When enough is enough...

  

i was gonna convert the box to manual early March but there was some problems with the manual box that i got. the car when i bought came with 2 box. the auto is on the car and the manual is off the car (its been converted from manual to auto from the previous owner). well basically the manual box has broken 2nd gear and synchro. 

well on the way back from Bandung, to Jakarta, around 100km trip 2 weeks ago, i saw from my mirrors, big white smokes from the back of my car. i thought something wrong with the engine.... so i pulled over. i looked under the car and the auto trans fluid is leaking badly, dripping on my exhaust pipe and got burnt... here is the pic of the black past of the exhaust where the fluid from the autobox dripped... 
 
ok, i didnt remember abusing it too badly apart from occasional night practice during the rain  


so then RDM workshop managed to source me another manual box, but it has bad 4th and cant get into reverse. so i bought that and ask them to mix and match the internals gears with my other manual box with a broken 2nd gear. 

so the conversion begin. 

the tail shaft have to be extended coz the manual box in shorter. 
 

i dunno whether this welding will last a lifetime, but only one way to find out...  this is because i couldn't source the manual tail shaft. 
 

the Shifter is being installed and aligned. 
 

they gave me the clutch system and the pedals replacement too... old and ugly but works... 
 

the manual box is one the car. 
 

Couldnt find a stock gear knob, so RDM throw in this free, carbon fibre knob for some 'serious' weight reduction...  after all this surely will make me shift faster right? 
 


Came accross this white ATEV 17x7.5 2nd wheels for sale cheap... less than $200 a set. but after closer inspection 2 of them badly bent... so no go...  
 
 


it turns out that the main bearing seal on the input shaft of the autobox is badly leaking... 
 

my torque converter is burnt/toasted because of low trans fluid... my auto gearbox leaking when i was 82km from jakarta, so i kept on driving and i guess that breaks this parts... 
 

one of the sensor clip also hanging by a thread.  
 

and the metal clip that supposed to be here is gone... i dunno where it went... 
 

the only good news is the auto box fits in my boot. will try to sell this if anyone want wrecked autobox lol... 
 


oh, and i painted the BMW nose grill (2 chrome square frames) matte black. i dunno why i did that... but i think i just gained another 5kw  
 


Observation: 
the the M20 engine + manual box is a whole different drive compared to the auto. i knew it would be better but i was surprised how much better it was... the 4 speed auto was so shit that it will only do good when i am stuck in the traffic... the car now revs faster, goes harder and pulls till the end of the rev range... i think i should've save more on fuel, but for some reason due to driving style i think i waste more fuel now