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At our local Corvette club meeting Thurs. nite a new member asked how difficult it would be to swap out the automatic in his '96 for a six-speed. Aside from the obvious about acquiring parts, what would this entail and is it "doable"?
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Re: '96 Transmission Swap
Jack-----
In my opinion, C4's are way too complicated to even attempt this kind of conversion. I'm sure it could be done, but I think it would be better just to sell the car and find another equivalent car with 6 speed originally installed.
A potential pitfall for a 96 involves the fact that all 96's with 4L60E auto transmissions were also equipped with LT1 engine. All 96's with 6 speed were equipped with the LT4 engine. So, there would be no existing powertrain control module (PCM) that would be available for a 1996 MN6/LT1 combination. That would require a custom-calibrated PCM.
Another thing to keep in mind: C4's with 6 speed were equipped with a Dana-44 rear axle assembly. Those with auto trans used a Dana-36. So, to do the conversion properly, one needs to also change the rear end. Of course, I'm sure that one could get by with a 6 speed and Dana 36 but there was some reason that GM used the Dana 44 with the manual trans cars. They sure didn't do it because a Dana 36 would have worked just as well.
Dana 44 rear assemblies for C4's are hard to find and very expensive.In Appreciation of John Hinckley -
Re: '96 Transmission Swap
Thanks, Joe. No real surprise here. I'll pass this along to our "newby."Comment
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