well I decided today I will convert the sludge-o-matic to a manual setup.

I have a few reasons which I will ramble off and even a few q's

ok heres my reasons, they may sound dumb but make sense to me.

Ok first off the car is an 89 GTU, the donor is a 89 GXL.
I like second gens for daily driving, and thats about it unless its a turbo II, the GTU to me is a total waste, it was developed for one purpose and one purpose only, to defeat porsche, well maybe more then one.

anyway it has an auto, now why the **** would a stripped down lightweight racey version of any car have an auto?

Ok so I like the auto in a second gen because it makes sense on a daily driver, but not on this model.
well its obvious I am very dis-satisfied with this car and will get a 89 GXL fully loaded instead.

There are many options I want that this car doesnt have and would not be worth converting, such items are
Tilt steering, Sport Adjust Suspension, Power Windows, Those Bad *** GXL Big Bolstered Seats, Factory Fog Lights, Cruise Control, Rear Wiper, and any other gxl options that they gtu was stripped of.

thank god its at least an 89 or the list would go on and on.

I will be dumping in an 89 GXL Motor with 63k on it and a fresh rebuild and Mild Street Port, My plan then was to sell it and grab the model I want.

But then I was thinking, how would I sell the car?

Could you Picture the AD?

"1989 GTU very fast, rebuild, ported, fast, automatic"

LOL

I dont think so, it will get swapped out.

I have a complete GXL, so any part I need I have. Might as well go for it right?

Here is my current list, please let me know if I am forgeting anything,

GXL Instrument Cluster
GXL Manual Tranny
GXL Clutch Master and Slave
GXL Clutch Lines
GXL Third Pedal and Brake Pedal
GXL Throttle Body "yes there is a diference of one measly vacuum line"
GXL Flywheel
GXl Shifter
GXl Shifter Center Trim

Ok now the q's

Is the computer "ecu" different?
Is the Rear end different or at least geared different?
Is the driveshaft different?


Is there anything I am possibly forgeting?
and please please dont tell me it wont work, Well ok tell me if it wont, I heard its not easy on a 3rd gen, hope thats not the case on second.

 

You have a 3.9 rear, manual cars have a 4.1 rear. Drive shaft is different, need a manual driveshaft. Need a crossmember adapter, because the tranny mounting points are different from auto to manual.

 

Oh yeah, it has been done many times before. That doesn't mean it is easy though. Thats all relative anyways. You will need a throw out berring because the engine doesn't have one if an auto is on it, and the manual needs one.

 

Like a standard throwout bearing that comes with a clutch kit?

I got one of those. its on the trans, the clutch kit has 5 miles on it, seriously.

also wouldnt I just be able to use the crossmember that was on the manual tranny?

 

im not sure about specs..but i think you have the right idea about gtu but the wrong series..from what ive read the 88 and before gtu is lightened but the 89(s5) was when they called the actual gtu a GTUs..hence the problems you have..i think the s5 gtu was a rename for a more touring package as opposed to the earlier gtu which was the sportier lighter model..im not perfect on the descriptions but its something like that.

but from your descriptions above your gtu sounds like its stripped of the good stuff..which makes me think s5 gtu = s4 sport?..and s5 gxl is just a heavier GTUs

someone will definately correct me..but i know that icemark always knows this stuff up and down..hes a mod and very busy but i think if you pm him he may take the time to clear this up..as a mod he may read this post and simply reply to it..he seems very generous with his knowledge.

as far as swapping manual and auto..its doable and there is a step by step write up about it to help you out..i have a vert with a streetported pettit engine(89) after about a year of driving the auto tranny hard with the extra power..i now have to slowly accelerate or the engine will over-rev the tranny..the torque converter just slips if i get into the gas too hard from a dead stop..or if i try to accel too much when its going to shift...as long as i let the gears catch and then get on it its fine..but added hp does no good with the auto tranny.

hope this helps..and try a search on the swap..it should yeild some posts about it with a thread or link to the write up..actually it may be sticky at the top of the 2nd gen section.

im doing this swap soon so ill try to post my pros and cons about it.

 

www.evilrotorracing.com

ok i was wrong about the forum having it sticky...but the link above has a sticky in the second gen section..i was thinking of the wrong forum..anyways join and go to second gen forum..its sticky on the link above..the site owner is a regular on here i beleive.

 

as far as mounting there is a site that sells the adapter for the mounting for 40 bucks..unless you can weld or fab your own..you will need to keep one of the tranny crossmembers..i forget which one..but you have both so your good...apparently it bolts to the crossmember to mount the tranny.

 

Since you helped me I will help you on the Model diferences for 1989.

here they go

GTU - base model
GTUs - said to be the Rarest Rx7 Produced, there are many tips on how to tell a GTU form a GTUs, one is they dont have a sunroof and I do.
GXL - Fully Loaded Version
Turbo II - obvious

The GTU is still lighter by far then the GXL, but not as light and racey as the GTUs.

It still stands its ground but was bumped down to take over the SE model because why have an SE and a GTU?

makes no sense.

 

The conversion is easy, need a driveshaft, pilot bearing & seal, clutch, flywheel, tranny, console boot, shifter, slave cylinder, master cylinder, all the lines, and the pedal assembly. Check out http://www.rotaryresurrection.com

 

ahhhh, I see, thank you

 

yeah i knew it was something like that..i also knew i wasnt sure..lol

thanks

 

busy thread..lol

 

yeah if it were a good ol' first gen the answer would be,

put in the tranny, wash your hands, call it a day.

LOL

Well one of the pay off's will be that my auto is worth 3 times as much on the bay as compaired to my manual.

any one interested in pics as I go through it?

I'm gonna start rippin **** out tommorrow,
man I gotta get my license back so I dont do this stuff any more,

 

well so far I unbolted the shifter setup and swapped out the instrument cluster and came across something I never knew before,

The auto has a 7k redline and goes to 8k like the 86-88 style, the manual seems to be the only model that benifitted from the 8k redline and 9k max readout.

very interesting.

I hope this is calibrated correctly and doesnt read off.