Wow what a fresh new and exciting topic!

In any case I just have a couple questions and was wondering if anyone could help me out. I've got a spare gearbox and some bits and pieces as well as a complete EF Futura manual and I'm in the process of converting my Ghia over to a manual. I've got the mechanical side of things down pretty well but the electrics are bugging me and I've got a s**t load of questions.

I'd rather not do the resistor trick to the Ghia seeing as how I have a perfectly good manual ECU but will the fact that it's from a Futura affect anything? I'm follownig voxace's guide which is great but it leaves me with a few questions especially on the electronic side. Which wiring looms am I supposed to be swapping over? Just the ones that came off the gearbox? They run to the ECU in the passenger kick panel don't they? I don't have to go cutting and crimping plugs If I have the original manual loom and ecu do I?

Also a few niggling little mechanical questions are floating around in my head as well. Is there any reason I can't just pull the clutch pedal out of the Futura and have it function as an auto pedal box? One last question I have is to do with the transmission cooler lines coming from the radiator. If I just pull the them out from the Ghia wont it just piss coolant? I get the feeling I'm completely wrong for some reason. Are there plugs in the manual futuras radiator I can swap over or something or what do I do there?

Jesus that's a few questions. I'd really appreciate it if anyone can help. Also a handy tip that's not listed in voxace's guide, jacking the front of the engine up helps so much its not funny when trying to remove or put in the upper bellhousing bolts. Though I still had to use a bloody uni joint which is as much fun as threading a needle with a wet noodle!

So long as the ghia is a EF then the ecu will slot straight in. My conversion didnt come with a loom but all i have to do was cut off 1 plug with 4 wires and put spade connectors on them so i could connect them to the manual box. The other plug that is used for the auto i just taped up so nothing got in it.

As for the trans cooler lines i just cut mine off up near the front of the car and joined the 2 hoses together LOL. The tranny coller in some cases should be seperate to the radiator.

The tranny cooler will be completly separate from the radiator. The only thing that will leak will be the oil thats in there, and then it will be fine..
I'm not 100% sure, but i think that the ECUs are different... at least i know from GLi to futura they are, a GLi ecu in a futura wont alow the cruise to work, etc (so i've been told, im not 100% sure. Please, correct me if im wrong)

Either way, Good luck with the conversion, You'll never look back with a manual in it, i'm in the middle of gathering parts for my Fairmont's conversion..

Also, the manual pedal box will work fine as an auto if you take off the clutch padal. i know plenty of people who do t5 conversions and do the pedal box one weekend, and the box the next, and use the car with the clutch pedal sitting there..

Cheers
David

the ECU will work, but run slightly richer due to the higher fuel pressure used in the Ghia if its a Series 2 (Ticky Motor) otherwise makes no difference

Yeah mate, tickford motor. Hmm, that's not too bad of a problem, I'm running a pod filter so theres a bit more air getting in there anyway, should balance out I'd rather the proper ECU anyway for other reasons like the self adjustment/learning stuff working properly and to not have to deal with the hassle of revs hanging etc.

Ahhh I had a feeling it was the gearbox oil that went through there but I wasn't too sure, so all I have to is connect the lines up and everything will be sweet for the soon to be auto futura? The Futura has ABS, cruise control and all that jazz and the adjustable wipers and high series cluster stuff are all to do with the BEM module anyway, hopefully I shouldn't spontaneously lose features. What parts do you need mate? I have a few spares that I don't need now that I have the futura.

Gah, better not have to cut and play with anything. I'm terrible at wiring stuff, having huge hassles trying to wire up an auto window winder at the moment. Be just my luck I'd end up without reverse lights or something haha.

One last question. The clutch I pulled out still looks new, but looks like it was driven a bit incorrectly. When in the car it drove without slipping or anything, is there any reason why I shouldn't reuse it? The only problem is it looks like it was installed without the flywheel being machined (but even that didn't look too bad, I'm getting it machined anyway) and maybe the person before me rode the clutch a little. But there's still heaps of meat on it and you can still read the text and serial numbers on the clutch face. Also the pressure plate looks bloody brand new! It's completely mark free and you can still feel the grooves in it running outwards from the center! I don't know how to tell the condition of the thrust bearing properly but it spins smoothly and the car drove fine so, opinions?

As long as your car is ef you can use the wiring loom off the gearbox and it will plug straight into the ef engine bay loom

El is a different story in that regard

You won't notice the diff in the ecu too much i reckon - if you come across and xr6 manual ecu go for it, but these are hard to find!

Id swap teh whole pedal box over - you have to ull the dash forward a bit but its a piece of piss - only like 7 bolts!
If you swap the hwole pedal box over you will have the manual pedal box in your car and that will have a mount for the clutch switch for cruise control. You can run without it - just when you have cruise on and you want to change gear you have to remember to disengage cruise control

Sweet, I would go for the XR6 ecu but I don't think it'd be worth it really, I was happy to use the resistor trick and I'm only putting this one in cause it'd go to waste otherwise. Stupid question but where abouts is the engine bay loom? Hmm, I would change the pedal box over but you're the first person I've heard say it's a piece of piss lol. Then again, the dash in my auto is already halfway out from me playing around with the electronics. I've got a mal wood pin on the way but I haven't been billed for it yet, I'll check out the condition of the pedal box and maybe I'll cancel it. Thanks for the help guys, I'd be lost without this site. I'm 18 and this is my first car, I learnt pretty fast that mechanics and wreckers love f**k around and ripping off kids and that if you want to keep anything reasonably affordable you have to do it yourself.

I don't know so much about the ef/el falcon's, but in my EB Ghia, i just hooked up the manual gearbox loom & the manual ecu, no issues with my cruise, windows, climate & so on. Manual loom plugs in on the firewall near where the auto loom unclips from.

I'm still to setup the cruise switch on the clutch peddle. Almost 12mths on, lol. I bought the switch, just not had a time to fit it & mod my wiring & vac lines to run off it.

Cheers

ToranaGuy

Muahahaha conversion is finished and car is now manual The electrics were bloody piss easy and so far so good on everything working. Couldn't be stuffed with the pedal box and just used the mal wood pin instead, that was bloody hard enough, it's claustrophobic under there!

One problem I ran into though, I snapped a bloody flywheel bolt because of a damn super s**t auto torque wrench. Possibly a huge mistake but I left it... When I change the clutch I'll just get a mechanic to do it and he can get it out on the hoist Couldn't be stuffed drilling it out under a car upside down at funny angles. It was threaded in there well and good and loctited in so it's not going anywhere (fingers crossed). Thanks for the help guys

EDIT: Wait I have one question, the manual tailshaft has a large weight on the gearbox end of it wheras my auto doesnt. So far other than there being a bit of a flat spot in my revs I've had no problems so leave well enough alone or play around with it?

Leave the weight installed on the g/box extn housing.

So is a manual loom required to use a manual ECU?

That's a very good question. The wiring mod " tricks " the auto ecu, so i would be thinking that it wouldn't work with a manual ecu.

Cheers

ToranaGuy

EDIT: I found the Voxace tech doc, my question has been answered.

Andrew.