mmm, I just got my car a few weeks ago (94 protege lx) which is an automatic, and I really want to swap it to a stick shift. About how much will it cost to fully change it, and could anyone give me any links or steps on how to do the transmission change? thanks a lotmmm, I just got my car a few weeks ago (94 protege lx) which is an automatic, and I really want to swap it to a stick shift. About how much will it cost to fully change it, and could anyone give me any links or steps on how to do the transmission change? thanks a lot

 

yeaaaaaaaaaa, its stupid hard, i would rather cut my arm off, before i do another auto to mtx tranny swap. i did one on a mustang gt a while back, and all i have to say is never again!!! as far as price wise, christ to have someone do it, you figure bout 70 an hour for labor, plus price on parts, id say bout 2500. but i dunno.

 

hmmm... good idea.

well, im outta dinero rite now, and... no time... and no experience... and no knowledge bout my car... sooooooo...looks like im keepin this one for a while. ^^ hehe thanks for da replies everyone! peace

 

It took me and my Dad a lot of trouble and a lot of work to do it, but we swapped the auto out of my old DX and put in a 5-speed. The total cost was $625 including everything... and that's taking a tranny out of the junkyard. Buy yeah... if you have no experience you don't want to take it somewhere else to get it done because they will practically rape you of your money!

 

you're better off trading it for a manual. a 5 spd. would look odd in place of the auto in the center console. plus, the ecu has to be reprogrammed or swapped from the manual and its a pain in the *** to re-wire everything to it. your ecu is taught to thinking your car is an automatic.
not trying to scare you out of it. im trying to discourage you. most likely you'll give up 1/4 of the way through the job and wont want to put the tranny back in. really, its a pain in the ***.

 

the center console is exactly the same. The ECU will control it without a problem....you just have to deal with the neutral safety switch. Or you can get a manual ECU for $50 from the junkyard.

 

yeah so dont do it. lol just trade it in for a manual.

 

i did it on my 91 EGT. It took me 2 months of working in my garage probly 2-3 hours everyday. like you, i knew nothing about mechanics. I had a $20 ratchet set and some screw drivers with the car sitting on milkcrates and old tires. The parts alone costed me $1000 can. and i ended up pulling a screwed tranny from the jy. (no 2nd gear synchros working) However, after accomplishing it, i realized that pretty much anything can be done. After that i swapped a new bp and tranny in and it only took me 2 days! (you will learn lots of tricks and how to take stuff outta the car and put it back really well) The experience you will get from it will far surpass the $ value, however i wish i did it to someone elses car, not mine cause i had to walk for 2 months. Im on my third tranny now, and ive pretty much got it down to a science, takes me like 7 hours to swap a tranny with bullshit tools and a two jackstands(hell, i dont even need a helper now!)

 

wish you lived near me!