TeamSwift

I wasn't able to find any detailed documentation of this swap, so I took pics of it while I did one. Lot's of different ways to accomplish some of the details, I'm just documenting what I did.

I'm going to assume if you are going to attempt this, you can take things apart so I'm not going to post many teardown pics. Also, I wouldn't try this without a donor car- too many little jingle jangle pieces you will need otherwise to make this economically feasible.

List of what you will need from the 5 speed car:

Transmission (obviously)
Entire rear engine mount, engine to firewall
Drivers side transmission mount
Left axle, right axle (both pieces)
Pedal assy
Clutch cable, and the special bolts that bolt it to the firewall
Shifter / shift rod / shift stabilizer rod
Flywheel / clutch
Coolant tube on back of engine
Radiator
Bottom radiator hose and spacer tube
Radiator lower mount (cup)
Center console


Starting off, assuming you have stripped all of this out of the auto car:

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Anyone who's been around children will tell you that they are in fact quite stupid. Many of them cannot even read.

The first notable, when you unbolt the flex plate is to make sure you get this off the end of the crankshaft. It was lightly stuck on to the crank in this car:


The brace/mount that goes from the transmission to the engine (by where the exhaust mounts) is different(auto on top, manual on bottom):


The coolant bypass tube on the back of the engine needs changed. The auto setup runs the lower radiator hose under the bellhousing, where the manual car runs it around the drivers side of the transmission. It doesn’t fit the manual setup:


Auto tube on bottom, manual tube on top:


You have to change the radiator. Bottom hose connection is on the wrong side(auto on left, manual on right):


In order to change the radiator, you also have to change the lower radiator mount. The auto radiator is a different height:


The heater hose is slightly different for a 5 speed vs a manual car. The auto car’s hose is long enough I just trimmed a bend out of it, and it fit the manual cars coolant bypass tube. I’m holding the nugget I cut off it in this pic:

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Anyone who's been around children will tell you that they are in fact quite stupid. Many of them cannot even read.

There is a mount on the auto car’s chassis that has to be cut off. It’s in the tunnel, by the rear engine mount on the left side. It interferes with the manual transmission shifter stabilizer rod. I cut it off with my plasma torch, if you have to use cutoff discs or anger it’s not going to be much fun. You can see it just above my fingers.

Misalignment caused:


Removed mount:


I unbolted the steering column, and slid it out. You don’t have to unhook the wiring, there is enough play:


When you pull out the old pedal assy and unbolt the fuse box to make room and you can see the boss where the clutch cable would be in a manual car, it’s to the left of the master cylinder clevis as pictured:


I center punched the 3 holes (2 bolt and one large one for the cable to come through), then drilled an 1/8” pilot hole through each. Be careful of the threads in the nuts that are already there that you have to drill through:


Then, from the other side I used a stepped drill bit to open them up. BE CAREFUL WITH THE HOLES THAT HAVE WELDNUTS!


I just barely opened up the holes with the weld nuts, and then used a die grinder to open it just enough for the bolts to be able to thread in:


Here’s the special shouldered bolts needed for the clutch cable, as mentioned earlier:

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Anyone who's been around children will tell you that they are in fact quite stupid. Many of them cannot even read.

I’m not sure if the difference in the brake light switch was because of auto to manual, or that the parts car was a MK3 and the receiving car was a MK2. Eh. I used the brake light switch that came with the auto pedal assy:


There is a shifter control cable that passes through the firewall. Removed it, and sawed off the ends. Filled the tube with RTV and bolted it back up:


Sawed into pieces:


Gooped up, ready for install:


Installed:


Here’s another auto control cable, I snipped the cable off, taped it up with electrical tape, and zip tied it to a harness to keep it from falling down and jingling around.


There is a cable that goes from the auto shifter to the ignition key. It gets pulled when the car is in park, to allow you to take the key out.


I made a spacer out of 3/8 tube, .060” wall 1.25” long.


To put the slit in it so it can fit over the cable, I slipped it over a bolt, clamped it in a vice, then used a cutoff wheel to cut it lengthwise:


Installed, use the existing nuts to tighten it up till the key can be turned freely and removed:

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Anyone who's been around children will tell you that they are in fact quite stupid. Many of them cannot even read.

The way I did the electrical allows you to use the auto ECU still. You will need to cut the large wiring plug off the trans, as long as possible:


Pull the sheath off it, and locate the black / yellow tracer and black / red tracer wires. They are in the center of the connector:


Leave the aforementioned wires as long as possible, but cut the rest of the wires shorter progressively so you can wrap that harness up and not risk them shorting out against each other:


Extend the black/yellow and black/red wires long enough to reach the clutch pedal inside the car. I always solder any connections buried inside a harness, but use butt connectors at your own risk. After solder I used friction tape then electrical tape:


Then tape the whole thing up, slide the factory sheath back over it, and tape the sheath up. Continue the electrical tape all the way up your new jumper harness. I ran it through the firewall where the main engine haress comes through:


Run it to the clutch safety switch, use female spades(tape one of them up on the outside, so they can’t arc out against each other and bypass the switch) and fasten the jumper out of the way of any moving parts or potential sharp points for abrasion:



I think that’s about it- it’s all the pics I have at least.

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Anyone who's been around children will tell you that they are in fact quite stupid. Many of them cannot even read.

oops.

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Anyone who's been around children will tell you that they are in fact quite stupid. Many of them cannot even read.

Well put together. Great pictures and explanations on the diffrience of the mounts.

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If you ain't First your last - Ricky Bobby

1990 swift GL Twincam swap
Hyundai trans swap- in progress

Good step by step swap, Thanks for posting it, Well done, Enjoy your car, Only question is (Maybe you addressed it, )Is the ECM any different, between the two? thanks ,Jonathan.

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Current stable:
1987 Sprint Turbo (Porsche Guards Red) 75k 5sp,AC, w/cruise, Resto-Mod,owned since 1997) (looking for dash-pad)
1989 GTI (white)104k 5sp,AC (Resto-mod completed 1999). (looks great, But rusted out ,need clean southern body.)Help!?
1991 Vert (red) 129k 5sp,AC, Resto-Mod, 75% Done.(Clean SW car)
1993 GT(Teal) 103k 5sp,AC,w/PW (Resto-Mod,60% done.)(Clean SW car)
1994 Swift GS 4Dr sedan (Painted 2005 Ford Kona Blue) 95k 1.3 SOHC 5sp

Thanks- not my car though. I did it for a member on the forum. Yes, the ecu's are different. This was one way of doing it from research I did. Car drives fine and this was an easier route than others I've seen.

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Anyone who's been around children will tell you that they are in fact quite stupid. Many of them cannot even read.

note this is for MK4/5 models; when i did my swap i kept the auto radiator, hoses and rear coolant pipe. all i needed was a longer rear pipe-to-transmission pipe hose which I got from a 3 cyl. swift in the junkyard. i removed all the shift interlink wires and key switch wires and bypassed the park/neutral gear lock. instead of wiring for the clutch pedal position switch, i simply jumpered the black/yellow and black/red wires on the shifter harness, and the circuit is always closed so i can start the car without pushing the clutch and also can use my remote starter.
one mistake i realized i had made is i used the automatic flywheel bolts on the steel 5 speed flywheel. the bolt heads are too thick and interfere with the clutch. stick with the 5 speed bolts.
using the AT computer will give you a CEL and incorrect idle speed. the CEL is for the vehicle speed sensor (VSS) . on 3 speed VSS is from a sensor on the transmission, 5 speed is from a sensor on the back of the speedometer. i had to extend a wire from the rear harness and install a pin into the PCM to get the code to go away. second is i also had to add a pin into the connector and splice into another wire so the upshift indicator light to work. whoever wants to know the exact wire colors to do this and the PCM pin/connector numbers should PM me.

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Silver 2000 Firefly 4DR; 16V SOHC, 3 to 5 speed swap, install PS and AC, remote and auto start, PL, PW, kill and start switch, Valentine 1, behind-bumper CAI, 55MM TB with coolant-bypass, polyurethane-fill engine/shifter mounts, modified to short shifter, upgraded electrical system, CS130 alternator, 90/160W headlights + relay mod, ceramic H4 plug/harness
To do: finish stereo, 4000K H4 HIDs, short block replacement
'sponsored' by Captain Crunch, Lordco, Felpro, Permatex, Royal Purple

Hi! I am new to the forum and need a bit of help! I found your post about the same time my automatic tranny started acting up - so I thought I could just follow step by step and do the same. I am converting a 96 metro (1.3 – 4 cylinder) from an automatic to a standard. I have a donor car that is a series 1 (1.0 - 3 cylinder) that I have used for the conversion. All went well until I went to bolt up the firewall motor mount and shift stabilizer. It looks like the mount point of the transmission is about 2 inches to the side of the mount on the firewall. I was able to get the stabilizer bar attached, but it binds up against the tunnel even with the automatic bracket removed. Do I need different parts for the mount and stabilizer? What am I doing wrong? I did change the driver side mount to the 4 cylinder mount and everything else lines up well. Help! I humbly appreciate it!

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Thanks,
Spinner

- 96 Metro LSI
- 75 Plymouth Duster

When you say series 1, are you referring to a MK1 (pre-89)? Those transmissions are different from the MK2/MK3 used in 89-94 though I'm not sure to what extent. Your best bet would be to PM Datman or Fainya for advice- they are the resident tranny guys here.......

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Anyone who's been around children will tell you that they are in fact quite stupid. Many of them cannot even read.

Sorry for no being clear - I ran the VIN on the donor car and it is a "1992 Metro Base 1.0L 3-cyl. 5-speed Manual"

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Thanks,
Spinner

- 96 Metro LSI
- 75 Plymouth Duster

Excellent post. It prompted me to go out and buy this dead '96 auto 2-door and make it my project car.

I'm in the middle of the changeover and I've got some observations/experiences to share. First is that there is definitely some creative way of breaking the steering column/auto linkage to where you pull the key out without any problems. I'm not entirely sure what it is but the wrecker driver who moved this car managed to do it. It might be possible just to be brutal and pull out the plastic plug and cable end from the lock assembly but I won't swear to that. I might go talk to a sharp locksmith I know and find out from him and I'll post the results.

On the holes for the clutch cable, I took a 3/16" DeWalt pilot point drill bit--they aren't really very good for steel, don't hold up, but they don't walk--and drilled thru the firewall sheet metal Then I took a 6 x 1.0 tap and ran it thru the hole which cleaned everything up nicely. Secret here is the old mechanic's tip that machinists all hate about taking a 1/4" USS nut--I like flange nuts a whole lot for this--and carefully pressing it on the tap in a vise and using a socket to drive the tap. I drilled the center large hole from the firewall side because once the two tapped holes were there laying out the hole was easy and it's a lot easier to drill from the firewall side.

On the piece of sheet metal in the tunnel that needs to go away, I didn't have a plasma cutter but I tried a sawzall and a 4 1/2" welding grinder. The sawzall might work handily if you have a long metal blade--I didn't. A bigger welding grinder would do the trick, but my 9" is gone these days. What I wound up doing was some cut and bend with vise-grips. The piece of metal is basically L-shaped in profile and you take a hand hacksaw and cut it in two at the point where the two legs of the L meet. Then you take the vise-grips and bend the metal back and forth until it breaks. I used a hammer and cold chisel some to make sure the metal broke at the spotwelds but it aint critical that it does. A little slow but good and crude. Me, like everyone else from the oilpatch, thinks crude all the time, you know.

The pedal assembly install is just a nightmare and the only suggestion I have is to take a file and ovalize the two horizontal holes on the pedal assembly to make things slip together easier. Dashwork is something I never liked and I like it one hell of a lot less the older I get.

Couple more notes now that I'm more or less finished. Hooking up the brake interlock and the clutch interlock is dumb; we are mechanics and don't need these sorts of things in our vehicles. Besides, if you ever have a clutch cable break, you can start in gear and drive the car until you can get home and fix it. That's saved me once or twice in other vehicles. On the automatic transmission range switch, what I did was to pull the two starter solenoid wires out of the connector, cut off the spade connectors on them, and hook them up to a 30A in line fuse holder. Left all the rest of the wires in the connector and forgot about it. Having the fuse/fuseholder in line makes the wiring easier as it is a little tight back there, and it also gives you a failsafe way of keeping the car from being started/stolen/used by friends and relatives without permission. Generally such people are mechanically clueless enough to be stopped by this. I also killed the warning buzzer by pulling it out, and then extracting the circuit board from inside it, which is easy, and attacking the buzzer on the board with a pair of dykes. Kill the mechanical part and the rest of the circuitry works and the computer is happy.

I also got rid of the passenger side airbag. Got a 1K 1/4W resistor, soldered it to a pair of short wires with male .250 spade connectors on them, and hooked it up to the appropriate wires. Fooled the computer; no air bag light to cause problems in annual vehicle inspections. Best way to dispose of air bag is to drill a hole into the aluminum cylinder--it is most fun to drill into a cylinder full of 1000 psi compressed nitrogen, try it with eye protection on--and then set off the explosive squib with a battery. At that point it is recycleable scrap metal.

bumping this up
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for a good post
......jv&s
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bump up X2
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....................jv&s
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