1988 Corolla Auto 4sp Swap For 5sp Manual? - Pre-1997 Toyota Corolla and Geo Prizm

Hi I have a 1988 auto 4 speed corolla that has a bad transmission. I recently purchesed a 1988 corolla base modle with a 5 speed manual. I was wondering it its possable to put the manual in my current car? and what do I need to do it?

Thanks

Tyler,

Definitely is possible. But I should ask this question: what's wrong with the manual trans car? If it's road worthy and the auto has all the goodies, you can also consider transferring all the goodies over.

The hardest part of the swap is drilling the hole for the clutch master cylinder, followed by wiring up the clutch safety switch for proper operation. Everything else just swaps in.

Well nothing really is wrong wiht the manual trans car just my car is in better shape and has ac and power windows/locks while the manual is just the base moddle and has no power anything... so besides the clutch master cylandar everything should bolt right on? and would you bring over the manual trans car ECU or just unplug the stuff from the auto trans and leave the wirring harness in there?

Thanks a lot!

Tyler,

Since you have both cars right there - move all the bits that are connected to the manual transaxle to the receiving car. This is possibly the best situation, as you can always reference back / grab parts from the other car.

There shouldn't be an ECU - since this generation should be carburated - but there might be a body computer. If you don't hook up all the electricals - then you could run into issues with the backup lights not working or possibly overloading a fuse somewhere (a load that is was expecting is no longer there).

Has any one else done this?

I'm starting to do one on my 8th gen Corolla, right after I finish rebuilding a 5-speed for a friend and fix up a 6-speed that is now sitting in my basement.

There is a poster, Buurin, on here that swapped a auto for a manual on his 8th gen as well. Quite a bit of information on it spread out in the past topics - might try searching for the swap info there. Will not be 100% step by step DIY guide for your app. I would highly recommend picking up a FSM (Factory Service Manual) for your generation - Chilton or Haynes at the very least, to get torque values and wiring info.

Might try 4AGE.net and see if they have some more info there - good classic Corolla info there that might be useful. In your case, the physical aspects of the swap is not really hard, it is the electricals that you have to worry about. But if your carburated, then that takes a good chunk of that out of the equation. Fuel Injection and ECM wiring will cause a lot more headaches, but still completely do-able.

Do you know where this post is? I cant find it.

I'm starting to do one on my 8th gen Corolla, right after I finish rebuilding a 5-speed for a friend and fix up a 6-speed that is now sitting in my basement.
There is a poster, Buurin, on here that swapped a auto for a manual on his 8th gen as well. Quite a bit of information on it spread out in the past topics - might try searching for the swap info there. Will not be 100% step by step DIY guide for your app. I would highly recommend picking up a FSM (Factory Service Manual) for your generation - Chilton or Haynes at the very least, to get torque values and wiring info.
Might try 4AGE.net and see if they have some more info there - good classic Corolla info there that might be useful. In your case, the physical aspects of the swap is not really hard, it is the electricals that you have to worry about. But if your carburated, then that takes a good chunk of that out of the equation. Fuel Injection and ECM wiring will cause a lot more headaches, but still completely do-able.

I'll try looking for it - you can narrow it down by poster name, that could help speed up your search.

He's also on ToyotaNation a bunch - but he has dropped by here recently. I'd recommend that you drop him a PM - that should be fastest way to get some information.

There shouldn't be an ECU - since this generation should be carburated

Actually, some 88 Corollas (such as mine) were not carburated, but came with electronic fuel injection and an engine computer.