Is it worth souping up an automatic?
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- Junior Standardshifter
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sorry to resurrect this month old post....... ive been reading some posts on here about learning to drive standard and i just joined the site today
as of april. 19 i just finished converting my atuomatic mx3 V6 to 5-spd manual..... i did everything my self and it took a good 7 days labor(keep in mind im a rookie mechanic ive never done much more then an oil change before this)
as im sure all cars would be different, there was no ecu reprogramming or swapping needed.... a very small bit of re-wiring but that part didnt take more then an hour, it was of course the removal of engine/transaxle that was time consuming
as for price it cost me 1500 canadian , but keep in mind i bought a Spec stage 2 clutch kit that was almost 500 alone, with the bare minimum i could have done the swap for 1000-1100 bucks cdn
As of right now the car only has about 30 miles put on it as a standard, which my friend drove.... i thought it might be best to have the clutch somewhat properly broken in before i try my skills
anyways, it was worth it to do the swap in my case... didnt cost much and i learned TONS.......... of course i was still kicking my self in the A** for buying an automatic in the first place
as of april. 19 i just finished converting my atuomatic mx3 V6 to 5-spd manual..... i did everything my self and it took a good 7 days labor(keep in mind im a rookie mechanic ive never done much more then an oil change before this)
as im sure all cars would be different, there was no ecu reprogramming or swapping needed.... a very small bit of re-wiring but that part didnt take more then an hour, it was of course the removal of engine/transaxle that was time consuming
as for price it cost me 1500 canadian , but keep in mind i bought a Spec stage 2 clutch kit that was almost 500 alone, with the bare minimum i could have done the swap for 1000-1100 bucks cdn
As of right now the car only has about 30 miles put on it as a standard, which my friend drove.... i thought it might be best to have the clutch somewhat properly broken in before i try my skills
anyways, it was worth it to do the swap in my case... didnt cost much and i learned TONS.......... of course i was still kicking my self in the A** for buying an automatic in the first place
94 Mx-3 GS V6 5 Spd conversion
I'm thoroughly impressed... You didn't need any special equipment for the tranny at all?
I just checked a forum for my old car (Subaru SVX), and tons of people are doing manual conversions (the car never came in stick). I think it may be more work on those cars, because there was never a stock manual to begin with, so it's all scrapped together from other cars.
Just make sure you did all the work right. I think one of those conversions just recently failed... The brake pedal went to the floor and the driver lost all brakes, rear-ending another vehicle at a pretty good speed.
I just checked a forum for my old car (Subaru SVX), and tons of people are doing manual conversions (the car never came in stick). I think it may be more work on those cars, because there was never a stock manual to begin with, so it's all scrapped together from other cars.
Just make sure you did all the work right. I think one of those conversions just recently failed... The brake pedal went to the floor and the driver lost all brakes, rear-ending another vehicle at a pretty good speed.
- jcprov21
- Master Standardshifter
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Awsome, good workJWMX3 wrote:sorry to resurrect this month old post....... ive been reading some posts on here about learning to drive standard and i just joined the site today
as of april. 19 i just finished converting my atuomatic mx3 V6 to 5-spd manual..... i did everything my self and it took a good 7 days labor(keep in mind im a rookie mechanic ive never done much more then an oil change before this)
as im sure all cars would be different, there was no ecu reprogramming or swapping needed.... a very small bit of re-wiring but that part didnt take more then an hour, it was of course the removal of engine/transaxle that was time consuming
as for price it cost me 1500 canadian , but keep in mind i bought a Spec stage 2 clutch kit that was almost 500 alone, with the bare minimum i could have done the swap for 1000-1100 bucks cdn
As of right now the car only has about 30 miles put on it as a standard, which my friend drove.... i thought it might be best to have the clutch somewhat properly broken in before i try my skills
anyways, it was worth it to do the swap in my case... didnt cost much and i learned TONS.......... of course i was still kicking my self in the A** for buying an automatic in the first place
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Awesome job, man. I'm jealous of your garage ablilites, and the ability to have a well-equipped garage to boot.
Out of curiousity, was it worth the conversion costs (about $1500) or would it have been worth it to just trade in for a manual?
Out of curiousity, was it worth the conversion costs (about $1500) or would it have been worth it to just trade in for a manual?
2007 Mazda3
Mods: 15% tint, Eibach ProKit
2006 Ninja 636
Mods: NOS & sidecar
Mods: 15% tint, Eibach ProKit
2006 Ninja 636
Mods: NOS & sidecar
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- Senior Standardshifter
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- Junior Standardshifter
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Thanks LS1 and jcp for the comments !Johnf514 wrote:Awesome job, man. I'm jealous of your garage ablilites, and the ability to have a well-equipped garage to boot.
Out of curiousity, was it worth the conversion costs (about $1500) or would it have been worth it to just trade in for a manual?
In some peoples case i think it would of been better to trade in for a manual or sell the car and buy a standard since the mx3 is a fairly cheap car, but not alot of them around.... in my case it was more worth it to keep my car because its very clean inside and out there isnt even any rust underneith aside for some on the exhaust pipes, i think the previous owner must of garaged it in the winters, which is exactly what i going to do So i wanted to hang on to this one because of the condition and also since its my first car
as far as tools, a good socket set, open end wrenches, compressor, impact gun, lots of liquid wrench,pry bar,clutch install tool, and a lift for the motor was everything i used..... in the end im glad i did it, because there is a few engine swaps out there for my car im gonna consider doing in the future
94 Mx-3 GS V6 5 Spd conversion
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- Moderator
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Ah, its the "my car" factor. Nothing wrong with that, especially considering you have the expertise to go ahead and make the swap. That's gotta be rough buying used cars up North, I totally negated the winter situation. I can imagine it really lowers the life of the car, or at least the body of it. Do ya'll have two cars (if you can afford it), a beater and a racer?JWMX3 wrote:
Thanks LS1 and jcp for the comments !
In some peoples case i think it would of been better to trade in for a manual or sell the car and buy a standard since the mx3 is a fairly cheap car, but not alot of them around.... in my case it was more worth it to keep my car because its very clean inside and out there isnt even any rust underneith aside for some on the exhaust pipes, i think the previous owner must of garaged it in the winters, which is exactly what i going to do So i wanted to hang on to this one because of the condition and also since its my first car
as far as tools, a good socket set, open end wrenches, compressor, impact gun, lots of liquid wrench,pry bar,clutch install tool, and a lift for the motor was everything i used..... in the end im glad i did it, because there is a few engine swaps out there for my car im gonna consider doing in the future
Kudos on the toolbox too, I'm in need of some of those trinkets.
2007 Mazda3
Mods: 15% tint, Eibach ProKit
2006 Ninja 636
Mods: NOS & sidecar
Mods: 15% tint, Eibach ProKit
2006 Ninja 636
Mods: NOS & sidecar
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- Junior Standardshifter
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2005 2:40 pm
- Location: Grimsby, Ontario
- Contact:
no doubt , winter it pretty rough on cars.... im in southern ontario so it lasts about 3 1/2 months of brutal weather
Ill be looking for a winter car probably in december... thinkin maybe a chevy tracker or suzuki sidekick... with full time 4WD, that would be fun for the snow saw one with about a 6 inch lift today, it looked like a mini- monster truck
ps- tried driving stick today for the 2nd time..... i did ok but my shifts were rough just cus i was having trouble finding the "sweet spot" with the clutch pedal...... the pedal just feels so damn light.. is it easier in say a muscle car, or maybe your camaro John, which probably had a bit stiffer of a clutch then a small import like my car ? guess it just takes practice
Ill be looking for a winter car probably in december... thinkin maybe a chevy tracker or suzuki sidekick... with full time 4WD, that would be fun for the snow saw one with about a 6 inch lift today, it looked like a mini- monster truck
ps- tried driving stick today for the 2nd time..... i did ok but my shifts were rough just cus i was having trouble finding the "sweet spot" with the clutch pedal...... the pedal just feels so damn light.. is it easier in say a muscle car, or maybe your camaro John, which probably had a bit stiffer of a clutch then a small import like my car ? guess it just takes practice
94 Mx-3 GS V6 5 Spd conversion
The cool thing to do on muscle cars for a while was put in an auto with a high-stall torque converter and a transbrake et cetera.
High-performance automatics are actually better for drag racing, because the torque converter lets you pre-load the drivetrain before takeoff. You can pretty much floor the gas with the transbrake on, and then flip the switch off the moment the light turns green and BANG.
Of course, most actual drag racers replace the valve body so that they can shift it manually, and then put in a sequential shift lever (one click forward for upshift, one click back for downshift). You can still shift it manually with the normal valve body but sometimes it's a pain.
High-performance automatics are actually better for drag racing, because the torque converter lets you pre-load the drivetrain before takeoff. You can pretty much floor the gas with the transbrake on, and then flip the switch off the moment the light turns green and BANG.
Of course, most actual drag racers replace the valve body so that they can shift it manually, and then put in a sequential shift lever (one click forward for upshift, one click back for downshift). You can still shift it manually with the normal valve body but sometimes it's a pain.