81 to 85 auto to manual question

[Alexander van Gerbig]

    Speaking from experience the swap can most likely be done.  You'd be
surprised how modular these different cars are.  If you stay in the
immediate family, i.e.. TYP43 TYP44, TYP85 TYP89, you might have a fighting
chance.  I myself just discovered today that the magical flooring
differences in the TYP89 manual and auto are minute at that.  The real
difference is the automatic hasn't got the manual's extra floor support
welded to it.  So now I can take the flooring I have, remove the flooring
support from that, and weld into my car.  Then I'll have the setup as if the
car were a stock manual TYP89.  Though there may be a few hurdles, but in
theory all is easy.
    Yes there are a lot of parts that are needed for the swap.  Valve cover,
cruise control parts, pedal bracket, throttle cable, speedo cable, engine
mounts...  Though you can improvise until you find the right parts.  My
throttle cable is two cables vised together with two huge washers, a bolt,
and a nut.  May not look beautiful but it gets the job done until I can find
a used 4 cyl std. valve cover, nearly impossible at this point.  Also I
found the pedal bracket for the automatic and the std. are the same, just
different pedals on the bracket, of course the automatic hasn't got the
third pedal.  Cruise isn't hooked up until I get the throttle body linkages
from a 4 cyl std.  Plus some small tubing and a spliced line for the clutch
cruise shut off.  The fuel system needed to have two wires connected to
allow the system to function without the shift gate.  Also one wire had to
be grounded to get the ECU to think the car is in drive all the time, this
isn't a hack solution it's actually the way Audi and Bosch designed it.
    You must be resourceful and collect as much info as possible before
diving in.  I spent over 4 months preparing and over a month without a car,
thanks to a two week wait at the shop that is.  I would like to think you
can do it, but compare and collect all the info possible.  Have fun!

Regards from the mad doctor,

Alexander van Gerbig -- '88 80

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