[ax0n]

By "not that much performance increase" I mean that 7-10 HP is a hell of a lot cheaper to come by with an I/H/E, or a Chip alone. It looks like this swap will run you close to $2K once you count all the nickel and dime parts, paying for services like towing, breaking axle nuts loose, PATS reprogramming, and the like.

I know our autotragics don't hold up to a lot of abuse, but if you look around, the 5 speeds aren't without their problems. As a lover of manuals and a hater of autos, though, I still don't see how it's practical. Possible, yes, but unless your car is 100% paid off and 100% out of warranty, and you have a few weeks to sit around and figure it out and get the parts that you need, I don't see how it's practical.

Now, all that said, I respect the time, effort, and research you're putting into this. As "The FocusHacks Guy", I can tell you're into tweaking stuff and circumventing limitations that most other people would just accept as the way of things. My reply was mainly for the guy who says he isn't all that great of a mechanic. This swap is most certainly not for everyone. If your car is 2000-2002, could probably sell your Focus and find one almost exactly like it with a 5 speed, used, and it would cost you less money.

In the end, I see this as another pipedream that many people will ponder and stew over, a few will attempt it and succeed, some will attempt it and break something. It's like the honda owners that say they're gonna drop an H22 into their 1979 accord, or the people who see the V8 Focus videos and say they're going to build one too.

You're far enough along that I'm sure you'll complete the process, and others who have been around a long time and know their stuff, like jptech perhaps, might also pull it off in the future, but in the meantime, I can't see stringing along dozens of automatic-driving meeeetoooo fanboys with clutch-foot syndrome. It's not going to be as easy as it looks, guys. This definitely isn't a "bolt-on upgrade". Alone, it certainly won't cut 2 seconds off your 1320 times. It won't yield impressive gains at the dyno, especially once you count the cost up and consider you could have had a better valve body AND nitrous.

One thing it is, though, is a serious revamp of your car's very essence and infrastructure, and a lot of work. Sorry if I ruffled a bunch of feathers.