So she's up on jacks, waiting to be reborn.
After I removed the console and plastic finisher piece that runs around the shifter, radio, and AC/Heat controls, I unplugged all wires down next to the shifter. I had to cut the wire going through the shifter to the Overdrive button, but the rest just came out. Afterwards there were maybe 2 plugs left coming out of the carpet, but after the console is back on you wont see them. Here you can see how it looks with all the interior AT components gone.
I pulled the exhaust off because it was in the way, and while it's down I�m going to put the new 2 1/4" tubing, high-flow converter and muffler on. Here you can see how bad the stock parts look.
Here is a picture of miscellaneous parts that go with the AT...drive shaft, flywheel, shifter, wiring, coolant tubes, gussets, and the two front brackets.
I took the drive shaft off first, then I cut the two coolant tubes where they run together right in front of the AT on the passenger side. I traced them back to where they go into rubber lines, took the steel lines out and plugged up the rubber hoses. On the passenger side, I found the speed sensor plugged in up near the starter. After unplugging that, I cut the other 3 groups of wire that come down to the tranny. Unplug the three plugs behind the engine compartment fuse box, and pull them all out. The bottom plug is a small 2 wire plug, you cut and jumper those two wires together to make the car think it is always in park, that way you can start it.
Next I disconnected the two wires going to the starter and pulled that out, its kind of tricky trying to make it fit out. Next, I took off the two mounts (one on the passenger side, one on the drivers side of the bell housing). Then I took off the two gussets that cover the flywheel. I turned the flywheel with a pry bar and took out all the bolts that hold it to the torque converter.
Take the bolts out of the bellhousing, the top two can be pretty hard to get to. Put a transmission jack underneath the trans pan, and I put a jack stand underneath the engine just in case it decided to rock back a little bit. Took the bolts out of the cross member, and it dropped right out. Here is the auto+torque converter, and the "new" manual and driveshaft.
The bronze circle in the middle is the AT adapter bushing. I took that out, and put the pilot bushing that came with my clutch kit in. Then I stuck the alignment tool in, bolted up the flywheel and slid on the clutch disk and pressure plate. After I finished this I prepped the manual: put in the new throw out bearing and slave cylinder, and drained the old tranny fluid.
Now it's time to put the manual in. My father laid on his back with the tranny on his chest and he had to turn it almost upside down to get it to fit. While he did this, I slid the tranny shaft into the clutch/pilot bushing, then he turned it back right side up. I bolted up the bellhousing, put the starter back in and reconnected all the wires going to it. Then I put the drive shaft on too.
Alright, the dreaded part...putting in the clutch pedal and master cylinder. The template is already stamped onto the firewall on the inside. Unplug the green box behind the dash and take it out, but keep it, you will need to plug it back in and relocate it. The AT brake pedal is too long to fit in next to the clutch, so you can either replace the pedal with one off of a MT car, or be like me and cut half off of it. I got some nice Sparco pedal covers to cover up the ugly cut pedal. I drilled the two holes for the clutch pedal bracket, and the big hole for the master cylinder. I had to pull some of the plastic around the template off the make the bracket fit in there right. Put in the clutch pedal bracket and bolt the master cylinder onto the bracket. Next I put on the long steel line that goes from the master cylinder to the slave cylinder. The fill plug on the tranny is kind of hard to get to when it is in the car, so I dumped the fluid down through the hole where the shifter goes in. Adjust the pedal height, and bleed the clutch lines. Then I put the shifter on along with the first rubber boot and metal ring.
You do not need the plastic finisher piece that goes around the shifter, radio, etc from a manual car. On the bottom of the piece off of the AT there are 4 screws holding on the round piece that went around the shifter. Take that off, and replace it with the white ring on the bottom of the shift boot. Put the console and finisher piece back in. Now top it all off with your shift knob, and you�re finished!
1. Intro
2. Exterior Mods
3. Engine Mods
4. Interior
5. You Are Here
6. RIP z32
