? for the jdm swap experts

[danro]

hi everyone. I have read that the japanese market fc's were all turbocharged and were available with a JATCO auto transmission. These jdm auto trannies are available from suppliers for cheap($150 or so). Can the jdm turbo trans be swapped into a US market TurboII? If yes, do you have to swap to the JDM ecu also? any other issues?
I am sure that most members here will respond with "autos suck, dont do it, Why?" etc. The reason for this swap would be because I can not use my clutch foot without pain due to injuries. I have always thought that the FC RX7 was so so sexy looking and timeless. I couldnt afford one in my teens, had other resposiblities in my twenties, and now finally in my mid 30's I can have one as a fun car. I would not mod for huge power gains, I want a quick little streetcar on a (relative) budget. I still think that even after 20+ years, a clean rx7 makes most current sports cars look fat and tacky. I look forward to your replies.

[Pete_89T2]

This sounds like a feasible swap, but I'm no authority on how to pull it off. You might find this link (from Rotary Resurrection) useful to reseach what is involved:

http://www.rotaryresurrection.com/2ndgen/tech_auto_to_5speed.html

This lays out the work involved in the more common AT to manual 5 speed swap on US spec FC's. Reading this with a reverse-engineering perspective may answer some of your questions, or at least point you in the right direction.

[danro]

thanks pete. I have read about kevin? at Rotary Resurection before and he apparently does great work. Thanks for the link.

[FRED]

Auto transmissions are not controlled from the stk ECU but from another computer called ECAT I believe. See the online FSM and the wiring schematics and the chapter on automatic transmissions plus the chapter on FUEL AND EMISSIONS which has the pinout for the stk ECU.

Attached is a jpg out of the series five wiring schematics that is one of three pages of ECAT inputs/output plus the book also shows the end points to and from the ECAT computer.

[danro]

thanks Fred. I just assumed that the ecu also controlled the transmission. To be honest your attatchment is way over my head as i am not as technically savy as most of you rotary guys.

lol, I was hoping it would be plug n play like the honda guys with all the specialty parts available for various eng/trans configurations.

like, 1. find a very clean straight turbo car in need of rebuild= $2000-3000
profesional rebuild + all wear items replaced= $4000
or

find a very clean straight N/A s4 = $3000
profesional T2 swap = $5000

2. plug in jdm auto trans.(assuming it is in good shape
because autos tend to have conservative owners)


Am I dreamin. 7 or 8 thousand dollars for a strong running turbo car built for me and ready to mod into a quick little street car. (assuming the trans. swap goes as planned) :bigear:

[Pete_89T2]

thanks Fred. I just assumed that the ecu also controlled the transmission. To be honest your attatchment is way over my head as i am not as technically savy as most of you rotary guys.

lol, I was hoping it would be plug n play like the honda guys with all the specialty parts available for various eng/trans configurations.

like, 1. find a very clean straight turbo car in need of rebuild= $2000-3000
profesional rebuild + all wear items replaced= $4000
or

find a very clean straight N/A s4 = $3000
profesional T2 swap = $5000

2. plug in jdm auto trans.(assuming it is in good shape
because autos tend to have conservative owners)


Am I dreamin. 7 or 8 thousand dollars for a strong running turbo car built for me and ready to mod into a quick little street car. (assuming the trans. swap goes as planned) :bigear:

Ok, that changes things - I mistakenly thought you already had an FC turbo as a starting point for the AT conversion. If you are literally starting with nothing, the questions you need to ask yourself are: (1) What's my total budget, and related to that, how much of the work can I do myself? and (2) Do I really want an FC, or would I be just as happy owning a US spec FD that was originally equipped with an AT?

On #2, if you're OK with getting an FD, it shouldn't be too hard to find a clean high miles example with an AT for under $10K. Just for the heck of it I did a quick search on Autotrader.com for AT equipped FDs, and found 18 for sale scattered across the USA; "average" price was about 14K, but that average was skewed by a handful of them that were priced in the $20K+ range.