Midship Runabout » manual

1985-1986 Mk I Automatic to Manual Transmission Swap

Darkday — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:35:01 +0000

These are not my steps they are from another AW11 owner.

Automatic transmission to manual transmission (1985 -86 MkI)

Extra tools I had to buy in addition to my normal hand tools:
Toyota Repair Manual or Haynes manual
10 mm deep socket
12 mm deep socket
14 mm deep socket
30 mm socket ½-inch drive (for axle nuts)
10 mm and 12 mm hydraulic nut wrenches
Drill bit (5/16)
A second hydraulic jack

PARTS I REMOVED FROM THE PARTS CAR Two 1985s, and one 1987) :
1. 5-speed transmission (which includes the shift lever on the transmission [selecting bell crank assembly: #3590F & control shift lever: # 33527] and reverse switch: # 84210) (Note: Use a transmission from an 85 or 86 if you have a 85 or 86 MR2. Sometime in 1987 they changed the transmission and I think the mounting point for the rear transmission mount may have changed.). Also need clutch release fork: #31240, clutch release bearing assembly: #31230, release fork ball: # 31236, and clutch release fork boot: # 31126.

2. Flywheel (may need resurfacing) (Note the early 1985 MR2s have a smaller diameter flywheel and clutch)

3. Master cylinder assembly: # 31410 (consider purchasing a new one)

4. Slave cylinder assembly: # 31470 (consider purchasing a new one)

5. There are five sections of hydraulic lines from master cylinder to slave cylinder and one section for the slave cylinder bleeder.

A. Hydraulic line from the master cylinder to the 90 degree angle fitting: # 31481
B. 90 degree angle fitting between the “L-shaped” line and the long hydraulic line that’s beneath the car: # 31481B
C. Clips between long hydraulic line and the line near the slave cylinder that attach the line to the body
D. Flexible hydraulic line: # 31481A
E. Short hydraulic line between flexible line and slave cylinder: # 31482
F. Hydraulic line for slave cylinder bleeder: # 31407

6. Transmission control cable/Slave cylinder mounting bracket for shift cables that bolts onto the transmission: # 33823 & 33826A

7. Rear transmission mounting bracket (May be the same used on the auto(?)).

8. Left and right drive shafts from a car with manual transmission (the drive shafts on the automatic transmission has a smaller constant velocity joint hub and the bolt pattern of the hub won’t fit the manual transmission)

9. Shift lever, knob and mounting bracket

10. Shift lever boot (including the rectangular wire)

11. Shift cables (check for wear)

12. Rubber seal for shift cables through firewall (Grommet: # 33821A, Dust retainer: # 33574F)

13. Brake pedal from manual transmission car

14. Clutch pedal assembly: # 31301, and mounting bracket: # 31305

15. All the nuts, bolts, and clips that held all this stuff together

16. Instrument panel and plastic part around it to get rid of the ECT switch (Although you might want to keep the switch for other purposes) and add the volt meter that’s on the M/T car’s instrument panel

17. ECU from the same year M/T car (1985 and 1986 are the same. I kept getting error codes when I used an ECU from a 1987 MKI.) NOTE: I have been informed that the A/T ECU will work with the manual transmission without any problems

NEW PARTS I BOUGHT:
1. Clutch pressure plate
2. Clutch disc
3. Throwout bearing
4. Transmission fluid
5. Hydraulic brake fluid
6. Electrical connectors
7. Cotter pins for the drive shafts
8. Rear transmission rubber isolator (Good time to inspect/replace all isolators for wear/tears)

The auto MR2 has almost all the attachment points for the conversion already in place. All you have to drill is two holes to mount the clutch pedal bracket and the larger hole for the master cylinder. Fortunately, one of the two panels that make up the firewall already has the master cylinder hole punched out. You just have to drill out the second panel to the same diameter.

You need to do a little rewiring to connect the back up light and bypass the start-in-neutral/park wiring used in the auto transmission. I strongly recommend that you take the parts off a parts car or remove the parts yourself from a pick-your-own-parts place. It’s difficult for me to describe how to install the hydraulic lines. You have to do it yourself to figure out how to remove them (and replace them on your car) without unbolting and removing a lot of other components. There are four sections of hydraulic lines. The line that connects to the master cylinder and the long section that travels beneath the car take a lot of manipulation to install.

1. Disconnect and remove battery.

2. Remove spare tire, spare tire support tubing (10 mm bolts) steel hoop and plastic that covers the hydraulic lines in front trunk.

3. Drain antifreeze.

4. Drain transmission fluid (optional).

5. Remove driver’s seat.

6. Remove steering wheel (one screw holds the center section to the wheel and a 17 mm nut holds the steering wheel to the steering column)

7. Remove paneling beneath steering wheel and triangular panel next to door hinge.

8. Loosen rear wheel nuts.

9. Place car on jack stands (? inches) The higher the better, but remember that you have to work on the car from the top and the bottom.

10. Remove brake pedal and install pedal from the manual transmission car (hard to do because of limited access)

11. Drill three holes through fire wall (2 for the mounting bracket, one large one for the master cylinder).

12. Install clutch pedal and mounting bracket (two nuts and one bolt 12 mm?) (hard to do because of limited access)
a. Electrical connection? (Cruise control switch/starter switch – I didn’t hook mine up because I don’t use the cruise control).

13. Install master cylinder.

14. Connect master cylinder to clutch pedal.

15. Install short metal hydraulic line (with rubber seal and fittings) (hard).
a. Disconnect bracket for air conditioning tubing
b. Disconnect hydraulic brake line (top to front left brake)
c. “90 degree” connector for hydraulic lines (10 mm bolt)

16. Remove front suspension bracket

17. Remove plastic covers beneath car

18. Install the long metal hydraulic line (hard)
a. Unbolt water line bracket
b. Unbolt air conditioner line bracket
c. Remove brake line bracket
d. Remove cross bracket under car
e. Support gas tank with a floor jack
f. Unbolt clips holding the brake line (10 mm)
g. Remove cotter pins holding gas tank
h. Start long hydraulic line at the front near the left suspension (tape up ends of the lines to protect the threads.
i. Gently bend/bow line downward at the center to create enough clearance for the line to rear frame member and rear portion of gas tank.

19. Reconnect clips that hold the brake and clutch lines.

20. Connect hydraulic line to “90 degree” connector.

21. Reattach water and air conditioner brackets.

22. Replace gas tank cotter pins, tighten bolts holding brackets

23. Reattach brake brackets

24. Replace two middle plastic shielding (leave last section off)

25. Remove Automatic shift cable bracket

26. Remove center console and rear cubbyholes

27. Remove four plastic plug holding carpet behind seats

28. Remove bracket that supports center console rear trays and hold down carpet.

29. Unbolt shift lever bracket.

30. Unplug electrical connector.

31. Unbolt plastic shielding on engine side of firewall (10 mm nut, 10 mm bolt, 10 mm screw)

32. Disconnect shifter cable from transmission.

33. Unbolt metal cap (two 10 mm bolts) bolted to firewall.

34. Pull rubber seal towards engine compartment.

35. Push out shifter cable and rubber seal into driver compartment.

36. Remove exhaust system
a. Unbolt three nuts that bolts the exhaust manifold to flexible downpipe
b. Unbolt two bolts holding exhaust assembly
c. Unbolt two bolts holding muffler near tailpipe
d. Push exhaust assembly towards left rear to detach from the car

37. Install left drive shaft and Right drive shaft
a. Remove rear wheels
b. Remove 10 mm nuts holding drive shafts to transmission
c. Remove cotter pins from nuts on end of drive shaft
d. Remove serrated cap
e. Remove drive shaft nut (30 mm)
f. Wire drive shaft upwards out of the way
g. With a rubber mallet, tap on drive shaft ends to remove the drive shafts

38. Remove Air Intake and AFM

39. Emission controls removal
a. Remove thermostat body

40. Unbolt transmission from engine
a. Use two floor jacks; one under engine pan and one under the transmission

41. Unplug electrical connecters to transmission

42. Unbolt the three transmission mounts

43. Lower Transmission/engine
a. The transmission should separate and slide off (Be careful! the auto transmission is heavy)
b. Unbolt starter gear and other items used for the auto transmission

44. Install flywheel, clutch, and pressure plate
a. flywheel and (new) bolts
b. clutch plate (new)
c. pressure plate (new) and bolts
d. throw-out bearing (new)

45. Install manual transmission

46. Install rear Transmission/frame rubber mount (new)

47. Seal transmission fluid cooler lines. There are two lines from the cooling system to the automatic transmission that can be plugged.

48. Install slave cylinder and bracket
a. slave cylinder
b. short flexible hydraulic line
c. two short metal hydraulic lines (from flexible line to slave
cylinder/slave cylinder to bleeder)

49. Electrical connections
a. rewire cruise control
b. wire clutch start switch
c. rewire backup light

50. Install manual shift system
a. Sifter plus bracket
b. shift knob
c. two shifter cables
d. shift boot
e. center console

51. Remove and replace combination meter (instrument panel)
a. Remove steering wheel hub (one screw)
b. Remove steering wheel (17 mm nut)
c. Remove triangular panel near dead pedal (10 mm nut)
d. Unscrew hood release latch (screw)
e. Remove lower panel beneath steering wheel (unplug mirror switch)
f. Remove headlight and wiper levers and unscrew aluminum nuts (17 mm?)
g. Remove screws to combination meter frame
h. Remove top cover
i. Slowly pull frame away from meter and carefully unplug connectors
Unscrew ___
Wiper indicator light
Door open indicator light (hardest to remove)
j. Unplug speedometer cable
k. Unplug the three electrical connectors
l. Unplug ECT switch

52. Remove A/T ECU and replace with M/T ECU (Optional as the A/T ECU will work for the manual transmission)

53. Refill fluids (coolant, transmission, etc.)

54. Replace battery and hook up power

This is how I rewired a 1986 AT engine bay harness. I used connectors to preserve the wiring just in case I wanted to convert back to the automatic transmission.

Manual Transmission Conversion

Darkday — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 23:41:38 +0000

First off, do not be affraid to do this conversion. Everyone who says it is difficult has probably never attempted it. Everything bolts on, and you can even keep the center console from the auto. This thread will only cover my manual conversion. I am choosing to keep it separate from my generation 3 3sgte swap, because even though i did them both at the same time, most people who do a gen 3 swap do not do a manual conversion.

parts and tools:
vice grips
12mm flare nut wrench
14, 12 & 10 mm socket and ratchet
hammer and flat head screwdriver

all other tools to remove transmission

new manual transmission
shifter cables
master and slave cylindars
clutch hard lines and soft line
clutch hard line connector
brake and transmission fluid
entire shifter assembly
grease
brake pedal from manual transmission mr2
clutch pedal and assembly

start off by removing the center console:

there are some electrical plugs to remove, and you must remove the bolts holding the entire shifting assembly onto the car. You can just remove everything and disconnect the cable. I didn’t know this at first, and since i didn’t intend on keeping any of the pieces I just broke everything and then figured it out you may need to keep the small black computer attached to the shift assembly. I have heard that if you just do a straight manual conversion that you need it to start the car, and the automatic shifter needs to be in park when you remove it. otherwise the car may not start. I believe you also need to plug that computer back in when you’re done. I did not need that computer, probably because i put in the gen 3 with the new harness designed for a manual. after that disconnect the cable from the transmission.

remove the transmission from the car. ( I took the whole engine out ).

remove the gas tank. ( this I needed to do anyway, and would not have otherwise known where to route the cables).

Install your new master cylindar in the frunk. it bolts directly to the clutch pedal you must also install now. there is a dust cover over the hole. push it out from the passenger compartment. place a light on the floor of the passenger compartment facing forward. this allows you to see where to mount the master cylindar. you need to install both pieces at the same time, and it is easiest with two people, although this is the hardest part of the swap IMO. you may notice there is a sensor on the pedal assembly. You will not have anything to plug there so don’t worry about it. generally you would need to depress the clutch pedal to start the car, but I do not need to. I thus assume that the ecu defaults to allowing you to start the car if the sensor bugs out. Its a good thing toyota did that . you also need to install a new brake pedal because the manual car uses a smaller pedal so there is room for the clutch pedal.

now, you may want to rebuild your shifter assembly.

It just takes some time and a little work you may need to get physical to get the shifter out of the bushing. I just hit it against a piece of steel until it came out (probably not the best idea, but it worked.) remove all bolts and retainers and washers, and just get the whole thing into as many peices as you can (remembering where everything goes of course ) now take a look at everything, isn’t that dirty!

clean everything well, and put fresh grease on the bushings. I took this time to install a TRD short shifter

Put it in the car!!! it bolts right in.

route your shifter cables through the rear firewall where your old one went. you can either customise that rubber seal to fit two cables, or get a new one.

see how the center console fits:

if you are just doing the manual conversion, plug that little black computer back in before you install the center console.

route your clutch lines. there is a short one from the master cylindar, and a longer one that attaches via connector to the short one. Use a flare nut wrench to connect them. size 12mm I believe for all connectors on the clutch lines. that is the only connector you need to buy. I got all my lines from Toyota. the long line follows the brake line perfectly, they even left dual hose brackets for you! Just unbolt them one by one and put them back on with both the clutch and brake lines in them. easy!

make sure your bleeder valve works for your slave cylindar BEFORE you put your transmission back in. its in a really bad place to replace if you break it. now put your transmission back in the car. fill it with fluid. hook up the flexible hose to the hard line at the front of the engine bay with a flare nut wrench (12mm). now you just need to bleed the system and you should be good to take it for a test drive. it took me an entire hour of bleeding for the pedal to get pressure, so don’t give up! Also, make sure you don’t let the master cylindar run out of fluid while bleeding. otherwise you get to start all over again!

Enjoy!!!