Auto —> manual swap: tips and tricks

[infamousRNR]

Hey guys..

I’m hoping you guys can chime in and share your experience with your manual swap.

What was the year vehicle you were puting the transmission into? ? What year was your donor rig I.e. what year did you pull the manual from?

Any helpful tips Or things you forgot to grab from your donor rig ??? What should you make sure you pull to ensure you have all the necessary components for the swap..?

Some are of the components are obvious like the transmission, transfer case, interior shifter bezel, drive shafts, clutch, etc. … But what components are one of the things that you don’t think about pulling from the donor rig when you’re pulling the transmission?

 

[blonde1boarder]

I did a manual swap on my wifes 2001 Tacoma with the 3.4 engine. Components that were critical for me were:

Brake pedal and mounting bracket - The auto brake pedal was wider and I believe has a different bend so I would check if this is the same for the 4runner.

ECM - I sourced a 2001 tacoma manual ECM to make sure everything was good.

Driveshaft - I had to get the driveshaft extended at a driveshaft shop. I can't remember the cost but if you can snag one from the donor vehicle it is easier.

Flywheel - You can have the OEM flywheel resurfaced and the quality will be certain. I tried a LUK at first and it ended up being a major headache that made me have to pull the transmission twice.

Transfer case - I was able to use the old transfer case without issue.

Transmission mount - I ended up buying the heavy duty transmission mount from 4Xinnovations

Those are the major ones I can think of. A major helpful thread that lead most of my swap is SafetyDang's 2002 Double Cab 5-Speed/4x4 Conversion on TTora. Tons of information

 

[PatrickStapler]

Wow! I learn a lot every day. I’m a mod on a very popular vintage Mustang forum. This topic comes up very often there. I actually went through this on my Mustang. I had no idea this was a thing here. I wish you the best. I wish I could help. If it were a vintage Mustang I could.

 

[St Runner]

My biggest tip would be to buy or have access to a donor rig of the same year. When I was doing mine, every time I realized I was missing something I just drove out to the wrecked donor and grabbed the necessary part. If you have access to a bunch of well stocked junkyards or are really good at finding used parts online its probably not necessary but for me on a small island it was the only way I could do it

 

[weekendclimber]

Nothing valuable to add other than a request to video this process with [MENTION=120071]mtbtim[/MENTION]. This is on my wish list of things to do.

 

[Team_Jake]

Sean, it’s really not a difficult job, you and Timmy are more than capable of doing it.

From my experience when I did the swap here are my tips:

- Try to get a M/T donor vehicle that’s the same model year and drive type as your vehicle, make sure the ECU is CA spec if yours is CA spec.
- If you have multi-mode and want to keep it, then keep it. There is no special wiring or tricks to keeping multi-mode since it’s operated from the 4wd ECU and not the regular ECU.
- The FSM says you need to remove the exhaust to remove the transmission. While this would help free up some room, it’s not necessary.
- Keep the M/T OEM flywheel and get it resurfaced.
- Be sure you can shift through all the gears in the M/T before installing it. If you cannot shift into any gears and the shifter only moves to the left, then the reverse rail is engaged and needs to be moved. Unplug the backup light sensor and pry the rail back. If you can shift into all the gears except 4th, then the 4th gear rail is partially engaged. If you turn the input shaft in “neutral” the output shaft will spin 1:1, and all other gears will lock. This is fine, just install it and it will knock that rail back to where it should be once it’s driven.
- Use the clutch master cylinder gasket to trace and drill your holes for the clutch pedal. Also remove all the vapor canister stuff to get more room.
- If you have a ‘99 or later Limited (or other model with an immobilizer system), you have to re-flash the M/T ECU for it to work. Call any local locksmith and he/she will be able to do that for you.
- You do NOT need new driveshafts. The M/T is 1.25” shorter than the A/T, there is enough travel in the slip yoke to compress the front driveshaft (at least if you have Multi-mode). Use a driveshaft spacer on the rear.