I recently bought a 87 camaro. The guy i bought it from swore up and down it was an original 5 speed Berlinetta which i had planned on 350 swapping and restoring well after i got it home and dove into it i realized that it was an automatic berlinetta and not a 5 speed that some one had started the swap on but never completed i have the car back running but my ignition switch is stuck in the on position so i can turn it on but i cant shut it off. Who ever did it did a hack job on the car. If i wanted to buy a manual harness and ecm what harness would i need to buy and if not what am i missing. How do i release the ignition? Also none of my guages work. I just need some help this car has sentimental value cause my father and uncle built one when i was a kid and my uncle and i were very close and he has since passed.

 

There is a cable that used the run from the auto shifter to the steering column. It basically moved a pin/lock collar in the column/ignition switch when the car was put in park. It may be as simple as finding the end of the cable and moving it to the proper position to release the key. The cable end may be sitting in the center console near the shifter. If the cable is set to the proper position you should be all good. The proper fix is swapping a manual steering column. That said, did berlinettas come w manuals? They had unique columns I think. Either way it's an easy fix but getting it period correct may be another thing.

people are so full of BS and hacks, it's frustrating.

 

Do some searching on this forum for 5 speed swaps. They have been pretty well documented and should tell you if any other corners have been cut and what you need to do to correct them. Removing the shift interlock cable can be a bit of a pain.

Best of luck .

 

If it starts then I don't think it's the shift interlock cable. That would keep the car from starting (as it would think it's in gear). Does the key turn to the off position and the car keep running or is it not even turning to the off position?

 

The car would still start in neutral. At least mine did, but you couldn't remove the key.

 

Mine used to start in neutral and let you remove the key if turned off in neutral. Would only not start/not allow key removal if it was in gear.

 

You can just grab the "base" of the steering column...right where it goes into/under the dash, and twist it w/your hands. That's all the "Shift interlock" cable does anyway. Twist it, and you'll be able to turn the key all the way backward. This is all I did when I manual swapped my own TA, some 30 years ago. Worked fine then, and for over a decade afterward.

WRT the gauges, they have nothing to do with Manual or Auto (assuming same-year swap) so there is something unrelated going on there. I'd start to diag the gauges in the same manner as I would gauges not working in a 'normal' (stock trans) car, unless there is abundant evidence that the PO hacked up the wiring.

The harness/ECM don't NEED to be changed. The PROM/chip can be tuned or changed for a manual car, and the IAC (if it has one) can also be changed as the manual car has a different shaped pintle needle than the auto version. I'd save these changes, however, until after you get the car running, to see if they're necessary. If it's a carb'd car, I likely wouldn't bother.

 

Weird. It's been years now but I'm pretty sure I wasn't able to put the key in the lock position and remove it unless the car was in park. This the reason the manual cars had that little button on the side of the ignition switch so you couldn't accidentally remove the key and lock the steering wheel while in motion.

 

It wont turn to the off position. I can crank it and start the car up but i cant turn the ignition switch off

 

 

do like the poster above mentioned, grab the base of the steering column and twist one way or the other until it allows you to turn the key off. Then leave it there.

 

^That is correct. That is how the auto trans/shift interlock is supposed to work.