what about a 6-speed swap for my auto rt4wd? anyone done it?

adrenalinesaintadrenalinesaint Wagonist
in Engine & Drivetrain
I imagine that a lot of you may have seen my rt4wd wagon in the for sale section.

I love this wagon, it's body is mint, only thing is a couple of dents on the hood.

I recently came across a parts car that is rt4wd and red just like it. I could really use a parts car for my other wagon to replace the rusty doors, fender and rear hatch.

For the red rt4wd I was thinking i could switch out the hoods with this one's hood and have a perfect example of a rt4wd... aside from the fact that it's auto and that equals not a lot of passing power... But i'd have the parts car and it's got the 6-speed...

...see how my wheels are turning?
I could swap the tranny and all the manual stuff over, pedals, shift assembly...

Has anyone converted a auto rt4wd to a manual?

Any advice?

Is it tough?

Comments

  • wagodizzlewagodizzle Council Member and EDM expert
    so you have two wagons now, and wanna get this as a third for a parts car?

    i say do it. make your mint RT even mintier :) and then convert it too manual. if you have all the parts to do so its not that hard. basically you have to:

    -change pedal assembly and possibly the throttle cable (?)
    -swap out trannies and install clutch and clutch cable
    -then swap out the AT stick to MT stick, and run the cables into the engine bay. im not sure what all is involved, but it cant be too hard, also the RT has cable shifter, but i dont think the stick goes outside.. i could be wrong though. i know the 2WD models have a shift linkage running along the bottom of the wagon to the tranny. anyways.
    -also the radiators are slightly different. the AT radiator has a "nipple" on it for a tube to cool the AT tranny, MT doesnt need this. you could always plug this "nipple" :roll:

    anyways.... i hope that helped something. Kahuna did a AT->MT swap on his 2WD, he could prolly answer Q's better. but all in all it really isnt that complex, especially since you have everything you need right at your disposal :wink:

    -cheers
  • adrenalinesaintadrenalinesaint Wagonist
    Hey Wago Dude, thx for the response.

    I figured it wouldn't be too bad, i just needed to hear it from someone else i guess.
    Thx again.

    I really am torn on this though.
    If my wrx sells then we'll be bailed out of a big financial situation in a lot of ways.
    I'd love for that to mean I'd get to keep both wagons but I don't think it'll work like that.
    I really only have time for one car though.
    If I keep them both I doubt much will get done on either wagon.
    My wife and I have talked about it and I turn so many cars that whatever car i end up with I really need to keep for 2 years, no trading or buying other cars.
    Just to keep me focused on one and keep us out of financial binds in the future.

    That said a part of me would almost like to sell both wagons and buy a subaru and call it a day.
    My heart hurts when i think about my wrx being gone.
    Maybe not so much out of attachment as I know I will be locked into not being behind the wheel of a subaru very often, though my wife will keep her Subaru Forester.
    The downsides to buying another subaru is any i could afford without getting a loan will probably have pretty high miles, which means they'll probably need things like a new timming belt and maybe even a new headgasket and main seal, etc like the Legacy GT i bought and sold a while back.
    Those things are expensive and a Subaru motor is a motor i'm not as good at working on because it's a lot more complicated then a d-series honda.

    If I keep my brown wagon:
    I need to get some body work done
    Paint
    Get the new gastank I picked up installed
    and a few other little things

    But I'm concerned the fact that it's 2wd will not satisfy me.
    That's why I've been concidering fixing up the red wagon.
    Seems like the best of both worlds.

    It doesn't need the body work or paint for that matter.
    The interior is in better condition as well.
    Mechanically it doesn't seem to need any work at all

    But there are downsides to the red wagon as well.
    It's slower, doesn't get as good mpg and the engine has 205k miles on it (i'm assuming the engine is orginal, looks to be)
    Also, i'm sure the auto to manual swap (if i go that route) will not be a walk in the park.

    Just not sure what to do.
    Keep em both and don't do a lot to either.
    Sell the red rt4wd and keep the brown zc 2wd and fix it up
    Sell the brown zc 2wd and keep the red rt4wd and fix it up
    Sell it all and buy a subaru

    I just don't know.
    Any thoughts?
    Anyone?
  • duckie8310duckie8310 Senior Wagonist
    i dont blame you for being vexed. my mom has a WRX wagon and she loves it. i love to drive it too sometimes. and the RT is a great car. its a decision that will cause you some heartaches for sure. and either way, after one is sold you'll be kicking yourself that night for sellin.

    good luck with your decision
  • adrenalinesaintadrenalinesaint Wagonist
    duckie8310 wrote:
    i dont blame you for being vexed. my mom has a WRX wagon and she loves it. i love to drive it too sometimes. and the RT is a great car. its a decision that will cause you some heartaches for sure. and either way, after one is sold you'll be kicking yourself that night for sellin.

    good luck with your decision

    LOL, i appreciate your input, it's good to know there are other people out there that feel my pain.
    All cars in concideration are good cars so i won't be loosing either way... or at least that's what i'm telling myself.

    I wish I had a plan so I could let the "self-kicking" begin.
    :-)
  • duckie8310duckie8310 Senior Wagonist
    just remember, you're on a honda civic wagon board. if you sell the wagon, you'll get a virtual kick from a few of us. lol jk. whatever decision you make will be a good one either way. like you said, all cars are good, so whatever you decide you'll win.
  • adrenalinesaintadrenalinesaint Wagonist
    duckie8310 wrote:
    just remember, you're on a honda civic wagon board. if you sell the wagon, you'll get a virtual kick from a few of us. lol jk. whatever decision you make will be a good one either way. like you said, all cars are good, so whatever you decide you'll win.

    My wife helped me work the situation, it looks like we have at least two people coming to drive the red rt4wd wagon tonight and a solid buyer for the wrx that may pick it up in the next week or so.

    My wife thinks that both of them should be sold for sure and i should keep and work on my brown wagon. Get it spuced up the way i like it and if i'm not satisified with it in a few months when we get past the holidays and the cars that are for sale are gone along with the monthly payments we'll be able to look for a subaru if that's what i want.

    We don't want to see the brown wagon not restored or sold to someone that is just gonna beat on it and let it rot, so this way i can give it the tlc it deserves and if it's not the car i want when it's on top of it's game then we can more on to something else.

    Wow my wife rocks!
    I love this woman.
    My mind was a ragging storm for a bit there, it's good to feel the calm again.

    Thx to all that had advice for me.
Sign In or Register to comment.

© Vanilla Keystone Theme 2025