Hardly, the trans is 500 at the most.

+ Misc. **** can be had at any salvage yard for next to nothing.

+ A few cases of beer

- what you can sell your Auto trans for

Probably looking at a few hundred bucks.


OP. FYI, the 08+ bottom ends aren't quite as strong as the 06-07 ones, they went to powder forged metal in those years to save money.

 

It takes more than just getting a tranny and swapping. That's why no one has done it. It's not that easy

 

Firstly, thanks for the information. Quality responses seem to be increasingly harder to find each day.

Considering that I'm uneducated in this area, my only question is.. Are you recommending that I:

> Retain/Reuse my stock bottom end (If that's possible)

> Look for a used manual transmission from an 06 or 07, and at that, are the F35 (MU3)'s and F23's the only transmissions that went into Cobalts, including all other models and years?

> Or something else?

 

Its exactly that easy, why is it so hard?

Take all the transmission related items out for the automatic, and put back in those for a manual.

Might require welding new trans mounts, but anyone with a welder can do that.

Then get a manual engine harness, and flash the ECU to that of a manual car.

Done.

People have been manual swapping J-Bodies for years now, and its pretty much the same damn thing.


No what I'm saying is about the motors.

The 08+ motors don't have quite as strong of a bottom end (Pistons/Rods) as the 06-07 cars do.

You said you swapped your motor for an 08 motor.

This isn't a problem unless you want to make alot of power, like in the high 300's, the 08's are plenty strong for bolt-ons or a low psi boost setup.


As an aside, the F35 only came on the SS/SC and SS/TC cars, and they are junk IMO. Swap the F23, which will be easier, and is a much stronger transmission.

 

I havent seen any automatic cobalts swap to a manual. If it was easy alot of people would be doing it.

 

read this.
https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/2-2l...y-swap-286943/

 

-'All related transmission items out' entails what?

-I've got a guy that welds exhaust for me dirt cheap I could ask him about a mount. Would this require the welder to be present at the same time that the transmission is physically placed in the car, or is it something that could be made and brought to the swap?

-Link to a manual engine harness?

-How would I flash the ECU? I'm tuned by Trifecta, is it something my tuner can do?

-And would an F23 manual tranny most likely be cheaper than an F35 anyway? At that, would there be a difference in terms of the F35 allowing better performance or anything like that? Just wondering.

 

man dont' swap it yourself if you dont understand what Newt is saying. not trying to pick on ya, just dont get in over your head with a pile of parts and no idea what to do next.

honestly, reading what you have for mods and you clicked off a 15.3 thats not bad for an auto car, however, listen to Newt, he is one of the few i would listen on here without question.

i know newt said the 06-07 motor ware stronger, and i agree. it you dont boost it IMO you will be fine. if you car going to build the car, i would take you orig. motor and use the crank and rods, put some 8.8 pistons in there and boost it to high heaven

 

No, no what i DO understand is that I have a family friend that would do it for me, in addition to a few different people that are apart of the same racing group as me (Deceptive K.C.), including a guy in his mid 20's that has dropped $30K of his own money into his 10-second Firebird. The frame and 4 speed auto tranny are stock, everything else he built. I believe he said he would do it for $1,000. Another resource I have is that I have a few friends in an advanced auto tech class (they leave the high school campus) to go to Mill Creek (Millcreek Technical Education Center ť Automotive Technology Program). They can bring cars in to have the teacher work on, it's not as shady as it sounds, I promise.

 

Listen i know everything sounds like a spinning record on this site, but doing a tranny swap is not worth a damn for you.

Take the 2-3k you would spend on that and throw some boost at it. You will be much happier having 250-300hp instead of having a manual/auto at the same price.

 

or this...
ZZPerformance - 4T45E Transmission #ZZ-4T45ETRANS

 

Ya that's exactly whats involved, that's not hard.

Find one wreaked Cobalt at the scrap yard and you can get all those parts.

Same list of stuff needed as a J-Body, most guys can get it swapped in a weekend.

Hell with a few buddies I could swap that in a night, Delta's are much easier to work on since the whole subframe drops as one assemble without having to disconnect the power steering lines which is super nice.

Actually, both trans mounts attach to the lower subframe!

So, just pick up a manual lower subframe, skip any welding, this is even easier than I thought.

Back when my buddy had his SS/TC we did a clutch swap in a few hours once, and then a trans swap in a few hours another time.

With more than enough time after to enjoy a few whiskeys and admire our work.

 

Isn't this an automatic?

 

Yes, but its a beefed up version of the auto trans that's in the GM minivans and W-Body cars (Grandprix, Regal).

 

Oh. Well see that one from ZZP actually is thousands, I bet I could find a used F23 manual trans for a few hundred

 

This makes sense!!

 

This sounds like a better idea.

 

I second that notion of boosting the car as an auto

 

You Cobalt kids will never learn, 3 grand for a manual swap?

Give your head a shake.

Oh well, I tried.

 

Because 3k can get an awesome turbo/sc kit. Spending 3k on a manual swap isn't worth it.

 

I'm definitely aware of the cost.. I'm just saying:

I'm pretty much a broke college student (go ahead and quote that)

I got my car for $5,000 SALVAGED from a family friend, after originally turning it down because it was purple.

It was auto, which wasn't bad to start with for a first car.

I now enjoy 'cars' in general more than I did when I first bought the car.

I want full control over my car, I feel that an automatic transmission is cool and all, but boring when I want the thrill..

Anyway, when I got Trifecta tuned, my transmission was also tuned obviously, shift points etc.. I'm kind of wondering, now that I think about it, if I got a manual transmission swap.. Wouldn't I lose the benefit of my trifecta, thus possibly making my car have negative gains (losses) in performance?

 

Just turbo or sc it and call it a day

 

I give up....LOL

I forgot everyone else here is so much more accomplished than me when it comes to drag racing all-motor Ecotecs, or working on Ecotecs, or Ecotec Hybrids, or drag racing in general for that matter...

Please tell me more about how huge your drag racing trophy cases must be!


Do a 3 grand turbo build....ya that's a good idea....cause you know, he wants to run a 14.999 on the motor.....so that totally helps him out.

 

He can get a 14.9 without wasting money on a manual swap. He's not even fully bolted. He can add more bolt ons to get 14.9

 

Lol, are you ok? Lay off the drugs.

OP, you can get a 2.4 all motor into the 14s. Can be done with an automatic. Full bolt ons, tune, weight reduction, good drag suspension setup and a great launch and it's no problem. Do it already. My fully bolted 2.2 with weight reduction could do mid 15's.

Keep practicing and adding to the car.