flywheel? the length of the driveshaft? the differentials?

 

Size and shape of transmission tunnel. Bell housing to mount up to the engine. Alignment in the transmission tunnel of the shifter. Driveshaft, although these are relatively cheap to have custom made.

I would not be surprised if the estimate comes in at $18k or more.

 

hmmm, if it was that price, then forget the whole idea!

 

As I rethink about it you might get out of there a little cheaper. If they use the transmission from the base SRT and it will bolt up with no changes to the bell housing and minor mods to the transmission tunnel. Figure ~ $4k - $5k for the trans, $600 for the drive shaft, $200 - $300 for interior trim, another $1k - $2k for the clutch pedal, and another $1k - $2k for misc work. You might be able to get out of there for a total of $6,600 if you are lucky.

 

Ashon,

Re-read the topic at hand. It pertains to an SRT-6 + manual tranny swap not just SRT vs. Vette.


SRT6_Roadster,

Base SRT?... all SRT-6's only come with the auto tranny. Even if you cut some corners, I don't see how you could get under $10k and again with little to no overall performance gain... but put $10k into power goodies on the car regards of the auto tranny... you'll have a very adequate sports car on your hands...

 

Respdoc, Re-read what I said. True I was quoting an SRT6 coupe price, that they can be bought for now-a-days, not a roadster. But who said anything about a Base SRT other than you? And since I haven't been living in a spider hole for the last 2.5 years, I know the SRT only comes as an automatic. That's why I recommended "Doug Nash" to Golfdude.
That being said, let's go back and crunch the numbers, shall we?
I think it's a given, that a brand new, 05 SRT6 Roadster can be had for 40k. I have no idea what the final price would be to do an actual manual trans. swap, but you said that you doubted if it could be done for less than 10k, so just to be safe, let's say 15k. That still puts the Crossfire in at 10k under the BASE ZO6.
You are always very zealous to point out that the performance gain of a manual, over the auto is minimal at best. But as of yet, who really knows? There is a .5 sec. difference in 1/4 mile times between the stick and automatic Limited. So who's to say the SRT wouldn't be greater?
To me the topic at hand was Golfdude simply preferred a manual sports car over one that shifted for itself. Maybe I got it wrong.
I personally think a "Loaded up" SRT6 roadster, with a custom 6 speed trans. at 10k less than "Base" ZO6 Vette that would probably only be 1 sec. or less faster at the drags, still makes the Crossfire a bargain.
I'm not going to go into resale, desirability, dependability or anything else. I'm simply comparing "apples to apples" with no other variables.
True, if you want a 100% factory built sports car, then of course the ZO6 is the only game on the block (unless you consider Lotus). But on this forum, I think there are more people that prefer driving something really unique than just another Vette., and I really like Vettes.

 

I have sent a manual transmission swap request to Doug Nash.
I have also received a response from Dr. Evil transmissions and they said they will do it for $4,500 PLUS! I think it's a pretty darn good price, but the PLUS worries me.
Why would I want a manual in the SRT-6? Simply because when I drove the SRT-6, stock, it did not feel as fast as it should be. In fact, my Crossfire coupe 6-speed feels much faster through everyday driving. You can really feel the torque of the engine with the 6-speed. I tried everything I could during the test drive (using the "autostick function") to convince my mind that this car was better than my 6-speed...but my mind just couldn't agree. The tranny swap never was intended for significant performance gains, instead, I want it so that the driving experience can be improved. The SRT-6 has a great engine, but I feel that it's power can be felt best by having a manual transmission in place.

 

You are not alone the entire automotive industry agrees with you.

 

that's great news, awesome that Dr. Evil responded.

hope all goes well.

 

English is either not be your first language or you just had a little too much spiked egg nog yesterday.

The statement:

Ashon,

Re-read the topic at hand. It pertains to an SRT-6 + manual tranny swap not just SRT vs. Vette (. )<-note the period dot. The period dot indicates the end of my response to your statement.

SRT6_Roadster is another member on this forum and I wrote a reply to his comment also.

What your failing to see is the overall big picture. We're not talking about '80-'90's stang's and camaro's where a long weekend, a few friends over and plenty of pizza and beer will get the job done...

In general, Mercedes manual transmissions are no where near as refined as there auto's. This is directly related to the lack of demand for sticks in M.B.'s and thus their R+D time and money spent on producing manual transmissions. Now compare this to their automatic transmission setups and even more important the fact that AMG (Mercedes "tuner" company) gets a hold of their autostick and makes improvements on it. These "upgraded" auto transmissions are found in all AMG cars including the old SLK32 (SRT-6).

I guess if someone is really bored, really wealthy, and really patient in dealing with your own R+D'ing, troubleshooting and voiding a large part of the warranty...go ahead and knock yourself out. Exercises in futility has never been my thing...

 

I sure hope owning a Crossfire never turns me into a "snob".

 

Tell me why you cannot take a manual transmission out of a Crossfire Limited and have it installed into the SRT6? I would think all that needs to be done is cut a hole in the floor board for the shifter, etc, & etc. Where is the hang up with having a local shop do it for you, why do people place such a highly over rated magical aura around the Crossfire, it's just another internal combustion powered car - I know I love my Crossfire also, so yes I KNOW - ... but what if I wanted to drop a MB V8 into my Crossfire, what’s to keep me from pulling out my box of Mac hand tools and air wrenches and just getting it done?

I say stop by your local shade tree and ask around, I'm sure some one with a set of hot (just gott'em for Christmas) set of jack stands, and transmission jacks would be more then glad to fix you up. Heck I’d do it for half of the price you quoted, but all the pizza and beer I could eat and drink.

hooah

 

lol...that you are right that the Crossfire is just another internal combustion car but as with any other late model internal combustion car; getting all the electronics to play nice and not either make your dash light up like a Christmas tree or have the car run like dirt by having the computer run too lean, too rich, etc. when you talk about changing out engines or adding things like superchargers to base model engines is what poses the biggest challenge.

Yes, one could gut the car of all engine and transmission electronics to eliminate the problem but $35k+ sure seems a lot to pay for a shell and some heated seats.

 

If you have a ton of money to burn try Xtrac in Indianapolis. They'll build you any gearbox differential combo you could dream of!!!

The whole concept seems a bit crazy to me... It would probably be easier and cheaper to do it the other way around. Drop a SRT6 motor into the Limited. Everything will line-up and you won't have to manufacture a clutch pedal into the car... Good luck...

 

It was a typo. You are of course correct about the SRT. I meant to say a base Crossfire. Not a base SRT.

 

the whole problem that I hear about just throwing the SRT-6 engine into a base model is the fact that the base 6-speed cannot handle the power of the engine.

 

rebuild the 6 speed. reinforce it. better flywheel, better teeth among other things.

 

can you believe this all he wanted to know WAS DO YOU KNOW ANY BODY THAT WOULD DO THIS.

 

I just joined the forums and I'm surprised how mean some of you are. Automatics are pretty boring, and to put one in an upgraded engine simply doesn't make sense to me. Its not all about speed, some of you just need to learn the joy of rev matching a downshift coming into a fast corner.

 

Welcome to the forum... I agree whole heartedly...