Auto to Manual Transmission Swap

Remove your hood. Mark where it's aligned so you can put it back in that way.

Loosen the lugnuts on your tires, and then jack the car up completely off the ground. We had the back up about 2.5 feet and the front about 3 feet so that the transmission could come out easily. Put the car in neutral and then remove your key. Leave your parking brake down once the car is jacked up.

Remove all of the underbody panels that are under the engine bay, and then drain your transmission fluid. It's located in the pan under your transmission.

Remove the torque converter cover. It's located on the bottom of the transmission but is on the engine side. It's just a small plate that allows access so that you can unbolt your torque converter bolts so that the transmission will come out.

There are 6 bolts in the torque converter housing, you must rotate the crankshaft so you can put the wrench through each hole to access the bolt.

Remove your starter. If it needs to be replaced, now is the time to do it since it has to come off for the swap.

Disconnect your drive axles. First remove the cotter pin and the bearing nut lock from the hub. Then unbolt your control arm and balljoint and separate them. Watch when they pull apart, because you don't get your finger pinched. It hurts a lot because they are being wedged together. Next, swing out the suspension and pull the drive axle out of the hub. Then pull the axle out from your transmission. Some models will have bolts holding it in, while others will just have knuckles that slide in place. Pull it out either way and place it out of the way. When you remove the drive axles from the transmission, grease will pour out, so make sure to clean out the drive axle and the hub that it goes into. Do this for both sides!

Next, disconnect all of your wiring on the transmission. On my 7A-FE's tranny, I had 3 plugs: 2 in the front(side by side) and one in the back beside the starter. Remove all of the ground wires and mark them with tape to mark where they go.

Disconnect any hoses you find. There are 2 hoses that run to the transmission from the bottom of the radiator. Remove these. They are held by clamps but you have to yank on them to get them apart. Leave one attached to the radiator, and take the other one off completely.

Now with the one line that is still attached, when all of the transmission fluid is drained from the radiator plug, insert the end into the open slot and clamp it back down. All that will be in there is air now and it has been blocked off now. Also, remove the filler tube so that it's out of the way.

On my car, I didn't have to remove anything that related to exhaust, but you will have to remove the heat shield so you can put in the shift linkage. I pulled it out to the side and didn't touch the exhaust.

Next use a piece of wood or an engine hoist and support the engine. I used strong rope and tied it to the hoist hook on top of the motor.

[Now you are ready to drop the transmission out of the car. Loosen all of your bolts that are attached from the transmission to the engine. I had 7 total. Then loosen the bolts holding the transmission mounts, but do not remove them.

Place a jack under your transmission with a piece of plywood in between the transmission and the jack to releave soem of the stress in the area. Now, remove all of your bolts that the mounts are attached to. There are three mounts that must be removed.

Then take out all of your transmission to engine bolts. The trans will just be resting on the 2 dowel pins that are used to align the trans and engine and the jack. Carefully pry the transmission away from the engine. You will see the dowel pins I'm talking about.

I used a rope that was tied around the transmission to the board so the transmission wouldnt just fall off the jack when it came free and to help keep it level. It is right side heavy.

Secure the torque converter so it wont fall. It's still filled with transmission fluid and you dont want a 10 lb. object falling on you filled with fluid. You can tape it or whatever. I didn't, but we lowered the right side down past the left so it wouldnt fall out.

When the transmission is completely seperated, check the engine hoist you are using. The motor is only held by 1 mount and what ever you are using to hold it up so make sure its sitting level and not sinking down.

Now lower the transmission down and out of the car. Remove your shift linkage also by unbolting the 3 bolts under the car, they are located under your heat shield. You will need these bolts again for the manual shift linkage.

Swapping Over the Drive Axle Hubs

First you will need to either bolt the drive axles' hubs over to the manual. If you have the style that are just push locked in, then use a flat head screwdriver and pry it out of the automatic transmission.

Clean it off and then regrease it and push it into place on the manual transmission.

Now drain the manual transmission fluid if there is any in it. The drain bolt is the lower of two large, short bolts.

Once it is empty, fill the manual transmission with new fluid.

Grease up all the joints including the shift linkage and clutch release fork arm. Also, replace your throw out bearing.

Manual Transmission Install

First remove the automatic driveplate, then install the manual flywheel. Be sure to torque the six bolts to specifications.

Next, using brake fluid, wipe down the pressure plate face to remove the protective sealant.

Then, using the clutch alignment tool, put the pressure plate and clutch on the flywheel. Torque the bolts to 14 ft-lbs.

Next, install the clutch master cylinder if not done so already(You should install this with the clutch pedal because they are linked together.)

Now place the manual transmission under the car so it's ready to be installed. Raise the transmission the same way you took out the automatic. Push it back onto the dowel pins. Do not shove it on because you can damage the transmission's throw out bearing.

Replace the bolts that hold the transmission to the engine. KEEP THE JACK OR LIFT ATTACHED TO THE TRANSMISSION!

Put the bolts back in the right places along with installing the crossmember so you can bolt down the transmission bolts.

2 Bolts will not work because they are two short. One is a bolt on top of the transmission and the other one is a bolt that faces the front of the car that is located beside the transmission mount. Use the bolts you purchased ahead of time in these two slots.

Bolt down the crossmember and bolt the transmission mounts to the crossmember along with your other transmission mount on the side of the car.

Now you can remove your board that is supporting the motor along with the jack holding up the transmission.

Reinstall your starter. Do it now because its easier to work the wrench without the drive axles installed.

Next, preload the drive axles with high temp grease and and hubs on the transmission(Do one side at a time.)

Grease up the joints on the suspension arms and reinstall the drive axles into the hubs. Reinstall all the bolts so that the arm is reattached to the car and drive axles. Do the other side following the same guidlines.

Now, push the shift linkage into the slot and bolt it back down. Bolt down the clip that is attached to it also so that it's out of the way.

Now go inside the car and install your shifter unit with the 4 bolts and hook up the shift linkage cables.

Reinstall the heatshield and double check to make sure everything has been bolted back in. Now plug in the speedometer cable into the plug between the shift linkage cables. Install all of your splashguards, and reinstall your wheels and lower the car back down. Tighten your lug nuts down on the wheels. Now reinstall your interior and everything you took out.

Wiring

Take the fat grey plug and find the 2 big slots, which should be a black wire and a black wire with a yellow stripe. They are numbers 5 and 6 on the plug casing(Some cars may have a different color wire, it should still be the same slots however.)

Cut these 2 wires and wire them together. Use heat shrink or something to protect them from water and shortages.

This will start your car without having to depress the clutch pedal. If you want to require the clutch to be pushed in in order to start the car, you will need to find a starter relay to make it work.

Next you will plug in your reverse lights. Take the wires from slots 8 and 2 and cut them. Wire in some extenders to these two and attach them to the plug you got from the junkyard. Each Plug plugs into a hole in the top of the transmission.

Take the rest of the wires and cut them and tape them off. Don't tape the bare wires all together, but instead use electric tape and bound them together. Now push the wires into the black tubing they were in to protect them all. Leave the plug that has 3 pins you will not use it. Just ziptie it or tape it out of the way.

That's it, you're done. Start up your car and go have fun.

Thanks for reading and I hope my how-to can help you complete your swap. Just remember that if you screw up, it's not my fault.

-Scott