Mike LaBranche

Don't. You only see half the issues from where you are now. Better to go get a 5spd... maybe a rough one, give you something to do.

blown 87

If you are not going to drive the car I would say do not do it, but if you do drive it, hell yes.
BTW, you can save the part that you cut out to go back to a auto if you need to, I did.

heinrich

Guys there is no way the car will be worth more as an auto. All it has going for.it is that it is a.rare colour. Rare colour with 5-speed will be so much more unique.

Markmandude

I say do it. I thought your car is super cool, but I personally wouldn't want it because it is auto. If it were a 5 speed then I would take it in a heart beat. Since it is such a super rare color, you are never going to find another 5 speed like it. Why not make it exactly how you want it? Finding a rare color combo is difficult, but even harder to find a rare color combo and 5 speed. To me it would make it much more valuable.

SanDiego928

May as well add my $.02 -

Difference would only be noticed on the fun roads I would imagine. Freeway/turnpike driving no difference. As far as value...seems like a lot of work to change an already special Porsche for one type of driving.

I know the PO said it was not easy when mine was converted but I am glad he did, but, I have only a 3k car not a 30k + car. Add 600 for new tires 3.6k car.

Imo000

Go for it, you'll get more enjoyment out of it. The difference between an auto and a 5-speed is day & night on EVERY road. When times comes to sell, it will be more desairable too.

Ispeed

I would say "Do it". You will have more fun driving it. If it were a 20K mile time capsule I would say not.

linderpat

Stan, just by the fact that you are asking indicates you think it might not be such a great idea for a major and irreversable mod on a rare combo car. I say don't do it. Pick up another 5 speed and have fun with that.

Podguy

Here is the page to the convertible conversion.

http://www.kondratyev.com/porsche/te...ansmission.htm

This is not rocket science. The two components that need to be changed. The rest is a bolt up. The 89 transmission is the one to have. It has the lower final drive gears and will really jack up the feel of the car.

You will want to start with an new clutch, master and slave cylinder and lower hose. You will probably want to put new bearings in the torque tube as well unless they are especially smooth. 928 Motorsports makes a coupler for the shift linkage I would recommend and getting a rear coupler is probably a good idea as well. Your transmission mounts are probably good.

I can send you a template for mounting the clutch bracket. It is important to that right as a bad angle will cause some future problems. I used the template to spray paint the hole and then drilled it out with a hole saw and cleaned it up into a perfect rounded corner hole. From there it is a snap to put on the bracket. I used some JB weld and pop rivets to mount the bracket. There is a punch out in the insulation for the clutch master so once the bracket is in and the insulation re-installed there is no telling the modification.

The shifter once it is removed is just a matter of drilling out some spot welds and the plate pops right out. I use a grinder and was actually able to recover the bracket for another car.

Time to mount the clutch pedal was a couple hours and is probably the easiest part of the job. Preparing the bracket too longer. The same fluid resiviour can be used just by cutting away the cap. Although I would recommend the red hose from Pegasus instead of the stock blue hose.

After that it is just a matter of dropping the rear suspension and swapping the flywheel and putting in the new cross member and trans in. About 8 hours especially if you have mostly new parts and are prepped. Probably the hardest job is finding some matching leather for the shifter.

That is one really nice looking car.

Dean_Fuller

Stan...can you elaborate on what the deal is with your middle console arm rest area????

Randy V

This.

Ispeed

You just like automatics because you can hold a drink with your right hand...

Mrmerlin

the console armrest was made for a factory phone,
all of that phone pieces were removed prior to getting the car

Mrmerlin

I still am thinking about this,
though it would make driving more fun it could also lead to more abuse for the car in general as I did drive the 86 harder than the 88

Flint Ironstag

Beautiful car, man... I can only imagine how good that color looks in person. Also, the Nakamichi head unit is class.

My vote is to do the conversion if you want a manual.