Depressed w/ my purchase of my c4 auto
 

I bought my c4 auto, in 2014, I loved the looks of it and since I had sold mustang 5.0 I built for speed a few years back. I decided to I had to have this, I have no clue why I bought an automatic, I hate them, I just bought a bunch of performance parts for it but so far they are sitting unopened, whats the use, I am into road racing at a speedway we have close by, and I can't use an automatic. It cost way too much to convert it. I paid $5500 for the car. I guess my only options are to sell it and try to find a 5-speed so I can still use the new parts. Keep it as a daily driver put on the perf parts, buy another mustang where all the owners bought a manual trans new and try to make the suspension close to a vette which will be tough. WHY DID ALL THESE NEW VETTE PURCHASERS BUY AUTOMATIC, my thoughts are is because they are all older and enjoy cruising. I think back to that moment i bought it and want to slap myself and run and buy a real road racer vette with the right trans.

like is said with the electric start Harleys, they earned it. Not everyone who buys a vette wants a caynon carver tho its all of that.My old knees are glad mine is an automatic but my heart still beats shifting gears.

Do you mean why C7 guys buy Automatic?

No, I am sure newer vettes and mustangs etc have automatics with a lot of gears, still my preference even for a c7 would be a standard but Im talking about us vintage folk, C4-C1.

Is there anything I could do like a torque converter and shift kit help? or will I still get laughed out again of the road race speedway we have here

A converter and shift kit won't do anything to deal with the heat generated from up and down shifting, nor with the use and abuse the trans has suffered up to this point. Nor will it do anything to change the fact that the transmission (as ships from the factory) was not intended for road racing.

-----------------------------------------

Sonnax and other aftermarket transmission companies now make components to turn trans into units capable of road race. In fact one of the members of the club I currently belong to raced with an auto trans.

What year is your car ?

I know most if not all parts are retrofittable from the 4L60E to 4L60 to 700R4. There are stronger internal components, a component to lesson the gap between 1 and 2, valve bodies (and parts) to restore engine braking back to 1,2,3 etc. It all depends on how much you want to spend.

You will need to install a big cooler with fan, back where the spare tire sits. That is where the guy that raced put it and where I will put one when the engine/trans build is done.

Depending on year and what mods you are willing to do, there are paddle shift conversions to help with the shift chores.

Just as engine work equates to cubic bucks, transmission mods involve shifting ......money from one account (yours) to another (theirs).

---------------

I too would have rather had a stick, but realistically, I have a bad right hand and there are some days I can't shift. So I can still drive my car on those days.

An other option, pricey but an option, is to convert the car over. There are folks here on the forum that are or have done it. Then you will have the best of both worlds.

Due to the 1000's of C4's for sale on any given day, and the fact that there are NOT 1000's of potential C4 buyers on any given day, converting over could cost less than what you will lose trying to sell it.

You sound a lot like I did.

I like manual transmissions too. However, I bought an '88 with an automatic for a daily driver with a 100 mile per day commute. Although I liked driving the car much better than other commuter cars, I still wanted a stick.

I sold the '88 to get a manual C4. I got nearly the same as what i paid for it. I got a '94 6M and loved it.

I would suggest you start looking for a 6 speed C4 and make the change when you find a nice one.

Drive the car into the lake or over a cliff. Take a poll of what others want you to have so as not to get laughed out of the speedway. It would be nice to have them pay for it too since they should be buying an opinion, right? Or how about you grow a pair and stop worrying about what others want and worry about what works for you? I mean, you are paying for it, right? Shouldn't it be 100% about you and 0% about what others think is cool? Of course, in my case, I don't care about the cool factor and even don't want ANY attention from most of the other numbnuts. I only care about comments from my betters if it pertains to how to improve my car. So if you get a Brittney Force, for instance, I would be glad to hear what she has to say. Some Joe Schmoe who asks or makes a comment on my car? WGAS? Costs me time to thank him for his comment and disengage from him.

Besides cutting the coat to your cloth ($ wise), you also need to worry about what the car is used for. If it is 100% road course, definitely get a stick. IF it is drag, I'd go auto. The rest depends on your situation. Wife doesn't want to drive stick so as part of our fleet, my situation is that she can have that as an option if say her car breaks down. If you are the only one driving and you aren't man enough to stand up to the boys, get a stick. IF she might use it as a backup, see what she feels comfortable with. I drive in the city a lot. I have had a stick car and a manual bike. Sucks in stop and go traffic but if I were more in the country driving and tracking it, I'd go manual if the wife would never drive it. All depends on your situation and not what the other boys have to say.

I want to slap you too! :rolleyes: You bought and lived with this car for five years and now you're whining like a toddler. Get rid of it and get something more appropriate for your desires.

Probably the most profound statement I have seen on here for a long time. Today's world is so occupied with making sure that other's approve of your actions or statements that no attention is paid to the person's wants.. As you say, WGAF what others think. As to the OP, your dissatisfaction seems to be easily cured. Sell the auto and get a stick! Done deal!

And what happens when his buddies laugh at him because that car isn't cool to them?

I bought mine with a 4+3. I swapped in an automatic so I could race it.

I have an auto. I hate autos too. People call it a girl's car. It is green, people hate that.

Yes you can make it drive different with money.

Stick will cost about 2200 unless you have to pay labor, but you might find the stuff cheaper.

Sell it, drive it, or build it.

Soon as they pay for it, you can buy what they want.

Its a 1991 Base model

It was a metaphor, nobody is going to laugh at me, I thought everyone would understand that but maybe there are assholes from where you live that would laugh at you. The whole message is what I want and how I made the mistake of just going by looks and condition for the year. I am into road racing and the high HP cars that were automatic I drove on one of the test and tune days was just not going to cut it, with my mustang 5-speed I use to have, the manual transmission was more imporrant than the brakes, and the low gear speed for turns that come up too quick for the automatics, theres usually one good straight away. I also drove the mclaren and ferrarri when the ulimate extreme came to town last month. 3 laps with each, all the super cars are automatics for obvious reasons so they can sell a lot of laps to people that probably cant drive a standard. Please let me know what town your from so I will stay away, I dont want people to misinterpret my metaphor or if they are just assholes and laugh me out of town.

If it was that easy to just sell and get what one with the transmission I want that would be awesome. I dont live in Dallas where theres a ton of people looking for c4 vettes let alone selling one I actually need. It takes time, theres also the head game, where you try to make the best of it and modify it, if it were easy it wouldnt have posted anything, I was hoping to get some encouragment from veteran vette owners on how to make your auto better, or maybe i shoud put it up for sale and get something else. I dont know, I got a couple of real helpful people but I get one guy that wants me to kill myself by driving off into a lake, and one wants to slap me. Theres quite a few really helpful and nice guys in this club, offline and online, but there are a lot of just plan jack asses. Its not like sportbike rider club or mustange groups, where they will stop to help you on the side of the road, some of these vette owners would rather run me over. niight and day difference.

QCVette, I think what I am going to do is go ahead and finish putting on my performance parts, and drive it for a 6 months or so and put it up for sell, would it sell better with the original intake, headers, etc back on it do you think?
here it is
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...c63b9eca2c.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...529f6f4723.jpg

Sell it as is.

:iagree:
Sell it as it is.