Manual conversion - advice please

[Kazaral]

Hi Everyone,

 

I have asked this on Facebook but did not get much of a response so I thought i would ask in here as well.

I have a 04 Forester XT WR-Limited that was my daily driver for 13 years, the 4EAT expired on it and its now in my garage waiting to be repaired. I want to manual convert it and i have been putting together a list of the bits ill need to do so, have i missed anything and do you have any advice for the swap?

 

This is what i have so far:

 

• Clutch/flywheel/pressure plate

• Starter

• Gearbox

• Front half shafts

• Drive shaft

• Rear diff (matching gearbox ratio)

• shifter assembly

• manual gauge cluster

• Clutch master/slave + lines

• 5MT pedal box

• Forester manual transmission cross member

 

I have been told the ABS could be an issue and i know the wiring will need to be modified.

 

Thanks in advance,

Ben

[Joker]

Plan for a LVVTA Cert too

 

Fun police here : as soon as you change or touch the Brake Pedal from OEM

 

you need a cert Technically & Legally Speaking ❤️ even if you're simply swapping factory parts they are NOT OEM to that car

 

yes, it can be done, yes people have got wof's without a cert after such a swap

 

I'm trying to find the thread on here, it has been covered before BUT reasonable difficult to search "terms"

 

and it is actually covered on the LVVVTA Site FAQ

 

https://www.lvvta.org.nz/knowledge_base.html

 

screen shot : 

 

 

text version 

 

Quote

Does an auto to manual gearbox conversion require certification?
In most cases it will because of the changes needed to complete the conversion. One area that many forget about is the brakes; the braking system must not be modified or changed, including the brake pedal and pedal-box assembly. The full requirements can be found in the VIRM, In-service certification, General vehicles (Miscellaneous items Engine and transmission) Section 13-1.

 

[Kazaral]

Thanks Joker, much appreciated!

[boon]

Standard example of one of the completely dented areas of the LVV standards. If you use all OEM parts from an identical but manual vehicle it should be a VIRM issue not a cert one.

 

If a compatible manual ECU exists I'd go looking for one. Will make your conversion much less likely to throw a million different error codes.

[Joker]

4 hours ago, boon said:

it should be a VIRM issue not a cert one

 

in theory yes I agree

 

but in reality can people (the Greater-unwashed-Public) really be trusted to do bolts back up tight, or even use the right washer?

 

Especially on critical safety items like Brakes or steering ❤️

 

kinda why Juddies (Adjustable Suspension) = Cert : are all 'basic' top hat bolts / brake line clips & ride height checks

 

pretty sure anyone logged onto this Forum is capable = yes

 

then there's the FB Group Mechanics  yeah nah

 

[boon]

1 hour ago, Joker said:

 

in theory yes I agree

 

but in reality can people (the Greater-unwashed-Public) really be trusted to do bolts back up tight, or even use the right washer?

 

 

 

By this logic you should have to go for a cert if you take your wheels off or put new brake pads in. Which the LVVTA once actually insinuated in a particularly dented Facebook post about brake rotors needing to be certed in case you installed the wrong size ones (???).

Honestly they do my f***ing head in and I hope they read this, yes without them it would be very very hard (actually I don't know, would it?) to modify cars and they provide a framework for us to do that, but some times it's completely cooked.

Literally from the NZ Car Construction Manual:

 

Quote

The approval system is provided, to help builders and modifiers, not to hinder them

 

And it's just bulls***, over the years they've had some spectacularly useless rules that have taken years to peel back and cost modifiers thousands of dollars to comply with stupid requirements that, if someone engaged their brain for about 20 minutes, wouldn't have made it past the draft stage. When was the last time you heard of a driveshaft hoop that did f*** all on a modified JDM car with less than about 800hp?

 

The entire organisation was built around the concept of bearded hotrodders (who are wonderful, btw) stick welding bits of car together in their shed, not the "modern" version of car modding which is basically Lego except larger, dirtier, and generally undertaken by people with lower IQs.

 

EDIT: Apologies OP for derailing your thread. I guess the sparknotes is "be prepared for some bizarre obscure cert requirement".

[Joker]

haha & yep! lol (in general)

 

Mates a Cert guy & some of the stuff he puts up in his stories really scares me (cars turn up for cert checks with no gas / bald tyres and loose / wrong wheel nuts is only the start eh

 

knocking steering arms on exhausts (hot rods) seats and often even Belts held in by hopes & dreams (bolts but no nuts) hand tight nylox, yeah hand tight, not even engaged... 

[Boltonator]

Thats why when I buy my next Subaru I want to be careful about what the Dealer puts down on the Rego sticker. I see in the case of one Impreza GT it read "2011 SUBARU IMPREZA GT 2.0 AWD AUT" like nah mate you only get the minimum: year, make and model so subtle changes won't get immediately flagged. 

Edited March 24 by Boltonator

[Gripless]

The chassis code tells what transmission it had, which comes up anywhere they enter a plate like WOF etc. the text on the reg label isn’t worth worrying about.

 

You’ll also need radiator if you don’t want of to notice, the oil cooler at the bottom is a dead giveaway. 
 

certs are easy if you call the cert place first and ask what you need to document first. They have some odd rules that don’t apply to modern cars vs the classics they write them for.

[Joker]

what he said : Good luck with that

 

the Rego sticker means "nothing"

 

Only good for Parking Wardens & Cops (to see if you have some)

[Boltonator]

Fair enough a switched on one man owner-operator type or one make dealership tech who has VIN codes memorised might cry foul. But most I have dealt with have the mechanics that write up the sheet, check everything off then give the sheet to their receptionist who puts it into NZTA's system.

 

Add in the complication that most Subarus in this country have 7A8 VIN numbers with the next 8 digits being a vague representation of the model the car is and you could fly under the radar. My post was mainly meant to be humour. 

[Joker]

ID tag lists Trans too aye, ya pushing poo up a hill with that one sorry

 

the PRND321 on the dash might give it away too

 

the cost involved in swapping a CANBUS equipped car these days too is also prohibitive and will be more work than you may realise ❤️