Automatic to manual transmission conversion (pics)

[MR JAS]

ok i was going to do a proper write up but i just blew up the gearbox on my alfa so not really in the mood

so ive decided i will do it tomorrow but on the light side todays tomorrow is yesterdays today and in America tomorrow is yesterdays today tomorrow so im already ahead of schedule




i think

[poptart3191]

looking for another auto ecu a new tps did not fix my rev issue

[fvillota]

pmed!

[immorality]

I'm just about finished mine up. I tried starting it last night, but it wont crank. I have all the plugs from the auto shifter installed and of the 2 plugs in the engine bay, I've got the big selector plugged in and set to park. The other just dangles. I'm not sure what it's for, but I know I can't take it out of the old auto since there are a couple wire leading into the case.

[MR JAS]

Originally Posted by immorality

I'm just about finished mine up. I tried starting it last night, but it wont crank. I have all the plugs from the auto shifter installed and of the 2 plugs in the engine bay, I've got the big selector plugged in and set to park. The other just dangles. I'm not sure what it's for, but I know I can't take it out of the old auto since there are a couple wire leading into the case.

not 100% but depending on what ecu you have etc
i could be that some autos like you to have a foot on the brake to start and sme manuals like a foot on the clutch to start

could be something simple like that

[immorality]

Tried that just in case, but no luck. It's a '94 if that makes any difference.

Edit: Turns out I'm an idiot and missed the little wire going to the starter.

[Jebb`s toys]

Hi, I just want to ask if the drive axles of from the Automatic trans fits right to the Manual tranny. Please advise, I am almost complete on parts needed for the swap. Cheers

[fvillota]

Originally Posted by Jebb`s toys

Hi, I just want to ask if the drive axles of from the Automatic trans fits right to the Manual tranny. Please advise, I am almost complete on parts needed for the swap. Cheers

Yes they do. Don't have to get new ones they are all the same.

[i LoVe My Mr2]

is that a short shifter or just a regular shifter

[fvillota]

Originally Posted by i LoVe My Mr2

is that a short shifter or just a regular shifter

??

[Jebb`s toys]

Another question please if you may. How abaout the flywheel, does it bolts on directly after removing the torque converter of the automatic trans? TIA.

[fvillota]

yea. take the torque converter off. take the flexplate (the flywheel looking thing) off
i recommend buying 8 new bolts from toyota to be safe.
put on the flywheel and torque them to 80 pounds. (torque them! dont be lazy!)
if you wanna be safe its nice to put a little thread locker. trust me. i learned the hard way what happens when these bolts reverse themselfs.

[Jebb`s toys]

Thanks a lot, for the helpfull informations, I will start my conversion on the 2nd week of September, wish me luck.

[fvillota]

good luck man. if anything feel free to mail me for help man

[fosley]

Hey guys, a few things I don't see posted here, so just to let everybody know:

1. The reverse lights can be wired up just fine, by finding the wires from the auto harness and connecting them to the reverse switch on the manual transmission. Ideally, you'd want to clip the connector from a manual harness, but you can use female spade connectors wrapped in electrical tape and poke them straight onto the male spades inside the tranny connector if you want to be cheap.

2. You can wire the clutch safety switch to the auto park/neutral safety switch wires, which gets rid of the heavy/unsightly auto gear selector tied to your firewall, and keeps the stock safety feature.

3. I heard that if you leave the auto gear indicator on the dash plugged in, the idle is high (I know mine idled high after the swap), while unplugging it brings idle to a normal level (I haven't personally confirmed this).

4. *Important* If using a turbo clutch pedal on the non-turbo engine/transmission, make sure to remove the giant springs from the clutch pedal, or the clutch may not come off the floor. This is because the pressure plate springs on the NA cars are much less stiff than on the turbo cars. The springs in question are in the middle-top of this picture, connected from the metal frame to the white lever thing.

I did the specific wiring info on my OC post a few years ago, here's the post concerning backup lights and clutch safety switch:

Originally Posted by fosley

I just did my second auto-to-manual swap, but this time I left a stock engine in the car so it runs again. A few notes:

I was wrong about where the clutch line is supposed to go--it goes through a large area behind the frunk in the same place as the brake lines. However, I found it easier to put it where it doesn't go, which is through the same hole as the '92- speedo cable, right behind the power steering pump. With some help and a second jack to hold up the gas tank, the stock location wouldn't be hard to get to.

For the next two, you'll be splicing into the harness-side connector that goes to the shift lever on the old transmission. Here's a diagram of the connector, but this one is the tranny-side connector, so 1/4, 2/3, 5/9, 6/8 are all reversed when you're looking at the harness-side.


To wire the clutch safety switch: run two wires from the lower switch on your clutch (the upper switch is for cruise control shutoff) to the connector that used to be on the auto transmission. The wires you splice into are the largest ones, and are black and red (numbers 2 and 3 on the diagram). On the front of the connector, they are the widest holes as well. I ran the wires behind my gas filler pipe, behind the heatshield, through the shift cable grommet, under the center armrest, over the brake and clutch pedals, and down to the clutch switch.

To wire the reverse lights: run two wires from the connector on top of the manual transmission to the same connector you spliced into for the clutch safety switch. It's pins 5 and 6 on the diagram (remember that the diagram is backwards from the connector you are splicing into), and one of the wires is black and yellow--can't remember the other one. Note that this also turns on the reverse indicator on the gauge cluster. I thought that was pretty cool, probably because I'm a geek that way.

Before splicing anything, you should always use a test wire to make sure you've got the right ones. Just stick one end of the wire in one 'pin', and the other end in the other 'pin'. For the safety switch, it shouldn't turn over until you jumper 2 and 3. For the back-up lights, it should turn on the reverse indicator and the back-up lights, but only when the car is in the on position (maybe acc. too). Just don't jump the wire between 6 and 2 or 6 and 3 (you might short something). If you want to be safer, put a small (5-10 amp) fuse in the middle of your test wire--since you're turning on relays, there shouldn't be a lot of power going through, and you'll avoid burning something up if you somehow get the wrong ones.

Concerning cruise control:

Originally Posted by fosley

I did not attempt to connect the connector near the speedo gear, which I had thought was for the cruise control. There are 3 pins on the manual, and 2 pins on the auto, and only 1 pin has a common purpose (actually, it's like pin 1 on the manual and pin 2 on the auto do the same thing), so I left it be, assuming cruise wouldn't work. However, I have since tested the cruise control, and it maintains speed as well as before on level, downhill and uphill (not steep, but just to make sure).

You can't wire the cruise shutoff switch straight into the brake shutoff, since that also activates the brake lights. I assume there's a place where the brake light function splits away from the cruise shutoff function, but I haven't tried hard to find it yet. Once I do, I'll get a clutch shutoff switch and wire it in there. Another place to try might be the wires from the cruise stalk, since there's a cancel/shutoff function on there.

[affseofl2654]

Originally Posted by ghs03bigd

I was just wondering if you ran into any wiring problems when you were doing the whole swap. I am trying to do the same thing but on a 91 and I am getting a wicked spark off the battery when i go to reconnect it. I was wondering if you ran into anything like that?

yea I get a small spark sometimes from reconnecting the battery. I think i may have messed up on my wiring though for the gen 3 swap. the only set of wires that could affect how its running would be the fuel sender unit wires...

other than that the manual swap went pretty smooth, pressurising the clutch sucked, but I think i basically got it.

[jjdog711]

im working on getting all the parts for my conversion and just cant seem to find these anywhere, any have some they could sell me possibly. I need:

Clutch pedal assembly
shifter cables
clutch hard lines and soft line
clutch hard line connector

Also i mistakenly bought a tranny with...... 260k miles on it. How long do the tranny's usually last? Should i just sell this one and buy one with less miles on it or with this one work alright? I dont race or anything, just like to drive fast ya know.

Also the tranny is off a non tubo mr2, would i need a different one if i wanted to turbo my 2?

[fosley]

I think I have an extra SS soft line lying around -- strike that, it was still sitting on my computer, so I know I have it. It's from Procarparts.com or something, and I bought it on eBay for like $30. It's still wrapped in the original plastic, has a label that says TOYC-300 MR2 CLUTCH 6/90-1995. I'll sell it to you for $20 shipped if you want.

I bought all my hard lines (for both my swaps) straight from the dealership. It was a bit pricey, but still only $50 or something. Seemed worth knowing they weren't clogged or cracked or anything, plus it's a pain to ship that long clutch line to somebody without it getting damaged in shipping, so buying off a FS thread might not be much cheaper.

For the clutch pedal: if you plan to go with a turbo, GET A TURBO PEDAL now. You can remove the springs from the pedal while it's NA to operate like an NA pedal, then when you put the turbo on, throw the springs back on the pedal and you now have a turbo pedal again. The turbo pressure plate is apparently considerably harder to push, and you'll want that lever with the springs to assist you at stop lights and such.

Transmissions are really iffy on mileage. Someone who beats the crap out of it can wear one to useless in like 2 weeks, while other people can have one that lasts 300K miles. It also depends on if it's had maintenance (like new synchros and stuff) over that time period. To me, transmissions aren't that hard to replace, so if you can put it in all the gears, then turn the input shaft in some gear and watch the splines in the differential turn, I would just throw it in and see how long it lasts. You can't really test the synchros without the car running and everything hooked up, but the car will still shift with worn-out synchros -- it just grinds. If you're planning to turbo the car anyways, I'd just stick with what you have until you get the turbo setup ready, then swap everything in.

For the turbo swap, you can technically run the NA transmission with the turbo motor. However, the turbo transmission is much beefier (though considerably heavier) to take the extra torque, especially if you're upgrading the turbo or turning up the boost. You'll have to replace the wheel hubs (or something, it's the part the outer axle end splines into inside the brake rotors), and get turbo axles, etc., so it's a bit pricey, but probably worth it in the end if you plan to romp on it very often.

You can also run the turbo transmission with the NA motor, so if you really wanted to, you could swap the hubs, axles, and transmission now, then when you do the turbo swap that's one less thing to do. However, you'll have a heavier car without the benefit of the turbo to make up for it in power, so it would probably be easier to just use what you have and swap all the turbo stuff in at once.

For running the NA transmission with the turbo motor, or turbo transmission with NA motor, you'll also have to do something about the clutch kit. You have to use a clutch disc that fits the transmission you're using, and a pressure plate that fits the flywheel you're using. I don't think you can swap flywheels without some machine work, but that's an option as well.

[jjdog711]

Ok, it turns out i accidently bought a turbo clutch. And although you said that a transmission can last up to 300k i really dont feel comfortable putting in a transmission with 260k on it as shortly after i do this im going to need to make a 2.5k mi drive. I found some turbo transmissions on ebay that are in much better condition and cheaper.
The clutch i bought has a 232mm, 21 spline flywheel (this is the 3sgte flywheel?), can i just swap it for a 225mm, 20 spline flywheel(5SFE flywheel?) to make it work with my NA? and would that still work with the turbo transmission?
Also, are the master/slave cylinders, shift lines, and cables the same for an NA and a turbo? or would i need to replace those as well? If they are the same ill def hit u up on the ss soft line.

[jjdog711]

after further consideration ive decided to hold off on this and do it at the same time as my 3sgte swap. If anyone has a full partout of what i'll need for a gen3 3sgte swap it would be much appreciated so i make sure i buy the right swap kit. Also if there is anyone in the colorado springs, CO area that would be able to help me with this that would be awesome too. I wont be back in CO to work on this until probably july-aug though.