VWMattu

I feel/felt your pain. Going to a 5 speed is a good alternative to getting your transmission rebuilt. Believe me, that's the expensive route (rebuilding). You may be able to fix that if it's just disconnected or something. One thing I noticed if it's disconnected is the HOLD but blinks. That was one consequence I had to live with by going from auto to 5 speed. I told people it meant to hold on...lol. Definately check the electrical connections to fix that light from P/R/N/D etc...

I did the conversion in my garage with minimal tools. I think the most expsive part I had was the aluminum flywheel I bought. I spent alot of money getting a 5 speed drive shaft and new U-Joints later to find out I could have just gotten my automatic drive shaft shortened...doh! Here's some rough estimates:

5 speed transmission from junk yard (~$100)
pedal assembly from junk yard and hose connecting clutch master cylinder to clutch slave (~$20)
new clutch master cylinder ($65)
new clutch slave cylinder ($40)
new pilot bearing and seal ($14)
new throwout bearing ($25)
new pressure plate ($100)
new clutch disk ($70)
new flywheel (assuming you use counterweight from automatic) ($100+)
shortening driveshaft (done at local driveshaft shop) (~~~$50)

what's that all add up to?...the flywheel has the biggest variance..did I forget anything?

Mura

That's exactly what mine does. It'll work at first, then after going over 20mph, it blinks and doesn't work anymore. So if it's disconnected, I should be able to go under the car and connect it bak up, right? As for the 5spd, if that's the case, then yea I can buy those on my small income.....the problem is, taking out the engne, do the swap, and putting it all back in, in one day.

Edi: With how short I can actually use my Hold button, I love it. But what's the doewnside of using the hold button? Won't that cause extreme wear on the tranny when you move it from L to S, then to D?

mechman12867

How long did it take to do the 5SPD conversion? I am considering going this route as I have been unable to isolate my Tansmission problem.. Which really pisses me off, becasue I know if is something REALLY simple. I just haven't been able to figure out what it is. Starting off and then dropping down into 4th gear in an automatic can be hazardous to your health. I feel like I want to get out and run along side the car to give it a boost.

VWMattu

It's actually fairly close to the changing your clutch, and providing you have all the parts ahead of time, probably a weekend deal (except maybe the shortening of the driveshaft). I did it about 4 years ago. The important things you definately want to confirm with say a local mazda dealer or maybe someone from MazdaMotorsports or a Mazda mechanic are the specific length of the drive shaft, and exactly what flywheel will work with your automatic counterweight on your engine. Other then that, the pedals went in easily, the holes for the master and slave cylinders were right where they were supposed to be. From experience, it's not critical to mount the transmission to the body. I worried a little about that, but after you bolt the 5 speed transmission to the engine, it doesn't move anywhere. You don't need to take the engine out to do this. I think I might have forgot the starter, I may have needed to get a different starter. The automatic has this monster of a transmission mount that I left off. The holes for the 5 speed transmission mount just didn't line up. I think I had to cut a little of the body away in the part where the stick comes up. I seem to remember it was about an inch towards the back of the car, but it wasn't a big deal. I made the mistake of getting a used master cylinder from the junk yard and it needed new seals (which I wasn't good at rebuilding). I ended up getting a new master cylinder. I also seem to remember there being some electrical issue where I had to put little jumpers in the plug so the car thought it was in park or Neutral. I remember that automatics wouldn't start if they were in gear. It may have been the ground. A little experimenting or someone from the above companies can help with that. Having a 5 speed was so much more fun.

Matt

toddub

Are you anywhere near Shreveport?

daviddeep

iTrader: (4)

I'm guessing he probably sold that transmission five years ago... when this thread was from.

toddub

Clever Post, Yes I see that now, I ran a search and got only a handfull of results, I didn't notice how old the original thread was.

My Apologizes for reopening an old thread.

Seamoan

my trans does something like this too i just take off normally then push hold at around 40 mph and it will cruise between 2-3k