Hey all, Its time to make a decision, ill have the money within the next couple of weeks and I need to work out what to do.... Here is what im thinking of doing to my EL Fairmont, and also a few questions, I would like to hear your opinions and what you recommend as will help my decision.

1. The diff is getting done, changing to 3:9s and lsd

2. Gearbox........ Either shift kit the auto and fit a 2500rpm stall converter with a lock up clutch.........Or convert it to manual.
All my cars ive owned have been manual and I really miss it!!!

Future plans for the car include - Full engine rebuild, lowering the comp,headwork and a supercharger cam,CAPA vortech Blower running 12psi, Extractors and full 3inch exhaust. Already been quoted on the blower kit......Just have to save a lil more! Getting the V1-S trim instead of the V2-SQ! They are the exact same blower except the V1-S has spur gears inside instead of helical cut gears....So I can gear blower whine! Gotta love that sound!!!

Anyway that is what I have in store for my beast....... What would everyone recommend?
Also with the manual conversion, will all my electronics still work?
Like my trip computer and stuff as mine is a fairmont?
Only reason I ask is because a manual ecu is installed with the conversion and as such I didnt think the manual ecu's could controll the trip computer and stuff.
Or am I wrong? Is it the bcm that controlls the trip computer?

sorry posted in wrong section, can someone move it please.

It depends, a manual is a lot more fun.. However, an auto can handle a bit more power than the T5. You won't need the stall convertor either for the moment, best to do the engine first in my opinion.

depepnds on ur budget too.. if ur going all out on this car like it sounds. if yo still want to convert to manual but put either a supra gearbox in it or i think u can get the t5 gearbox with ba t5 internals. which should be a bit stronger...

you can leave the auto ecu in just have to put resistors in different placed to make the car think its in drive and to make the thermo fans stop running constantaly.

diff will be good but s**t for highway driving!!!

Personally i'd go the manual.

Just a point to note re: the manual ECU....

CAPA will supply a chip which plugs into the J3 connector on your EEC. These chips are programmed specifically for each catch code.

So..

If you have the blower fitted with an auto ECU, and replace with a manual ECU - you'll need a new/reflashed chip. However a manual ECU will control body electronics fine. I'd just mod the auto ECU tho....

Also think long and hard about getting the vortech v-1. Blower whine is cool but those things are INCREDIBLY loud at idle - these blowers have a reputation for attracting police attention. Not suprising, as you can hear them from a mile away. Really, really, really load. The SQ trims are supposed to be silent but you can still hear em. So go the V-1 but have a good think about it

Yeah I second that, I was going to get a V1 until I actually heard it. You could literally hear it idling from miles away. I got the V2-SQ and it still has the whine but its not over the top. I was hoping for a silent one for the sleeper look but don't mind a little bit of whine.

As for the trans, a T5 just won't handle the power for too long, even strengthened with T5Z parts it will still be a weak point. You will have to look at the basic tremec (3550 I think) but they are a fair bit more expensive. If you keep the auto, install a big cooler and shiftkit and it will stand up well. I wouldn't worry about the stall as the blower will increase low down torque anyway so u probably won't need it.

If you miss manual now you probably always will. A few things to consider for a manual conversion:

If you're blowing forget the T5 handling it. Only good to about 230lb/ft which you'll easily exceed with a Vortech hanging off it. Forget the Supra Turbo box also as a blown 8 will destroy it. Torque is the killer of boxes, 8's make tonnes of it and rice-burner boxes such as the Supra were never designed for such torque no.'s. Probably OK for piss ant 308's.

Look at Tremec for the cheapest of your decent boxes (5-spds that is). The BA's run the 3650 which is good to 360lb/ft. The TKO & TKOII is good for 500 & 600lb/ft respectively but expect to shell out +$4k. I'll be running a TKOII in my stroker. The std stick location is slightly further fwd on the TKO's also I'm led to believe, though nothing that should pose any great problem.

A side issue is clutch mounting. The pedal boxes fitted to autos from factory don't come with a stem shaft welded in for the cluch pedal. They simply have the hole into which the shaft is inserted and welded in place. Pedal boxes are a pain in the a*** to remove as well as you have to pull away half the dash to get to the top mounting bolts that live directly behind the air truncking (visible when you remove the instrument cluster). The easiest way is to fab up a shaft with a thread on one end so you can bolt the thing to the pedal box using the existing hole.

As someone mentioned a couple of resistors will be reqiured later to trick the EEC-IV into thinking it's in drive and you're away.