I have a 2008 Honda Fit. It is a manual transmission. I’d like to convert it to an automatic. Is this possible? How much would it cost?
Trading for a car with an automatic would be much, much cheaper.
Rod Knox is correct. Sell this car and buy one with the automatic in it. It would be much, much cheaper. May even be a wash if you can find a 2008 Fit with similar mileage.
This would be easier in the old days before electronically controlled transmissions. The older mechanical-shift transmissions could be dropped in place and the cltch pedal would just become a dead pedal.
Today, you need a TCM that is sync-ed up with the ECM to even begin to think a late model transmission can be added. Think thousands of dollars just in electronics swapping and syncing. An older, less-efficient mechanical-shift transmission would most likely need adapters to fit and work properly. Think thousands in a custom adapter plate. Then, a transmission, even a decent one in the junkyard would still be pricey, either way, and finding someone willing to do the work for you. The labor involved alon would be expensive.
Tom and Ray once described this job as being the sex change operation of the automotive world. It is possible, but very expensive to do, and you need to find a mechanic who is willing and able to do this sort of conversion. The first thing to do would be to find a mechanic willing to do this and find out how much labor they would charge. Don’t be surprised if they tell you they don’t know how much it will cost since nobody has probably ever done this before on this car. I would guess a ballpark figure of between 10 and 15 hours of labor, so around a grand just to do the work. The shop will also need your car with them for quite a while to be sure most of the bugs are worked out before turning it over to you, plus odds are no one wants to work on a project like that “marathon style”. Then, you need parts, and lots of them! The easiest, and probably cheapest, way to get what you need would be to purchase a wrecked Fit with an automatic transmission, preferably hit in the rear. Check the interchange manuals to be sure everything in that car will fit your car. The wrecked car will probably set you back four or five grand, and you will probably recoup two or three hundred in the scrap value of what is left over when you are done with it. You may also be able to get a few hundred for the engine if you can find a buyer. All in all, it’s possible but not practical, and would definitely be cheaper and easier to sell the car you have and purchase one with an automatic already installed from the factory.
While anything’s possible ($$$$$$), this is not practical. Sell it, buy one with an automatic. I’d get the Sport version with the shift paddles…
I pretty much agree with all the above. However in the early 80s I had a '73 Mazda RX2 with automatic, which my son totaled out. I bought another Mazda with a manual. I changed the flywheel, the transmission, the radiator, and the auto console, and removed the clutch pedal, and no one could tell the difference.
I don’t know how fast that thing would run, but I had it up to 110 one time!!
I also put a 1951 Lincoln V8 and an overdrive transmission, in a '50 Mercury once. That baby would run too.
The Lincoln engine was 98 cubic inches larger than the mercury engine.
We just got a '99 Lincoln from our granddaughter with 197K miles on it. I would sure love to have one NEW.
I agree with the others. You would be spending too much effort and money.
You could start changing parts and change a Ford into a Mazda, but it would cost you a lot more than just buying what you want,
I work at a Honda dealership and a stick shift Fit is going to worth less than a Automatic fit, but even so it’s would be much easier to just trade yours in and buy a Automatic Fit… I can tell you if you do the swap your cars value would plummet as who would want a late model Mutt??
I agree with the other posters here. Sell or trade the Fit then buy an automatic one. The days of engine/transmissions swaps are basically over for the vast majority of people.
Agreed…LOL…being a mechanic…I WOULD do it if I had a donor vehicle right next to the other to swap all the dizzying number of parts over…there are SO MANY little things involved that youd never think of. Thats the only way I would do it myself…getting someone else to do it and to have to BUY all the parts…You would be better served just buying the car with the trans that you want.
I’ve done auto to MANUAL conversions…NEVER the other way round…I would never face such a job if it were for my personal use…it just isn’t the way to go.
BLackbird
It would cost mucho, mucho denaro. Especially in a modern vehicle where the engine and tranny are transversely mounted and the assemblage includes the differential and the axles, and everything including the tranny is controlled by computer programs. It ain’t like the old days.
I have seen two automatic to manual conversions–a 1953 Chevrolet and a 1954 Chevrolet. In both cases, there was a lot of work because the owners kept the column shift. I have never heard of anyone wanting to go the other way from a manual to an automatic.
Even in the “old days” some conversions weren’t practical. In 1953, Plymouth offered what was called a “HyDrive” transmission as an option. It retained the three speed transmission and the clutch, but had a torque converter that shared its oil with the engine oil. One could start in high gear and it was Plymouth’s answer to the fully automatic transmissions offered by Ford and Chevrolet. Well, the HyDrive proved quite troublesome. However, the engine block was set up to share its oil with the torque converter, so to change to a fully manual transmission, the engine had to be changed as well as the transmission. If this was done, the driveshaft then had to be changed. Also, the firewall in the HyDrive Plymouths were different, so this had to be modified. The column shifter also had to be changed. The modification just wasn’t feasible. I haven’t kept up with modern cars (as an old geezer, anything manufactured after 1965 is a modern car), but I would bet that changing a manual Honda Fit to an automatic Honda Fit would be even worse than changing out the HyDrive to a manual in the 1953 Plymouth.
Hey JosephEMeehan it woulldn’t be hard to change a Ford to a Mazda, They have already done it with the CX7 and CX9. and the B3000 and 4000 pickup. But I know what you are saying.
I might make more sense to find an automatic Fit with a blown engine and swap your current engine into it.
To Elly Ellis, the Lincoln was 337 cu. in., the Merc was 255. = 82 cu. in. difference.
I’m sorry, I thot the Mercury had a 239, and yes the lincoln had 337
I just checked this out and the Ford engine was 239