5-Speed Swap Info

[twistedsymphony]

Doing a little more research I was able to determine that the Rodeo shifter trim should work for the VX... the new 5 speed wont need transmission cooling lines so they can be capped off and the Trooper 5 speed computer should work for the VX...

Parts list is as follows:
-MUA5 Transmission with 3.2L/3.5L Bell housing
-3.2L/3.5L Clutch & pressure plate (should be bought new)
-3.2L/3,5L Clutch Slave Cylinder (should be bought new)
-3.2L/3.5L 5 speed flywheel
-Brake Pedal from a 5 speed Rodeo (or saw off half of the auto pedal)
-Clutch Pedal from a 5 speed Rodeo
-Clutch Master Cylinder from a 5 speed Rodeo
-Clutch line from a 5 speed Rodeo? (go with SS braided line if possible)
-Computer from a Trooper with the 3.5L 5 speed
-Interior Shifter Trim from a 5 speed Rodeo
-Custom Drive-shaft

I'm thinking you could get the job done for ~$1000-$1500 +installation depending on how much you could find the parts for.

MUA5s go for ~$500 with the next most expensive item being the custom drive shaft...

This would be a complete bolt-on project with the exception of drilling a few holes to mount the clutch pedal... you'd lose TOD but you'd gain a bullet proof transmission/t-case that would not only allow for 2WD and Full-time 4WD but you'd probably have a quicker VX along with much improved gas mileage.

[ZEUS]

All this is interesting... So the 3.5 and 3.2 bellhousings interchange then? Joe Black is pretty knowledgable in all things Isuzu and I know he had some pics of the firewall and pointed out the "cutouts" for the clutch pedal assembly and all that. Otherwise, I haven't heard any real mention of swapping a manual into a VX. I wonder if the transmission tunnel on the VX would be tall enough to fit the manual tranny... Do you know anything about that yet or did I miss it? The use of a manual tranny may be a good route for swapping in a solid axle... and for using a lower low range gear ratio!

[twistedsymphony]

I haven't investigated if a 5-speed will fit in the tunnel.. all of this info is from talking with Isuzu off-road people who have done various engine/transmission swaps and know which parts are compatible with what.

However with nearly every other vehicle I've seen the Automatics take up quite a bit more space than 5-speeds, so I'm not to worried about that.

Not to mention Manufacturers typically build their chassis to handle either, even if they never plan to release one or the other, if trends take a sharp turn tomorrow and they discover that automatics kill kittens and everyone wants a stick shift, they want to make sure they don't have to re-engineer the whole thing

I kind of really want to do this now, but I wont be able to do any of this until next spring at the earliest. If all goes well it would only take a weekend to do, if something goes horribly wrong it could take months though and I'll need my VX for the winter (not to mention I've got other projects on my plate right now). I might take this on sooner if it had already been done by someone else... but as they say "the pioneers get the arrows, the settlers get the land" I don't mind being a pioneer, but I can't afford any arrows right now

I was just really interested in the feasibility so I started researching and thought it would be nice to share my results. :gring:

[twistedsymphony]

I got a little more clarification on some items so I updated the list above.

3.2L and 3.5L equipment is completely interchangeable, so bell housing, flywheel, clutch, etc. can come from either or.

flywheel is different from auto to 5 speed so it will need to be swapped.

firewall is from a RODEO not an AMIGO (duh, it has the rodeo dash... of course it would be a rodeo firewall)... I don't know how I got that one wrong...

Also I'm thinking it might be necessary to swap the gauge cluster from an auto cluster to a manual cluster... since you will no longer need the TOD bits nor the auto selection indicator.... you might be able to make due just pulling bulbs.

[ZEUS]

Sounds like it might be best to find a complete '99 5-speed Trooper. You could just swap the motor, trans, computer, and t-case out of the Trooper at your own pace. Only the finishing touches would require finding a Rodeo, it sounds like, so that would be the only junk yard scrounging you would have to do. Selling the left over parts from both rigs might offset the price of buying a complete Trooper. Does computer swapping in a late model Isuzu create problems with emissions though? I know some vehicles won't pass emissions inspection after a computer swap because the VIN's don't match and it throws a code...

[twistedsymphony]

I suppose it would depend on the emissions laws for the particular state.

Not all ECUs store the vin (don't know if the VX does or not) I don't think there is any problem swapping an ECU for another compatible ECU since they do break sometimes... you might even be able to find someone with Isuzu programming equipment who is capable of swapping the vin in the ECU if necessary.

As far as emissions are concerned on a federal level... you're not allowed to remove any of the emissions equipment, and if they need to be replace they must be replaced with OE parts, if OE parts are not availble then they maybe replaced with similarly speced, certified, aftermarket replacements.

It is perfectly legal to swap the engine and transmission out completely HOWEVER the engine must be from the same model year or newer vehicle, it must be an EPA approved motor (that basically means it needs to come from a car originally sold in the USA), and you must preserve all of the original emissions equipment from that motor.

Obviously some states are more forgiving than others, CA is the worst, as everything in the engine bay needs to be CARB approved, so if you do an engine swap your custom headers built to make it fit will cause it to fail ... that doesn't mean you cant do swaps though... I know Hinson Supercars makes a swap kit to put a Chevy LS1 in a Nissan 240sx and they built custom headers and got them CARB approved making the swap 100% legal in CA as long as you use a factory CARB approved LS1 engine with all the original emissions equipment.

I don't see any real issue with swapping just the transmission and computer out, as long as the computer is a "factory replacement" for that motor since depending on how you look at it the ECU is part of the emissions equipment.

I'm in NH and the only form of emissions testing done here is hooking up to the OBDII port and checking for codes, as long as the reading comes back clean you're good to go, they don't even do a sniffer test and pre ODBII cars (1995 and earlier) are completely emissions exempt...

Even if I left the auto computer on there and it threw transmission codes, I believe a good shop with an intelligent tech would realize that the codes he was seeing weren't relevant to the emissions system.... or you could "know someone" I drove a WRX with no emissions equipment for several years and never had a problem getting a sticker... these days I'm trying to stay 100% legal, but at the same time my summer car is a 1995 240sx, and I bought that year specifically so I wouldn't have to worry about OBDII and emissions testing (hey legal is legal).

Most states don't even do emissions though.

[ObsidianDragon]

Theres a rally spec v-cross run by Tubus Racing in Australia with a 5spd of its own, and a quad cam v6 block, aluminum 3.5 like ours. be interesting to see what they might relay to the community

linkage:
http://tubusracing.com/en/index.php?...id=5&Itemid=27