So I brought my car in today to start on my auto to manual swap. Hopefully they get it done right - they better for the pricetag of $1,088 including tax.

On top of that, I have to haul my **** over to Honda so they can reprogram my keys - another $97 added on.

Add in the price of MTF and brake fluid for the hydraulic clutch lines and that's roughly $30

Grand total for a swap excluding parts:
$1,215

The point of me writing this on here is to share with everyone the cost of getting an auto to manual conversion if they aren't doing the work themselves.

Nobody goes in-depth on these things. I was planning on only spending $450 to get the swap done, but the shop is being rather dumb about things and can't get me in for the next 3 months. Seeing as I need my car to be fixed (dead automatic transmission) and the price of a rental car would put me way beyond this $1,200 I saw it in my best interest to go with another shop.

I don't have the time or the tools necessary to do the swap myself, but for those of you that do - I suggest you try it out to save some money. Many people ask what they will need for their swap, etc. etc. but don't bother to ask how much it will run them or what all is REALLY involved.

Well this is it - this is the answer to the question if it arises. Look forward to spending about $3,000 in parts and labor just to get a transmission conversion done. Also, look for a reputable shop that will warranty their work if anything goes wrong with your car....which believe me, there are things that could go wrong such as your axles popping out. That can be VERY dangerous, and it is more common than you may think!

I was willing to pay over DOUBLE what I was originally quoted due to the fact that the information provided to me by the shop tech was far more substantial than that of the other shop. I was shown diagrams and was told EXACTLY what would be going on. Every detail was communicated to me and I've already spoken with him twice today for updates. You get what you pay for....one shop may have a nice price, but ask yourself - are they professional? Will they give you straight answers or just a runaround? Do they actually know what they're talking about? Do they warranty their work?

I hope this helps someone in some way....I just want to let everyone know what they are getting themselves into before they "jump the gun".

 

Very informative write up alot of people don't think of all the little stuff needed when doing the swap

Here is my experience on my 95 accord. I got all the parts for 300 bucks. I also purchased an upgraded clutch and flywheel costing 400. The install was 800 out the door, with a life time warranty on the labor. In total I spent right around 1.5k

 

You should easily be able to buy all the parts for under $800, so even if you have a shop do it, the total should be around $2000. Unless you buy all brand new parts (unnecessary) or an expensive clutch, you shouldn't need to spend so much. Having the time to research and finding the most cost effective parts for your needs are key.

 

I had a guy around here that is well known for really being good with building cars tell me if I bought all the parts he'd do it for $300. I thought about it but never did get him to do it.

 

If you do hunt around for the parts I'm sure they've said above for less than 800.

I would at that point just buy a new car with what I want.

I paid 3k for my car total lol

 

i got my parts for about 500 and clutch for 300. labor free, did it myself.

 

yeah. or think about doing an entire motor swap for the price of an auto to manual trans swap. Why bother with that? you still have a slow vehicle waste of time and money IMO.

 

Because none of that is the point here. Sure, I could have done an H22 swap...could have done a J32 swap, but I didn't want to. I don't need to run a turbo and have a 10 second car...that isn't my goal at all.

Not everyone is on this board to run a turbo or to even modify their car to such a high extent.

All the parts I bought were new except for the transmission itself. Where you guys get the idea of getting all the parts for only $300 is a bit extreme. You must have the transmission with 200,000 miles on it, used motor mounts, used hydraulic lines, and whatever else used. Not saying used parts are bad, but that was my choice to go to that extreme of buying new parts, etc.

The point of this thread wasn't so that I could get flamed and bashed on...it was just to inform people of the cost and things to look into. Who cares if it was a waste of time and money? Why get a motor swap? That's a waste of time and money....why do ANYTHING to your car? THAT is a waste of time and money. Where is that car going to be in 10 years? Will all the **** you did to it even matter?

How would anyone know how fast my car is? I haven't posted a time slip, I haven't said anything about what my car can do. Sure, maybe it's an F23, sure maybe I haven't added a turbo or anything but that doesn't mean my car is slow and it doesn't mean I can't do things people with a motor swap can do. You think you're hot **** talking like that - I see a lot of people that go into a thread and criticize and comment on how stupid someone is or just give some bs "answer" to the problem at hand and don't even help out. Yea, people like you cd7. HT is a great place....just a bunch of asshats here as well.

 

no ones flaming you dude. go take a shot of whiskey or something.
and yea, please tell me you'd run faster than a 16 second 1320. besides your thread is a waste of time in the first place. i just suggested that you wasted 3000 dollars for nothing. welcome to Hater-Tech bro.

 

yea yo chill, its not a big deal.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by accordcd_7 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">no ones flaming you dude. go take a shot of whiskey or something.
and yea, please tell me you'd run faster than a 16 second 1320. besides your thread is a waste of time in the first place. i just suggested that you wasted 3000 dollars for nothing. welcome to Hater-Tech bro. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Aside from my spew - Behemoth is a great band.

 

3k. for a swap. no way. your getting your leg pulled. i agree with Krisgh15 around 1300-1500 should be the price if your doing it yourself. add another 800-1200 for labor for a shop. ebay and local junkyards are your friend. the clutch kit, slave and master cylinder and tranny should all be either top notch or close as possible. otherwise you'd be replacing sooner than intended. mine went closer to 3k because of my mistakes. one thing they say do since your down there is go ahead and change the main seal. only do this if you know how to do it CORRECTLY. use a flat head on the inner ring, not the outter. writes ups i followed got me in trouble. i saw the damage i did to both the seal and the block. i had to get a shop to fix my screw up and the cost i paid was the cost they would have charged me to do the complete swap from the start. but, i gained experience and knowledge of both my mistake and my attempt to do the swap. also make sure you have the right bolts and line everything up perfectly. i order the correct bolts from honda, but the dealer sent wrong ones. i didn't find this out til i had another shop fix this part. would i do it again. sure would. it was fun and a self accomplishment. i don't regret the time nor the effort i put into it. i didn't have all the cash from the start so i had to be patient. i collected parts for a whole year and an half, until i had everything and was confident in myself that i could pull it off. so two years of research and a year and a half of collecting parts, i finally did it. only thing i need to do now is get her tuned with my hondata. i am still running the stock p13 auto. but i can tell that she does pull harder considering i control shifting points. third realy pulls. i top out at 70 pushing about 6k rpms.

 

just buy a stick it is easier

 

its only worth it if your car is hooked up and selling it and buying a 5spd isnt a good option like my case. all the body work i did, selling it would be a big loss. also getting an auto tranny rebuilt would have almost been as much as my tranny conversion. buying another used auto tranny too much of a hit or miss. lastly, my current turbo setup would trash an auto tranny in days.

 

Please excuse me because I'm new to this, but I have some concerns about the auto to manual conversion. I was wondering if you need to purchase a 5 speed motor aside from the parts necessary for the conversion? If so, I was wondering how much the complete conversion usually costs including parts, motor, and labor. Btw if there is anyone located in socal that is willing to do a conversion on my car please help.

Thank you