Standard To Auto Swap
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Junior Member
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 23
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From: WAINFLEET ONTARIO CANADA
First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to all Canadians out there. That being said, I am debating a standard to automatic transmission swap. Before I get to many are you nuts posts let me explain why.
I spend most of my summer drag racing in bracket street classes, which means consistancy is everything.(within aa thousandth of a second) If many of you have gone to the track and tried to run the exact same times every pass, you'd probably understand. My synchros are shot in my 5 speed and I was debating on putting in a beta 2 5 speed but am now debating on putting in an automatic. Has anyone ever tried this swap?(my car is going to be parked for the winter anyhow so I will have lots of time and I am mechanically inclined with machine shop access) And if so what would be the best year and model tranny to work with? Any help or direction I could get would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
I spend most of my summer drag racing in bracket street classes, which means consistancy is everything.(within aa thousandth of a second) If many of you have gone to the track and tried to run the exact same times every pass, you'd probably understand. My synchros are shot in my 5 speed and I was debating on putting in a beta 2 5 speed but am now debating on putting in an automatic. Has anyone ever tried this swap?(my car is going to be parked for the winter anyhow so I will have lots of time and I am mechanically inclined with machine shop access) And if so what would be the best year and model tranny to work with? Any help or direction I could get would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 10,795
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From: Pflugerville, TX
Vehicle: 2000 Elantra
There are a couple of problems with this idea.
The wiring harness from auto to manual, you just ignore a few wires. For the manual to auto swap, you'll be adding wires. Not impossible, just a hassle.
The killer for racing will be the gearing. AFAIK the gears are longer in the autos, if for no other reason than to cover the wider spread between 4 gears vs. 5. "somewhere out there" somebody compiled a list of all the different years/transaxle types with the gearing laid out in an .xls file. Hands in the air everybody who saved that little gem.
Either way, the easiest route to the goal is the same for an auto to manual swap: buy a cheap car with the transaxle you want and take all the parts from it. That would include the brackets, shifter linkage etc.
The wiring harness from auto to manual, you just ignore a few wires. For the manual to auto swap, you'll be adding wires. Not impossible, just a hassle.
The killer for racing will be the gearing. AFAIK the gears are longer in the autos, if for no other reason than to cover the wider spread between 4 gears vs. 5. "somewhere out there" somebody compiled a list of all the different years/transaxle types with the gearing laid out in an .xls file. Hands in the air everybody who saved that little gem.
Either way, the easiest route to the goal is the same for an auto to manual swap: buy a cheap car with the transaxle you want and take all the parts from it. That would include the brackets, shifter linkage etc.