Automatic to Manual Transmission Swaps, Is It Worth It?

I get asked quite a bit about automatic to manual transmission swaps. Let’s face it, manual transmissions are more fun to drive. However, I think many people aren’t taking into consideration all of the time, money, and effort that would go into an automatic to manual swap. That’s why I made this video.

Thanks for watching!

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[Bp-xzfn]

You won’t stop me from achieving my dreams

[adriansrealm]

Scotty Kilmer has the easiest way to turn an auto to a manual, sell the auto and buy a manual.

[nicholasclark]

Paint the blue car red and just tell everyone you did it.

[MatthewScur]

Good point. I converted an '83 Suburban from a 700R4 to a Saginaw 4. I did it in my garage and it was VERY labor intensive. Replacing the pedal box, relocating the cross member, setting up the clutch master and slave as the mechanical linkage wouldn't work, lengthening the driveshaft. I probably ended up with spending 6 months on a project truck that didn't have a computer that barely fit in my garage. But, it was really cool to have the only 4 speed Suburban that I had ever seen.

[Kobafied]

My 15 year old son wants to build a drift car and he thinks it’s no problem to convert an automatic to a manual transmission. I keep telling him that we’ll find the right vehicle that’s a manual, just be patient. Thank you for the video, I’ll have my son watch it. Hopefully he’ll now realize that it’s just not his “dumb father” who thinks this way 🤪

[Bp]

I own a 92 Subaru SVX, which infamously only came in automatic. Also the transmission is made of balsa wood and glass so a manual swap is an inevitably when it dies, the car is rare enough that it's absolutely worth swapping if the need arises.
[I'm cheating though, this car is an extreme edge case for this specific topic.]

[paxon]

I swapped in a manual trans into a 2000 4runner. It was actually pretty simple. The biggest upgrade after the swap was actually getting an ECU from a manual 4runner. The brain box didn't know what to do with the manual at all and it just drove funky. If you're curious, I posted a video talking about my swap

[zegnitz]

Swap the automatic to a manual and the manual to an automatic.

[kevins.]

I just finished manual swapping a Civic, cause, I'm dumb and like burning money.

I /only/ needed a 5-speed gearbox, shift cables, shift cable brackets, shift cable spacers, and pins, shifter box, shift boot, shift knob, shifter boot trim, clutch and brake pedal, drill holes in firewall, clutch cylinder, clutch lines, clutch reservoir and bracket, clutch line brackets, secondary clutch cylinder, shift fork and boot, throw out bearing, clutch disc, pressure plate, flywheel, pilot bearing, lots of bolts, front subframe, front motor mount, rear transmission bracket, left and right CV axles, an engine wire harness, a PCM sub-wire harness, the driver's controls sub-wire harness, the M/T in-cabin fusebox, a new ECU.


I've never driven a manual car on the road either.

[bawkray]

*looks over at the new manual transmission sitting on a pallet in my garage*

[idrivearttabletennis]

Agree 100%. Good video. Thanks for posting.

[jdmhcb]

Great video Eric! I love my older 90's Honda's and have personally performed an auto to manual swap in a 1992 Honda Accord. I live just north of you in Columbus and we both know the difficulties of finding a nice clean vehicle here. At that time I was lucky and found a nice clean rust free auto but not a manual. For me the decision was easy and the effort to convert it was well worth it.

[sgouf]

I've done it a few times. Very few cars it's easy; most cars it's a royal pain. The older civic wasn't too bad to swap, but I want to say just about every other honda product required cutting and welding in addition to wiring issues.

[elgranfreezer]

It's worth if you know what you're doing. I know that buying a manual one is better but in some cars there's no manual option.

[LeMecanoDuDimanche]

in France, easy choice : it's illegal to swap anything... love your videos Eric

[geicoman]

So glad I got a manual car. I love it. Never going back to automatic or auto tragic. I dont care if they're faster and economical. It's pure driving pleasure I'm after.

[sunsetmaro]

Blew through two 4L60Es autos in my 500hp 02 z28 Camaro. Did a t56 swap and rebuilt the 6-speed myself. What a blast! Totally different machine after.

[BADD]

Great points Eric I would agree you. Save the transmission swaps for the older cars.

[KirbyGucci]

i own a 350z with an automatic transmission, i wanna swap it because i feel like people can think it's a cool car from the outside but when they see it's an auto...all their thoughts just become negative, mostly here in mexico, almost everybody drives a manual and having a sporty auto car just feels like everybody judges me everytime, also because is more fun to drive and maybe do a little drift with it

[markjordan]

When I was a young man, I would have said yes, it's definitely worth it. Now, as an old man, I must honestly admit the it's definitely not worth it. Manual transmissions no longer offer a substantial advantage in fuel economy, they're more difficult to drive safely on snow and ice, and constant shifting can become a real bore at times. Also, a properly maintained automatic can last the life of the car, whereas the clutch on a manual transmission will definitely not. Yes, I know that manual transmissions still appeal to the young and sexy, but I'm neither of those, anymore, so I choose the automatic.