changster123

I can't find if anyone has ever successfully converted from auto to manual for the 997.1 Turbo. Has this ever been done?

Does anyone have any resources to find out? I've searched.

Please don't tell me to buy a manual. I want to do a Tip to Manual conversion and that's that.

Thanks!

epacman17

Car manufacturers generally try to keep as many of the parts as possible common between variants. Unless the Porsche 997 Turbo is different , it should be a matter of "just" replacing a bunch of parts. It's possible the engine ECU complains because of missing CAN signals from the Tiptronic unit, but it should run anyway, and it might be possible to reflash the ECU with manual specific software.

This is all just speculation of course.

o7silverturbo

I have never done this on a 911 turbo but I have done a auto to manual swap on my 06 mustang gt. Let me tell you what a pain in the a** it was. I dont think I would do a swap like this on a newer car ever again unless I was getting paid to do so.

I dont believe the pcm can be rewritten from auto to manual(someone correct if im wrong) also going to need a wiring harness. They are never the same.

Im not going to tell you to buy a manual but it would be a lot cheaper.

Anything is possible if you want to spend the time and money doing it. Swapping my GT cost me about $4500.00.....For a 911 tubro your looking at $15-20K?

saabin

A guy recently did a PDK to MT conversion on his 991 GT3RS.

https://rennlist.com/forums/991-gt3-...but-i-did.html

Clearly not the same as what you want to do, but I would think the mechanical parts should be a straightforward swap. It's the programming and wiring harness differences that would require some research.. certainly wouldn't be a cheap project.

changster123

Thank you guys. If you ever hear or anyone completing it for the 997.1 Turbo do post it.

epacman17

Powertrains are usually made quite robust against problems with missing ECUs etc. If you just bolt on the parts you will probably have warning messages, PASM not working etc. but you should still have a car that runs and drives. I tried mine without the AWD unit, and I got a warning message on the dash (and possibly RWD only, not sure) but still full power from the engine and everything else working.

I would be interested to see someone do it.

jordanturbo

I think it depends on how thoroughly you want to do the swap, but some of the obvious items would be transmission, shifter and linkage, I believe the drive shafts are different lengths, clutch pedal and cable assembly, new interior carpets (if you want to get picky) new wiring harness, I am not sure whether you would need a whole new DME or if it would just be a separate Transmission Control Module, or both. I have done it in much simpler cars and it is a HUGE pain in the ***, where all the little tid bits nickle and dime you to death.

I definitely dont think that this swap would be worth the hassle given the availability of vehicle but I wish you luck on your endeavour

Catorce

I think it wouldn't be that hard on this car. What I like about the Getrag 6MT is that it's actuated by one of the simplest cable shifters I have ever seen, which means you will have zero issues installing at least the shifter part. That is where lots of the problems lie in other rod type installations.

The only thing that will be nasty that I can think of is installing the hydraulics for the clutch pedal and the clutch pedal itself. This will require removal of the fuel tank.

In the end, you'll probably drop the motor/trans, cardan shaft, fuel tank, and quite possibly the front diff.

The electronics part is easy. PIWIS can tell the car it is a 6MT. It won't be glitch free at first but it is all possible.

pfbz

My guess is that a conversion would be many times more expensive (not to mention time consuming) then simply selling your tip and buying a manual... Particularly if you don't plan on doing all the mechanical work yourself and have access to (and know how to use) a PIWIS system.

In the case of the GT3-RS linked above, the owner wanted to create something that simply wasn't offered by Porsche and had an open-checkbook approach.

Unless your existing Turbo particularly unique or special in a way that would justify an otherwise 'not cost effective vs. the alternative' solution...

All that said, if your committed to doing it, go for it! Please keep a detailed log of every part number needed, custom solutions required, and hours/$$$ spent on the project!

A wrecked manual turbo might be a good start... pull the parts you need, part out the rest to fund the enormous cost.

MadScience

You asked us not to tell you to just buy a manual, but I'd +1 the above regardless.

In fact I'd bet the cheapest way to do this would be to either buy a wrecked manual car and swap parts, or even a good manual car and swap parts, including possibly the ECU. Then you'd (also) have a tip swap that can be sold to recoup some of the cost.

If the goal is to get a manual into a car you have some sort of emotional attachment to, or a one of a kind paint job, then that may be a reasonable option.

Good luck!!

Macster

Takes a lot of I don't know what to take a wrench to one of these cars to do what you want to do.

Those that have the resources -- and I suspect it would require considerable resources, probably a large fraction of the car's value *before* the modification -- also have the resources to if a manual is required to sell off the automatic and buy a manual equipped car. Really this is the least expensive way and the one with the best chances of a suitable result to accomplish what you want.

Almost certainly after the transmission swap the car's resale/trade in value would take a severe hit as the car would be a Frankenstein and likely shunned especially if the 6-speed for the Tip swap was not *factory* and no reflection but I have my doubts it would be.

I can't recall coming across anyone who's done this but I have come across at least one case -- not here on another forum -- of someone who asked about doing something similar to another Porsche model and someone who did something similar advised against it due to the cost/difficulty.

If you are set on doing this you probably need to speak to a senior tech at your local Porsche dealer who can give you an overview of what the differences including the not so obvious differences are. This won't be a brief discussion unless the tech claps his hands over his ears and runs away when you tell him what you want to do.

Also, it would probably be a good idea to spend some time at the Porsche parts counter learning what all hardware you would need. You need also to check the various engine/chassis wiring harness part #'s (and other parts, like maybe the cluster: A new one for my 2002 Boxster lists for almost $3K) as I suspect these are different between a car fitted with an automatic vs. a manual transmission. The DME part # might be different too. If not the DME its contents though this might be addressable by "flashing" the DME with the 6-speed DME image. The tech might know.

The transmission and if the engine wiring harness needs to be changed the engine too would have to be dropped.

If any body/chassis harness needs to be changed the car's interior would need to be stripped down the interior sheet metal. (I've seen Cayenne vehicles in for a cabin wiring harness problem and the tech removes *everything* inside the cabin to facilitate this "repair" which is essentially replacing the harness.)

Or do some research to possibly find a shop that "specializes" in this type of work and speak to the shop about the cost/issues.

You might find a shop that can do this for you and one that has a rep for doing a "factory" job.

If it was my car I'd have to speak to customers who have gone down this road before me. Even better would be to be able to view the car even get a test ride (not even a drive) in the car to be sure it behaved like the job was "factory". Also, by speaking with this hypothetical at least know shop you can have some idea of before starting out the cost involved.

Assuming if all goes well you would have a automatic transmission (and probably some other more esoteric hardware (wiring harness maybe) to sell but these don't command that high of a price on the used market so you wouldn't come close to recouping your hardware costs.

You'd never get the cost of the swap at resale time and almost certainly as I mentioned before the car's resale value would be lowered by this modification.

If you never plan to sell the car that's a moot point of course but you then plan to live with the car a long time and the swap must be "factory" in the car behaves properly at all times under all conditions, and doesn't generate any warnings/error messages or codes arising from the swap.

Macster

I searched for the transmission swap I referred to above and didn't find it.

I found this:

Hello speeders , as few of you know me .. Am running ES1200 kit with ES Tiptronic gearbox .. I ran the ES Tiptronic gearbox for 5 years doing 100+ street races with zero issues at all .. But after I joined the 1/2mile
Event .. I noticed that joining that kind of events need better ratios / better TQ ! Tip will do the job but ... 6speed will make more speed ( better ratios for sure ) !!!!

So after talking to my friend , brother and my tuner EMRE@ESMOTOR .. We decided to swapping the tip and get it out of the car and put 6speed gearbox .. I told him Its look hard and I can not believe that looool as a lot of things should be changed ,, parts deleted , a lot of wiring .. Etc etc etc .. He said to me , do not worry it will be easy and I ll support you .. Just do it .. So I said to my self .. Ok why not loool lets do it !!

So by 2 weeks getting full support from Emre daily with pics , parts , wiring !!
the car started and 6speed gearbox in !! I was happy as it feels like new car to me ... !!!! Rpm feel very very light , car more response !!

But that's not all the story !!

I believe For 1000hp build .. Tip and 6speed ! Tip ratios is way better as it has taller ratios , 6speed 997TT OEM ratios is short .. In 500m you will shift to 6th gear very fast (1000hp) which will harm the Performance too much !

Comparing 2 cars 997tt , Same builds exactly 1000hp

Starting from 1st gear or 2nd gear .. Distance 800m or 1000m !!! Tip will be way better , the 6speed will lose a lot of time / speed while shifting ! But tip will hold boost while shifting plus the ratios is taller so shifting will be less .. In my car when I joined 1/2 mile event .. My car made 315km/h ,

So I asked Emre to build me the perfect gearbox with custom ratios that fit my needs and make my car do 340km/h in 1/2 mile !!

He started to build the gearbox and in 2 months or 3 we will join the Qatar 1/2mile


I can't vouch for the info in the above but the poster reports the swap went off in just 2 weeks and apparently without a hitch. At least no mention of a one.

No mention of the cost or any real details on the swap.

So... while I still do not like the idea it may not be *that* difficult. I believe the shop mentioned above is in I guess Kuwait but I can't believe if the job is really all as "easy" as the poster implied it was that shops much nearer to you can't do a similar job for you.

Here's a link to the thread. Maybe you can email the OP and ask him for more details?

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...ed-es1200.html

Macster

And another thread on swapping transmissions.

Here's the link:

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...n-1000whp.html

The thread is about swapping a 6-speed for a Tip and for a 996 Turbo but maybe you can email some of the people and ask if they can suggest a shop that can do what you want for your 997 Turbo?

Macster

One more. Someone seeking a 997 Turbo Tip to 6-speed swap.

The OP didn't get any real answers but maybe you can contact the OP and ask if he did the swap and how he made out?

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...peed-swap.html

changster123

Macster, thank you so much for these links. I have emailed Emre as well.

As far as why I'm not just selling the Tip and buying a Manual, that's because they don't exist where I live. I don't live in the US where the market is huge and you can have your pickings of whatever car you want.