This is a complete writeup on how to swap your automatic out for a manual transmission. This is mainly based on an 89-91 RX7, 86-87 similar.

Ok I Have done this swap from start to finish, so I will walk you through it step by step and show you short cuts when ever possible.

Dont be a fool and go by the other write ups out there, this write up will shave hours off your install, and make sure the job is done proper.

Step 1: Automatic Shifter Removal
To remove the automatic shifter you first remove the two phillips screws on the front of the shifter unit, then pull up the shift lever, below it you will find four 10mm bolts holding the shifter assembly in place.
Remove the three easy bolts, one will be tough, to get it out remove the power mirror switch panel.
Remove the two 10mm bolts under it, now you can simple pry the whole console over enough to remove the last bolt and pull out the assembly.
Dont forget you still have to disconnect the two wire harness's and the shifter linkge, pull up on the unit and you will be able to unclip the shifter linkage.
Now you will need to remove the nuetral lockout plunger, maybe its called something else? Its the thing that looks like a brake cable and goes up under neath the center console. You will need to locate the same piece under your steering column, there you will disconnect it as well.

Step 2: Instrument Cluster Swap Out
Ok there are a couple reasons to switch your instrument cluster, 1 being your current tach max is 7k, The current max tach on a manual is 8k, also lets not forget about the little lights that say PRND21 and HOLD.
Simply follow the instructions in your manual for removal proceedures, its very straight forward and I believe a total of nine screws.
When you reinstall the new cluster you will find that the center connecting plug is no longer used.
It was for the little lights we just talked about, yes you can still clip it in place if you like.
I did just to have the peace of mind that theres not wires bouncing around in the dash.

Step 3: Pedal Swap & Clutch Master Install
First let me say dont be cheap and try to cut your current brake pedal down to size, it's really not that dificult to swap if you are going to already be into the clutch pedal and have the proper brake pedal handy.
To remove the setup remove the 14mm nut to the left of the clutch pedal, it is connected to the shaft that the clutch pedal rides on, now go to the right of the gas pedal and pull the bolt out, sometimes it helps to tap it from the clutch side.
You will now see why I said dont be cheap on the brake, The brake and clutch ride on the same shaft.
after you have removed it you can remove the return spring and master cylindar connected to the clutch pedal, dont bother removing the rod from the clutch pedal, just pull it right out of the master cylindar with the clutch pedal.
For the brake pedal you will need to remove the lock ring and rod connected to it, now you can remove its retun spring and the pedal.
The clutch pedal has two electrical actuators for what I'm guessing would be the some sort of anti after burn like on the first gens so you dont backfire in between shifts and they other would be the switch that doesnt let you start unless the clutch is pressed in.
Either way, you can mount them both but there are no connections to hook them up to, so just toss them.
When you start your installation you will use the Bolt from the manual pedal setup, it is longer for the clutch pedal.
Remove the clutch master cylindar block off plate and reverse all steps above and you are in buisness, if you run into trouble or lose the order in which your assembly goes back together you can always count on your trusty manual to help see you through it.

Step 4: Rear End Swap
You should definetly swap out your rear end, unless you want more top end and less torque and low end?
Make sure you have a floor jack under the Rear end Throughout most of this process.
Dont forget to remove all exhaust equipment and heat sheilds from the downpipe to the rear Y pipe.
Disconnect the drive shaft from the rear end on the manual trans donor car.
To remove the rear end remove the rear half shafts from the center pig, just remove all four 14mm bolts on both sides and wiggle them loose.
Now you can remove the two bolts that hold in the rear of the pig.
now come around to the front of the pig and put down your haynes manual, you see the three bolts they want you to remove are near impossible to get out.
Look to the other side of the front mount and you will see two nuts, we will go for those.
Disconnect the rear sway bar from the spindles, follow the main rear end assembly mounting brace to the front and you will see two main mounting points, one on each side, I beleive they are 17mm or 19mm.
First you have to remove the safety brackets that bolt to them, they are 14mm and bolted to the frame, remove them then remove the bigger bolts.
Now the whole rear end assembly should drop enough to get to the two front mounting nuts we talked about on the pig.
You will now remove the little plate that sits right behind where the nuts where.
The rear end now should lift up and out the rear on the car.
When you remove the rear end from the automatic trans car you can leave the driveshaft attached since we will not be using it and it will pull out the back of the car with the rear end and a little brute strength.
Installation is the reverse of removal.

Step 4: Transmission and Flywheel Swap
You will need a 2-1/8 socket, an impact gun and a gear puller.
Remove both transmissions.
Start by taking the flywheel nut completely off then attach the gear puller and tighten it up with a fair amount of tension on the the flywheel, dont worry if it doesnt just pop off.
Now take a nice big hammer and hit the face of the flywheel, but not where the clutch disc rides.
repeat the steps for the balancer on the car that had the auto trans.
Check your pilot bearing before installing the flywheel and clutch disc assembly. If everything looks ok and checks out install the flywheel with the impact gun and install the clutch assembly.
Install then transmission and rest the rear half on a jack.
Swap over your auto trans mounting bracket to the manual transmission "not the body".

Step 5: Reverse Lights and Neutral Safety Switch
Locate the two red wires on the manual transmission, keep them in mind.
Look for a white three pronged clip that used to plug into the automatic transmission, cut all three wires and connect the bottom two together "this will allow you to start the vehicle" and connect the top of the three to one of the red wires on the manual transmission "doesnt matter which one, you will need to add some wire to complete the connection".
Now take the other red wire and run it into the inside of the vehicle through the shifter hole " you will need to add soem wire to complete the connection" locate the wiring harness in the shifter area that used to connect to the automatic shifter assembly.
Locate the 4 pin clip, now locate the black with yellow stripe wire and attach it to the wire you ran inside the car from the transmission "this will allow your revers lights to work".

Step 6: Wrapping up the small stuff
Install your slave cylindar and slave cylindar line.
Remove the passenger kick panel and disconnect the automatic transmission computer marked EC-AT or EAT.
Now would be a good time to plug the open vacuum line on the throttle body.

Step 7: Custom Transmission Mounting Brackets
You will need to cut four pieces of steel out of 1/4 thick steel.
The parts will need to be roughly 1 1/4 wide.
All holes will be 1/2" in diameter.
The finished product will be 2 brackets
1- Cut two pieces 5 3/8 " long and label them "A".
2- Cut two more pieces 4 5/8" and label them "B".
3- On your "A" parts drill one hole 1" in from the edge and another hole 2 9/16" in from the edge, repeat for both "A" parts.
4- On your "B" parts drill One hole 1 1/8" in from the edge and another hole 2 11/16" in from the edge, repeat for both "B" pieces.
5- Now draw a line 4 3/8" in from the same edge you used to measure from for your holes on both "A" parts.
6- Take the oppisit end you measured from on your "B" part and line your "B" part up to the line you drew on your "A" Part.
7- Repeat for the other "A" "B" set.
8- Measure the amount of overlap on both parts "this should be 1" exactly.
9- Measurements from the edge you first measured from on your "A" part to all holes are as followed in order 1", 2 9/16", 6 5/16", 7 7/8".
10- Overall part length should be 9".
11- If all measurements are corret weld each set together.
12- Bolt what was part "A" to the transmission crossmember on both sides with nuts, bolts and lock washers from your local hardware store.
The step in the metal should step down, if you put them on backwards your trans will sit 1/2" lower then it should and will be noticeble, if mounted correctly your trans will sit 100% perfect stock height with near stock strength as well.
13- Use stock bolts or fresh ones from the hardware store to mount the half of the bracket that was the "B" part.

Step 8: Install Driveshaft & Shifter
Install the driveshaft and shifter, Adjust the throttle body to correct idle.
Go out and show off your hard work.


Hopefully this whole writeup will be clear as day, I plan to put up many more writeups in the future since I am no longer maintaining the sevensport club site.

Hope you all enjoy

 

Archive this!!!!!! we need more write ups like this....

 

thanks for putting in the time to share this info..i am in the process of doing this swap..i have the parts and already have the pedals installed..goofy auto car with a clutch pedal right now...lol..i dont have the tools to do this so am going to pay someone..i am doing it on a vert so i will not need to make a tranny mount bracket.

cant wait!!

 

I don't have time to read now, but I have my maual driveline parts being shipped very soon. This is an excellent reference, thanks. I'll see if I have anything to add when I go about my conversion.

 

Why do a half-*** job? Just weld in the correct mounts for the tranny. Takes less than one hour to weld in the correct mounts.

 

well since you mentioned I will say I do know quite a bit about welding and here are the problems.

you will need to remove the correct mounts from the manual driveline car, and clean all the welds but keep the mounting section in tact and virtually undamaged so you can weld them to the auto driveline car, good luck.

now you will need to strip the whole interior including the dash to be able to remove the whole main carpet set.

why you ask? because it will catch on fire, I caught a 1st gen on fire before from not doing this and welding something in the wheel wells.

needless to say half the interior was roasted before I could the flames out, so again good luck.

theres really no point in going through all the trouble unless you already have your interior out and have a good method of removing the bracket from the manual driveline car. The brackets I made are extremely strong and hold the transmission firmly into place.

This write up is far from a half *** swap, search and read some of the other ones out there and read what other people are trying to get you to do before you critisize this one.

thanks

 

I just did the welding yesterday, with NO problems.

Only takes 20 minutes to get the parts out of a donor car.

 

got pictures?

 

I'll post some tonight. I use a HH 135 with 75/25 mix and .030 wire. Use 1/4" long welds, and skip to prevent heat build up and catching the Interior on fire. I did have a fire extinguisher and a charged water hose standing: just in case.

 

Quick question,

I've got an '86 NA Auto, if I were to put in a stick, could I use a TII tranny since it's beefier than the NA tranny? Since you're replacing the rear end and drive shaft that shouldn't be an issue, but what about the bell housing mating up to the engine? Is it the same pattern?

Just curious.
e

 

To do the TII tranny swap you will need:
Flywheel: TII
TII starter
Tii Clutch
TII Driveshaft
TII Diff.
TII Slave cylinder

There are those that say a auto driveshaft can be used in the TII tranny swap with NA rear, but it does not have full engagement on the tranny splines. I have not verified that, you are on your own with that aspect.

 

I'm really not trying to come down on you or your work but last night when I was going to bed I remembered another reason I did not swap out the mounting brackets.

Even if you dont catch anything on fire and the bracket is still strong the inside of the car will be burnt.

what I mean is on the oppisit side of where you welded all the paint and everything else will still be burnt away.

sooner or later this will start to rust from the inside of your car where is cant be treated unless you remove your carpet to get to it.

I can show you some pics on a 1st gen where I welded the wheel wells and then a pic from inside and the inside is basically bare metal after the welds and starts to rust within days.

If you are getting proper penatration with your welds this will and is supposed to happen, and insures that your getting proper penatration.

there are even more reasons on top of that, but those are three huge reasons not to do it unless you can get to the topside of the metal without the carpet in place.

 

Well, that was a good write up. By the way, does anybody out there want to sell me the speedometer drive assy out of their automatic transmission. I'm willing to send you a manual speedometer drive assy so you'll have something to put back in its place. Please count the teeth on the gear assy prior to offering to sell it, please. I need to know the number of teeth on it. Thank you.

 

ill give you my auto tranny if you can come to florida and put my swap in...hehe

 

Here is the installed shot.

 

Raw mount from a "PARTS BITCH"

 

Mount cleaned up by removing spotwelds, ready to weld in

 

Mount welded in, seam sealed and painted. Ready to accept the manual tranny

 

looks good, but when you have the chance you should get to the inside and pull up the carpet and paint the oppisit sides of your welds to prevent rust.

 

hey bonzai you dont need to come in here and tell him that he's doing a write-up on a half-*** manual tranny install.
i guarantee you are one of the FEW people that are going to actually go and rip the mount out of a manual trans car, sand down the spot welds, weld the new (used) one in, then seam seal it, then paint it.
and the reason you're one of the FEW that would do this is that its way too much work for the same result when you can get custom mounts that will do the job well.
not all of us can weld.

 

Banzai's right however, I broke my setup on my car using landers method, and I broke another setup just like this. I'm working on ripping out the mounts to do just what banzai did, except I have no idea how the hell to get them out so cleanly. Banzai: got any tips?

 

the other method sucks, my method requires 1/4" steel with an 1" overlap between the two halfs.

I couldnt see it breaking in any way possible, it takes thousands of pounds of pressure to bend a 1/4" thick x 1 1/4" piece of steel

 

I broke the welds on my setup similar to yours, then I ended up cracking from the outside to the inner area where the hole was drilled, don't remember off-hand what materials I used.

 

Hey, check your PM, though I did mis understand. I've got a '90 GTU with an auto that I will be swapping to an S4 maual tranny. Let me know if its something you need. Also, I do have another speedo drive sitting up storage in the old auto tranny from a few months ago. Let me know, I think the rear end is a 3.9 b/c of the auto, but im not sure...

 

If you don't have access to a torch or a plasma cutter, take a drill with a 3/4" hole saw and drill a hole in the corner of an imaginary box around the mount. Then take a sawz-all or a jig saw with metal cutting blades and cut in a straight line from hole to hole.

To remove the excess metal from the floorpan, get a SPOT-WELD cutter (~15.00) from the auto-body supply. Center punch each spot weld, drill a pilot hole and then drill out the spot welds.