automatic to manual conversion question

[ttpower]

when doing a manual to automatic conversion, obviously you take out the transmission module, do you need to do anything to the starter motor side of electrics to get it turn over??

or is this live feed wire for the starter motor plugged into somewhere else??

[antnicuk]

i assume you have to make sure it doesnt think its drive

[dazsir]

Dont you need to change the wiring loom?

[ttpower]

its cool, got it sorted, basically you have to rewire most of the auto function i.e. park, neutral, reverse and rewire the starter motor to a 12v live and to the ignition barrel. if your doin the auto conversion i suggest changing the main ring loom, engine harness and subharness for the alternator and starter motor. That would make it a proper job.

[dazsir]

if your doin the auto conversion i suggest changing the main ring loom, engine harness and subharness for the alternator and starter motor. That would make it a proper job.

What is the main ring loom?  My car had a half-arsed job done and Pip said it needed the loom changing, I presumed it was just the engine loom.

Some advice would be nice.......

[ttpower]

the main ring loom is the body loom which goes from the drivers footwell, around the car and into the passenger side footwell which plugs into another harness which controls stuff like heaters, a/c and also two plug into the ecu. When you say its had a half arsed job, what do you mean, more info mate and i can give a better idea of what i think! the only reason people change the engine loom is sometimes its know to perish, or there going back to sequential cause the old engine harness has been cut up to shreads to rid the rats nest and going single turbo.

Oh and the exhaust is still for sale, that other guy dropped out of the sale cause he had to buy a new clutch and flywheel!!

[dazsir]

this is what pip, at wgt said.
he said that when mine was changed to manual,  they never changed the loom, next to my ecu is a little box which presumably is the auto ecu.
i am taking the passenger side loom, from a manual, the one that controls the rats nest, etc.  will this be enough?

[ttpower]

yeah, usually on auto-manual conversions they leave in the ring loom and change the subharness(the one which controls the alternator and starter motor not the engine harness) and then loop the electrical connections the engine harness where the connectors go down to the gearbox and inside the car from the main ring loom. The most best way is to change the main ring loom, engine harness and subharness then it would be a totally complete conversion which would be very difficult to tell that it was actually converted! just depends on how much time and money you want to put into it! If you go the cheaper way just make sure pip wires up the reverse, parking and neutral sensors up correctly and runs the correct voltage size wire for the starter motor.

[ttpower]

you dont actually need to change your engine harness but if you do you might as well change the whole ring harness, just makes more sense to.

[dazsir]

How do you get the main ring loom out, must be a lot of work?

I am a little confused now as I thought you could just bung in the manual loom and manual ECU and the whole thing would work fine?

[ttpower]

to take the ring loom out you have to take the whole dash out.

The cheap method would to just add a manual subharness to run a live feed for the starter motor as the starter motor connectors on the automatic loom are diffrent and located on the main engine harness. The manual ecu will  just plu in now how it is, u will just be left with a big blue connector which is for the atecu.

[dazsir]

so i just leave the blue connectors loose?
the car starts ok so i guess thats been done.
what actual differernces are there between auto and manual ecu loom?

to take the ring loom out you have to take the whole dash out.

The cheap method would to just add a manual subharness to run a live feed for the starter motor as the starter motor connectors on the automatic loom are diffrent and located on the main engine harness. The manual ecu will  just plu in now how it is, u will just be left with a big blue connector which is for the atecu.

[ttpower]

not much diffrences, just functions that run through the atecu such as neutral, park and reverse(activating lights) and of course the starter motor, but all this requires splicing into loom. If it runs fine then whats up with it, is your engine harness in that bad condition that it needs to be changed!!!

[dazsir]

when pip tried to run a pfc, on it, it would not work.  it was really bad and fried the pfc.  he said i need a new loom? i am a bit confused now, so i dont need to pull the ecu loom?
pip said that it was a poor conversion?
aaaaaaaggggghhhhhh!
fancy doing what you did to yours to mine?

not much diffrences, just functions that run through the atecu such as neutral, park and reverse(activating lights) and of course the starter motor, but all this requires splicing into loom. If it runs fine then whats up with it, is your engine harness in that bad condition that it needs to be changed!!!

[ttpower]

pip proberbly describes a poor conversion as one that is done cheaply i.e. splicing into original loom. It depends what has already been done to it, has the engine loom already been changed to a manual, best way to check is see if there is a loom that travels down the gearbox from the engine bay and connects to i think 4 connectors, if not then you still have an auto loom which means its been done cheaply by just jumping some connectors. Bit unusual to see a pfc fry, thats more likely(which is very unlikely) that there is too muh current travelling through your wires which is kinda impossible cause they go through fuses unless some have been bypassed with no relays such as maybe the starter motor. To be honest mate it really all depends on whats been done to your car, at least with pip you will get a guarantee and warranty, not sure if he offers that, how much is he looking to charge you?