pengyou wrote:"Tell us about your mechanical and fabrication skillz that you have....?
Then we can advise you further."
Well...I have a screwdriver, set of wrenches, sockets....hehehehe I have a friend who is a welder with pretty good mechanical abilities. I also know a mechanic who works out of his home
Forget it, save up $3-5k and take your van to a autoshop that specializes in stick-shift tranny swaps.
Or spend $1k on having a quality rebuilt auto trans fitted.
`86 V8 Lowered Cargo, extensively modified, shaved bald, wearing the shortest, sluttyest white primer dress....
LiftedAWDAstro wrote:Did you also read that the 96 and newer vans were never designed to have a manual transmission? The fact that you simply can not just grab an old clutch pedal/brake pedal assembly/ master cylinder and simply bolt it on will definitely require LOTS of under dash structural fabrication. This project is not totally out, just realize it won't be as easy as the thread you read on yehoo's swap. The rest of the swap should be as easy as gathering the required parts.
Was this a smog thing? Did they offer ANY stro's with a stick? Is there a 5 speed auto that will fit in there? If I have to have it done - hopefully not in the next year - I would like to see if I can go up a step in fuel economy and usefulness.
New owner of a 1996 Astro named "Plain Jane" - stock right now - with 200,000 miles on it and running like a champ
LiftedAWDAstro wrote:Did you also read that the 96 and newer vans were never designed to have a manual transmission? The fact that you simply can not just grab an old clutch pedal/brake pedal assembly/ master cylinder and simply bolt it on will definitely require LOTS of under dash structural fabrication. This project is not totally out, just realize it won't be as easy as the thread you read on yehoo's swap. The rest of the swap should be as easy as gathering the required parts.
Was this a smog thing? Did they offer ANY stro's with a stick? Is there a 5 speed auto that will fit in there? If I have to have it done - hopefully not in the next year - I would like to see if I can go up a step in fuel economy and usefulness.
Last yr offered as a stick shift was 1989 with a 4.3 and a totally different computer system than yours.You might want to re-read Yehoo's thread-it says you have to use the older shifter system in order to locate it where it would be useful.Other wise you would have to have the shifter behind the front seats and to the right of the passenger side.The S10's are not a dog house position for where the tranny sets.The shiffter would land much behind the driver.
Let this sink in too because I promise I will not tell you it again.The T5 trannies are not as strong as the Auto's that come with these vans.That is why they reqiure as much rework to allow them to live.Surely they would fail behind a diesel high torque engine unless it was a World Class stick and even at that would be marginal.Just the facts as they are.
Pengyou,
Here you will find a number of members who have done a V8 conversions that pass smog tests all the time.Calli has had his for a number of yrs now and is still going strong.Depending on where you live is the real question.Here in NYS-the last yr you can do a V8 swap is cut off at I believe 1994.That is one of the main reasons I chose a 1985 Astro where the laws where not as harsh for that yr van.Some states say as long the engine is the same yr as your van or better it is ok and you keep all the smog equipment that was with the engine you swapped in.Surely you can gain mpg and open up more you can do with you van using a V8 comversion which is one of the easier swaps you can find anywhere.
The V8 swaps are tons easier than a diesel swap and you can gain tons of torque over the 4.3's.The steps that have been common is to change rear end gears first to a 3.73 or 4.10.I would think if you are not happy with that change,then a V8 conversion would be next.At least you haven't spent money on something you can't use for a build later.(short of a diesel conversion that is)
Btw-I thought of this later.Calli's V8 swap is a highly tuned V8 and I don't want to short change him for his outstanding work.
