say it's childish to assume you know someones knowledge level after 30 words.

:thanks:

Anything is possible with enough $$$

I don't think you'll maybe ever find someone who has done it. They have been selling the WRX for 10 years now and I've only seen a couple guys who have swapped from an auto to a manual, usually to the STi 6MT. Things never really work correctly unless you swap all of the wiring and ECU from a manual car.

If you can find a crashed manual donor car that's probably your best bet. Mechanically the swaps aren't difficult at all. But like every other poster has said in here, much cheaper/easier to just trade the car for a manual, especially for a car with a warranty...

I think we are very much in agreement on this last part I bolded/italicized. I will add though that plenty of people have swapped ECUs/Trans/Engines from WRX and STi into impreza 2.5 cars. Tons of interchangeability across all those years. While the swap from AT to MT is some more steps/parts, this definitely is not an impossible swap. Like I said, with enough time, attention to detail, and patience to wait for cheaper parts options... This is very doable.

OP, I like your enthusiasm and curiosity. And I agree that's what these forums should be about, asking questions like this. BUT, you probably aren't gonna find anybody that has done this yet on this particular car since the car just came out, it's all new model, and parts aren't interchangeable with other Subaru/Toyotas on a large scale like in a model like the impreza for all those years.

All that said, it would be interesting to get some good research going about part interchangeablity across this model and other model Subarus/Toyotas. I don't think there will be tons of info on actual swap pitfalls/easiness/hardness until somebody just bites the bullet and "figure it out as they go" on a real swap.

The problem with swapping in a manual on a modern car is that you run the risk of a lot of control modules freaking out and throwing codes.

+ cluster

and, kiss your warranty goodbye.

May I ask why are you pondering changing to a manual transmission? I'm just curious. I have yet to see somebody complaining about how much the auto transmission can handle, even with forced induction. Just pointing that out. I don't think anyone has done a swap either yet. All the big companies are going straight to buying the manual transmission option. I wouldn't mind seeing if anybody knows the limit of the Automatic transmission though.

I think P&L Motorsports is running pretty decent power with a turbo kit through the AT.

EDIT:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15483

Yup because the owner has a disability.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2

Not trying to be rude, but what does this have to do with anything? The AT is holding pretty good power in that setup. The owner being disabled is totally irrelevant.

Because you said "I think"... ya?

EFf it bro. Keep the auto and just switch to paddleshifters + sports mode. Have fun!

Read this http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6485

Moto Miwa, who is well respected in this forum started that thread.

so does anyone want to trade...?

Raven AUTO with 4k miles

i want manual

I traded my one month owned automatic for a manual. But that's just because I caught a hell of a deal. Even my dealer said it was pretty lucky of me. But I wouldn't do this. Too many things could go wrong and it very well may not even perform as good anymore, even with a proper installation of the manual gear box.

Along with a sizeable chunk of it's resale value...

not knowing how ridiculous and expensive it is to swap an auto to a manual is more a common sense thing than car knowledge...

This part is my favorite part that people will never understand who drive only manuals.

Perhaps what he meant was if the owner was disabled in the left leg so that operating a clutch pedal was a bit difficult or impossible.

Here's a neat project Honda Motor Company in Japan did for handicapped ex-Formula One driver who gave Honda a few constructor's trophies back in the 1960's with their first Honda F1 program.
Clay Reggazoni's NSX is fitted with automatic transmission and hand controls.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKL3A7ucII0"]Clay Regazzoni and his NSX HONDA. - YouTube[/ame]

Swapping the manual from an AT was not so difficult long ago, and even easier than going backwards from MT to AT. However modern cars have TONS of electrical connections and electronic circuits that monitor, run actuators, and other things, as well as get feedback information from the transmissions to adjust operations of stability, traction, and yaw control systems. FRS is simpler than most other sports cars today, but even still, modern enough to be equipped with features that aren't exactly basic or easy.

For a race car which will run on minimal electronics, almost no stability assist, and operate the engine on completely stand-alone aftermarket electronics system, it will be easy, as the manual transmission of the FRS/BRZ is fairly straight forward in terms of electronics. But for a completely stock operation intact, the swap will require a ton of electronic swap, and control systems, and is rather complicated for even most qualified tuner shops... Not exactly a drop and go swap like in pre-2000 cars.

The problem is not the transmission unit hardware itself. It is mostly in the engine and stability control system, as well as paddle shift, engine ignition retarding management circuits, etc... which all would be missing proper input signals nor provide the expected and compatible signals to function properly.

Reprogrammed ecm, wiring harness, clutch pedal assembly with switches, clutch master and slave cylinder, clutch disc pressure plate flywheel, starter, console trim, shifter assembly complete, driveshaft,
These parts are needed for sure, and I see no reason to switch your vacuum supply and deleting the pump. good luck


Something to consider
the parts alone are going to be 3 to 5 k I bought a frs that had a salvage title for about the same. now I can drive either auto or manual

Here you go! lol
Several years later...

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...65#post3042965