Was looking to get my AU series 2 ute converted to manual and was just looking for a complete list of parts needed if anyone could help, and is it a difficult job?

I have avaliable an AU gearbox and bell housing. but your looking at $500 + shipping.

you also need clutch, flywheel ecu and pedalbox and possibly prop shaft.

its not an extremely difficult job, but set aside a good weekend for it.
from memory you'll need:
the t5 (and mount), flywheel (machined if required) & new bolts, clutch & pressure plate, throwout bearing, spigot bearing (wholesalers sold a ford branded one to me for a 1/4 of what ford were asking), clutch fork, clutch cable, pedal box (or mal-wood clutch pin mod?), clutch switch (if you want cruise to disengage when depressing the clutch), i wouldnt bother with make sure it has an ECU as any one you get will have to be flashed by ford to a manual (or flashed because another ecu won't work with your BEM), you can keep the auto one in there and just do the resistor mod (i had mine running like this for a while without problem before getting a J3 with my cam install, details of the resistor mod are somewhere floating around on this forum). you may need a tailshaft too (i'm not sure with a ute, i did on my sedan), other than that you'll need the foam and rubber boots to go over the hole in the trans tunnel and vinyl gear boot and knob.
that should be it

Getting to some of the bellhousing bolts are a pain in the a*** when removing the auto. Make sure you have a decent set of tools before begining, the constant trips to the hardware store were inconvenient when I did my AU2 conversion. If you can source a manual ECU and Loom it is possible for an auto elec to use scantools to match the codes between the ECU and the BEM. If you do go that route, make sure it is a S2 loom and ECU, since series one ran off a different ECU clock cycle and had different map, tps and coil pack plugs on the engine loom.

If you stay with the Auto ECU, it will have to be flash tuned in order to turn off the components in the ecu that deal with the auto box. Its a five minute job for a technician to do so, and doesn't require a full engine ecu flash tune (and subsequent fee's and dyno time).

As far as I was made aware by the ford tech (BPR in Geelong) who did my Auto ECU conversion, the resistor trick does not work on AU2 auto boxes, something to do with them being a bit smarter than E series gear.

FYI, don't miss the access port cast into the bottom of the block's back end to get at the flywheel bolts. I missed it because its tucked up behind the steering rack and sway bar. There is a small black plastic cover that pops off giving A1 access to the flywheel bolts. I wasted days trying to get them off not knowing that port was there.

The manual goes in 100 times easier than the auto comes out on these things in my experience.

I think I used a 1m or so extension for my 3/4" drive to get the top bellhousing bolts while rocking the engine/tranny back. Would have been extremely gay without that puppy.

I think getting the starter off was the next biggest PITA, as in a difficult position to get to with manifold still on from memory?

There was a fair bit of fannying about with that, there is a support member that runs from the underside of the BBM down to the block that is smack in the way of one of the starter motor bolts. I used 3x 4inch extensions in sequence to get enough reach and the little bit of flex to get around it. Had to be extreeeeeemely carefull not to round the bolt though with the altered angle of attack.

Ended up with that much firewall insulation up my arms/down my neck and back that I itched for weeks from brushing it constantly on the top bolts. A few rage bursts were had trying to deal with the annoyance of itching

You don't need a flash, a few other people and I have done it with AuII without leaving the driveway. I got a J3 to fix things up but it wasn't compatible with the series II at the time so it's still sitting in a box in the garage and the ute runs fine with the 5 speed. If you use the plug casing of an old auto you can make up a dummy loom to just plug in. Only thing different with tremec T5s is there is no neutral switch.

A minor bit of intermittent idle hang no worse than other high km factory manuals I've driven so I'm assuming it's not gearbox related.

Will definitely need the tailshaft also & wouldn't hurt doing the unis while your there. For piece of mind I'd probably replace the rear output seal in the box before it goes back in, every second hand box I've had has leaked after install & filling them in the car is a terrible job.

I done my conversion myself in a day, the worste part was dropping the auto. Don't be fooled: Those things weigh a tonne.