Auto to Manual Conversion - Worth It?

6123 Views 26 Replies 12 Participants Last post by soviet911, Jul 24, 2008

beardedmayhem

Discussion Starter · Jun 15, 2008

Hey all,
I've got a 1989 c900 N/A autotragic. I've found a guy that will give me $1500 for it, and once I am rid of it I was planning on finding a c900 turbo five speed. The problem is that I haven't seen anything close to NY worth buying. My c900 is in pristine condition. I was considering keeping the car and finding a rebuilt manual gearbox, and doing the swap. Anyone think it's worth it, or should I just be more patient until a nice c900 turbo pops up somewhere?

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dan-the-kid

· #2 · Jun 15, 2008

I'd wait.

I know how slow a N/A c900 is....even when its a manual. Wait for a good turbo.

While I dont know the condition of your car, 1500 bucks is a good amount.

HIDSPG

· #3 · Jun 15, 2008

I would leave it alone and find a nice 5 speed car. 1500 isnt that much money if you ask me.

90SPG

· #4 · Jun 15, 2008

I think it depends on how mechanically inclined you are, there are a couple of really good tutorials on the swap floating around the internet that would certainly help you out a great deal. I know $1500 is a nice offer on your car but if it is truly in good condition I would consider keeping it just because a clean 900 is becoming awfully hard to find these days. Especially with you being in NY the odds of you finding a 900 that hasn't begun to rust out will be pretty low, if you are going to find a new one I would strongly suggest expanding your search area so you can find one that hasn't been subjected to heavy winters and salt.

beardedmayhem

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jun 15, 2008

Yeah that was my impression as well. It's in immaculate condition. I'm still leaning towards getting rid of it. Thanks for the advice fellas.

NickTurbo900

· #6 · Jun 15, 2008

IF you were going to do a tranny conversion... would you not consider a turbo conversion?

Seems the decent body is the limiting factor on a c900, not the original drivetrain!

beardedmayhem

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jun 15, 2008

I guess to me it's a matter of it being worth the trouble. I have been keeping an eye out on ebay and autotrader, but there hasn't been anything close enough available. From a cost standpoint someone told me I would be looking at around $1k for the rebuilt gearbox and clutch assembly. I don't have a hoist, so that would be an issue as well...unless there is another way to pull out the auto trans? It is sensible to go turbo while you have it all torn apart, but that would also be a pain to round up all of the old parts from a junker. Also, is it even a good idea to add turbo to an N/A? I thought that the compression ratio is different?

90SPG

· #8 · Jun 15, 2008

I'm not sure where in NY you are but check out craigslist as there are lots of parts car 900's going up for sale. After a quick look I found this, almost looks too nice to be stripped but its pretty cheap:
http://newyork.craigslist.org/que/car/719691483.html

or parts car:
http://plattsburgh.craigslist.org/car/718779168.html

beardedmayhem

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jun 15, 2008

I'm near Ithaca. I forgot about CL. Thanks I will check it out!

crwchf01

· #10 · Jun 17, 2008

Dude, take a road trip to AZ, NM, Southern CA- get one there and enjoy the trip back.

NickTurbo900

· #11 · Jun 17, 2008

crwchf01 said:
Dude, take a road trip to AZ, NM, Southern CA- get one there and enjoy the trip back.

'

Truer words...

The price of gas is a factor however... a shipper may be less in the end... Meals and Red Bulls etc add up fast, in addition to all the gallons of 4.25$ gas to get home

beardedmayhem

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jun 18, 2008

I'll stick to the east coast guys!

Talladega900

· #13 · Jun 18, 2008

I did it to my '91 SE Convertible (Platana Gray). But then it was stripped to a shell during a restoration at the time, too.

DeLorean

· #14 · Jun 18, 2008

auto to manual swap is easy, I have done 3 of em.

beardedmayhem

Discussion Starter · #15 · Jun 19, 2008

I don't have time to do it myself now, so I'll probably wait until things slow down a bit. Did you use a donor car, or purchase a used trans and the other needed items like clutch & pedal...etc?

DeLorean

· #16 · Jun 19, 2008

last one I did have a parts car for, however the others we just pulled the parts at the junk yard that were needed for the conversion.

beardedmayhem

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jun 19, 2008 (Edited)

Nice...although aren't you taking chances of getting a bad trans via the junkyard? How much to do mine for me?

c900

· #18 · Jun 19, 2008

DeLorean said:
auto to manual swap is easy, I have done 3 of em.

Does anything special need to be done to set up the manual transmission shifter and shifter rod? I've got the manual trans originally in the 83 gli I stripped in December still here and kept the whole shifter mechanism, etc. in case I am able to get the transmission rebuilt to go into my 81 turbo car.

I have a brand new clutch hydraulic line in the shed waiting to be used for the job (a good score of Ebay some months ago).

Craig.

Sweed Speed

· #19 · Jun 19, 2008

c900 said:
Does anything special need to be done to set up the manual transmission shifter and shifter rod? I've got the manual trans originally in the 83 gli I stripped in December still here and kept the whole shifter mechanism, etc. in case I am able to get the transmission rebuilt to go into my 81 turbo car.

I have a brand new clutch hydraulic line in the shed waiting to be used for the job (a good score of Ebay some months ago).

Craig.

Nope, all the mounting holes are the same as the auto. You may have to play around with the length of the shifter rod as they came in 3 sizes with 3 different couplings on the end.

from 83 to an 81 you may be alright. it's one of those things you don't see until the end. My least favorite part of the conversion is the clutch pedal. no friggen room to work. everything else is pretty straight forward.

DeLorean

· #20 · Jun 19, 2008

Sweed Speed said:
from 83 to an 81 you may be alright. it's one of those things you don't see until the end. My least favorite part of the conversion is the clutch pedal. no friggen room to work. everything else is pretty straight forward.

yep, it's pretty much a bolt in operation. If you get all your shift rod parts from the same car, they will all work, however if you start maxing and matching parts you have the potential for ending up with the wrong shift coupler or something. As for fixing the massive automatic sized brake pedal, a grinder or a saw really comes in handy for that. once it's the right size you can simply pop the manual pedal pad onto the formerly huge pedal.

Transmissions I have a method for getting a good one out of the junk yard. just takes a little creativity! :lol:

As far as how much I's charge to do a conversion... Well I'd do one if a manual trans was included with the car for $1500, if I had to get a trans for it (and all the accessories to make it work) I would want $2000. May be a little more if you wanted or needed a new clutch or clutch hydraulics, otherwise it would just get what ever the car in the junk yard had for a clutch.

Not cheap, I know but it really is a large amount of time / labor. If it's a solid non rusty car, at this point it IS worth it. like I have said before, a running driving C-900 turbo 5 speed is getting to be more valuable .

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