Auto to Manual Conversion

Whats the feasibility of swapping from a 3rd gen TRD Sport Auto to a 6 speed manual with 4x4? What mods parts would be required? Can do everything myself. TIA

 

discussed before, the matching ECU and a chunk of wiring harness becomes the "is this really worth it" point

 

https://www.dieseltoys.com/2016-2023-tacoma

Auto to manual swap is free if you go this route

 

Yeah. It’s a ton of work and the only way to really make the money make sense is to find a wrecked donor and strip it out.

 

No, and no one would want to buy it when you get ready to sell. They will buy a factory installed manual truck that matches the specs of the VIN

 

@CVOTRDSPORT, it will cost you less to sell the automatic TRD Sport and buy an otherwise identical manual TRD Sport. That and it will get done quicker, be more reliable, and sell for more when the time comes.

 

FTFY

 

Are you related to @TenBeers ?

 

I haven’t run the numbers, but I’m guessing this is a bad idea for anything as new as a third gen. It’s typically something you do with something much much older and cheaper.

I traded my 2016 SR5 AT for a 2020 OR MT. I think it cost me $10k. I forget the mileage I had on the 2016. The 2020 was new.

 

I love these threads because someone will always come in and chide us for dream squashing.

Possible, yes. Feasible, no.

Reason: it's easier and cheaper to
A) trade it for an equivalent manual
B) buy, register, and insure a used toy to get all the stick shift jollies out of your system.

Me personally, I went option B. Stick toys are way more fun anyway.

 

I did these auto to manual and 6 cylinder to V8 conversions back when cars had breaker points & carburetors. It was a lot of work, to do it well was a lot more work.

If you had the absolutely identical truck (except transmission) sitting right next to yours it would still be a lot of work -- probably wouldn't ever be 100% right and nobody with any smarts would buy it.

Short version: Like what you have or buy what you want.

 

The only reason I wouldn’t do the swap is because the firewall and floor pan are different between the two models. The shifter and pedal areas are different to where you won’t have the support and holes for either to accept the other easily.

The rest of it is really just the hydraulics, the wiring harness, and the transmission and clutch parts and driveshafts. That part wouldn’t be too bad, but it’s making it “work” in the cab that would bother me. Easier to just buy the right one from the start unfortunately…and that isn’t always either, because pickings are slim.

The fact that the auto sport is long bed would add some additional snags.

 

Point of pedantry - the frame crossmember locations (and subsequent mount points) are different between 2WD and 4WD models.

And they're frustratingly, hair pullingly, pointlessly different. The 2WD transmission crossmember is almost one inch forward from the equivalent 4WD.

Some of us who ordered cat shields have learned this the hard way.

 

Yes, but that doesn’t affect the OP, he would be 4x4 to 4x4.

 

trade in

 

Um... Wait.

Ignore me. I didn't know what I was rambling about.


Whisky fueled brain fart.

 

Ive done this with a 99 jeep XJ, it only barely made sense then because manual late run XJ's were quite rare. Manual tacomas arent that uncommon (ive owned 2) and waaaaay more involved electronically than a 90's jeep.

100% not worth it, just trade it in.

 

Did it back in the day with a 95 Dodge 12V cummins. Non Electronic 47RH to the NV4500. Got a palette delivered with trans, t-case and driveshaft and it was a fair bit of work but all mechanical. I don't recall anything electronic being done. I wouldn't dare dream of it now as many have stated, with all the electronics. You do you, though, OP.

I'd just trade it in and eat the difference to find what I really wanted.

 

Hmmm...some notes I discovered while digging into this myself. Its incredibly possible (toyots are pretty much legos). I have a long bed and is the only reason ive been researching it. If you have a shortbed, you may want to consider the trade in route. As the cost is negligible at that point.

Manual ECM is a must. 2nd gen swappers have done a lot of tuning to try to get it working on auto and it does but its never right as the manual version wont have any curves like an auto would.

I can not confirm or deny this for 3rd gens. But 2nd gens need to have the matching ABS module that you got the ECM from (same truck, not model same truck so if you buy an ecm from a truck make sure you get its abs module). Toyota had a bunch of different modules for different models with or without towing etc etc for 2nd gens, it was a long list. The list for 3rd gen modules is much shorter where they seem to base off 4x2 and wheelbase mostly (weight balancing) So if you have a longbed using a shortbed module, the braking parameters for that module are gonna be off. I.e the module applies pressure differently on long wheel base vs short wheel base and 4x2 vs 4x4. This is a life/safety thing as the 3rd gen uses the abs module for its TSS system. Just keep it in mind for a risk.

The firewall is literally the exact same as its manual counterpart just sans the holes for the hydraulics, i learned this by watching this video (https://youtu.be/ivEjVsXNT9U?si=2bcARBYshoII3yI5) guy swaps his 5th gen 4runner using a 3rd gen tacoma clutch assembly. Spoiler alert, if you dont care to watch, he had the interior completely stripped and discovered that the 3rd gen pedal assembly basically mounted in the exact place as it would if the holes had been there you just have to mark your holes and drill away. Easier in a stripped interior for sure but 2nd geners have done so by not stripping the interior. This is hyper critical has it will be the part you feel, so get it right.

The tunnel has to be cut (obviously) but all the interior components are available for a clean swap.

Otherwise from the research ive done, its pretty much like what @BLtheP was saying, its just mostly hydraulics at that point. Fuckin Legos, thanks toyota.

Expense wise, I estimate its somewhere around 5k worth of parts, it really depends on what kind of deals you can get, transmission prices vary pretty wildly, ecm especially manuals can be pricey however lately ive seen them in the sub ~200 range. ABS modules also tend to vary, ive seen them as cheap as 80 bucks but as high as 400. So it can easily be more but you can make up some money selling the auto components. Also thats if you do the labor.

And and just another note, this is a lot easier on a sport/sr5/Sr. Offroads have the electronic braking system and that is different. So if you are doing a

 

Yeah I was wrong about the firewall...it is the same, although the holes to make will suck to cut, because the manual pedal assembly has a flange on it that you need to make room for both the hard line and hose connections to poke through.

The floor pan is definitely different, as the auto shifter and the hole for the manual lever and boot are very different. Getting the auto floor pan to work with the boot may be tricky.

The ABS module is a solid point - but I don't think it will matter for this situation since he has a Sport. I can only find short wheelbase vs long wheelbase, no difference in transmissions. This is because he has a Sport with the true ABS module. On the hydraulic booster models (OR/Pro), they actually use a different version for the 3 trucks (SWB auto, SWB manual, LWB auto). I don't know for sure, but my assumption is the difference in transmissions for the hydraulic boosters comes down to MTS, CC, and A-TRAC. So if somebody was trying to build a LWB manual OR, that could be a problem or maybe you just lose A-TRAC and it's not that big of a deal. I'm not entirely sure.

I don't know for sure but I would think the wiring job wouldn't be too bad. The engine harness contains all the transmission specific wiring, so he would need a manual transmission engine harness. That harness is only for the engine/transmission/transfer case, and it pgoes through the firewall and plugs in behind the dash. It should be compatible with any 4x4 truck dash harness...I think they all have the same plugs and pinouts in that area.

The only other snags I can think of are the electronics tied to the vehicle. Namely, the ECM and Combination Meter. Since those both have the mileage plugged in, I don't think you can just swap them between trucks. And you probably wouldn't want to keep the auto cluster in the newly manual truck, because that might have some weird incompatibilities and maybe throw some error codes. So I'm not sure a solution really exists there.


In all reality, this swap will probably never happen, but it's fun to daydream and discuss anyways.