M/T AWD to A/T AWD - how different?

[1Gina2G]

Alright so right off the rip when I bought the car in peices I had the transmission rebuilt buy doxbox racing, stage 2 rebuild with the spyder 4 upgrade and welded center differential. I was told it was the best for daily driving, as stage 3 he said was really for mostly drag racing. I wanted a really reliable transmission, but recently reading up on aritcles of how the automatics probably alot more reliable, wanted to ask dogbox some questions but apparently the company no longer exists. Coincidentally, the guy I've talked to at SIM ( strictly import ) is also not there anymore, so SIM no longer rebuilds transmissions. There's just 1 transmission shop in my town and they don't rebuild transmissions outside the car, THEY have to take it out, but ANYWAYS:

Say I happen to have a spare auto AWD trans and it needed to be rebuilt, but you also had a newly rebuilt trans that was a manual AWD of the same year, for a 2g, specifically year 95. could any of the insides be compatable with each other at all? or are the insides totally different? Just wondering if there's any money to be saved on another trans rebuild

I guess I should of thought it out better in the begening, but when I bought it I hardly know how to drive stick but it's just the feel of the different clutches I've tried. People might think it weird but I guess I really should of switched to an automatic in the first place but now I have this nice manual trans, not saying I'm deffinatley switching but just thinking wondering really.

 

[jconcepcion4g63]

Absolutely not interchangeable, manual trans uses separate sets of drive and driven gears, auto trans uses a planetary gear set with clutch packs. The designs are totally different and nothing will be interchangeable between them.

If you are gonna switch tho keep in mind you will need to change pedal assembley, shift linkage, ecu etc etc driveshafts i think maybe not sure.


IMO your best bet would to be sell the rebuilt manual trans to finance your auto rebuild, should cover most of the cost.

 

[Paul@RTM]

What he said^. There are quite a few differences: t-case, rear diff and driver side front inner axle are auto-specific as well. Point is, M/T to A/T is a big project. You really need a full donar car, not just tranny.

 

[007jimmy]

good info but am i understanding that basically if i wanted to do an AWD swap to my auto gst then id have to get the rear diff and transfer case from an auto car? and all the main parts for a manual wouldnt work for me wanting to keep mine an auto?

 

[Paul@RTM]

good info but am i understanding that basically if i wanted to do an AWD swap to my auto gst then id have to get the rear diff and transfer case from an auto car? and all the main parts for a manual wouldnt work for me wanting to keep mine an auto?

I guess the simplest way of putting it is: there are a number of drivetrain components which must match the tranny. So you can think of it as M/T + thing1 + thing2 + thing3, etc where thing1,2,3 all must be from an M/T vehicle. Same thing for A/T: all must be from an A/T vehicle. No mismatching M/T and A/T. There are some components that CAN be "mismatched" since they aren't specific to M/T or A/T (propeller shaft, rear axles as an example). The entire story is kind of complicated, especially when you also consider that you can't mismatch 95-96 with 97-99! They must also not be mismatched. It's a bit of a bastardly complicated swap. However, if you happen to get your hands on a complete 2g AWD donor car, then you don't really need to know all the complicated rules 'cause all the parts will be from the same year, same tranny style, etc.

I'm not sure if there's a VFAQ on this site for the procedure or not. I know there's a few writeups on the other way around A/T to M/T and alot can be figured out from that.

I suppose for future reference I should post the full list.
This is for M/T to A/T in a 2g AWD and includes only the drivetrain components and NOT such things as shifter mechanisms, sensors, wiring harnesses, TCU, ECU, etc, etc. Mechanical drivetrain components only.

NOTE: All the following parts are specific to either (95-96) model year range or (97-99) model year range. No mismatching components of those two year ranges.
1) tranny
2) t-case
3) driver side inner axle (the portion that includes the carrier bearing that bolts to the block)
4) rear diff

The following components do NOT need to be changed, the M/T components (from full year range 95-99) can be used:
1) passenger side axle
2) driver side outer axle (the part that includes both CV joints)
3) propeller shaft
4) rear axles
NOTE: rear axles (LSD or no) must match the rear diff (LSD or no)