My Manual Transmission Swap!

[CirrusSR22]

Slide the seal on the selector shaft and tap it into place using a deep socket.


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I also did the same with the input shaft seal. This is tough to get in straight! I didn't like how mine went in so I pulled it out and ordered two more to try again. They are only $3 at PelicanParts.com

[CirrusSR22]

Now that the selector seal was in, I reinstalled the selector rod/shaft joint using a new sponge and pin.

[CirrusSR22]

Had to buy some tools, darn Harbor Freight transmission jack. I'll be getting to some actual work fairly soon; waiting for spring temps to hit.

[CirrusSR22]

Got the new input shaft seals and had a much better install this time. I found that a wooden dowel about 1.25" in diameter and 12" long works very well to tap in the new seal. Also, when pulling the old one there are "disassembly holes" labeled on the seal. I didn't look closely enough when I puled the old ones and tried to punch through one of the six holes with silver paint in them. You need to punch throught the two rectangular holes without the paint! These two do not have the metal backing behind them, just rubber that is easy to punch through with the sheet metal srcrews. See picture above.

Here's the whole thing put back together. New clutch pivot, pivot clip and throwout bearing. IMPORTANT! --- Make certain the pivot clip/wire is fully seated on both the pivot and clutch lever before you reinstall the transmission. I found the clip kept popping off the pivot when I installed the the clutch release lever. I cleaned and lightly greased the slide tube and clutch release lever. A thin film of white lithium grease seems to be the recommended product.

[Maverix]

Originally Posted by tiFreak

that's definitely going to make the car more fun, I can't stand driving automatics

[CirrusSR22]

We finally hit the 50s in Minneapolis, so I started the project!

Disconnect the battery, unbolt and remove the driver's seat. Remove the knee panel and underside panels.


Remove the clip holding the brake pedal to the master brake cylinder fork. Unbolt the pedal bracket from the firewall. There are 4 nuts and 1 bolt. The assembly removal is very easy.




I swapped my old brake pedal return spring and brake light switch to the new pedal set. The new pedal set bolts up easily.


The hard part came now installing the clutch master cylinder. My original plan was to install the hard line and supply line to the clutch master and have that all ready to go. Turns out it's almost impossible to install the hard line while the auto transmission is still installed. The big swap thread on bf.c confirms this. So, I ended up bolting the clutch master in place temporarily and leaving the hard & supply line disconnected. I did thread the supply line from the pedals to the engine bay in the proper place, so that will be ready to cut and install. Installing the clutch master is pretty tricky. It's a very tight spot.

[angel318ti]

nice, I did mine last summer and it is definitely way more fun than the automatic. I also used the LSD diff and it makes a world of difference.

[CirrusSR22]

Did the swap! Took about 20 hours over 2 days.

I got the car as high as possible using four jackstands, plus ramps under the wheels and a couple extra cheapo jackstands.


Remove the exhaust. A loose jack stand and a floor jack in the back helps.


Once the exhaust is off, remove the two heat shields.


Once the heat shields are off, you have access to the driveshaft. Remove that.

[CirrusSR22]

I then moved to the cabin and removed the trim surrounding the shifter. I then removed the auto shift lever and linkage. There's a bolt that needs to be removed on the transmission to pull the shift cable out from the car. I took out much more trim than this photo shows.



Next was removing the automatic cooling lines. I ended up just cutting them.


You need to remove three bolts that go to the torque converter. They are accessed through a hole on the engine. There's a rubber plug covering it. You need to turn the engine crank with a 22mm socket to line the torque converter bolts up with the access hole.

[CirrusSR22]

Next comes removing the actual transmission! Access to the bellhousing bolts SUCKS, especially with the auto since it's massive. As you may have read in other threads, I used a 20", 1/2" extension plus a 12", 3/8". I found it easier not to use a universal joint. This transmission jack from Harbor Freight was a great help! Once you make sure all the bolts are out, slowly pull the transmission away. My starter was stuck to the transmission and needed to be pryed, yanked loose. Watch out.



Look how HUGE the auto is compared to the manual

[CirrusSR22]

Next was replacing the rear main seal. I found it helpful doing the transmission seals earlier so I knew how to work with them. I used a Dremel cutoff wheel to thin the metal seal in one spot, then carefully screwed a small screw into the seal. This allowed me to pry the seal out with a hammer claw.





The new seal came with a plastic tool to help the lip set properly (I think that's what is was for). I again used the Hylomar Blue sealant and carefully tapped the seal into place with a socket extension and hammer. Make sure you tap the seal into place SLOWLY and carefully. You don't want it to get cockeyed.

[CirrusSR22]

Next I installed that bugger of a hard line and connected the soft line.


Flywheel and clutch time! Using new bolts, bolt the flywheel into place. The torque value is very high and it needed a tool to hold the flywheel from turning. I used a piece of flat steel with a couple hole drilled in it, as seen in the PelicanParts.com clutch replacement guide.

New clutch! Carefully degrease the pressure plate surface with brake cleaner

After degreasing the clutch surface with brake cleaner, install the clutch disc using the clutch alignment tool.


Then install the pressure plate using new bolts. The bolts draw the pressure plate to the flywheel since you are pushing against the pressure plate springs.

[CirrusSR22]

Not too many pics, but install the new transmission using the same bolts, except buy two new 90mm M12 torx bolts in place of the two 75mm M12 bolts from the auto. This was easier than pulling the auto, partly because I knew what I was doing, and also because the manual transmission is so much smaller. You cannot resuse the auto crossmember; they are different. You can see my two reverse switch wires. I tucked then away more cleanly than the picture shows. When you are under there, there's lots of holes to route them through and plenty of insulation to tuck them under.


Install the shift assembly. I used all new plastic parts, minus a used M3 lever with a metal shift ball. The M3 shifter sat perfectly. No bending of the lever or selector rod! I had a factory bent selector rod by the way.


After reinstalling the driveshaft (with proper preloading of the center bearing and new self lock nuts), heat shield and exhaust. I moved to the clutch bleeding process. Look that one up.


Ta Da!! Before installing the interior trim, I did the wiring for the park/neutral start bypass, then the reverse lights. I also broke the hazard switch pulling it out. Handmade shift boot and used shift knob.

[CirrusSR22]

So, to wrap it up, it's a fairly straightforward process. There are lots of issue that may arise though. The hardest parts for me was removing the starter which was seized to the transmission and it took me a while to figure out what was going wrong. The clutch master cylinder is a stinker as there's barely any room to work. The infamous "bitch clip" was hard to get on. Funny enough, I pulled one off at a pull-your-part a year ago and it was easy and could be. I wondered what the fuss was all about

Oh, and I should add my car doesn't work correctly It takes a lot of force to get the car in gear when it's running, but it shifts perfectly when the car is off. My guess is one of my old master (likely) or slave cylinders are bad as the clutch is dragging slightly with the pedal fully depressed. I have new ones coming tomorrow and will report back.

Oh, and I do need to order a new exhaust hangar. The manual uses a different one than the auto. I didn't think of that before the swap.

[tiFreak]

nice job, good luck figuring out the shifting problem