Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum.

I want to know if it is possible to replace my auto engine with a manual engine? I need to replace the engine in my wife's auto FD and I can easily find manual engines, so is this possible? What needs to be done?

Thanks for your help.

 

Remove the flywheel from the manual engine, and attach the flexplate and rear counterweight from your automatic engine. You can also remove the pilot bearing if you want, but it's not necessary.

The rear irons are a bit different, but they are interchangable. The automatic ones have a spot for 1 more bolt, and they don't have an inspection hole for the clutch.

Edit: I stand corrected then.

 

Starter? I think you can go Auto to Manual trans but not the other way.

 

An auto transmission won't work with the manual rear iron, I just had to rebuild my auto engine and had to send the core first because all they had were manual cores and had to rebuild mine since the manual rear iron wouldnt mate to the auto trans.

 

Go manual. You can find then in the parts for sale section. absolutely worth it. search for some more info on the full conversion.

 

Yea that's it the starter mounts forward or an auto and to the rear on a manual FD.

 

You can run a manual trans behind an auto engine...you just have a little bit of an open gap between the rear iron and trans in one spot that doesnt impact anything.

You can NOT run an auto trans behind a manual engine...the manual engine has no cutout/mount point for the auto trans starter.

 

Rotary Resurrection is Correct. Ask me how I know? I bought a used manual engine and had the whole thing bolted in. I then went to mount the starter, it wouldn't bolt up! THE REAR IRON ON THE MANUAL ENGINE DOES NOT HAVE THE CORRECT STARTER MOUNTING POINTS. Sorry for the yelling, it still hurts after almost a year. Rebuilt my auto engine myself and couldn't be happier!

Terry7

 

Guys a manual transmission is out of the question, my wife only drives auto, and that isn't going to change

Sorry to sound dumb, but I don't know the correct terminology for rotary engines. By "rear iron" I assume you talking about the final "section" of the engine, behind the rear rotor and housingl? The one that has a single exhaust port? If that is what you mean, is there any reason I couldn't use the existing rear iron from my auto engine on a manual engine? I imagine I could change this and the seals without too many problems, but assumption is the mother of all f*ck-ups, so please correct me if this is more difficult than it seems.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer my questions, sorry if they are a bit dumb.....

<EDIT>

I just looked at a bunch of rotary engine pictures, and my idea of what a rear iron is was wrong, because I couldn't see a starter motor mounting point on it. I was calling the rear side housing the rear iron. So I guess the rear iron is the part between the rear side housing and the bellhousing. Now I just need to find some good pictures of these to see the difference.

 

Auto rear iron/engine mated to a manual trans. The auto trans normally has a matching cutout on the side, and the starter bolts to the 2 of them.



FD auto starter:



Looking at the manual trans in this picture, imagine that the manual engine's rear iron follows it's contour perfectly. Here is a pic.




Then imagine an auto trans behind that manual rear iron...nowhere to bolt the automatic starter up, is there?

IF this doesnt explain it, then I dont know what will.

To change the iron requires someone who knows what they are doing...you also run a very high risk that the coolant seals will not re-seal, and the only way to correctly do the swap is to tear the engine block completely apart, clean everything, and put in at least some new seals....basically the definition of a refresh/rebuild the last I checked.

 

OK, I pretty much have a handle on it now. Thanks a million for the explanation, it helps a lot.

I guess my best course of action is to simply rebuild the existing motor. Thanks again for the help!

 

There isn't anything wrong with having an auto, unless you are just a total purist or if you track the car. My auto will make a believer out of you....lol!

 

I suggest doing a search on this subject. It's been discussed in great detail only about a million times!