Young Angus

Hi everyone, im new here, and i love my old fords...manual ones!

Im looking at an XR wagon at the moment which has an excellent body and paint job with no rust, but its guts aren't too good. It has a duel fuel windsor 302 with an auto transmission in it and although it starts every time no worries on gas it doesnt really perform that well.

I want a manual V8 (dont we all) so im thinking about maybe getting it and paying someone to put a 4 speed top loader in it or something (which i would buy myself separately probably).

Now how much do you guys think this would cost me (melbourne australia) because ive heard its a bit of a job putting a manual in an auto car, and im no mechanic myself although i do little bits on cars, nothing that major because i just dont have the space.

Also, if the engine doesnt perform that well now, do you think it would perform better with a tune up and a good manual trannie?

Cheers

xyfmtjoe

Gudday there,
short answer a shit load if you paid someone else to do it!
If you hunted around a complete setup could be found around $1000 pedal box and all. Mind you a toploader is a bit much for what you need I think a single rail is a better box to use everyday ie; easier and faster changes. a lot cheaper box that can be had for 50-100 bucks these days.

The engine performance will benifit from a good tune and the car will seem to go better with a manual as less hp is used to turn it compared to an auto box!

hope this helps

__________________
Ford mad and proud of it 71xyfmt, 96ef xr8, 82xe 's'pac 400k old workbus!

81foXDwagon

As XYFMTJOE has said, its costly.

Mainly labour is involved though. The pedalbox is a ba**ard to put in, since the steering column has to be removed and the dash half disassembled. A different bellhousing is needed also?? The tranny itself isnt much to bolt up, although the hole where the auto pokes through may have to be modded (not sure tho).

Also consider that the centre console in the car will either have to be modded or replaced.

I got a reputable wrecker to change my XD wagon from auto to manual. To minimise costs I installed the pedalbox with the auto still in, and took the centre console out completely. When it got there, all they had to do was bore a hole for the gearstick, put a cluch cable on, different flywheel and bellhousing fitted, then bolt up the tranny.

When it got home I put the centre console in, and finished it off.

That been said, its definately worth the conversion. I personally hate automatics as you lose power turning the fluid around accelerating, and wear your brakes down about twice as quick trying to stop.

Young Angus

Thanks for the replies, they do help lots.

I too hate automatics, for those reasons! I just cant stand driving them now.

The XR i was talking about barely has a centre console for the auto tbar, and i wouldnt care if the stick was just sticking out of the floor to be honest, not for the start anyway, so long as it drove well. That XR and its current auto actually is a bit funny, its been hooked up so that when the guy puts it in drive position it only has the bottom two gears, but if he puts it in second gear position it uses all three! Who knows...bloody autos!

The single rail sounds good, i dont know that much about transmissions and just thought a top loader was a high performance gearbox. A car i went to see today actually had an m21 4speed gearbox on a 253 v8, pretty sweet setup!

Just talking money wise for labour, how much labour (time and cost of it) do you think is involved in doing this job for a pro?

Cheers again!