I don't want to hear get a new car with stick. How much would it cost? My uncle has a garage and will help me but anyone have a rough estimate?

 

maybe you should get a parts car. that way it could cost only a few hundred dollars because you have the parts to do it.

 

hawksthirdgenparts.com sells a kit that comes with everything to swap a auto to a manual including a transmission. http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/in...OD&ProdID=1314

 

awesome thank you

 

Hi!
I have almost the same plans for my T/A.
My situation is a bit differrent, but should match 99% of this topic.
I have a salvage car with t5-transmission.
It´s a 89´firebird 2.8L v6.
Is it a Bolt-on? (trans)Mission-Impossible? Would my 5.7L V8 blow that t5 away like a nuclear bomb?

thanks in advance
alex

 

ok, first you need a trans, with clutch and all that, then you need the slave cylinder, then the master cylinder, and all the hoses and lines needed for the install, and cut the floor to fit the shifter. i have a 5 sp manual in my garage, and im actually looking to find a 700 r 4, so maybee we can do something here, maybee, p m me if your interested. but that is about it.

 

I would charge at least $1000 labor to do it.
Parts-wise, it can cost anwhere from $200-1200.

My friend and I swapped transmissions in our cars about 3 years ago so it didn't cost us much, mainly fluid and a couple of small parts.
Took 1.5 days to completely swap the tranny's between the 2 cars on my driveway.

 

If nothing else, I know that the bellhousing is different. Also, I think the transmission input shafts are different, and that the V6 one uses a smaller clutch/pressure plate. Not sure about the trans internals or gear ratios though.

 

The ratios in the V6 T5 are a lot different from the V8 unit and they're lousy to use behind a V8 for this reason. Input shaft is 14 splines instead of 26, so you also have to get a special clutch disc. In other words, unless you can come by a V8 T5, stick with the 700r4. Also, on the nuclear bomb theory, even the V8 T5's are easily grenaded behind a decent 350, hence the reason GM never put them behind a 350 from the factory. Hawks is absurdly overpriced for their T5 swap kits. You might as well buy a far stronger Tremec TKO for that kind of cash. There's complete T5 swaps for sale in the classifieds on here quite often for $500-$600. The swap is not extremely difficult to do yourself. If you pay a shop to do it, it's gonna cost a lot. There's a good writeup in the tech articles section on how to do it, and what parts are needed. Also, BennyK's recent post on this forum has some really good pics and an excellent method of how to cut the holes right.

 

I'd trade you heads up if you were in florida, I have a good T-5 with good clutch that is in the car, I am looking to go auto on my ride

 

@ward + pat hall: thanks for your answers! so i'll go with another manual tranny.... t56 out of an lt1 or so.

 

Well, first you need to decided what manual transmission you want to use. 4,5, or 6 speed and the model. Since you have a 305 I'd say go with a T5 unless you are planing to upgrade or swap in a bigger engine. I spent around 2,300 to swap in my T56. You could probably get a T5 setup for less than 1,500, not sure what they go for.

 

If you do the work yourself you should be able to get the swap done for between 5 and 6 hundred. I converted my 88 from a 700r4 to a T5. To do so I went to a good local wrecking yard and paid 300 and they let me take whatever i wanted from a 89 firebird. So i yanked the, trans, flywheel, bellhousing, pedal, hydrolics, shifter..... Then I just bought a heavy duty napa clutch and remaned master and slave(under 200 with my discounts) The swap itself is pretty easy all you have to do is remover the brake booster and master cylinder from the engine bay and drill the hole for the slave through from the cabin. The pedals are retained by the booster and one additional bolt under the dash. Also you odviously have to cut a hole for the shifter and wire in the neutral safety switch and reverse light switch. It took me a one of my friends 2 weekends to do a full conversion cause the first was spent pulling the parts and by sunday afternoon of the next one I was driving the car. Hope this helps you out

 

Car should already have the wiring for the neutral switch behind the drivers side kick panel. you just plug it in and attach it to the pedals.

 

Does it maybe depend on the model year? On both mine and my friends 85 the purple and yellow wires ran to the shifter for the auto and had to be cut and spliced to the switch from the doner car.

 

Maybe. I know my 88 had it, and the 88 GTA that was a manual had the wiring for the automatic shifter as well.

 

As long as you're not of the forgetful variety, you don't even have to hook up the safety neutral switch to the clutch pedal. All you have to do is take the yellow/purple wires, or whatever color they happen to be in your car, and just splice them together. Just snip them at the auto shifter plug and use a 8-10 gauge butt connector, or solder if you prefer, and splice them together. This will complete the starting circuit. The correct wires will be the two thickest ones in the auto shifter plug. Some people are **** about having the safety/neutral setup work properly. Personally, I just spliced them together on my 69 Camaro about 20 years ago when I swapped from a Powerglide to a Muncie 4 speed, and I've never once forgotten to push the clutch in before cranking the motor over. If you do want to hook it up, and you can't find the plug that Zepher mentioned, you can always make an extension harness that goes from the auto shifter connection over to the switch on the clutch pedal. Piece of cake to do no matter which way you choose.

 

(As long as you're not of the forgetful variety, you don't even have to hook up the safety neutral switch to the clutch pedal. All you have to do is take the yellow/purple wires, or whatever color they happen to be in your car, and just splice them together.) Yes that is the quickest way to do it. However I hooked mine up because my parents drive the IROC on rare occation too. Nothing quite like watching your 50 year old mother behind the wheel of a hotrod. Zepher mine is an 88 too it didn't have the harness behind the dash but its also a camaro not a pontiac. So maybe this is one of the cases of minor differences between the 2 brands.

 

The connector isn't behind the dash, it is above the hood release behind the kick panel.
Maybe it's only a Pontiac thing, or maybe you just over looked it.

 

No if it was there I would know about it I've had the entire dash out of the car its probably just a difference between to 2 model lines

 

Yeah there's really no rhyme or reason to what extra wiring your car might have from what I've seen. For instance, my 89 RS already had the wiring in the dash for the Iroc foglights, but I've looked at other ones that don't have it. When I added factory foglights to mine I had to change out the headlight harness in the engine compartment, but it was plug and play inside the car. I also have the wiring for the T5 backup light switch even though mine came with a 700r4. It's just factory taped to the TCC lockup wiring. It makes sense that a Pontiac would have a lot of extra wiring since they're usually more heavily optioned cars than the Chevys.