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Anyone converted a touring wagon from auto to manual? Is straight forward enough or not worth bothering with ? Should I just find a manual? Will the diff ratios be OK?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

LTurbo did a sedan conversion same direction, still smiling last time I saw him if that is any indication

diff ratio is up to you to find and read sticker on your current rear diff and ensure donor car is same or take donor car rear diff as part of the deal

Generally autos where equipted with 3.7:1 rear diffs but check to make sure both gearbox and diff match. The wiring for the reversing will have to be looked at as the auto is on the shifter and the manual on the box. All the holes for the clutch are there soyou dont have to make any new holes and you only need drop the steering column to swap the pedal box (also have to undo bolts) and unbolt the dash junction box as well. You will also need to jump the auto igntion cut out to.(good time to make a switch to)

Thanks for the info , I think I've found a donor car so should be all straight forward.

In my opinion the conversion is well worth it. The gear ratios and the shifts the auto box was doing was driving me nuts and not a lot of fun. I also now manage to get a 100k's more out of a tank now than with the auto box.

If you have any Q's just ask, the auto I swaped out was a 4-speed not a 3, so there were a few difference but overall the conversion will be very similar.

Did it and was glad from the start. Although it only gave me less about 500revs for the same speed. But it is soooo much more drivable. I had the 3spd auto. I was able to find a 3.7 diff at the wreckers, but then later I bought a LSD from Shawn in NZ. It all works a treat...

Wiring is not too tricky. I didn't cut any wires from the auto linkage. I usually keep it in park on the selector, but if I leave it somewhere dodgy, I lift up the console and slip the pin on the selector to D, so at least it'll take someone that little bit longer to realise. Until you turn the car past accessories, you wouldn't be able to tell.

The worst part was doing the pedal box. It took a couple of hours of stuffing around getting it in, but then again, I didn't pull out the steering column, which some people have done before.

There's some previous postings on this, just search my user name for the wiring info. It should take a weekend at the most if have everything. It took a week longer for me as the flywheel bolts are different.

Good luck

Richard

I did a manual swap in my couple... it had a 4eat + ej20t so it's a bit different but still very similar...

the only problem I've encountered is that the flywheel was scraping the crossmember... really don't know why that happened - are the auto and manual crossmembers different?!?!

L series gearbox crossmembers are different (so i believe) as the boxes are different lengths and have read in here that if going ej and awd box the box mounts between an auto and a manual member (use both bith a plate between )

yeah... but I was actually asking about the engine crossmember... is it the same for manual and auto boxes?

Nope the auto one sits further back bolted to the floorpan while the manual one uses the rearmost bolt on the radius rod plate as its rubber mounted point of contact.and you will also need a manual tailshaft which is longer than the auto one

Engine Crossmember...

Your 3 speed auto non turbo will be 3.7 front and 3.9 rear
Steve

Yeah the engine Xmember is the same

Confused, how can the front and rear be of different ratios?

steve_rising_sun wrote:Your 3 speed auto non turbo will be 3.7 front and 3.9 rear
Steve

make up for the slosh or slip in the slushbox between front and rear ?

thort that was odd, but coming from Steve , I have to believe...