need some grease monkey help

**eells** · January 17th, 2009, 09:44 PM

alright, im not looking for anything too detailed, and even if your not a gearhead maybe you can give me an idea. i recently bought a 97 vw passat glx (with a v6) which 3 days in i already love a kagillion times more than the old cavalier that i had. now, its an automatic transmission, which runs fine, the whole car is in great shape for a used car. im just wondering how much it would cost to have a manual transmission installed in it. would that be cheaper than replacing the automatic if it should ever fail?

**rady8um** · January 17th, 2009, 10:14 PM

Probably way too much to consider. The on board computer would have to be replaced as well, or if possible, re-mapped. Pedal assembly, entire shift linkage, and who knows what else.
Don't worry about it, as long as you don't do a bunch of hole shots and neutral slams, it won't be a problem. German engineering is a beautiful thing!

**Perkascene** · January 17th, 2009, 10:22 PM

You'd be better asking this question on a Passat/VW forum. Every car poses different challenges when you're talking about big projects like this. Honestly, if you wanted one with a manual trans, sell this one and find one with a manual trans. Unless it's a really simple bolt-in procedure, something gets cobbled unless you spend a lot of money, and you won't be terribly happy with it.

You've got a transaxle to swap, a pedal box/assembly to swap, a clutch master cylinder to install, etc. Just enjoy driving without shifting.

Congrats on getting a proper German car though.

**brian** · January 17th, 2009, 10:36 PM

Originally Posted by eells

im just wondering how much it would cost to have a manual transmission installed in it. would that be cheaper than replacing the automatic if it should ever fail?

if you do the work your self, anything is possible......but you would need deep pockets if paying somebody to do the work for you.....if you could find a shop to do it. something like that would tie some space up for a bit. you might get a vw dealer to do it, but dealers charge an arm and a leg for non-warrenty work.

hard to say how large of a challenge it be. there would be lots of holes and weldnuts that would need to be there. they might be there, but on teh other hand the germans are known for over engineering stuff...and making tranny specific shells would'nt be above them.

this would be a second car kinda project. but in the end after all the work, it would be nothing more than a manual version of the car.....that's already availible as such.

**PA Rifleman** · January 17th, 2009, 10:59 PM

After converting a Chevy K20 from manual to automatic (should be the easier way), I implore you not to even consider it. The amount of annoying yet dealbreaking details that pop up are seemingly endless. Stuff even dealers and the factory don't know, since they don't do conversions. In a nutshell, the driveline dimensions (and to a certain extent, geometry) is different between the two. So, budget driveline mods, hanging a clutch pedal & linkage or hydraulics, electrical mods and more. In my case, it was around $3000 or so, and that was sometime between 1987 & 1989. I got another 10 good years out of that truck, but I'll never so it again.

Without a doubt, the best route is replacing the car with one that has the features you want.

And the fuel savings will be swallowed up by the clutch replacement bills.

**o1dakota440** · January 17th, 2009, 11:08 PM

why don't you just look for a manual valve body, and turn it into a slap stick. i'm not sure they make one for your car but its worth looking into.

**eells** · January 17th, 2009, 11:45 PM

Originally Posted by o1dakota440

why don't you just look for a manual valve body, and turn it into a slap stick. i'm not sure they make one for your car but its worth looking into.

slap stick? you mean semi-automatic?

Originally Posted by brian

if you do the work your self, anything is possible

thats what i was wondering, because a friend of mines boyfriend does it apparantly all the time. hes a pretty hardcore gearhead though. thanks everybody, its clearly not worth it

**AxiTech** · January 18th, 2009, 12:04 AM

Originally Posted by PA Rifleman

After converting a Chevy K20 from manual to automatic (should be the easier way), I implore you not to even consider it. The amount of annoying yet dealbreaking details that pop up are seemingly endless. Stuff even dealers and the factory don't know, since they don't do conversions. In a nutshell, the driveline dimensions (and to a certain extent, geometry) is different between the two. So, budget driveline mods, hanging a clutch pedal & linkage or hydraulics, electrical mods and more. In my case, it was around $3000 or so, and that was sometime between 1987 & 1989. I got another 10 good years out of that truck, but I'll never so it again.

Without a doubt, the best route is replacing the car with one that has the features you want.

And the fuel savings will be swallowed up by the clutch replacement bills.

That, right there, is the gospel. I did it, stick to auto(the easy route) in a 63 Ford pickup. What a nightmare. I am an ASE Master Tech, Jaguar Master, Land Rover Master, and Volvo Certified Technician. Then I got smart and left Automotive.Trust me , you don't have enough money to pay a good tech to attempt it. It WILL be a nightmare. find a car that was built with what you want and buy it. Even if you overpay by 4 or 5 thousand, you will still be ahead of the game!

**wa3ra** · January 18th, 2009, 01:41 AM

That's probably got the Getrag auto box...yep, they make a full manual valve body; if you German is decent, some company in germany makes a dual set-up that is manual valve body on one side, regular on the other. It looks like the old Hurst His-n-her's shifter. Chrysler actually put them in some cars before Dainler sucked them dry and dumped them...maybe the Chrysler 300 or one of the magnums?