A customer dropped off his early '86 32v car to have the 4-speed automatic removed, the car converted to manual transmission, and a 6-speed Corvette transaxle put in.

Here are a few pics, I will add more as it progresses.

First, (of course) the whole automatic transaxle drive-line comes out....

 

Here are photos of the firewall before we begin on the automatic car. Brake booster and brake master cylinder removed. Clutch pedal is already hanging, waiting for the clutch master!

 

We made a template from a manual transmission donor car of the firewall section we are working on. Here the template is located on the firewall by bolts through the holes for the brake booster. Then we can outline the hole we need to make for the clutch master.

 

Then the hole through the firewall is cut in…

 

The mount for the clutch master carefully removed from a manual transmission donor car. We trimmed off the bottom-most piece of it that we do not need.

 

The mount is coated with a bead of sealant, and riveted in place. We used Steel-bodied steel-mandrel rivets. They are rated at 590 lbs shear strength and 810 lbs tensile strength.
Note that the clutch master mount is located on the inside of the firewall – so when you press the clutch pedal you are actually pushing the mount on to the firewall. These rivets only locate it and prevent it from drifting around. They are much stronger then they need to be.

 

The clutch master cylinder installed.

 

Of course there is a lot more to the conversion than just the pedals and the firewall mod to hold the clutch master cylinder. But I thought you'd like to see this particular section exploded out....

We have changed out the bell housing, and are waiting for the new flywheel to arrive. Our 6-speed kit to install the Corvette transaxle is waiting on the floor next to the car, all set to go. Just need that flywheel...
Doing small projects while we wait, like modifying the shifter area to hold the manual trans shifter boot.

I will post more as it progresses.

 

Excellent documentation Carl, thanks for sharing! Always wondered what the first step of a Derogerization looked like.

 

Nice....thanks for sharing

 

Extending what Rob defined as "Derogerization"..... would that mean that anyone going from manual to automatic would be - rogered...?

 

thanks for posting, this makes it look very doable for many....I did not know you worked on customer cars !!!!!! way to go !!!!

 

awesome work!!

what do think a conversion would cost if you had all the parts.?

what does that 6 speed cost?

 

You asked at a good time. I happen to have all his receipts here for everything. I purchased everything for the customer - all the Chevy stuff and all the Porsche 928 stuff. Ticket comes to about $12,000 complete, but this customer is using our GT3 dual-disk clutch kit and a few other upgrades. Figure about $2000 for labor if we do the conversion and the installation.

 

Andy: we do and we don't. We will not do maintenance and repair work, but we had enough customers say "I'll buy a supercharger kit but only if you install it" or "I'll buy your suspension kit (or brake kit, etc) but only if you install it" that we had to listen.

So I opened our shop to install our kits for the customers who want that about 3 years ago, and it has become an important part of our business.

This Automatic-to-manual conversion is never going to be a kit we can ship. So it will likely always be done here.