How much does it cost to do the whole thing correctly?

I like driving manuals better, they are more fun, the autos in these cars really bring it down..

Is it really a hard swap to do for an average maintenance person like myself...

 

ever driven in a car with a shift kit? its a whole new experience. but yea, im been wanting to do a t5 conversion as well. as for price it completely depends. on more than one thing, miles on each part, the seller, rebuilds, wc or not, etc. its hard to say and it depends what you actually need.

 

Well the way I see it, is I might sell my 700R4 tranny, it just got serviced, new fluid and filter, TV cable readjustment, its like new, no sign of slippage at 112k, I wouldnt expect the tranny to blow out on me because its prolly the only thing in the car thats been maintained in its life...

I really want a T5 tranny, I am getting better at driving manuals and such, and if the whole conversion would cost just under 500 bucks, I dont see why I shouldn't do it...the 1/4 mile time would be alot better, I would gain more power.

With the 700R4 tranny, although its perfectly good and what not, I just don't feel the torque as I would in a manual car...I am ebaying now and found some for like 475 bucks just for the tranny...installation is where the money's at

 

there are plenty of other parts needed to swap. plus you probably want a world class and one that is set up for vss...but this might be interchangable, not sure. anyhow, i doubt your quarter mile time would be faster, maybe the same if youre pretty good at stick. dont foget shipping, unless the trans is local. i would wait till your trans starts to have problems at least. expect to pay more than you are expecting...hard to understand, but if you think its on the higher end, then youll be excited when you find something a little cheaper and install wont be such a burden. find some one who has done it before, try on the local boards. not only will they do a better job, but they will probably charge less. just some advice...anyone else, cause im wanting to do this as well, i dont care about my 1/4 mile time.

 

The reason why manuals feel faster is very simple. Shorter gears in this case (difference between a 4 and 5 speed tranny). In other words the engine will rev faster. Tellya the truth you'd be hard pressed to even come even with your 700r4s 1/4 time. With a 5 speed you'll spin it off the line (most likely) then probably spin it into and possibly through 2nd. Then you have to worry about the clutch wearing out from *power shifting*too. Not trying to discourage but, from what i've been told if setup correctly a automatic will always be faster then a manual.

As for your 700r4 it should be stronger if built correctly than a t5 by far. With a stalled converter you could launch it a decent rpm same as your t5 and you could make shifts more precise and faster than you could in a manual.

As i said before i'm trying to discourage you just throwing out ideas. I'm a fool for a manual tranny too but, taken logics in to consideration the auto is just as good as the t5 will ever be. + you can build your tranny to be a manumatic if you wish.

 

well as i drive a v6 you can tell right off i dont care much about 1/4 time what i like to do is road courses and stuff which is where a stick is better plus i just love mashing the clutch pedal and changing gears driving an auto is just to Blah boring to me. just my opinion on it and it does make the weak little v6's faster thats why i have all but a clutch for the swap im just waiting on the money.

 

I guess you have some sense there...I'd build my tranny if I knew what to build...and I am pretty sure I'd get the same feeling if I left in 1st or second and just drive like that...

 

I think the best way to do this is with a donor car. There are so many little things you need to do the swap the donor car will really help you out. Those trannys on e-bay probably won't come with everything you need to do the swap. The donor car will and it'll also allow you to make a template for the parts of the car you need to cut/modify (trans tunnel and firewall).