Progress thread - GT Auto to Manual Swap (and new seats!)

007 · Sep 1, 2019

Researching these forums has been really helpful for me, so I'll leave some details of my trans swap to maybe help others down the road.

Car 2001 GT Auto - 1st owner, 60k miles. I bought most of the following parts 10 years ago, and then took a break from modding the car while my kids were young. Back at it now and loving it!

Trans Swap Parts List (Updated as we progressed):

Factory refurb 04 T3650 Trans
Tremec 3650 Clutch Fork Dust Cover (LMR)
MGW shifter and shift knob
Shifter gasket or silicone
Manual trans lower shift boot plate (you will need to enlarge the hole in the floor to match this)
Manual shifter bezel and boot (ebay)
SVT Cobra pedal box (ebay)
Adjustable clutch cable
Clutch cable retaining clip (LMR) - did not come with the clutch cable
Ford manual trans bell housing spacer plate (LMR)
Bell housing bolt kit (AM)
Ford OEM clutch fork kit (LMR or AM)
SPEC aluminum flywheel
ARP flywheel bolts (Amazon)
RAM HDX clutch kit (included pilot bearing)
Ford Racing Aluminum Driveshaft (or SR perf from AM)
Stifflers driveshaft safety loop (obv. this is optional)
Ford Racing Diff Cover M-4033-G2 (stock is leaking)
Rear diff fluid and seal kit (LMR)
Manual trans wiring harness (MPS) ~$150
SCT XCal3 (already had this) - Tune for auto to manual swap by Bama Performance

While I'm at it, we're throwing some new seats in...

Corbeau Mustang Trailcat Reclining Seats; Black Vinyl/White Stitching; Pair 44901WPR (Universal; Some Adaptation May Be Required) - Free Shipping

FREE SHIPPING! Race-Inspired Seats. Give your Mustang a sporty race-inspired interior with a set of Corbeau Trailcat Black Vinyl Diamond Pattern Seats that feat

www.americanmuscle.com

Electrically, I still have to work out how to hook up the neutral safety switch. Advice is appreciated. I dont want to simply bypass it.

I have an aftermarket alarm, so I'm disabling the PATS system in the SCT tune so that the car doesnt puke about the mis-matched PCM.

At this point all of the auto trans parts are out ready to be posted on ebay... Pics soon...

Sluggie24 · Sep 6, 2019

Dont forget about the pilot bearing!

007 · Sep 11, 2019

Seats arrived! Headrests a little crumpled from shipping, but should straighten right out. Side bolstering is just right for me... Definitely not as aggressive as a hardcore race seat, but plenty enough to hold you snug. The fake leather looks surprisingly excellent up close.

ScarletStang · Sep 11, 2019

007 said:
I'm disabling the PATS system in the SCT tune so that the car doesnt puke about the mis-matched PCM.

There's really no need for that. You can keep the stock ecu/pcm, just tell your tuner it's an auto to manual swap. That's what I did.

007 said:
Electrically, I still have to work out how to hook up the neutral safety switch. Advice is appreciated. I dont want to simply bypass it.

As far as I know, these cars don't have a neutral safety switch, just a clutch safety switch. The car should already have a connector for the clutch switch under the dash. There's a little jumper on a two pin connector above the drivers side kick panel, it's for the automatic cars(I'll add a picture). Plug in the clutch safety switch and unplug the jumper and the car shouldn't start without clutch pushed in. Hope this helps!

007 · Sep 11, 2019

Thanks so much, thats wicked helpful!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Joe Jr. · Sep 12, 2019

nice to see and i like those seats. I just picked up a project 00 gt that i'm trying to collect parts for.

Potomus Pete · Sep 12, 2019

I also like your seats. Nice pick with stiching. Cant wait to see them in.

007 · Sep 14, 2019

ScarletStang said:
There's really no need for that. You can keep the stock ecu/pcm, just tell your tuner it's an auto to manual swap. That's what I did.

Thats really interesting... It seems I have two options:

1. Use the PCM from a manual car, have to disable PATS to make it not puke. Then its a standard tune.
2. Tune the auto PCM to shut off the auto trans functions.

The second option worried me... How does yours perform? Any weird behavior? Idle etc. all normal? I think I prefer this option, but I was concerned that a tune on an auto PCM might never be quite the same as a real manual PCM?

Thanks so much for the help,

D

007 · Sep 14, 2019

Those wrinkles in the headrests did go away after a day or two unpacked. Look great now!

ScarletStang · Sep 14, 2019

007 said:
Thats really interesting... It seems I have two options:

1. Use the PCM from a manual car, have to disable PATS to make it not puke. Then its a standard tune.
2. Tune the auto PCM to shut off the auto trans functions.

The second option worried me... How does yours perform? Any weird behavior? Idle etc. all normal? I think I prefer this option, but I was concerned that a tune on an auto PCM might never be quite the same as a real manual PCM?

Thanks so much for the help,

D

Mine does fine. It's been over three years like that. All the tune will do is turn off the automatic trans part in the ecu. Everything works, idles right, drives nice, cruise control still works etc. When I did my swap, I got all the parts from a junkyard stang including the ecu and gauge cluster, but I ended up just reflashing the auto ecu. Lots of other people have done it this way too. I don't recommend starting the car with the new transmission without the new tune though, it will not like it.

007 · Sep 14, 2019

ScarletStang said:
Mine does fine. It's been over three years like that. All the tune will do is turn off the automatic trans part in the ecu. Everything works, idles right, drives nice, cruise control still works etc. When I did my swap, I got all the parts from a junkyard stang including the ecu and gauge cluster, but I ended up just reflashing the auto ecu. Lots of other people have done it this way too. I don't recommend starting the car with the new transmission without the new tune though, it will not like it.

Cool. I think I'll try that then. No need to lose the PATS without a reason!

Thanks again

D

007 · Oct 8, 2019

My friend Steve (excellent mechanic) has made a ton of progress on my car! The only real hiccup was that you need to change the cut-out in the floor pan for the T3650 to fit thru! We had read about this online, but it seemed hard to believe that the trans tunnel would be different. It is.

Tuning wise, Bama Performance (AM) emailed me a tune that should shut off the auto functions and keep the original PCM and PATS system functional.

Flywheel, clutch, trans, driveshaft, pedals are in. The neutral safety switch wire was indeed right there, with a jumper in it. Its working, as are the reverse lights. Now we need to put the interior back together and flash the new tune.

007 · Oct 8, 2019

You can see the lower shift boot bolted in to the modified floor cut out in the picture below

OneSick99GT · Oct 11, 2019

Looking good! Are the seats you got lighter than the stock seats? If so what's the difference?

007 · Oct 12, 2019

Car looks great. Seats are much lighter than stock... I'll try and get numbers.

We are down to the final few items...
We realized we are missing a cover plate that goes onto the T3650 where the clutch fork enters (to keep junk out). Found it on LMR... "clutch fork dust cover".
My SCT Tuner is failing to update its software so I need to work with them before we can flash the manual tune.
Reinstalling seats (one shown in picture is just sitting in there)

OneSick99GT · Oct 12, 2019

Those seats look good. Can you provide a link for them to purchase. I plan on doing a rear seat delete and changing out my ss and ps seat to lose weight and make it sportier looking inside. This is exactly what i need. That's why I asked about the weight difference.

007 · Oct 12, 2019

See top post

007 · Oct 13, 2019

Onesick99GT said:
Looking good! Are the seats you got lighter than the stock seats? If so what's the difference?

MUCH lighter. The stock power leather drivers seat is pretty damn heavy. I think both stock seats are about 100lbs. I'm guessing the new seats with manual tracks weigh about half that.

OneSick99GT · Oct 13, 2019

007 said:
MUCH lighter. The stock power leather drivers seat is pretty damn heavy. I think both stock seats are about 100lbs. I'm guessing the new seats with manual tracks weigh about half that.

Dang! Well there goes another 800 dollars into my build. Those seats look good. I have the same color interior. I'll probably change out the door inserts to black ones to help match and get some black gt floor mats to go with it. The rear seat delete kits are also black.

Northwest_stang · Oct 19, 2019

nice to see all the progress thats finally taking shape and as everyone else has said those seats look damn good. nice find

Progress thread - GT Auto to Manual Swap (and new seats!)

007

Corbeau Mustang Trailcat Reclining Seats; Black Vinyl/White Stitching; Pair 44901WPR (Universal; Some Adaptation May Be Required) - Free Shipping

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