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Muscle cars. Be them classic or a modern interpretation, there’s nothing like them in the world. Things could be going badly throughout your day, and when you get behind the wheel and fire up the engine, that all goes away. But, for some enthusiasts, said muscle car should really be equipped with a manual transmission. I get it, I like rowing my own as well.
For this week’s Throwback Thursday, I decided to mix up a little classic and late-model tech. Behold, converting a fifth-gen Camaro from utilizing an automatic transmission to allowing the driver to grab his or her gears at will. Upgrading a late-model hot rod like this might not be as simple as just adding a clutch and pressure plate, but the results are definitely worthwhile. Since late-model muscle is something that is here to stay, I decided it would be great to showcase Converting A Fifth-Gen Camaro From Auto To Manual as this week’s throwback article.
This is how the fifth-gen looked when we first brought it home, with the LS7 and TREMEC TR6060 transmission waiting for their forever home.
In September of 2018, we tackled this upgrade in a 2013 Z/28 that was a theft recovery. the donor car just happened to be equipped with a 6L80E slushbox when it left GM’s assembly line. The process of converting from automatic to manual might be a little complex, and there is definitely a right and a wrong way to do things. Unfortunately, the right way is rarely the easiest. Suffice to say, if you want to bang your own gears, it’s vastly less complex to just buy the car in a manual configuration, to begin with. But, if you are feeling bold, where there is a will, there is a way.
The automatic gear selector is removed from inside the vehicle while the new manual-gear sector is fed through the bottom and bolted in place from inside the cockpit.
The original article goes deep into showing what it takes to complete a swap like this, and some of the things you’ll need to consider are: adding a clutch pedal, clutch master cylinder and reservoir, shifter, and even the wiring. However, there is a lot more vital information in the original article, and that is why I selected, Converting A Fifth-Gen Camaro From Auto To Manual as this week’s Throwback Thursday showcase article.
