Is an automatic FD hard to convert for a ls1 swap?
 

I have a chance to buy a really sweet FD for a good price but its an auto. Would I be spending alot more if I wanted to do an ls1 swap with a t56 into it? Or would it be just as easy if it was a manual.

I am swapping my FD and it had a auto. The plus side is the diff is 3.90 (a) instead of 4.10 (m). The other thing is that if you buy from a good junk yard they will give you everything you need included in the price of the pullout. The downside is that it is a tad bit more work, but nothing major really.

The auto car makes for a more ideal swap due to the diff gear.

Mine started life as an auto. You simply have to swap in the manual pedals would be the difference between starting with a manual car.

As HR said the 3:90 gearing in the auto is preferred.

My FC Started it's life as an Auto As well...Its not a LT1 T/56...Do it you will LOVE it!

hinsonsupercars.com says its prolly better and cheaper to do a LS1FD starting its life as an auto.

That's based on three things:

1 - autos sell for much less on the used car market, because most RX7 buyers these days are Fast and Furious wannabes who think you need a manual to drift and don't gives autos a second look

2- to the average person, a 3.90 rear gear is better than a 4.10 for street driving (for a drag racer, the 4.10's will perform better, but it takes the right driver to understand that)

3 - swapping the brake pedal and adding the clutch pedal involves labor. If they have to do that work for you, they can make a few bucks out of it. Nothing wrong with it, and any shop has that right. It IS still cheaper than paying the retail price on a manual car, due to market value.

Consider the Automatic
 

I don't know why there is so much prejudice here against automatics, but with a high powered V8, one of the newer auto gearboxes is worth considering. You can still shift manually, and, as I have said here before, there will be occasions when you will want both hands on the wheel!

I have a manual 93 FD that I'm putting an automatic into. I'd be willing to swap the console & brake petal assy with you if you want & sell you the clutch pedal & parts for reasonable. (I don't have the manual shifter though)

I'll tell you why I don't like autos. For one, it's less involving. I like to have as much input into the car's response as possible.

Secondly, the lack of engine braking grates on my nerves constantly when I drive my automatic company car. I just feel better, and safer, slowing the car down primarily with the engine and only slightly with the brakes.

Thirdly, when I get on an auto, it rarely is in the gear I want it to be in and shifts when I want it to shift. This is typically the case with slushboxes. For me, the extra feedback of a clutch pedal and extra control is worth the "hassle" of having to shift the car myself. I don't mind shifting, I LOVE shifting. I don't care what the traffic is like.

That's just my take on it.

Sorry to bump such a old thread but I also found a good deal on a auto FD and was wondering this same thing. Has anyone else done this swap into a auto FD since this thread?

I haven't done the auto swap but wish I had.
My LS1/t-56 conversion, after about 15k. miles, needed a trans rebuild and clutch kit.

If I had gone with a say-a GM 200r from a grand national, I would have saved a couple thousand on the conversion. Not to mention no missed shifts.

Only downside I can think of is no long tube headers are available for the auto conversion.

Also keep in mind that I'm a lazy old fugger

Yep... I completed an LS2/T56 swap into my auto. As stated above, it isn't that difficult (I did all the work myself).