Manual For 3.8
1 - 12 of 12 Posts
Joined
·
405 Posts
Probably not what you want to here, but I'll give you the obvious answer....
Since there were Gen 2 SHOs with 5-speeds, sell your car and buy a SHO. You get a 5-speed, plus a power/handling increase.
Unless you are a masochist with time and money to burn, putting a manual tranny into a Gen 3 3.8 is not very prudent, from either a financial nor a performance standpoint. Sure, it could be done.....but.....
Remember too that SHO MTX trannies are starting to become "endangered species".
Since there were Gen 2 SHOs with 5-speeds, sell your car and buy a SHO. You get a 5-speed, plus a power/handling increase.
Unless you are a masochist with time and money to burn, putting a manual tranny into a Gen 3 3.8 is not very prudent, from either a financial nor a performance standpoint. Sure, it could be done.....but.....
Remember too that SHO MTX trannies are starting to become "endangered species".
Joined
·
230 Posts
well swapping a manual in there would certainly void your warranty. If you MUST put a manual in there, (i'm just taking a wild guess here) wouldn't the tranny (manual) from a V-6 mustang work? i know the 'stang is RWD, and a longitudialy mounted engine, but it might work. it will involve ALOT of time and money, neither of which a college student has in abundance (not criticizing, i'm right there with you) if you do go for it though, then i wish you best of luck.
Joined
·
405 Posts
Well,
1. The warranty is out the window with the swap.
2. Assuming that you do all of your own work, you are looking at a few thousand dollars for the parts.
3. The value of the car is unchanged. A minor accident will total the car, and all of the work and $$$ are down the drain (BTDT).
I would suggest saving the cash and getting yourself through school!!
Now, if your car is nice, the sale price versus the purchase price of a SHO could be negligible. You could spend the labor time and $$$ getting the SHO in shape, which would be the cheapest way dollar-wise.
1. The warranty is out the window with the swap.
2. Assuming that you do all of your own work, you are looking at a few thousand dollars for the parts.
3. The value of the car is unchanged. A minor accident will total the car, and all of the work and $$$ are down the drain (BTDT).
I would suggest saving the cash and getting yourself through school!!
Now, if your car is nice, the sale price versus the purchase price of a SHO could be negligible. You could spend the labor time and $$$ getting the SHO in shape, which would be the cheapest way dollar-wise.
2001 Ford Mustang. 2005 Harley Deluxe. 2016 Freightliber Cascadia.
Joined
·
200 Posts
Hrm, the SHO MTX tranny endangered species? It's the same tranny as the MT-5 with a diffetrent clutch. I have one in my car and one in the parts car, I suppose I should yank the one out of the parts car and keep it then? YIKES! I gotta yank some other stuff anyway then the parts car is going to the scrapyard.
Michael
Michael
No way in hell this can happen-- you need a transaxle, not a RWD transmission. The trans just won't fit, and even if it did, you'd need a transfer case and diff to make it work.
Here's what I'll say to you Matic. I'm a broke college student myself, first year and already $30k in the hole. College is going to be four years, after which you'll make a decent amount of money (hopefully). I think you can survive four years with an automatic. For me, my car is very low on the list of fiscal priorities. I cant' afford to modify it any, and if I need money, it's the first thing that's going to be sold.
That being said, if you'd like a project such as slapping a shifter in, it can be done. Americasfuture, I believe is his TCCA handle, is swapping his vulcan (?) over to a manual. He isn't spending too much money on it either from what I've read. Just remember, when you do make the switch, you'll need a new guage cluster (no need for the shift indicator), a new steering column (which doesn't have the column shifter), a spiffy hole in the floor for the shifter, a clutch, etc... It's a lot of work, but if you've got time and money to spend, it can be done.
You could also, alternatively, buy an SHO or the subframe assembly complete with engine and other goodies and swap your motors. Supposedly it's a relatively easy thing to do.
Joined
·
130 Posts
the gen 2 SHO MTX-4 will fit the 3.8. only the major problem for that is, to my knowlage there is no fwd car that came with a 5speed 3.8. so there is no clutch flywheel combo. and if anyone has been reading my posts, then they know that i have been doing my research.
Joined
·
405 Posts
I don't see where the FWD would matter for a flywheel/clutch combo. Since the T-Bird had a 3.8 with a manual, the flywheel and pressure plate part should be fine. Then a disc with a spline that mates to the tranny of choice.
Joined
·
405 Posts
For using the SHO tranny, the 10" flywheel should be fine.
From what I hear, though (I don't do my own clutch jobs) the 9.75" PP is really pushing it for a fit in the SHO bellhousing, so a 10" PP might not work.
No big deal, though, as that 10" Mustang flywheel could be redrilled for the dowels, and drilled/tapped for the PP if the mounting is different. Then it would obviously need to be balanced (no big deal, either).
Bottom line is the same, though. Unless you do all of the work yourself, this is not a swap that is worth spending any $$$ on. Just buy a SHO with the 5-speeed, plus you get a power and handling boost along with it.
From what I hear, though (I don't do my own clutch jobs) the 9.75" PP is really pushing it for a fit in the SHO bellhousing, so a 10" PP might not work.
No big deal, though, as that 10" Mustang flywheel could be redrilled for the dowels, and drilled/tapped for the PP if the mounting is different. Then it would obviously need to be balanced (no big deal, either).
Bottom line is the same, though. Unless you do all of the work yourself, this is not a swap that is worth spending any $$$ on. Just buy a SHO with the 5-speeed, plus you get a power and handling boost along with it.
1 - 12 of 12 Posts
