I have a friend with a 88 mazda rx7 automatic with a EXTREMELY screwed up transmission. He wants to make it a stick. To rebuild the transmission it's going to cost him 1500. He thinks to make the car stick it would be cheaper. I personally don't think so. What do you guys think?

 

you could buy a manual rx7 for that kind of money.

 

But what about the labor, u gotta buy a clutch, shifter, cutting a hole, and all those other "little things."

 

Autos are way cooler. I wish i had one.

 

I like auto's when driving in traffic, but driving stick is fun!

 

If you call labor free, then an auto to manual conversion should be on the order of $600. Labor-wise, it shouldn't take much more than a weekend. (Correct me if I'm wrong, gurus.)

You could probably buy a used auto tranny to drop straight in from the for sale section, due to people doing the auto to manual swap.

 

i was just kidding about the auto being cooler.

 

last time i did an auto to manual swap (not a FC) cost was $300 including tranny and total time was 1 afternoon.

 

^^^ and that is completely irrevelaent...
it isnt exactly a direct bolt-on, seeing as how you need to make an adapter bracket.

 

automatic all the way! a Turbo 400 AT that is

 

that thing is soo heavy... i had to bench that into my chevelle... needless to say, not fun.

 

http://rotaryresurrection.com/rotary...er/5speed.html

i just did my swap. i only spent like 160 but thats cuz i had all the parts already and i did it my self its super easy just have somone help u bolt in the trany and thats it the rest is a one man job but if ur gonna make somone els do the job it probly whonte be cheap but yea good luck... oh and the manual trany doesnt bolt right up u gotta make a crossmember adaptor but other then that its plug anf play

 

in reality its not all that heavy but what makes it worse is when you don't have a lift. The little bit of space to work with will make it a bitch to install. I had my uncle underneath while I tied a rope around the tranny and pull it up from the interior. It was easier to align this way.

 

I'm doing one right now, it's really slow pace for me do to my work schedule, but as of right now its cost me $100 for a manual tranny with 63k. and even with the cost of me buying a new clutch, and a light weight flywheel it's gunna cost less than $1500, BUT, I have a daily driver so i have time to mess around with it to. he could buy a used auto if he wanted and swap it in in a few hours for a quick fix. =)

 

You got a Chevelle? why not show up in that one time