5-speed to Auto wiring

[Cox Abele]

I am doing an AWD conversion in my 98 Spyder 5-speed. I have a 95 TSi Auto as the donor. My question lays in how to get the TCU to work in my 5-speed Spyder.

Since I have a parts car, it seems like it would be easier to swap the engine harnesses than to attempt to integrate the TCU wiring into the 5-speed harness. I understand I'll need to swap the CAS connection since I'll be using the late model CAS. I would really like to retain my 98 ECU as I already have a professional tune flashed to it and would like to keep my my tuning ability/software/OP2.0 Cable.

Will getting the automatic gear box to shift be as easy as swapping engine harnesses, and what kind of difficulty am I looking at here?

From my reading, it sounds like I won't have to remove the dash. It's just a matter of unplugging the 3 connectors from the ECM & unplug the TCU, unbolt the grounds and fish the harness out through the firewall. Then, continue to unclip all of the sensors and it's out. This is then followed in reverse with attention given to the CAS plug... Does this sound right and through?

Please refrain from any kind of "build a shift box and shift it yourself" recommendations. If I wanted to handle the shifting, I'd have a 5-speed. I'll build a shift box later, once I get the car shifting through the TCU.

 

[AlwaysDTF]

yeah mate, you got a good bit of labor ahead of you but it's something you wanna do so doo it. cutting will be down to a minimum but if you do want to do everything legit, the dash would be nice to come out BUT that's your call.

subtracting plays a bigger role in this other than the little stuff like cooler & etc.

good luck mate & if i could do you any help, lmk.

 

[Cox Abele]

That didn't help me at all. Please try to answer the question at hand and not go off topic.

I didn't ask anything about the AWD swap or the labor involved in bolting the transmission to the engine. I'm just looking for an answers regarding the swap of the auto harness and have clearly stated that I was not interested in integrating the TCU wiring to the 5-speed harness.

Not trying to be a dick, but it's frustrating seeing a bunch of BS threads requesting information that is readily available by using the search function or google while my threads get's little to no attention, and the attention that is given is of little or no value.

 

[AlwaysDTF]

hmm. sorry about that. well considering i don't know what your spending budget is, why not get AEM series 2 ( 30-6300 ), then get you a harness made ( get a mil-spec to make you look more like a bad*** ) and never worry about the TCU being a problem. plug n play ftw !

 

[TSI_93]

You dont need to take the dash out to swap a harness in a 2g. You can do it in about 2 hours if everything is allready in the engine bay.

It would be easiest to just swap the Auto harness into the 5 speed car. Then you gotta bypass the parking safety switch, unless you have allready wired it up.

 

[Cox Abele]

AlwaysDTF, please stop posting in this thread. Going with an AEM EMS clearly disregards what I said about keeping the stock ECU and using the TCU to control shifting. If you can't provide worthwhile tech, than please stop making irrelevant or opinion based posts. It's clear what I've asked and you haven't yet provided pertinent information or tech.

You dont need to take the dash out to swap a harness in a 2g. You can do it in about 2 hours if everything is allready in the engine bay.

It would be easiest to just swap the Auto harness into the 5 speed car. Then you gotta bypass the parking safety switch, unless you have allready wired it up.

This is informative and the kind of relevant response I am looking for. Thank you TSI_93.

I'm assuming I'd need to jumper the 5-speeds clutch safety switch, or is this something that can be re-wired to the parking safety switch? Can you elaborate a little more on the auto's safety switch. This one is new to me, so I haven't come across it in my research quite yet.

 

[TSI_93]

Its been a while since I was inside a 2g, and at one point I had an auto engine harness to tuck for someone with a 5 speed.

Any how if you need tips on how to get the harness out let me know. I've done that countless times tucking them.

You can just unplug the clutch safety switch when you take out the clutch pedal assy. It will work just fine once you unplug it. But using the auto harness, you need to make sure that the park safety switch (on the auto shifter) is pluged in or jumper some of the pins on the big ass plug that plugs into the auto trans inside the engine bay.

 

[Cox Abele]

Cool! I may hit you up later via PM once I get rolling with the harness part. I plan to use the stock shifter, so if the switch is part of the harness I'm removing from the donor, I should be good to go since I'll be re-using all of the factory stuff.

 

[CrashGNX]

Or! you can just get a stand alone controller like the one at www.roadsurge.com and call it good. keep your current wiring and ECU.

 

[JusMX141]

A friendly reminder to the original poster that if you don't have anything positive to say when members make suggestions, then don't bother starting new threads.


Carry on.

 

[Cox Abele]

A friendly reminder to the original poster that if you don't have anything positive to say when members make suggestions, then don't bother starting new threads.


Carry on.

I have plenty of positive things to say when the suggestions are relevant. Two out of the three people that have posted in this thread shouldn't have because they couldn't supply a shred of subject related insight. AlwaysDTF didn't provide a single bit of topic related information and I called him out on it. If you can find me one sentence in either of his post that has anything to do with the question I asked, I'll be happy to take a ban in stride. As for CrashGNX, he clearly did not read the first post before commenting. I outlined the components I intend to use and both members made suggestions that clearly negated my intentions set forth in the very first post.

It's ill-informed or subject lacking posts like these in question that turn forums to shit. There was no need to delete my post. What, did I hurt someone's feelings because I posted evidence that they clearly didn't follow the etiquette of a Q&A session? This isn't a game show where the first person to ring in get's a shot at answering the unfinished question! Nay, there is necessity to understand the question (which I had made blatantly clear) in effort to provide accurate and appropriate answers. If you disagree, please let me know and I'll be happy to do like others and spam the board with terribly irrelevant, misleading, ill-informed or otherwise intentionally wrong advice since that seems to be an acceptable quid pro quo.

Had you left my post alone and not deleted it, perhaps it would have acted as a subtle warning and given the thread some semblance that I don't want my threads to run amuck with cluttering, off topic comments. Instead, you let a board you moderate get over-run with bad tech advice, re-occurring topics that have been answered time-and-time again, and an overwhelming lack of empowering users to use the search function.

Quality, insightful replies are all I'm asking for. TSI_93 has delivered and I thanked him. I can only hope I can continue to receive responses in the same topic oriented light as his. Carry on indeed.

 

[casperfast]

i would check the 5spd harness to see if it has the plug connector for the tcu. not likely but not unusual for vehicle to have the same harness no matter the trim. and i second the comment about the clutch / neutral safety switch. the p/n switch in the gear position sensor runs the same circuit off the ignition switch. that would be an issue to begin with as the car wouldn't even turn over. then you have the dilema of "will it shift?" if the tcu isnt there it will be in limp mode and will only have 3rd gear ( i believe) will seem like its slipping. that way you will know the tcu is not wired in properly. sound like you need to bust out the diagrams and compare auto vs manual. might just be one section of the harness you need to change/ add in there. have fun, im sure it will be awesome.

 

[GRNDSM]

I am doing the opposite swap (Auto to 5sp) on my Spyder:

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/drivetrain-tech/436155-t-automatic-m-t-manual-swap-spyder.html

The connectors from the "engine/tranny harness" to the "car harness" have very different pins (see my photos)!

I am going to take a gamble that the "car harness" is the same, but it takes different pins from the "engine/tranny" harness. I really do NOT want to swap the "car harness", as it is a pretty big job!

I am actually facing an additional problem with the top control, as there must be a signal from the tranny to tell top that tranny is nuetral gear (otherwise, top will not operate). You shouldn't have the same problem.

 

[Cox Abele]

If you have the opportunity to snap a few pictures, that would be extremely helpful. The pinning issue has me a bit concerned now. If you come across any information and wouldn't mind revisiting this thread, it would be tremendously appreciated. Shoot, I may even consider swapping harnesses with you if I get into mine and find that the hard-top harness won't work in my spyder.

I need to finish up the back end of my AWD swap before I move onto the front, but I've already began contacting a supplier who has a 2GB GST Spyder Auto harness, but the cost is pretty steep. Don't hesitate to send me a PM in a week or two if you are still struggling since, again, it could be as simple as swapping harnesses.

 

[JusMX141]

It's ill-informed or subject lacking posts like these in question that turn forums to shit. There was no need to delete my post. What, did I hurt someone's feelings because I posted evidence that they clearly didn't follow the etiquette of a Q&A session?

No, you flamed a member for no reason which happens to be against the rules that you obviously didn't read....so I'm here to remind you that rules do exist here.

This isn't a game show where the first person to ring in get's a shot at answering the unfinished question! Nay, there is necessity to understand the question (which I had made blatantly clear) in effort to provide accurate and appropriate answers. If you disagree, please let me know and I'll be happy to do like others and spam the board with terribly irrelevant, misleading, ill-informed or otherwise intentionally wrong advice since that seems to be an acceptable quid pro quo.

Clearly not a game show....this is a tech-related DISCUSSION FORUM where members DISCUSS THINGS. If you're looking for a site where you can ask a specific question and receive one specific answer without being inconvenienced by any discussion, may I suggest Yahoo! Answers.

Had you left my post alone and not deleted it, perhaps it would have acted as a subtle warning and given the thread some semblance that I don't want my threads to run amuck with cluttering, off topic comments.

Guess who's the Moderator? Not you.

Instead, you let a board you moderate get over-run with bad tech advice, re-occurring topics that have been answered time-and-time again, and an overwhelming lack of empowering users to use the search function.

Don't like our forum? Don't post here. There are plenty of other DSM-related forums with 10% of the traffic this site sees where your question won't get answered.

Quality, insightful replies are all I'm asking for. TSI_93 has delivered and I thanked him. I can only hope I can continue to receive responses in the same topic oriented light as his. Carry on indeed.

It's an open thread in a newbie-based forum where anyone can post. I'm not sure what type of replies you think you're going to get, but they're not all going to contain the factual information you're looking for. It's great that one member is helping you, but don't feel as though you reserve the right to bi*** about the ones who aren't.

 

[GRNDSM]

If you have the opportunity to snap a few pictures, that would be extremely helpful. The pinning issue has me a bit concerned now. If you come across any information and wouldn't mind revisiting this thread, it would be tremendously appreciated. Shoot, I may even consider swapping harnesses with you if I get into mine and find that the hard-top harness won't work in my spyder.

I need to finish up the back end of my AWD swap before I move onto the front, but I've already began contacting a supplier who has a 2GB GST Spyder Auto harness, but the cost is pretty steep. Don't hesitate to send me a PM in a week or two if you are still struggling since, again, it could be as simple as swapping harnesses.

What other pictures do you need?

I am not sure why this infomation is so difficult to optain, there must have been dozens of people who have gone Auto to 5sp or the other way around. But I can't seem to get their attention...

Swapping "car harness" is not simple at all! I already have dash and heater unit out of the car (I had a bad heater core) and I still do not see the "end" of the harness...

As for snapping at people, I understand that it can be frustrating when you get what you consider unrelated posts, but being rude will only get you in trouble with moderators and you will be LESS likely to get help from other member! For instance, I almost didn't reply to this thread because of your antics... There might be others, who decided not to help.