2000 Limited 4x4 Manual Transmission Conversion

[audiness]

Thanks for documenting this, I love threads like this.

I also have a question: looks like you removed everything along the firewall to install the clutch pedal. Waa it difficult to get all of that stuff out? Is the evap pressurized at all? I need to do the same but to get in there to clean, it's absolutely disgusting and caked with dirt.

Also, I'm surprised the factory wouldn't have stamped the location for the clutch pedal running through the firewall.

It was not difficult to get the EVAP box out, only 3 bolts holding it in. It is not pressurized. I wish the firewall was stamped to make the hole drilling easier, but it was not. At lease there was a cutout on the interior, where you can pull off a little tab in the sound deadening material.

 

[audiness]

And now i know what it feels like to cut more holes in my truck. no going back now.

Also pictures are the two transmissions side by side. I spent a lot of time cleaning up the manual transmission, it did not come out of the donor truck looking like that. Another reason why my projects take so long!

 

[audiness]

made some more progress. Replaced the old clutch line, getting the Flywheel, clutch, and pressure plate ready to install. I am hoping to get the transmission back onto the engine in the next couple of days.

 

[audiness]

Did a new rear main seal and Pilot Bearing. Next to mount the flywheel, pressure plate, and clutch disk!


Note my method for removing the old oil seal :thumb3:

 

[audiness]

made a little more progress, I decided to replace some of the oil cooler hoses on due to age, which is delaying the project a little. I have the flywheel on now, next is the clutch and pressure plate. I should be getting the new transmission on in the next couple of days

 

[willyd520]

What a cool swap! Fantastic job documenting what all goes into one of these swaps.

 

[audiness]

install new OEM pilot bearing. check
install resurfaced flywheel. check
install clutch and pressure plate. check
install new OEM slave cylinder. check
install new OEM throw-out bearing. check

the next post will the trans going in!

Hopefully someone can confirm I got the throw-out bearing clips on correctly? there is no mention of this orientation in the service manual.

 

[audiness]

Big update guys. Bad news for me, the build has stopped. I got everything done, transmission in, driveshafts back in, setup my OEM clutch lines, bled the system, etc. Got my manual wiring harness connected to my manual ECU. And i get a flashing Immobilizer light on the dash.

The donor truck. had. immobilizer. :violin:


so i am screwed, i now have to find a way to reflash my manual ECU. otherwise the project is totally screwed. Manual ECUs are unobtanium, and even if I found another one, how can I know if it has immobilizer or not?

i've almost lost interest at this point, i guess that's why I havent updated in a while, even though i have loads more pictures. i am trying to find a way to get motivated or move on :sad:

 

[Bad Luck]

Big update guys. Bad news for me, the build has stopped. I got everything done, transmission in, driveshafts back in, setup my OEM clutch lines, bled the system, etc. Got my manual wiring harness connected to my manual ECU. And i get a flashing Immobilizer light on the dash.

The donor truck. had. immobilizer. :violin:


so i am screwed, i now have to find a way to reflash my manual ECU. otherwise the project is totally screwed. Manual ECUs are unobtanium, and even if I found another one, how can I know if it has immobilizer or not?

i've almost lost interest at this point, i guess that's why I havent updated in a while, even though i have loads more pictures. i am trying to find a way to get motivated or move on :sad:

That's a bummer! Have you read through this thread yet? Keys and Remotes and Immobilizers, Oh My!, or... It might have the answer to your problems, or the OP might have an answer. He did a lot of research on the system.

 

[Team_Jake]

You are far from screwed - I had the exact same issue (you can read all about that here). The thread in the post above is your solution, ask [MENTION=315156]Brian.[/MENTION] if he can reflash your ECU for you. In the meantime, you can use your A/T ECU, it will work just fine, you'll just get a few Check Engine Lights about shift solenoids not responding. Let me know if you need any help.

Edit: And FYI, the M/T ECU is not your issue, the immobilizer (which came standard on all Limited trims starting in 1999) is your issue. No other ECU will work regardless if the vehicle it came from had an immobilizer or not.

 

[Brian.]

Yup, just a case of some 1's and 0's not matching up. No big deal. If you have a Competent auto locksmith around, they can do it for you (for $350~500). Heck, if you have a local electronics repair place, you could simply swap the immobilizer chip from the original A/T to the M/T ecu (simple chip desolder and resolder, they need to be able to deal with surface mount chips but that's common stuff these days). For under $100 you can buy a cheap hot air and soldering station that will do the job (600f temp for the flux used) and DIY. No need to even deal with programming, which was the bigger headache IMHO.

This is a tiny little speedbump with the right knowledge, you could have it sorted in under a day if you have the right local resources.

Worst case, I can help out (just south of Atlanta, so would take shipping).

 

[audiness]

[MENTION=319302]Bad Luck[/MENTION]
[MENTION=315156]Brian.[/MENTION]
[MENTION=177008]Team_Jake[/MENTION]

thank you so much for your input. I never thought of the idea of just switching the EPROM (Chips that contain the Immobilizer codes) from the auto ECU to the manual ECU. that seems 1000% easier than trying to re-program and possibly turning the insanely rare Manual ECU into a brick. I found a DIY on reprogramming that was so complex sounding, i wanted to part of that :nono: I am good with a wrench, not so much with a soldering iron.

I am taking a break from the project for a little while, I just lost interest. I will come back to it in a few weeks and get going on it again.

thanks for your support !

 

[audiness]

Update. I had some personal things going on with my depression in early to mid May and just didn't do much work on it. but I have been feeling a lot better lately, and I got my motivation back to continue working on this.

I estimate I am about 80 hours in at this point. So I got the truck started on the AUto ECU. I had to trace out all the wiring. the wiring diagrams and descriptions that I found were all written with people re-using their Auto Engine Wiring harness.

Thankfully I had saved the dash harness from the donor truck, so I was able to take it apart and trace where the Clutch switches connect to the dash harness. I then added in the wiring to my truck to mimic the manual truck's dash harness. I will document the exact connections I did so that anyone else that finds this tread in the future can copy what I did.

Now to finishing putting this back together, and then to conquer the manual ECU/ Immobilizer issue. thanks for your support everyone

 

[Bad Luck]

Update. I had some personal things going on with my depression in early to mid May and just didn't do much work on it. but I have been feeling a lot better lately, and I got my motivation back to continue working on this.

I estimate I am about 80 hours in at this point. So I got the truck started on the AUto ECU. I had to trace out all the wiring. the wiring diagrams and descriptions that I found were all written with people re-using their Auto Engine Wiring harness.

Thankfully I had saved the dash harness from the donor truck, so I was able to take it apart and trace where the Clutch switches connect to the dash harness. I then added in the wiring to my truck to mimic the manual truck's dash harness. I will document the exact connections I did so that anyone else that finds this tread in the future can copy what I did.

Now to finishing putting this back together, and then to conquer the manual ECU/ Immobilizer issue. thanks for your support everyone

I'm glad you're feeling better. One step closer to being done and coming along nicely! I'm sure having the other harness helped a good amount too

 

[brillo_76]

Dash harness. Those are fun to remove. Good progress. You get it back together just keep working on it..

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

 

[Dream4runner]

Something that is causing the project to take much longer than expected.
I am replacing many coolant, PCV, and Vacuum lines in the engine bay. much easier now while the intake manifold is off. Also replaced the heater valve, although the 21 year old one was in surprisingly good condition. Thankfully all these OEM parts are still available, and I was able to take advantage of a March promotion for 25% off OEM parts from Southeast Toyota Dealers.

this is a lower-mileage truck ~160k miles. Cheapish-insurance down the road

First time on this site for me and I already love it.
I don’t usually get on line, too old for that but sometimes I see stuff on line like this amazing one on auto to manual conversion and I really appreciate it.

Amazing write up, Tnx for taking the time to put up all the info and pics, really eye Oppenheimer as I didn’t think this would be so involved.

I’ve worked on many gearboxes on different trucks, landcruiser mostly when much younger and had no health issues and more patient but can’t do this job myself otherwise I would love to do it.

I’ve been thinking about doing the same thing with my tranny and swap to manual since I grew up with manual even though the Auto on my limited 2000 is pretty nice but I really want it in manual especially if I can keep the J- shifter, don’t care for the push button either as I’m old school.

Not sure if my respond will show up on the right page here but if anyone see this pls let me know if there is a reputable shop where I can get this conversion done properly, yes “do it right do it once” idea…

I don’t mind the cost, just want to get it done right. I’m in vancouver but don’t mind traveling to the right shop even to the US. Any lead would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Dream4runner]

Update. I had some personal things going on with my depression in early to mid May and just didn't do much work on it. but I have been feeling a lot better lately, and I got my motivation back to continue working on this.

I estimate I am about 80 hours in at this point. So I got the truck started on the AUto ECU. I had to trace out all the wiring. the wiring diagrams and descriptions that I found were all written with people re-using their Auto Engine Wiring harness.

Thankfully I had saved the dash harness from the donor truck, so I was able to take it apart and trace where the Clutch switches connect to the dash harness. I then added in the wiring to my truck to mimic the manual truck's dash harness. I will document the exact connections I did so that anyone else that finds this tread in the future can copy what I did.

Now to finishing putting this back together, and then to conquer the manual ECU/ Immobilizer issue. thanks for your support everyone

Just read the rest of your post, I’m so glad you’re feeling better, most of us go through that at some point in life and it’s so nice to hear when the bad times is in the past, good for you.

 

[Bad Luck]

First time on this site for me and I already love it.
I don’t usually get on line, too old for that but sometimes I see stuff on line like this amazing one on auto to manual conversion and I really appreciate it.

Amazing write up, Tnx for taking the time to put up all the info and pics, really eye Oppenheimer as I didn’t think this would be so involved.

I’ve worked on many gearboxes on different trucks, landcruiser mostly when much younger and had no health issues and more patient but can’t do this job myself otherwise I would love to do it.

I’ve been thinking about doing the same thing with my tranny and swap to manual since I grew up with manual even though the Auto on my limited 2000 is pretty nice but I really want it in manual especially if I can keep the J- shifter, don’t care for the push button either as I’m old school.

Not sure if my respond will show up on the right page here but if anyone see this pls let me know if there is a reputable shop where I can get this conversion done properly, yes “do it right do it once” idea…

I don’t mind the cost, just want to get it done right. I’m in vancouver but don’t mind traveling to the right shop even to the US. Any lead would be greatly appreciated.

If you aren't going to do the swap yourself from a parts truck then it will be a lot cheaper and easier to just buy a manual 4wd 4Runner.

To do it as close to factory as possible (and not get a check engine light on the whole time) you'll need a manual ECM from a 2000 4Runner, some customer wiring for the transmission and transfer case switches, and obviously the manual transmission, front and rear driveshafts, flywheel, clutch/pressure plate, clutch/brake pedal assemblies, modification to the body, manual shifter bezel and boot. It really adds up if you are trying to source it from used vehicles without a dedicated parts truck or buying new.

 

[BtToyoda]

So would you say it is best to just run the auto wiring? I have done everything you did, but don't have an immobilizer (I think, neither were limited). My driver is a 2000 auto, my donor is a 99 5 speed. I swapped the engine harness and computer like you did, but don't even get a starter click with the key....I feel like there is something I need to hook up for it to think the clutch is in or the clutch cancel button was used....I don't have the wires at the tranny anymore for the auto to just tell it that I'm in neutral. There are TONS of write ups for keeping the auto harness, but hardly anything for using the manual harness....everyone just mentions that using the manual harness makes it plug and play at the tranny...I'm about to buy the ewd, but I'm not very confident in my ability to properly use one....anyone know if I just need to tie a certain wire in to ground? I'm about to rip out the dash and swap the interior harness so everything works as it should...

 

[infamousRNR]

Update. I had some personal things going on with my depression in early to mid May and just didn't do much work on it. but I have been feeling a lot better lately, and I got my motivation back to continue working on this.
Now to finishing putting this back together, and then to conquer the manual ECU/ Immobilizer issue. thanks for your support everyone

definitely want to hear/see more on this project! you're sooooo close!!!





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