Swap Engine from manual car into automatic car

**kbailey** · 08-21-2019 12:52 PM

First, I know, why not swap the manual trans as well. Long story short, my kid doesn't want to learn stick.

So, here's the deal. My son has an 02 1.8t auto car with a mostly blown Engine (broken timing belt, smashed valves, lots of oil leaks), but immaculate body, interior and new suspension. I have an 03 manual with an immaculate Engine, but a totaled body.

We started out with just swapping the head and turbo but the deeper we get into his Engine the more bad we find. So, my question is, can we swap my manual Engine into his auto car and is it a direct swap?

I know the auto engines require a modification to the crank to accept a manual trans but is the opposite true?

**BARRY** · 08-21-2019 01:50 PM

as long as it isn't a CVT you will be ok with direct swap. the difference will be slight if you have a 2002 engine or vehicle and swapping in another years, but that is easy to resolve. you just swap over items off the engine for suction jet valve.

**AudiA4_20T** · 08-21-2019 02:10 PM

Originally Posted by BARRY

as long as it isn't a CVT you will be ok with direct swap. the difference will be slight if you have a 2002 engine or vehicle and swapping in another years, but that is easy to resolve. you just swap over items off the engine for suction jet valve.

You sure? Pretty sure a manual crank won't work on an automatic input shaft...

**BARRY** · 08-21-2019 03:26 PM

i'm not 100% sure...but when i bought my spare motor, the parts wrecker said, if you have a manual i can't sell you a CVT engine, but we have an Automatic. the CVT has a different crank than the Auto/Manual.

spare motor sitting in my storage unit.

**AudiA4_20T** · 08-21-2019 03:36 PM

Originally Posted by BARRY

i'm not 100% sure...but when i bought my spare motor, the parts wrecker said, if you have a manual i can't sell you a CVT engine, but we have an Automatic. the CVT has a different crank than the Auto/Manual.

spare motor sitting in my storage unit.

The CVT is actually a manual crank, so I'm pretty sure the guy was wrong. You probably had to put an adapter in to run the auto crank with a pilot bearing.

Went back and read the DIYs. I'm 99% sure you can't put a manual motor into an automatic car

**BARRY** · 08-21-2019 04:10 PM

ah...ok sorry maybe i have this mixed up. thanks for the info

**kbailey** · 08-21-2019 10:41 PM

The only threads I've found are manual trans into an auto engine which all say the auto crank has some kind of bump that won't mate to the manual trans input shaft. Sounds like the auto crank is just a little too long for the manual trans They talk about modifying the crank by removing the extra material

So that being said, I'm hoping the manual engine/crank will already have this extra material missing and the auto trans input shaft will mate up and just have some extra space.

Accessories, hoses, etc... I can deal with. My concern is the crank and input shaft matching up and any ECU issues.

**imnuts** · 08-22-2019 04:20 AM

The ECU can be recoded, though I'd think you wouldn't need to worry about touching the ECU in either car.

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**EuroxS4** · 08-22-2019 06:25 PM

Auto and manual cranks are different. I now someone makes adapter if you want to fit a engine from a automatic to a manual transmission but not the other way around.

**Gosser** · 08-23-2019 04:08 AM

Originally Posted by EuroxS4

Auto and manual cranks are different. I now someone makes adapter if you want to fit a engine from a automatic to a manual transmission but not the other way around.

This.

The manual/CVT crank have a small diameter opening for the pilot bearing on the crank. An auto crank has a large opening. You can get an adapter to reduce the auto crank diameter to fit a manual pilot bearing, but not the other way around. Tell your kid to learn stick! #savethemanuals

And to just add more information on the topic, a motor from a CVT is as mentioned the exact same crank as a manual. BUT it just donest come with a pilot bearing installed, all you have hammer in a bearing and it buttons up to a manual gear box.

**Gunnarrrrr** · 08-23-2019 08:06 AM

I'm also 99% sure there's no way that anyone's found yet, to fit an auto car with a manual crank.
There's plenty of solutions for adapting an auto crank to a manual transmission, but not vice-versa.
And like others have said, cvt crank = manual crank