Convert Auto to Manual Transmission

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It has to be a very special car to be worth it. Go to

- Pedal assembly

- Clutch master cylinder and associated plumbing

- Clutch slave cylinder

- Transmission shift linkage

- Transmission

- Various smaller items that I have forgotten

It certainly is doable for a somewhat advanced shade-tree mechanic using parts from the junk yard. If you have to pay for new parts and pay labor to have it done it will be way too expensive.

I agree. It's really expensive to convert from Auto to Manual or from Manual to Auto. In most cases--esp. with older cars--it's cheaper to trade it in on a car that already has a manual transmission.

I did this a while back with a '78 Accord. I bought a parts car for $500 and stripped it of the parts I needed. I was fortunate that I ran into only one problem that was easily handled. The parts car had manual steering while my car had power steering. This meant that the steering columns were different and I do some cutting and welding to my pedal cluster to get a clutch pedal bracket onto it as the parts car's pedal cluster wouldn't work. Everything else bolted up. In general, this was a lot of work and took several days but it was worth it in the end since the '78 Accord had the two speed Hondamatic which required shifting and the low gear had gone out. The age of the car probably helped to make the work go smoothly since this was when the phrase "Honda makes it simple" was still true. With a newer car such as a '96 Del Sol there could be any number of small differences that would make this conversion much more difficult (even if you did have a parts car available). If you're seriously interested in this project, then get a parts catalog for the two cars and start comparing which parts are different and which are not. Also check your car to make sure that it has the necessary mounting bolt holes available for any parts which are on the manual which are not on the automatic. In the end, unless you have a well equipped shop available to do the work in, you may find it considerably easier to buy a new car and then sell your old one.

Eric

Definitely.

Eric, You are 100 per cent correct. If someone in your town payed you to convert his old Honda from Auto to Manual--how much would you charge him?--just for your labor? Jason