Miata List Archive

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Mail From: solja (Jason Soza)

Yeah yeah... It's been like a year since I did any work on my auto <=> manual swap. But no more! :)

I'd rewired the car right after getting the manual car driving, so that was a big part that I didn't have to deal with. I was left with just the 'big things' to go back in. On Saturday, I rewired the stereo (this stereo had a different wiring harness, so lots of cutting/butt connecting), got it back in the dash, and got the dash back in the car, along with the auto brake pedal, and HVAC components. That all took about 8 hours.

Yesterday I got the auto transmission, PPF, and driveshaft in. The transmission wasn't too hard to get in, but it was a bit stubborn. Although I didn't have to line up the input shaft, I had to mess around with a couple of jacks to get the rear of the engine and the front of the transmission perfectly parallel. Once it was all together, I had the joyous task of reaching a 14mm box wrench into a 1"x3" opening to bolt the torque converter to the drive plate. Fun.

Anyway, all that's left is securing all the vacuum/oil cooler lines, hanging the exhaust, swapping ignition switches, and getting the interior all fixed up. It's close - hopefully sometime next weekend I will have a living, breathing manual-to-auto converted Miata that I can sell for $3,000 and recoup my costs. Aside from labor and the neat tools I bought, in the end I will have paid nothing to get a manual transmission in my Miata!

Jason Soza
Miatas! www.miatapix.net <-- Is YOUR Miata here?
Alumni! www.jdhsgrads.com
Photos! www.sozaphotos.com