My first post on the board so please excuse my third gen ignorance. I have been a fan of the third gen Trans AM since the first time I saw Knight Rider as a 8 year old back on the USA channel. Now I'm all grown up and looking to buy a GTA. I know from reading the FAQ that a manual NEVER came with the 5.7TPI. My question is would I be better off financially and performance wise looking for the 305TPI with the stick or simply finding the 5.7GTA and having somebody convert it to the T56. Keep in mind I'm not a mechanic and I'm like Cole Trickle from Days of Thunder. I autocross real well, not so much mechanically inclined. I just like my V8 cars powered with a stick. Keep in mind I'm thinking I have a 8-9k budget and this will be my daily driver to keep my miles off my other "toy"

 

If you are set on having a manual then I would buy a manual car and do an engine swap. Engines are a lot easier to swap then doing a auto to manual swap. I know a couple people that have done trans swaps and they say that converting to a manual is a lot harder than it sounds.

It's doable but personally I think you would be better off finding a 305TPI 5 speed and build off of that. To swap engines pretty much all you need is a new prom, 350 longblock, and the bigger injectors if I remember correctly. To swap trans you need to do cutting, pedals, trans, and cross-members and all kinds of things.

Just what I know of it, other members may say go the other route and they may be right. Just giving my opinion.

Welcome to the boards

 

What I was thinking was because the 305 TPI 5 speeds are hard to find, that the other alternative was to find a 350TPI and convert it over. I would not be doin the swap myself, it is not really my thing at this point in time. Considering the difficulty of find a 305 TPI is the swap from the 5.7 TPI auto a viable option?

 

welcome to the boards! you autocross you say? i brought my GTA to the last few events in rantoul. have you been to any of those?

 

I have been to some of the events in rantoul. I have been seen there either driving a yellow evo, or a blue mazda miata. I got a couple placed finishes in the novice ranks, but I have not had a car to drive of my own up there to run on a regular basis so I don't go up too much.

 

Were either of you guys at rantoul last weekend? My dad and I were up there auto-xing his Austin-Healey kit car. We usually autox in St. Louis, because rantoul is a bit of a drive for us. It's not a bad place, but the surface is a little rough compared to St. Louis.

 

i was there sunday. i was running in the ESP-N class. ended up first with a 59.467.

i don't remember your car, what did it look like?

 

where in central illinois you from? im from springfield

 

I'm from Hillsboro. My Dad and I weren't up their sunday. We just came up for Saturday. A couple of my friends were up there on Sunday, though. You might remember a red acura integra with a little blower wine, that's one o them. I'm a little bummed we weren't up there on Sunday now...