99 Tacoma 4x4 Auto to Manual swap

Great job...curious though & relatively new to Tacomas...are the rear diffs' ratios AT vs MT very wide? Can you roll on with the factory AT gearing?

 

Thanks your post is now in the swap thread
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/transmission-swap-write-up-s.384303/

 

Yes. 1st gear is. 2nd seems a little further away but not enough to make it un-driveable . Then in 5th I believe I was hitting about 2100rpm doing 63mph

 

Not bad at all.Worth it and then some.Great effort in the dead of winter...

 

Alright guys... I'm posting part one of my build. It's in docx format. You can download it and view it in Microsoft office and I will also post it in full here on the forum if its allowed. I will finish the part 2 of the I installation later this evening or tomorrow. Thanks guys.

Part 1 of Build Sheet:
Build Sheet
1 – 99 Tacoma 4x4 Ext Cab 2.7L with A340F Automatic Transmission, B03A Gear Code, manual lockouts,
White in color
1 – 98 Tacoma 4x4 Reg Cab 2.7L with W59 manual transmission, B03A gear code, manual lockouts
Black in color

Purchased Parts
1 – complete rear drive shaft out of a 2002 Tacoma 4x4 Ext Cab, V6, Automatic
1 – new XTR Stage 2 clutch kit, came with a brand new flywheel
1 - Fel-Pro rear main seal kit

All other parts/tools come from donor truck or I have already.
20 gauge wire, Red electrical connectors, heat shrink, mig welder, 4 1/2" die grinder/cutting wheel

SAFETY FIRST … CHOCK YOUR WHEELS … MAKE SURE SURE VEHICLE IS SECURED … USE YOUR E-BRAKE
I drove both mine up on solid concrete blocks. Gave me 4 extra inches of clearance. Plenty of room for trannys to slide out. Just make sure e-brake is on and check every wheel.

If you need guidance doing any of the basic stuff, just look at the FSM, there are some exceptions and I’ll try to note them.
Remove the positive and negative battery cables. You can go ahead and remove the shifter linkage and shifter boots and shifter and console. Make sure to put clean shop rags in the shifter holes in the tranny to keep dirt and foreign objects out.
Remove rear and front drive lines.
Unplug all electrical connections to the transmission.
Drain the fluids if you want to. I did not.
Remove the auto transmission lines to radiator. It’s a PITA. Lol
Please note: Remove the power steering hard line on the rack. I will include a picture. This helps prevent damaging the line in case the transmission you’re pulling drops to the stabilizer bar. I’m sure this line is a dealer only item.
Remove the starter.
Also note…you do not have to drop the front diff to remove the transmission. There’s plenty of room.
Undo the transmission to engine bolts.
This part is up to you. I had to do this by myself so I needed the transmission as light as possible to handle it. I removed the transfer case from the tranny at this point. 8 bolts. Now I could safely handle the auto and manual transmissions.
Undo the 6 flexplate to torque converter bolts.
Support the tranny. I’m old school so I used my trusty floor jack and some pieces of 2x6 to take up space.
Or use a transmission jack made for the job. Safety first guys. Do what you’re capable of.
Undo crossmember bolts.
Lower the rear of the transmission a few inches, slide the tranny back an inch or so. U may have to pry a little bit do so on the bottom. Be prepared for transmission fluid out of the torque converter. You’re gonna get it on you, just try to avoid getting it in your eyes. Lol.
Make sure to hold the torque converter so it doesn’t fall out.
Lower transmission to the ground.
Hard part is done….wooohooo!!!

 

Here's part one that's downloadable... exactly the same...

 

This is the hard line on the steering rack that I recommend removing before dropping transmission.

 

I have removed transmissions from our gen Tacoma's more times than I can remember... Never removed that line. You should use caution though, it is in a good spot to get smacked...

 

Lol. That's why I removed it. Better safe than sorry. Sometimes sh!t happens.

 

99 Tacoma Auto to Manual Build Sheet Part 2

…I said the hard part was done…NOT the tedious part…lol

Remove driver side kick panel and bottom door sill panel.
Remove brake pedal
Remove clutch pedal
Undo the clutch hard line, and remove clutch master cylinder. Then undo clutch softline from bracket. There’s an e clip and a regular clip. Set the slave cylinder aside.
I had some gasket material and traced the clutch master cylinder out line onto it and cut it out. Then measure and eye a good placement point for it inside the cab of the truck. You’ll have to cut out the piece of carpet where it goes. Make sure to measure and look and feel where it goes a bunch of times so u get it right.
I used and 1 1/8" stepper bit to cut the center hole and a sanding wheel on a dremel to widen it to 1 3/16". Use a 5/16" bit for the mounting holes.
Now, remove the clutch hard line bracket from the body of the donor truck. I used a wide flathead screwdriver. It sits on a raised area. Remember where… mark it on truck, then weld it across the bottom. Make sure to lay a very wet rag on the opposite side in the cab where the weld is going or the carpet and tar sound deadening material will catch fire.
Install clutch pedal and brake pedal and clutch master cylinder. Using all the factory stuff. Fill the reservoir, crack the bleeder valve on slave cylinder. Let it gravity bleed for a few hours til you notice it dripping. Make sure to keep fluid in it. And tighten the bleeder.
Now is a good time to get all basic functions of the wiring completed while you have room to work. This will allow you to start the truck. Take the largest plug, find the black with red stripe wire and black with white stripe wire, cut from plug. I slit the wire loom all the way up to steering rack area. Then take about 24 inches of the 20 gauge wire, you’ll need 2 pieces 24 inches long. Connect the wires very well using a connector then heat shrink then electrical tape to make sure these wires don’t get wet or corrode. Tape them up nice and need and zip tie them neatly so they’re out of the way of moving parts or any debris. Run them thru the floorboard rubber plug toward the left kick panel then connect them to the corresponding wires on the clutch pedal start switch.
Install your manual transmission ECU. Its behind the glove box of course. The repair manual tells you how to get to it. It’s easy.
Install your new rear main seal.
Install anything else you want to while you have easy access.
Install your clutch kit. Don’t forget the pilot bearing. The hole is there, so don’t worry.
Go ahead and fab up your crossmember for the transmission. It’s almost exactly one crossmember width short. I cut the donor truck bracket about 4 inches from each end then butt welded it to the other one. Please see previous pics in the thread. Just make sure they are level with one another. Clean it with wire brush and paint it black to look nice.
Now check your drive shafts, if you bought a used one, replace any ujoint if necessary and or center support bearing.
Take the manual transmission shifter boot holder and trace its outline over the automatic hole. It’s fairly simple. You’ll have to cut your carpet at the rearmost part to get it to lay flat. Just do a front measurement and center it on the hump and you’re golden.
Make sure all mating surfaces are clean.
Stab the transmission and secure it with the left and right side tranny to engine bolts. Keeping tranny supported with jack make sure its seated to the engine. I installed the crossmember to the frame first and then the mount bolts to crossmember. The mount is rubber so it has a little give if you have to work it to get the holes lined up.
Tighten everything up.
Install starter.
Then slave cylinder.
Plug in the other plugs that work. Like vehicle speed sensor …4wd indicator…low range indicator… and both O2 sensor plugs. Tie the others up neatly and out of the way. There is one other wire to get cruise control working if equipped. I’ll do a write up on it soon as its completed. If you want to double check me get the EWD goe your year tacoma. The clutch start switch wires are the most important so, I’m 100% on it.
Install transfer case. A couple plugs from the wiring go on here. The vehicle speed sensor and the 4wd plugs. You’ll know them because they will either fit or not fit. Lol
Install driveshaft. Make sure center support bearing is centered on mount.
Install shifters.
Bleed clutch properly.
Tie up any loose ends.
Hook up battery. --- you hooked up the 2 starter wires right??—lol
Fire it up and be proud of yourself. Congrats….
SIDE NOTE—I will be adding 2 gussets to my crossmember just for extra strength. Just drove it 400 miles today and it's fine, but I am gonna put 2 more gussets just for peace of mind.
Please have a FSM for your year handy, at least a Haynes or Chiltons.
Be safe… chock your wheels…don’t chance it…if you have a question, PLEASE ask. sd_N

 

Part 2 of build is up. Hope it's understandable. Uploading a docx as well if u want to print it.

 

Holy wall of text Batman!

 

I didn't know how else to do it. Some folks wanna read it without a down load and some folks might wanna download it to print...so I gave them both options.. is that cool in this forum? I've never done this so....lol.

 

It's all good, I have a bad habit of writing in huge blocks but then i usually go back and break it up into related sections and sprinkle some related pics in too. Helps make it easier to digest and the pics help add understanding.

 

Yeah. Duh...should a thought of it like that. I will have more pics. I couldn't get my Word program to insert it on my phone. Lol. I'll try to get it more organized in one document then just upload it as a pdf. This is my first time doing a right up...so ...

 

@gearcruncher @sd_N I've had mine converted from prerunner to 4x4 5sp for years and loved every minute of it. Unfortunately a move to California is forcing smog on me and the old jumping PN switch isn't going to cut it. If there is one thing that I am the worst at it is reading circuit diagrams (I learned that in my first college physics course). Its a '99 3RZ and I have the same year tranny and correct manual ECU installed. I ran the wires up to the clutch cancel and have it starting. 2 questions and possibly both answers are contained in the associated EWD. I have been able to decipher all others using FSM. I do not have access to the EWD.

1. I got the clamp and pigtails for the back up light switch, what color wires do I attach from the original (prerunner auto) wiring harness? Do they need to be on specific sides of the 2 wire pigtail?

2. For the clutch cancel switch, there are two wires on the circuit diagram that exit the switch and go to J/B #3. Which #3 is that (there are two of them on the FSM) and do you just wire it into the fuse holder listed?

3. Ok, maybe this will self resolve but is there anything additional I will need to do for cruise control. I assume once I solve 1 and 2 then cruise will just work.

 

Howdy..Finally back to answer your question about the cruise control. Mine works. However, the clutch disengage doesnt work, but the brake disengage does. I'm happy with that, but I belive you need a clutch switch from a manual. Anyways, the green plug thats connected to the cruise control computer located in the passenger kick panel... I believe it was PIN 2. I know its a White/Black wire. All you have to do is provide a 12V power with key in run position and the computer thinks its in drive. I just ran a wire from the red/yellow wire that was connected to the Automatic shifter when it was in and ran it under the carpet and spliced into that wire I spoke of. Works great for me.

The back up switch doesnt matter. It's just an open or closed circuit. Works either way.

The clutch cancel on the dash -- I havent fooled with it yet. Just been enjoying my truck. I may dig into it this weekend. I dont use it very often so thats why its been on the back burner. Hope this helps.

Sorry for the delay in my reply. If you need pics, let me know and I can post some for you.

 

Posting my finished pic guys. I'd still like to give it a new black paint job. I'm very happy and thanks everyone for all your help.

 

sd_N what did you use in between the two crossmembers when you buttoned then together?