captainOCD

I promise I'll try and keep this shorter than my normal rambling. I have an opportunity to buy a manual trans swap from an 86 (don't know if it's 86.5 or not) US car that I'd eventually be transplanting into my blue 86.5 US car. The guy that owns the shop where the car is at did seem a bit familiar with 928s, but he never saw the car run or drive himself. It was purchased by his business partner, who isn't around anymore from what I gather, and the intent was to restore the car, but that never happened, so hopefully it has good bones.

The car has about 130k miles on it (new compared to my 230k mile car!). We specifically mentioned the trans, torque tube (with driveshaft and everything), front bellhousing, clutch (with flywheel, pressure plate, etc), shifter & linkage, pedals, slave cylinder, cutout of slave cylinder mount from firewall, rear axle (not sure if he meant the cvs or the diff), crossmember (assuming this means rear subframe), and mounts. His asking price is right around 2 grand and he said he has no problem throwing in any other odds and ends that don't take a bunch more labor to get out for the same price.

I think it's a fair price considering there is uncertainty with the condition of the trans here. What I would like to get some input on is if there are any other major parts or gotcha's that I'm not thinking of here. From poking around it seems like aside from modifying the firewall, I should be able to bolt everything in place? Am I going to be able to fit the pilot bearing to the crank? Things like that.

I know some people will say it's easier just to go find a 5 speed car, but I enjoy projects like this so to me it's not time wasted, but rather time spent doing something I enjoy.

So please let me know what you think. Should I go for it or am I being stupid and should run and hide?

mkhargrove

wait...first things first....you have an '84 parts car????

captainOCD

Yep. I've used some of the front bumper parts, lights, dash, central warning computer, etc from it. Planning to use the recovered seats and driver's side front fender yet.

Kevin in Atlanta

That's a really good deal, a great deal if the transmission is LSD. I would only add that sending the transmission to Greg Brown before you install it would be prudent. No surprises after you install it.

Find the thread where Carl did the same thing. He made a jig for siting the hole that you will need to be cut for the master cylinder - a really nice piece. - see if you can borrow it.

It is a lot of work, but worth it if you like challenges.

captainOCD

I forgot to ask if it was an LSD or not, I'll have to see if I can find out.

I guess a phone call to Greg would be in order to see what he'd charge for a ideal to a worst case scenario. I'd like to think I'd get lucky and the trans is fine and maybe he just needs to put new synchros in and call it good, but I usually don't have good luck.

I did see Carl's piece in his thread about doing the swap with a corvette trans. It looks like a really nice piece to have, so I'll have to ring him up.

I'm the kind of person that would rather spend a Friday or Saturday night wrenching in the garage than going out to bars or something. So I look at it as keeping myself occupied for a while with a side effect of getting a 5 speed in my car.

At this point, unless something turns out to be obviously wrong when I get there or someone has some compelling reason not to, I'll be talking to the guy next week to do the deal.

GregBBRD

That is a fantastic deal....get it done, before he comes to his senses.
The Borg Warner style transmissions are very robust, with the exception of the shift position spring and the reverse lockout spring.

Drain the gear oil and see how it looks. Remove the top cover and see if the springs are intact. If so, seal it back up, fill it with gear oil, and install it. If it has any issues, you can always take it back out, however the odds are very good that it will be fine.

captainOCD

Thanks for the input Greg. I'm gonna call the guy Monday and hopefully get the deal done.

captainOCD

I went and made the deal after work today. The car looked like it was in pretty decent shape (kind of sad to see it being taken apart), but did have a good bit of other parts taken off of it already. I paid about half today as a deposit and he's hoping to have all the parts pulled for me within a week or so. He's guaranteeing the parts for 90 days too, but I kind of doubt I'll have it swapped in that time.

Thanks again for the input guys!

GregBBRD

Good job!

A Borg Warner 5 speed, torque tube, clutch, with all of the pieces needed to convert the car, for ~2K, with a warranty?

Did you get his wooden leg, too?

BTW, if it is an 86.5, I'd be interested in the engine.

captainOCD

Better, it was right under $2000 after tax. (You beat me with the edit)

I think the guy was just happy to sell parts off of it. I'll probably be back for some of the interior parts too.

captainOCD

And this will have used up all my good fortune for a while.

Bigfoot928

have your car torn down while the parts are in transit. motivated to tear into and get it done.

captainOCD

Right now I'm kind of torn between jumping right into swapping things out vs enjoying the car as is during the rest of summer and saving this job for cooler weather. I was figuring that I should probably at a minimum change the torque tube bearings before putting it in the car since it seems like they're probably the hardest "consumable" to get back at after install. Guess it depends how stuff looks when I get it in my hands.

Jason89s4

Nice find.
You moved too quickly for me to reply, but I was going to say offer him $3,000 or so and just get the whole car!
Obviously you aren't afraid to take it out yourself. Personally, I'd prefer to take it out myself to know what I have, bagged and tagged, as opposed to getting it all dropped off.
Keep us informed on the swap.
-Jason

captainOCD

I did think about getting the whole car, I really don't have anywhere to put it right now.