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Automatic to Manual Conversion

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Tristicus

Tristicus

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Just curious, I've been looking at trucks online, interested in the 90s Chevy's really. Ut being a truck, I wouldn't really mind it being an automatic as much as I would a car, but if I found one with a bad transmission or something, would it be possible to have a conversion done? Would it be costly?
 
Probably easier on pre-OBD vehicles. Still likely a pain to do, sort of depends on the vehicle really.
 
It's a large pita, and a huge waste of time. There's more to it than you think, it would be easier and cheaper to just buy a manual and replace as necessary.
 
I did this on a '98 escort.

Cost about $400 in parts, and a weekend and half a week. Maybe 5 days total, with work and school thrown in.

Hardest part? Stuck fasteners, broken bolts, snapped studs, bad bushings.... all the BS stuff that isn't part of the actual swap.

The swap wasn't bad - at all. ATX, shift cable, pedal assembly, shifter - removed.
MTX, new pedals, master cylinder, shifter and linkage, and flywheel - install.

I had to splice three wires together, but that's all the wiring I needed. IDK how hard this would be on a truck though.
 
Just stop and think for a second about all of the components that are involved in both different types of transmissions. It would be an extremely labor intensive job that would very easily end up costing way more than the vehicle is worth unless you do the work yourself.

Feasible? Yes. Plausible? No way in hell.
 
A swap on a 90's Chevy pickup would definitely fall on the easier end of a auto-manual conversion. Pre-OBDII, all the parts are readily available since they came with a manual, and it's a full-size truck so you have lots of room.

That said, if you're not the one that's going to be doing the work I'd say just forget about it. Not sure too many places would take that job on for accountability purposes and if one did they'd want to make it worth their while - aka kill you on labor charges.
 
BlackTigers said:
I did this on a '98 escort.

Cost about $400 in parts, and a weekend and half a week. Maybe 5 days total, with work and school thrown in.

Hardest part? Stuck fasteners, broken bolts, snapped studs, bad bushings.... all the BS stuff that isn't part of the actual swap.

The swap wasn't bad - at all. ATX, shift cable, pedal assembly, shifter - removed.
MTX, new pedals, master cylinder, shifter and linkage, and flywheel - install.

I had to splice three wires together, but that's all the wiring I needed. IDK how hard this would be on a truck though.
Click to expand...

The cost and ease of the conversion is going to be highly dependent on the car and if you get lucky finding good used stuff. Generally, if the vehicle you want is available with the transmission you want its cheaper to just buy it that way.
 
Mhm, maybe when I'm ready to finally pull the plug I'll have to ask around (as in post a WTB or talk to a dealer?)...I just haven't been able to find more than 2 or so that have a manual transmission, or they aren't extended cab. And the few I've found with MT have that ugly blue or red interior. I think I'll eventually just settle for an automatic though.

Thanks for the posts.
 
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