I have cracked, I can't stand my auto any more. I am going to do a T5 conversion on my EBII Fairmont. I hade done this conversion before on my EA Ghia, but I replaced the motor at the same time, this time I will be leaving the motor in.
I have most of the parts in the shed from when I put a 3spd back in the EA when the T5 died. What I plan on doing is putting the pedal box and stuff in myself over a weekend and taking the car and the box to a mechanic to get put in. Basically all they will have to do is change the flywheel, bolt the clutch on and fit the box. I will do all the fiddly and cosmetic stuff myself.
The reason I am opting for this is the fact that I am working full time now and don't have the time or the nessecary equipment do the full conversion myself. I can simply drop the car off in the morning and pick it up when I finish work. How much do you guys think a mechanic would charge to do this?
I have the clutch sitting here out of my EA, but because it has been out of a car for a long time it has a layer of surface rust on it. Will it still be OK to use or do you think I should just buy a clutch kit?
I also have an ECU out of an EA 3.9L MPFI 5spd, will this run my 4.0L motor? Will I lose performance or anything?
Thats all I can think of at the moment. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Done this conversion myself and have some words of advice. It is only worth doing if you have a good newish car in great condition. Be prepared for a lot of unexpected problems that could cost you lots of money.
Me personally if I had my time again. Even though I love my car i would buy a car in manual before converting one.
Provided I get a good box, it's not that hard to do if you take your time and do a good job. The reason the EA didn't work out is the box I bought was shagged before it went in. It lasted a few months and was the best performance mod one could do to an E series. The only problem I had from the conversion was the box shitting itself. I will make sure I get a good one this time and if it's not the supplier will here about it and something will be done. A 5spd Fairmont is VERY rare even non-existent. I want to retain a "luxury" type car without sacrificing fun, driveabliliy and performance.
Hey guys, just bought an EBII GLi which was converted to a 5 speed. Goes like a dream, no troubles at all. Just want to ask, why is it a problem coverting auto to manual with the smartlock, is that all to do with the computers?
Probably only a hassle because the computers are hard to find. EBII/ED Smartlock models ran for about 2 years and 5 speeds were very rare.
The auto transmission computer can't be fitted because it had a in-built ECU for the transmission, and non-Smartlock is also out of the question because the car will not start with out it.
i did the same conversion in an eb II fairmont. Make sure you get a wiring loom from a manual xr6, and the std I6 wiring loom does not have all the wires for the BEM module. You will also need the loom to go from the trans to the engine harness for reverse lights, nuetral sensor and cruise controls. Make sure youalso fit a clutch deactivation sensor for your cruise, as i did not, 1st time i used the cruise on the highway, went up a hill, went to down shift from 5th to 4th, and the thing rev its clacker out.
Also, no need to change ecu's, the std one will just sound out shifting signals, but no-one will be home to hear them, does nothing to the car. Mine was fine.
Make sure you get a new cable kit though, clutcha dn accelerator, as mine wore out in about 2 weeks.
Apart from that, good luck with the conversion.
Oh and also, you might want to strengthen up the pedal box before you put it in, they are prone to breaking, and its hard to do the repair in the car.
Also, no need to change ecu's, the std one will just sound out shifting signals, but no-one will be home to hear them, does nothing to the car. Mine was fine. <---- Theres a bit more to it than that. When I was running my EA on a 4l auto computer it would never idle properly. 500 rpm to 2500rpm very annoying. We also couldnt get it to go into self test mode to set the timing on a ford diagnostic computer possibly from the million codes it threw relating to the suto not being there. There are manual smartlock computers out there, I was lucky and got one from a XG ute that was 5 speed (93 model) which I also recently sold to a guy doing this very thing. Theres also been rumours of being able to fool the computers with resistors etc.
Well at least for EF-AU, dunno about EB but I imagine so.
In any case if you did have smartlock you can run the car with a non-smartlock computer. I have.
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