Hello. At the moment, I'm planning on buying (actually, I think "investing" is a better word) a wrecked 1993 850 with the intent of using it for parts to replace existing damaged ones on my 850. This has been my plan since figuring that it'd be cheaper to do so in the first place. Anyhow...

The car I'm currently looking at happens to have a manual transmission, whereas mine has an automatic. I was wondering how feasable it would be to outright change the transmission type in our cars. I've heard of swaps done in other cars, but they were Rear Wheel Drive, which certainly reduces the difficulty and complexity of the task.

What might be involved in removing the automatic and installing a manual? Would there be any other benefits, aside from not having to deal with the Automatic's gear searching and the general fuel economy increase (assuming I know how to drive a stick well enough. :P).

I'm assuming ,that since there was a manual transmission option in my year, there wouldn't be a *huge* problem in trying to deal with this. Also, I just might be able to buy this car with engine and all. The only problems with it are that it is that some front panels are crushed and the chassis distorted in such a way as to make the car undrivable.

I'd love to hear everyone's opinion on this. My main goal with owning the volvo was to learn more about every aspect of car maintainance, tuning, and modification in a hands-on way. So far, it's payed off exceptionally well, and in the process, saved over $3000 in labor for a number of problems.

And of course, there's always the ages-old (and very true, when modified ever so slightly) saying "Nothing's impossible if you put a wad of cash to it." Sadly, I lack a wad of cash (oh, how I long to see Ben once again!), but hey, if I wish hard enough, perhaps it'll appear at my door tomorrow. :P

Thanks for reading this far. I await your replies!
--Andrew Sanjanwala
--
Proud owner of a 1993 850 GLT