I am looking at an 02 gt with an auto. I know all the mechanical parts that are needed but what about the electronics. Will I need a new ECU to do the swap? Thanks
You "can" drive the car with an auto ECU. There will be alot of CEL lights though.
The best thing to do to get rid of this is swap the ECU for a 5 speed version. But if you are gonna be buying a tuner for the car anyways it may be smart to just go ahead and get the Sniper tuner, it can disable all of the Auto trans. functions among other things.
The parts you will need are pretty straightforward.
a few other bits and pieces but that is mainly it. Its not much harder than a clutch job really. Very easy swap to do on these cars. I would definitely take out the drivers seat though when doing the pedal box....
I have got to agree with the others. The cost of the swap has got to be greater than the savings. One exception would be if the parts were already in your garage.
Another might be if the automatic transmission was already bad.
If the price is that good, buy it. Drive it for a while. Look for a manual. When found, trade it or sell it.
Once the car is converted, the resale value of the car is greatly diminished. Consider there are many ppl out there that would not even consider a car with that much "surgery" done to it. So at the very least, the number of possible buyers is reduced.
Yup I wouldn't buy a car with the intent to swap transmissions... just seems like a lot of unnecessary work caused by impatience. IMO it'd have to be going for a good $3k less (not necessarily in parts cost, but also to compensate for the hassle of all the work involved) than a comparable 5 speed to even start to consider this.
I just swapped my auto (well not me, payed someone to do it) to a t-56 out of a cobra. Tranny was all upgraded w/liberty input shafts etc etc. Got a spec stge 3+ clutch (500miles on it) and fidanza aluminum flywheel (500 miles), wiring, pedal assembly, firewall adjuster...for $1475 shipped. Screw the 5spd. Look for someone doing an auto convert on a cobra.
install and driveshaft upgrade and all the stuff ran me about 2100...TOTAL
In my case I would never just buy another car because this one is just way too important and sentimental to me.