Converting a vitara from manual to auto ?

[Rotazuk]

Hi
has anyone converted a manual vitara to an auto ? Are the drive shafts the same length ?

It looks like it will be easier to use the 3 sp , but has anyone wired in a 4sp from a 16v to a 8v or carb etc ?

Cheers
Chris

[joeblow]

if its an 8valve, be it carby or tbi, the 4 speed auto will be a very hard match. the 16 valve ecu and the 4 speed auto computer are inter-linked. trying to get the 4 speed computer to work on its own will be difficult, i've tried. so your probably better off going the 3 speed, but remember this is a gm trimatic and not known for reliabilaty or quality. the tailshafts are the same for 3 speed auto and 5 speed manual, but different for the 4 speed auto. i have a link to a tech article i did on this subject, if you are interested i can pm it to you.

[Rotazuk]

Would be good to read the article . Just about to look through the wiring diag and see what the auto ecu looks at , but as you say I suspect its not going to be practical .

Chris

[Gwagensteve]

It's quite possible to shift an AW-4 without any reference to the ECU. There's quite a few ways of doing, or commerically though AWShifting.com

http://www.awshifting.com/

It still won't be all that cheap or easy and unless your car is very heavily modified (ie you already have lots invested in the car that can't easily be swapped) then I'd just buy an auto car and swap your stuff over- You'll end up with a better result.

Steve.