i feel like i am missing out....

I like the 5spd in my 91' LX, but it can sure a pain in rush hour traffic.

havin a 5 speed is fun cause u can run out gears and downshift and do better burnouts and stuff like that but a auto is more consistant at the track

with a stall and valve body an auto 5.0 would smoke a t5....plus the aod holds up longer that a t5

oh yea, i didnt really think that one through

was kinda basing it on my experience with my last car, but that one needed a bit more work than urs did, and i dont have much of an income.

plus u will definitely love ur car much more knowing u did all that work on it, i didnt think of that either

once i finish rebuilding my t5 im probably not gonna romp on it as much, out of respect of course (and the want to use my future income towards moe mods, not rebuilding or buying a tranny again)

good luck with the swap over, hopefully u can find a used tranny for around 5-600 bucks and all the other parts for a few more
from the research i did while thinking about a t5 swap for my 84, i can assume the swap isnt too difficult, as long as you know whats in ur car and what needs to be changed, how to do it, and have all the parts/tools/space


dont expect it to take a day tho, cuz rome wasnt built in one

CanadaStang said:

I like the 5spd in my 91' LX, but it can sure a pain in rush hour traffic.

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One weekend, I found myself driving my friend from biddeford maine to woodshole mass. We ran into maine traffic, then nh traffic then 128 traffic then rte 3 traffic then cape cod traffic then I had to do all that crap again to get home after dropping him off. I'm talking creep and stop traffic. I must have sat there.....no exxageration at least 6 hours total and my leg was on fire from working that awful heavy clutch.

I started gathering parts for my automatic swap the next day cause honestly, the population is just gonna keep growing and growing and the traffic wont get any better in the future. Never looked back.

I really thought I was missing out as well, and was planning to convert my '87 to a t-5. I used to have an '82 that was a manual and I remebered how much fun it was. Here is what changed my mind. My neighbor had an accident at work and broke his left foot. He didn't want his S-10 to set up the whole time he was off , but he couldn't drive it since it was a stick. So he asked me to drive it to work and around a bit a couple days a week just to keep the battery charged and make sure it didn't set up to long.


Ok first day I drove it I LIKED it. Even though it was just a little V6 it was fun shifting again. But by about noon the next day when I got caught in lunchtime traffic I started thinking to myself hmm maybe this isn't that great. By the time his foot healed I was glad I didn't have to drive his truck anymore. I think I will be keeping my AOD now. Infact after that I don't see me ever buying a vehichle with a manual tranny. They can be fun for sure no doubt about it. If I lived out in the country with no traffic maybe I Would feel differently. But sadly even in the small southern town I live in the traffic is getting out of controll and like Pete said. It's only gonna get worse. It comes down to JUST DRIVE WHAT YOU WANT if you really want a T5 in your car then go for it. There is nothing wrong with either. Some will say you aren't really driving in an AUTO car thats not true at all. And some will say you are less of a man because you have an AUTO thats just a load of crap. Just make sure you are getting the T5 because you really want one and not because everyone says you should have one.

I think you are going about this all wrong. Clearly you have some serious engine issues that you should clear up and are causing you to run those times. Why dont you be logical and rebuild your friggen motor. Just because you have a T5 behind a thrashed motor instead of an AOD isnt going to make all your problems go away. Come on kid, think about it

The swap is not that bad. You may have to take a few weeks and piece it together though.

The fact that the fastest cars use auto's is irrelivant, you don't have a 10.99 and faster car. So i don't think you need to worry about shifting speed.

I've driven both many times, we'd had 2 aod's in our family, and yes they can be made to run well, they are still BORING. If you mod your stock Aod, you will break it in no time, manual valve body stock aods don't last long, nor do aod's with a shift kit and a converter.
To do it right, and be able to drive hard daily you have to have one built, which will far outcost a t5 swap.

There's no feeling like dumping the clutch and leaving a couple hundred feet of rubber. Or maybe do u-turns with the car almost not leaving it's place.

There's nothing you can do to an auto that matches the 5 speed fun factor. You can however match the performance.

i like my low 14 second 86 gt with a stock AOD

I decided to add up the parts to do the swap. Here is what I came up with. Granted this all new parts and you would still need a pedal assembly. I may have missed somehting that is needed if so let me know.http://secure.50resto.com/viewbasket.cfm?SID=1& I actually thought it would me more expensive than this using all new parts but it isn't that bad.