AOD to T5 Conversion: Your Honest Opinions

90GTFIVO

Active Member
Apr 28, 2011
120
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29
Carroll, OH
So I was in the process of removing my stock shifter on my 93GT, which I had planned to be my project car. When I took the bezel and boot off I noticed a couple things that hinted towards the chances the car had been converted from it's factory AOD to a T5 5-speed.

So I went to the door tag and sure enough, the TRAN code starts with a T!

I'm kind of ticked and in a holding pattern now to start my suspension upgrades, because I'm not sure this is the car I want to use for my project. Part of me doesn't like the idea that the transmission on the car does not match the door tag, but the other part of me says the engine and suspension are going to receive quite a bit of modifications, so the car is never going to be original anyway.

What are some of your honest opinions about this conversion? Are there areas where things can be severely F'd up, if done incorrectly? Should there be any worries related to the rear-end (are they different for AODs vs T5s)? Any other things I should worry about, since I have no knowledge of the person who did this conversion?

Overall, the car is in really good shape and I was pretty pumped to get the project underway, but now I'm a little gun-shy.

Looking for your guy's help! :shrug:
 
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I would still use it, not a big deal that its been converted. My 89 was converted as well but you never would have known unless you looked at the door tag. As long as it was all done and everything works I wouldn't worry about it at all.
 
I converted my car to 5-spd. If you do it right, other than the door-tag there is very little evidence the car was previously an AOD.

The 1 thing 99% of swappers don't do is install the extra trans tunnel hump that 5-spd cars have. Other than that, every other part can be swapped and made like it came from the factory like that.

Originality means nothing if you are going to modify the car. if anything, the car has far more appeal as a 5-spd than a slushbox to most people. When my car was an AOD, i'd always have people ask "Is it manual" and then look like their dog died when i told them no. When I finally could say yes, the response was always enthusiastic.

The only thing you really need to be concerned with is the computer. Just be aware of which trans it's for for future tuning purposes.
 
I converted mine and it's a pretty hard conversion to mess up unless it was done by a total moron. I would mod away. In my opininon you've saved the trouble of having to do the conversion yourself in the future. Enjoy!
 
On the trans tunnel, on 5-spd cars, is an extra peice of sheet metal.* It raises the tunnel up about 1" and gives the inner shift boot a solid place to bolt to. On the AOD cars, the shifter just bolts here, so the extra height is not needed.
When 99% of people do 5-spd swaps, they don't tack weld this extra part on. As a result, the shift boot sits lower and fits tighter on the shifter. Not really a problem though, just an easy way to tell if the car is swaped.* I think i've only heard of 1 person actually taking the time to go to a junkyard, cut out this peice and tack weld it in.

I tried to find a pic but can't.* Basically it looks like a small box welded to the tunnel . If all you see is the trans tunnel, then you don't have it which is the most likely situation.

As for the wiring, there is nothing that needs to be "rigged".* The simpliest method requires you to simply unhook the AOD's reverse/nuetral harness at the transmission, and plug in the T-5's reverse/nuetral harness. Very simply, plug and play.
Under the dash, there are two plugs jumpered out. Simply remove the jumper and install into the clutch interlock switch.

That's it.* Everything plugs in from factory.* No need to splice any wires.*
NOW, there is a more complex, but factory correct way.* If you want to swap the AOD computer to a 5-spd, you need to change out the transmission body harness that runs from driver's kick panel to under the car that plugs nto the trans.* The reason you need to change this is because the AOD harness does not have the plug for the nuetral sensing switch on top of the t-5.* With the manual computer, it looks for this input to dump codes and will trigger a code 67 without it. You *could* splice the two wires together, but that's not good practice IMHO.
Another change is the O2 harness.* The AOD and 5-spd O2 harness route the Nuetral circuit through it and are pinned differently. So to swap to a 5-spd comp would require repinning or replacing the o2 harness.
You don't need the 5-spd comp, it's just more "correct". You could build up a powerful engine and have it run perfectly fine with the AOD comp, so if the above "correct" methods weren't done, i wouldn't lose too much sleep over it
 
a picture of a hump attached correctly to the floorpan...I cut this out and sold it to the guy who installed it

look carefully at the center and you can see the original tunnel metal under the top blue piece.
6-24%20Ripper.JPG
 
if your worried about numbers matching, i have a aod in my vert that is currently getting painted, that ill trade you for your t-5. i would rather have a 5 speed than a auto. let me know