2003 Auto to Manual swap

This photo shows the broken black plastic connector abs also shows how gnarly this actuator looks. Good old NJ winters. Truth be told, I’m not sure the one in my automatic is going to be in any better shape.

 

I meant to ask this over the weekend. When I removed the slave cylinder, one of the bolts broke (again, NJ Rust Belt). I tried drilling it out, and made pretty good progress, but when I tried retapping the whole, the tap broke in the hole. I tried picking it out, and even tried putting alum in the whole and heating it up, but no success. Any recommendations on what to try next?

 

I just bought a new one, think it was pretty cheap. New master, lines, and slave. Found a used hard line tho.

 

Isn't the manual transfer case lever actuated? If it has an electrical actuator it might be an A/T transfer case.

 

You bought a new bellhousing? That is where the bolt is broken (where it holds slave cylinder to bellhousing).

I bought all new lines.

 

Ah I thought you were talking about the slave cylinder. NM and good luck w/ the bolt removal.

 

Both the manual and autos had push-button 4WD (at least in 2002-2004).

 

Oh interesting. But your shift boot has two levers?

 

The push-button actuator is in the shift knob for the T/C shifter. You still used that shifter to select 4-hi and 4-lo

 

Weld a bolt?

 

I took bellhousing to a machine shop today and they wouldn’t touch it. There are a few threads in the aluminum (before the tap broke off). I wonder if I could use JB weld and insert a stud in there. I could also try welding it with my spool gun, though I would need to get an aluminum stud instead of steel.

I don’t think a bolt would work because the slave cylinder needs to lay flat against that flange.

Are there any real good drill bits that I might try to drill out the tap? I’m assuming it’s hardened (but it still broke).

 

try another machine shop?
That's bonkers if a machine shop won't touch it.
Next bet would be to drill it out to a larger size and tap that. or those nut inserts machine shops use, the name is slipping my mind.

I was thinking a small bolt to weld onto the broken off tap and then try and back it out slowly that way.

You might wind up spending just as much on hardened bits as you would to find another housing.

 

I'll be watching this thread. Goal for me is to swap my DC. Best of luck.

 

Unfortunately, there is no part of the tap exposed. It broke off down in the home. I saw a guy on YouTuvbe use a 8 mm diamond hole saw to drill out a tap. A very slow process but seemed to work. I might try that.

I see that Marlin Crawler has housings for $150. Might just go down that path. It’s only money, right.

 

Haha

If you have a bit, maybe just a trench for a flathead.

 

I ordered a set of hollow diamond drill bits. Besides that, I think I have all the parts I need except for my transmission jack. I’m going to start the disassembly tomorrow.

I want to blast the crossmember and paint it. What’s the best media for this? Harbor Freight is having some big sale tomorrow so figured I’d pick some blast media

 

So today I swapped over the smaller brake pedal. The brackets are the same, so I just swapped over the pedal arm. Not a lot of room to get your hands under that dash, but it worked. My pedals are not lined up as nicely as @SafetyDang but it should still work.

Here’s a comparison of the two pedal arms.


And here’s the manual brake arm installed.

 

I’m going to throw her on the lift today and start removing stuff. Would you recommend I leave her in Neutral?

 

Front driveshaft is out. I think I have to cut the swaybar bolts out tomorrow.

 

Did a little work today. Had to cut the sway bar brackets off. I’m going to wind up cutting off the end bar links as well.



I used a needle gun to descale some of the rust on the front part of the frame. How should I protect it ? POR15? I’ll make sure to clean it up first, but was curious what the rust prevention method I should use.