Auto to Manual Swap Write Up. Updated April 17, 2005

[Gigaherz]

You should be able to get your sct chip re-burned so that it disables the auto tranny functions. That what I intend on doing. THe harness will need a few alterations but other than that you should be ok.

[ZX3FROG]

But do you know which alterations that it needs?

<quote>Just curious where you are getting your parts???? Just curious, are you talking about the harness that runs from the engine bay back to the fuel tank??????
</quote>
The main harness that plugs into the PCM. I got most of my parts from a local junkyard, some from a local dealership, and a lot from Steve.

[Gigaherz]

I'm thinking the main thing that is different between the auto and manual harness besides the clutch pedal position switch is the fact that the auto harness and ecu use a two wire OSS (Output shaft speed sensor) to tell the ecu and cluster what speed you are running at. The manual tranny harness and ecu use a three wire VSS (Vehicle speed sensor) to tell the ecu how fast you are going. So, now if you disable the auto tranny functions in the ecu and don't modify the harness the car should run but won't have the safety of a clutch pedal position switch keeping you from starting the car in first gear and your speedometer won't work without the vss on the manual tranny hooked up.

However, I think that if you just install a factory clutch pedal position switch in the spot on the pedal assembly and wire it in series with the starter wire off the ignition switch or alternately to a relay in series that cuts the voltage to the starter relay that would take care of the safety problem.

Now for the speed to work I think it can be done easily as well. Not sure if it will work though till I try it. On the auto, you have a signal from pin 58 on the ecu sent and returned to pin 33 on the ecu. The manual uses the same pin 58 and same color wire to send the signal to the vss. However it has an extra pin that voltage is applied to and a direct ground instead of a return. I think that if you run a switched +12v wire to pin 3 on the vss, hookup a ground to pin 1 and hookup the signal wire to pin 2 it might work on the auto ecu. For all I know it might fry it instead. I will find out once my motor is finished and start messing with this.

Here are some schematics of the various plugs and wiring...


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[ZX3FROG]

Have you talked with anyone about disabling the auto features in the PCM via a chip?

[Gigaherz]

yes and I have also seen the setting in my pro-racer package

[ZX3FROG]

U did you talk with. I like this approach better. I am thinking that the reason I can not start the car now is because of the automatic programming in the PCM. I am thinking that since the PCM is not recieving a signal saying that the gear select is in PARK or NEUTRAL, it will not allow the car to start.

[Gigaherz]

Fordchips and Sct told me it could be done. I don't remember if they said they have done it on a focus or not yet though, might have only been actually done to mustangs. I'm still not 100% sure it can be but I def think I have a good shot.

[ZX3FROG]

I am going to send chip down to Randy on Monday and he is going to take a crack at it. That would make everything easier. We shall see, I will keep ya posted.

Patrick

[digitalvehicle]

ZX3FROG, I have the same car as you, RF Kona. I like it a lot, but would much rather have a manual transmission. I bought this car because I needed something better on gas and with more room for the kids i'm about to get packaged with my girlfriend. I've followed the posts to this point, and I really think this swap seems too complicated for what it is. It looks to me like you damn near need a whole donor car to do it properly. I have a cousin that swapped a manual transmission into an auto probe a couple years back. He had a totalled probe to work with, and his swap took about a week. Could you possibly swap computers out vs swapping a whole harness?

As for the benefits of a swap vs trading cars, for some people that is not an option. Frog already has a bunch of engine mods that he spent time and money on, and swapping cars to find one that is the same is near impossible. Also, he has a Kona.

From the looks of everything, a person might as well do the engine swap at the same time, since you already have to do all this wiring stuff. But I digress.

I think that this swap is actually easier than it's being made seem so far. The hard part, as I can see it, is simply Frog not knowing what parts he needs or the exact steps to take. When he has it all done and running, i'm sure he will be able to write up a complete swap howto, and the next guy to attempt it will find it a piece of cake. I have to pay off the loan on this car, otherwise I would consider doing the swap.

Anyway, keep us posted frog, you're near the end of your journey

[ZX3FROG]

I have to pay off the loan on this car, otherwise I would consider doing the swap.

Just outta curiosity, why would you need to wait for the loan to be paid off? Doing something like this to your car does not void your loan? You just better know that you are in a posistion that u will pay the car off. It would suck if you got the car repoed and you did all this work to it.

[ToTalXS]

It would suck if you got the car repoed and you did all this work to it.

on the other hand...it would be funny when the bank recieved the car and its a 5spd as aposed to an auto like they show in their books and the vin number suggests.....i really commend you guys for doin the swap.....would be neat if someone ever came up with a kit..all in one so no chasin for parts..lol....that definately would be spendy...
-Shawn

[ZX3FROG]

The problem with getting buying a kit that had everything you need is that it would cost a lot more to do the swap. I mean, some parts are hard to get at a good price. If you got everything from a dealership, even if you got the parts 10% above cost, it still would be alot more costly. It would be cool though.

The current update for my swap is as follows:

On monday, I should have my chip back from Focus Sports with the new programming (Got rid of all automatic trany functions)

Need to get axles.

And that is it. Hopefully, I will be off and running by the end of the week, but it all depends on if the chip works. I will keep you posted.

Patrick

[secondechomatt]

any updates yet?? did the chip work?? the suspense is killin me, its worse than when i had to wait for the series finale of felicity!

[ZX3FROG]

The current update is that I completly screwed up my factory anti theft system and have to take the car into Ford to have them reprogram the computer. Since I have to take it in, then I am just going to have them program the manual computer. It is just seems to be the easier thing to do. I wish I could have got the car to work with the chip and stock auto computer, but I really want my car back, so I am just going to put in the manual computer.

Unfortunantly, I have to wait untel the 10th of June before I can take it to ford, so I will update after that.

[Gigaherz]

If you put in a manual computer then you will have to bypass or setup a clutch pedal switch otherwise the car won't start.

[Jeffery]

This is the crap that pisses me off. If we wanted to get a performance automagic, we would. NO, we want to swap to a 5spd. Everyone has their reasons. For me, I HAD to get a car and couldnt wait on a 5spd. Driving auto's aren't fun. As far as performance gains go, the driveline loss is less in a 5spd than it is in an atx. So why wouldn't you see some gains? Hell, just in stock form, there is a difference in 7-10hp. My conversion cost so far is $1450 and thats with a quaife, cm stg 4, and FS flywheel. What does a peformance automagic go for $$$$?

Automatic must be a killer. Just look at the Rx-8 between manual and auto. The hp difference is over 30. I'm glad I don't have an auto. Although in traffic sometimes you would rather have an auto. I think the automagic is more than what it would cost than to convert to manual. That is if you do it yourself. Then again if you aren't doing it yourself it might still be cheaper.(You would still have to get that automagic installed.)

[ZX3FROG]

It would cost a lot more to have someone do this swap then to replace the automatic if it blows. It also all depends on where you get the parts. I think I paid around $350 for the last auto tranny from a junkyard.

I know that I will have to bypass the clutch posistion switch. I can live with that.

[Majikal]

Lets say I have a donor car, and only need a couple pieces like the slave cylinder and what not, but i HAVE the computer from the donor car which IS mtx. Would I still need to replace the main wiring harness, even with the new computer?

[Majikal]

anyone? beuler? beuler?

[Dudley]

anyone? beuler? beuler?

Who the hell is beuler? Did you mean Bueller?

ZX3frog would know much better than I do, but it sounds like the wiring harness would still have to be replaced. But if you have a donor car, you should be all set as far as parts are concerned (labor will be a killer, though).

I'm still surprised that the wiring harness has to be changed, but I haven't researched the swap at all, so I don't want to sound like an armchair quarterback. If you have a manual-tranny PCM to play with, I think the swap will be a lot simpler. AFAIK all you need to change sensor-wise would be the vehicle speed and crank position sensors. You also need to add the clutch pedal position switches. The VSS isn't necessary to get the engine started, and the clutch sensors can be temporarily bypassed, so it shouldn't require too much trial and error to see if it works. Tricking PATS will be simple - you just need to make a non-PATS copy of your current key, and hold the manual-tranny PATS key near the ignition switch during cranking.

Personally, I wouldn't be willing to try the swap without a donor car on hand. I give ZX3frog a lot of credit for trying this "mix and match" approach.

[TravEsD20]

WOW . I just read this whole thing and it's a great write up thus far. It looks like alot of people are counting on you to finish this project frog (including me ). Definitly need to do the final how-to when you're finished, cause my auto sounds like it could go at any time and I would LOVE to have a stick in my car. You've given me hope on accomplishing that dream . Good luck on the rest bro .

[secondechomatt]

well, I got to meet a guy at my church this weekend, who is the head of Roush focus R and D.....He told me a few things, but one of them is that to convert the focus over to MTX, other than the obvious parts, wiring wise, there are only two wires that need to be bypassed! I am going to talk to him more tomarrow, and see if i can track down an exact on it.

Thus giving hope to all of us cursed with the automagic!

[Z63R]

Thus giving hope to all of us cursed with the automagic!

Halleluja brother.

It's finally time for me to start putting this together.

Looking forward to more excellent info and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

[Hybridzetec]

hey thinking about hunting down the parts..already found a mechanic that is willing to do the job..is that list exactly what i'll need or most of it?

[crashmech13]

you need to have the PATS reprogrammed, do you have to take it to a dealer to have this done, and do you have to take the car or just the ecu box and the key? really need to know i got all the parts and am just about ready to start the project.