Who here has swapped their A4's for T5's?

[Greg94Red392]

My car is an A4 and last night I had the opportunity to drive a 2.2 S-10 manual. I havent driven a manual in a while and it made me realize how much more fun to drive it was. I can only imagine how fun it is to drive a manual car that actually has a little power. Anyway, i've decided i'm going to make this my summer project. I want a tranny swap. I'm just looking at a ballpark estimate of what it is going to cost me. I already know I can find a good tranny for $400-$600. How much did everything including installation cost you?

Yes I know I could search but I have better things to do than weed my way through hundreds of posts to find answer to my question.

Thanks!

[CHEVYINSIDE]

Re: Who here has swapped their A4's for T5's?

cost me like 600 . that was with the console and all.

[DARK SDE '02]

Re: Who here has swapped their A4's for T5's?

If you're going to ever heavily modify your car you'll find that even aftermarket clutches on the T5 can't cut it. A lot of hardcore drag guys stick with the A4, albeit rebuilt, and some T5 guys have even converted over to the A4! Just something to think about.

[matt3989]

Re: Who here has swapped their A4's for T5's?

yeah i beleive that people here start to have problems with their t5 as early as 250-275 hp at the flywheel

i was doing some resarch on this a lil' while ago and if you could find the right bellhousing or someone to fab up an adapter plate you could stick a tremec t56 with not much more than youd need for a t5, maybe a new crossmember though

[Greg94Red392]

Re: Who here has swapped their A4's for T5's?

Thanks for the advice but the only thing major I plan on doing to my car is maybe a small shot of nitrous. I'm not really into racing it. Just enough to kill the dumb kids in their imports is really all I want and I have that now for the most part.

ChevyInside--That sounds really cheap! Did you install it yourself? I figured it would be at least 600 for the install alone.

[CHEVYINSIDE]

Re: Who here has swapped their A4's for T5's?

yeah i bought it of a local yard . the whole nine yards . i did the install myself because i had a shop to do it in .

[Harrison]

Re: Who here has swapped their A4's for T5's?

dude....do it. i would kick my self in the balls if i wouldnt have bought a manual. i turned down lower mileage t-top automatics, just to have a manual. If you ever think you need it stronger, just get a better clutch and put in in redline gear lube or something. It will be more fun to drive, you will be able to drift the car, do a lot better burnouts, have an extra gear for better gas mileage, and be able to actually DRIVE your car, not let your car drive you. Driving an automatic takes no skill, anyone can do it. I say do the swap, and build it up before you put it in so you dont have to mess with it again.

[zlexiss]

Re: Who here has swapped their A4's for T5's?

Umm, clutch and gear lube != trans gear strength..

[Harrison]

Re: Who here has swapped their A4's for T5's?

well, i dont know a whole deal about transmissions other than flywheels, clutches, and throwout bearings. Other than that, what else is in there thats breakable? enlighten me. Anytime i've heard of trannys going out, their clutches fail or they lose gears? What are the common parts in the t5 that break? It is my understanding that automatic trannys are harder to work on and repair too. Also, you lose less power to the wheels with a manual transmission than you do with an automatic too because of no torque converter. They are more efficent than automatics. Cheaper to build than autos, and require less maintenance. Manual transmissions normally do not require active cooling, because not much power is dissipated as heat through the transmission. And...you will have a 5% to 15% increase in gas mileage depending on your driving style.

[CHEVYINSIDE]

Re: Who here has swapped their A4's for T5's?

i've never broken a t 5 . but i'm told the main input shaft can snap . i know of a few companys that sell kits to build up the t5 .

[DARK SDE '02]

Re: Who here has swapped their A4's for T5's?

Are tunes specific manual or automatic? I've also been looking at a lot of wiring diagrams in my auto electronics class this semester and it seems like quite a few circuits are different whether you have an auto or a manual. So swapping correctly probably isn't as easy as it looks. Make sure you search all the threads here and get everything you need before you drop the A4 so you have less downtime :)

[CHEVYINSIDE]

Re: Who here has swapped their A4's for T5's?

The tunes are specific to the trans . you can use an auto tune but .... the engine will hunt because it doesnt see the trans , throws all kinds of transmission codes. I just reflashed it to a manual car and taped up the unused auto trans wires and left them installed on the car . you'll need to run the wires for the reverse light .

[shock_core]

Re: Who here has swapped their A4's for T5's?

Only like $600? I thought it was a lot more than that... Hell, if I knew how to do it, I'd be all over that for $600.

[CHEVYINSIDE]

Re: Who here has swapped their A4's for T5's?

Yah , and that included two transmissions. the first one was a dud . i thought it was a good price though.

[barracuda70]

Re: Who here has swapped their A4's for T5's?

I thought about switching to a manual as well but I am also planning to eventually put a V8 in also. I know you can't use a T5 but do people still have trouble with the V8 manual tranny's after moding the v8's?