my car is auto i want to change it over to stick!! has anybody ever done it before? what do you need to change it over ??


[Modified by miker61588, 6:29 AM 8/31/2001]

 

I know it can be done because there is a guy in my club that did it. He said it was a lot of work. I think if you can find a used ZF 6 speed you are looking at about $3500 arn't you? Then you need a lot of time, energy, and mechanical ability. I dedided I didn't have enough of any of that so I put in a manual valve body 700r4. Now, if I were to do it all over knowing what I know now I would put in a Turbo400 manual valve body with a GearVendors overdrive on it. That is the hot set-up, very strong, and a direct fit.

 

I considered exactly the same swap after breaking many 700R4s. I decided to purchase a 6 speed car instead. Some of my reasons for not attempting the swap were:
- the cost of the ZF, torque arm, pedals, master cylinder, shifter, driveshaft from a wrecker car : $2300USD (price from local wrecker)
- cost of a used Dana44: $1000USD (price from Vettes at Carlise event)
- cost of a stroker lightweight flywheel & balancing : $900USD ( price from LPE )
- cost of a centerforce dual friction clutch and pressure plate: $800USD ( price from centerforce )
- if you look at the delta in price between a 6sp vette and auto, it's very little if not nothing at all; you'll be sinking $5K into your car when you could buy a 6spd car, swap the parts over and it will cost you $1700USD
- you probably won't know what the condition of the 6sp you're buying is; if you buy a 6sp car, you'll know before you lay out the $$$$
- the parts don't bolt into your auto chassis vette; you have to do some cutting for the shifter and installing the clutch pedal/ master cylinder is a nightmare because you have to hack into your car's firewall and there's very little room to work
- your ECM will not be functioning properly as is; you could purchase a 6sp wire harness replace the EPROM; add more $$$

I know swapping your engine over is lots of work but at least you won't need to do any hacking. I think the 6sp swap is even more work!!

 

I'll be doing a swap this year. The price (for me) will be between $2500-$3000, as I already have a Dana44. The Turbo400/gear vendors route is prohibitively priced, as the gear vendors unit alone costs more than an entire 6 speed conversion! In my opinion, 700R4's suck a monkey's bunghole, as I've got way too much time and energy into blown transmissions. I've recently grenaded my fifth one. Fortunately, three of them were replaced under warranty.