It seems rather absurd that manual-transmission enthusiasts get vociferous every time a manufacturer announces it's dropping the stick from a model line. After all, if someone truly wants to save the manuals and if they genuinely enjoy the DIY aspect of rowing through the gears, they'd figure out how to retrofit their car with a stick shift.
That's probably a vast oversimplification of the matter, yes, but as the old saying goes, why curse the darkness when you can light a candle?
My colleagues have offered their curses on the darkness this week. The manual transmission is a reminder that machines are just that, something tangible that we can understand and operate and exert some domain over. The more the machine does for itself—be it selecting gears, turning on the headlamps, or regulating the air-fuel mixture and spark-plug timing—the more command of it we lose, and the further disconnected from it we become.
I'm under no illusion that it's easy to swap a manual transmission into a modern vehicle. For decades now, carmakers have developed many cars specifically around an automatic transmission, with zero regard for a manual option. Long gone are the days of perusing the Hollander to see which transmissions share bellhousing bolt patterns or which platform-mates could donate a pedal set with a clutch. Transmission-tunnel dimensions are specifically tailored to automatics, and transmission controllers have become further integrated into many cars' on-board diagnostic systems. If that weren't enough of a deterrent, you also have to keep in mind government regulations on emissions. Regarding transmission swaps, the California Air Resources Board notes: "Transmissions and transaxles changes alone are not legal. Transmissions and transaxles can only be changed along with their matching engine. The total engine transmission package must conform to the engine change requirements above."
But should difficulty stand in the way of desire? Manual-transmission swaps are hard but not impossible. Anything made by human hands can be unmade and remade by human hands, especially if those hands have access to a reciprocating saw and a welder. Adapters are easy enough to design and build, especially with the prevalence of CAD and plasma/waterjet/laser cutters these days. Even if it's impossible to source a set of bolt-in pedals, every car has a firewall, and online catalogs have universal clutch master cylinders and clutch pedals in a near-endless variety of configurations. Floorpans—even those with tunnels that interfere with your choice of transmission—are made of nothing more than stamped sheetmetal.
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