Manual To Automatic Swap, How Hard?

I have found a car I would like to get but it is a 6 speed and I need an automatic. Can anyone tell me if there is anyone local that can handle such a job and any kind of estimate on how much?

Just wondering if I should even think about this? Or, should I just keep looking?

Thanks,

Bill

honestly if i were u i'd keep looking...

plenty of f-bodies out there. unless it has a lot of $$ in mods that you are basically getting for free; buy an auto to start with.

and let us know what it is :)

Sh*t, go figure. I found a local car in Ann Arbor and it is a 6 speed. It is a 2001 SS 18" polished Simmons, Lingenfelter head and cam package plus a bunch of other goodies. Here is a link to some pics. Anyone know this car? It only has 16,000 miles on it. Pretty damm sweet.

http://groups.msn.com/LPELS1/shoebox.msnw?Page=1

I appreciate the input from you guys.

Bill

if thats the car for sale, it could be a decent buy. HOWEVER, dont over pay because it has a ling h/c package. I have seen 383's from them run slower than a strong 2002 6 speed.

Bill, if you really are looking for something quite fast, find someone's built combo that they are dumping this winter and need money :) .

OR go get a used 98/99 with somewhat higher miles 8500-11000 for the car.

drop in a stroker ls2 from the sponsor section on ls1tech, add a built trans, converter, rear, and tuning for 8-10k and go racing.

maybe a small n2o hit for those frisky days, lol. should run quite a bit less than 25k total. or even save a grand and get an iron block 408.

should make 475+ rwhp n/a

whereas a person with a 2002 ss is gonna want 18-22k to start, then add the cheese of a ling h/c package. I bet they wont sell for less than 25, plus you gotta do the conversion (if 6 speed). and I bet it wont make more than 380 rwhp

food for thought.

but if its a 6 speed, I will happily drive it home for ya ;) .

Swapping to an automatic isn't very hard, I've done it before in a few hours. It's much harder to swap from auto to manual. However if you are going to pay the premium price for a car then I suggest you listen to the others and buy a car that already has an auto.

Swapping to an automatic isn't very hard, I've done it before in a few hours. It's much harder to swap from auto to manual. However if you are going to pay the premium price for a car then I suggest you listen to the others and buy a car that already has an auto.

This is why I am happy to have smarter heads to help me out with this. I went from the emotion side, not the smart thinking side.

I guess when I find a car I will have to hire you guys as consultants on best bang for the buck. The funny thing is all I really want is a mid 11 second car. I don't need to be in the 10s. Actually I am looking for a 11.3, my magic number.

Thansk Again!!!

Whats up with not wanting a manual car? I know a lot of people prefer an auto, but in a car making that kind of power i'd think the M6 trans would be more reliable also.

Whats up with not wanting a manual car? I know a lot of people prefer an auto, but in a car making that kind of power i'd think the M6 trans would be more reliable also.

IIRC, Bill is in a wheelchair

well, swappin to an old school trans like a th400, th350, or 700r4 could be done with the money youd get from selling the M6 parts. almost. the hardest part of putting a 700r4 in an LS1 would be makin a bracket to fit the cable for the throttle valve cable. but a th350 or th400 swap wouldnt be bad at all. it would require a custom tune to make the pcm not look for the trans sensors. and you'd have to deal with getting the speedo to function. but I do agree that if your spending alot of money like that, just keep lookin. in your situation, a 4l60E is goin to be far superior with the adj. of the shift points as opposed to a older trans. they can be quite a biotch to get to shift at the right rpm's while in drive.
chris

Bill if 11.3 is all your looking for as a starting point then a cheap ls1 starter car will work. I suggest a hardtop Z or formula automatic.

Al Fox has a stage 1 set of heads, with a medium size cam. elec water pump, pullies, exhaust, stock trans, sy3800, qa1 shocks, 3.42 gear, no swaybar, eaton hd posi, lsx intake, ported tb, ps delete, and a few other mods and a small amount of weight reduction. his car has run a best of like 11.43 at 119ish on a low 1.6 60'

not a ton of parts thrown at it to make it run those times. and its consistant enough to bracket race at the stanton events.

probably could do the above for ~15-18k including the car, if some of the stuff was used. or on a GP. and maybe less if the install on some stuff you did yourself.

[QUOTE=Bill'sWS6]This is why I am happy to have smarter heads to help me out with this. I went from the emotion side, not the smart thinking side.

I guess when I find a car I will have to hire you guys as consultants on best bang for the buck. The funny thing is all I really want is a mid 11 second car. I don't need to be in the 10s. Actually I am looking for a 11.3, my magic number.



Let us know when you find a car and there of tons of guys that will give you an unbiased opinion. I wish I would have thought everything through before buying my current car, I bought it to be a daily driver summer car and then went crazy on mods, then I blew up the manual trans and swapped over to my current automatic, well there isn't anything left of the original drivetrain but it would have been a lot cheaper if I would have known that I would be modding it as much as I have. 11.3 for you sounds like a realistic goal and the automatic will be more consistent, good luck and let us know what you decide to go with. :)

I have everything to do the swap for an LT1 car. Most stuff should be same. Let me know.