ok i was talking with a couple of j-body guys and they had two opinions. one said to do a manual swap on my 99 2200 fire and since im going turbo in the future he told me it would be a good setup, so i figured yeah it would be cuz i wanted to go manual. Then the other guy says if you are gonna go turbo an automatic is a much better solution only that you would have to get a higher stall converter. he said that whenever you are gonna race just power brake and build up boost and when you take off you would have a much better launch. what i wanted to know is what would be the best setup for low end and top end on the 2200 (also soon to have a 3-angle valve job and a port and a polish with 1mm oversize valves)? also i was figuring that maybe it was all on personal preferances.
I would never own a performance car that wasn't a stick. It comes down to personal preference in the end.
Rob
Sold 2/2/05
Your buddy is completly right..... autos hold boost a HELL of a lot better than manuals.... keep it auto and turbo that sucker, but then get hp tuners.... cuz your gonna want to change a lot of the rev points and stuff once turboed. (i got a 2002 sunfire automatic, turbo coming in about a year
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5spd > 4spd
The manuals in jbodies have better gear ratios, and LSDs available for them. Aswell, manuals do have less powerloss than automatics. There are also quite afew options available for clutches.
You can achieve the same thing as a high stall torque converter as you would a 2 stage rev limiter in a manual. Just set the limit to x000 rpm, or just hold the throttle down untill you reach x000 rpm if you don't want a 2 stage limiter.
Granted, the 3spd auto is argutably the strongest tranny for jbodies, and gear ratio swaps are relatively easy.
I would personally go with a manual. But if you wanted an auto, a modded 3spd would be your best bet.
If you are going to all the work of swapping trannies, why not do a motor swap? It wouldn't be that much more work to swap in a eco or TC motor.
I'd find a good donor car, and swap over a motor and tranny combo. You will need the BCM aswell from the donor car.
