Are there any manual transmissions that will mount up to a 3800 Series II?

345

Asked by Alex Jan 18, 2010 at 08:48 PM about the Pontiac Grand Prix

Question type: Car Customization

20 Answers

955

you could use the getrag 282 or 284. or the 6 speed from a g6 but i can't remember what the code for that is but it's a little more work to get right.

3 people found this helpful.
345

thanks. ive been lookin at goin to a manual in my gtp. i think itd be fun

6 people found this helpful.
8,295

I believe there are many people that have modded their Pontiac Fiero with that engine and a manual transaxle. You could search for Fiero owner websites who have done engine/tranny swaps to get ideas. I think the tough part is just finding one in good condition beside any fabrication to mount it and the proper ECM/PCM wiring modification to make it work.

2 people found this helpful.
345

yeah i figured the wiring was gonna be an issue. thanks

3 people found this helpful.
510

These cars are heavier then a Fiero. If you put any kind of power through those getrags they are liable to grenade.

4 people found this helpful.
1,155

i think that the g6 tranny should work out fine however getting it to send the right signals to the ecu is going to be a problem. i also do not believe the weight of the car would be an issue were you to use a fiero transmission, though it is true the cars are about 600 lbs difference in weight it is not the cars weight that the transmission needs to be able to handle it is the rotational torque from the engine, what makes the fiero tranny worse is the fact that it is designed for a much smaller engine if i remember right it it was a full liter smaller than the 3800, which means the transmission would llikely snap or burn out the clutch pack the second you tried to drive it. however the pontiac g6 does have a 6 speed manual F40 transimission though im not quite certain how well it would bolt in place it should be able to handle the horsepower

1 people found this helpful.
510

I loled. A trans in a heavier car is just as likely to grenade as a car with more torque. You do realize people run 11s and 12s with v8s and modified l67s slapped onto the 5 speed in a fiero? Putting a manual in a 97+ Grand Prix is just retarded anyway. Would be a lot more work then it's worth.

3 people found this helpful.
1,155

yet again you miss the point of a modification, he wants a manual transmission because it will be fun, secondly the weight only makes a difference when the transmission reaches the differential or in this case the transaxle and has to deal with the increased friction from the heavier car, putting a manual in the car would make the car much more fun to drive and it will increase the front wheel horsepower since an automatic has much more hp depletion than a manual, if i remember right a manual takes around 15% hp and an automatic generally takes 25 to 30% hp

4 people found this helpful.
510

He needs to buy a different car if he wants a manual - if he is even asking the question then he doesnt posses the know-how to swap one in. There is a reason that there has been only two manual swaps into 97+ Grand Prixs.

2 people found this helpful.
1,155

thats not true at all, just cause a person doesnt know what kind of transmissions he can bolt onto his motor says absolutely nothing about know how to bolt on a transmission and run wireing, whats to say he hasnt replaced his own transmission at another time or possible worked on another car, thats like saying somone doesnt know what alloy rims are and they only know about steel rims so they have no idea how to put a wheel on there car, zack you are the reason that other forums have locks on them, so people dont completely ruin the topic by insulting it, if he wants a manual grand prix let the man have his manual grand prix and dont insult him about it, its a cool idea and it would deffinetly be much more fun than the usual automatic

28 people found this helpful.
765

It does work, though the only guyt i know of who did it had to do a shitload of grinding and flywheel work. he had to have a flywheel from a lt1 style camaro with the 3.4L v6 manual. and even after he did it was a stock GP GT and it wouldnt hold the 200 hp/240tq so sorry to burst your bubble guys, they dont make one strong enough

510

It is a lot more work then "bolting one in" and if you think otherwise then you are ignorant. Custom fabrication, welding, cutting of the firewall, more fabrication, more welding, mount pedals, custom shifter cable, custom shit inside the car to mount the shifter... You make me lol.

345

just to elaborate on some of my prior experience. my dad, grandpa and i have pretty much completely built this car, it was a Hurricane Katrina car. we replaced almost everything. we also built my first car which was a 99 gtp

1 people found this helpful.
55

Glad you want something for the fun, and I applaud you for seeking the answer. I have considered putting a manual in my 2000 at times. I think your best bet at adaptability info would come from zzperformance.com. They specialise in GTP's. I'm pretty confident they could reflash your PCM to work without automatic trans input signals. Not knowing what trans will fit, or how much work you will have to do is mostly what you have to find out. As for strength, dont let armchair naysayers discourage you. I have a V8 Mustang as well as a GTP, and the internet is full of forums that say you shouldn't run a T5 trans out of a 4 cyl. Mustang behind a V8. I've been doing it for 2 years, no problems yet, and I stand in the gas regularly! I also know of people who use the same "understrength trans" in their 12 second cars with no fail.Can't speak for whatever trans you find to bolt to your 3.8, but just keep these things in mind, and HAVE FUN !

2 people found this helpful.
1,155

well thats no fun, its possible the newer tranny is more sturdy, but if it broke the 3.4l one like you say it did it probably wouldnt work either, to bad we cant get a tranny like the one on the ford focus rs model to fit, thanks for answering the argument

1,155

im afraid you are mistaking in the entire point of the topic then, the point of it is finding a transmission that will in fact "bolt" or "mount" onto the engine without a big hassel, its obvious he could just go out and buy a manual front wheel drive transmission from alot of cars that he could make fit if he wanted to spend all of the time to make it work, but thats not the question that was asked, in fact the whole reason hes asking people for help is because he doesnt want to spend all the time with the excess cutting and fabricating on the transmission and engine to make it work properly and would rather spend his time making his pedals and shifter work properly, please save your insults for when they actually matter this is a forum not a highschool classroom

4 people found this helpful.
1,155

i must admit a mustang like that sounds pretty cool, did the transmission simply bolt up or did you have to modify it? a friend of mine in japan has been wanting to bring a mustang 4 to his country but they have engine size restrictions so weve been looking into how we could bolt the 4 cylinder engine from the escort zx2 into it without changing the tranny, and this seems like it could be somwhat helpful info even if the 2 cars are very different in drivetrain

55

The transmission itself bolts right up. Its wise to switch to a 5.0 style clutch, due to the travel of the dissengaging fingers of the pressure plate. There are a couple of options with the linkage for the clutch. Either switch to a cable setup, or modify the original linkage to work correctly. I drilled new holes in the crossmember to bolt the mount to, and fabricated extensions where the crossmember bolts to the car(a real headache to deal with). An easier/better looking option is to buy a costom crossmember for around $150, but so far, I'm just to cheap to do that. As for putting a ZX4 engine in an early Mustang, well anything is possible, just as Fast and Furious Tokyo drift shows, but......I just cringe to think of it. There has to be some way around the displacement thing. Hey, this is a Grand Prix page,not a Mustang page, enough on this.

40

there was a guy that swapped a north-star 32v in to a grand prix it was on ebay a few years ago and it was a manual the possibilitys are only limited by money and trying if no one tried to do what "cant be done" we would be left with some boring ass cars

4 people found this helpful.

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