Swapping a Manual Tranny in my Buick?

[greekorican]

I'm lucky enough to have inherited my mom's 96' Buick Riviera (Supercharged model). I love it, its a really unique car. Sure it looks like a grandma car, but it can haul ass. I've always been a car nut, but its gotten out of hand since I've inherited it last November. I should just be grateful that I have a car, and I most certainly am, but I've got the itch to learn to drive a stick. I know there are quite a few mechanics on this forum, maybe you can help me out.

This car is in pretty good shape, and probably doesn't need a new tranny for a long time (50k on the odometer). There are some electrical problems. For a while traction control would kick in for no reason, now I've got no traction control or ABS. Its also had a history of sensors going bad, but mechanically its in good shape (the mechanics at work confirmed this).

This isn't something I'm planning to do now, but I think this car would be a great candidate for a rebuild in a few years. I just have to make some money first. I have seen tricked out Rivieras online, it seems like a good car to mod. Right now I'm mostly killing time online, I'm not sure how serious I am about this. At this point I'm curious about the process of doing a manual swap, and the feasibility of doing it to my Buick.

I know a manual swap can't be very simple, because this car has an auto right now. I know that its supposed to be easier to swap an auto for a manual than vice-versa. How expensive does this get? I'm pretty handy, and I've got a garage full of tools. I'd love to give it a shot myself, I love to tinker. Is this something you can take to a mechanic, or am I better off doing it myself? I'm not sure if a manual tranny can be mated with this engine (L67 3800 Series II). I've tried google, but I can't find anything about pairing it with a manual.

Either way, I'm going to learn how to drive a manual someday... They are becoming so rare. I would love to get an old beat up truck or Wrangler with a 5 speed to learn on. The people I've talked to who drive manuals love them.

 

[LaklandBass]

front what i know there isnt really a decent manual trans for the front drive cars from gm in that era. the swap would probably very hard since thats not a common one. the more common swaps are much easier when aftermarket companies make kits for the swap. I have a friend that is currently dumping a chevy LS1 and 6 speed into a 92' miata. its going rather well.

 

[TrooperFarva]

It's not going to happen.

 

[greekorican]

It's not going to happen.

I was pretty much expecting to hear that. This car is cool though, its still got the old Buick vibe. I think a manual in this would be cool. Its a big ass car, they don't make Buicks like that anymore. I think the cars Buick makes now are butt ugly.

I suppose there are much manlier cars to do a manual swap in. I've heard that Crown Vic Police Interceptors are easy to do a swap in, because the engine is very similar to a Mustang. I wouldn't mind having one of those either. Too bad all of this is just wishful thinking...

 

[HollowBassman]

It sucks but, short of spending a fortune, it isn't going to be possible.

When it comes to computer controlled cars, there are a much greater number of parts that need to be swapped. If that style vehicle or a sister vehicle would have been offered with a manual trans option it would be much more do-able but even then it would be a ton of work.

 

[hbarcat]

First of all, anything can be done to modify a car. It just depends on how much money you want to spend.

From a practical standpoint, swapping a manual tranny into a 96 Buick 3800 is NOT something your local mechanic can do because it's not a standard repair. It requires specialized knowledge from someone who has done tranny swaps. This is expert service and if you have someone else do this you are paying premium prices for many, many hours of custom work.

BUT . . . it can be done. I've done auto to manual tranny swaps before in mustangs and a few other cars. The way I did these swaps was learning by helping out some hot rodding friends of mine and having them help me in my projects. You find a donor car (or cars) and take the parts you need, fabricate other parts, brackets, assemblies etc.. you need and hope it works.

My advice is to forget about doing this particular swap. No matter what, it's going to be very expensive and it's a whole can of worms for the inexperienced.

BTW, you can modify the existing auto tranny to make it fully manual shifting and to make it shift harder or adjust the shift points, etc.. This is pretty standard work for a dedicated transmission shop and it isn't that expensive. Relatively speaking, of course.

But I'd put my money into other modifications. My daily driver is a 95 Buick with the 3800 engine and auto tranny but I can think of lots of other things to do to it. Like add a pair of turbos.




If you've got electrical issues with your car then you might benefit from swapping the stock engine control system to an aftermarket programmable control unit that you can adjust with a laptop. Then you can modify your induction systems (especially your supercharger) and then reprogram your fuel and spark maps to take maximum advantage of those mods.

Here's what I'm using and it's only about $300 for a basic computer setup plus whatever mods you want to make.

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[Mike N]

First of all, anything can be done to modify a car. It just depends on how much money you want to spend.

Huge +1 to this.

BTW, you can modify the existing auto tranny to make it fully manual shifting and to make it shift harder or adjust the shift points, etc.. This is pretty standard work for a dedicated transmission shop and it isn't that expensive. Relatively speaking, of course.

A good shift kit and a little looser torque converter would liven things up a little bit, but I'd avoid a fully manual valve body for the daily driver if it was me. You'll be running the tranny at full line pressure with a manual vb, and that's hard on the pump, internal seals etc..... You can count on a shorter tranny life with a manual vb.

Full manual vb's are usually reserved for competition drag cars.

 

[hbarcat]

A good shift kit and a little looser torque converter would liven things up a little bit, but I'd avoid a fully manual valve body for the daily driver if it was me. You'll be running the tranny at full line pressure with a manual vb, and that's hard on the pump, internal seals etc..... You can count on a shorter tranny life with a manual vb.

Full manual vb's are usually reserved for competition drag cars.

Yeah, I probably should have mentioned that part.