Manual swap

[synk]

I recently bought a grand prix 2000 gtp supercharged, I researched and found that there weren't many (if any) supercharged's produced with manual transmissions, the transmission in my grand prix is on its last leg and I believe I need to replace the torque converter. Still, I was thinking to myself and if I already have to drop the trans I might as well manual swap it as I've always wanted a manual Pontiac, are there any manual transmissions that I could use to swap out my old trans?

[Frosty]

Hi synk, welcome to FP.

Pontiac did not offer a manual transmission for the 1997-2003 Grand Prixes, and definitely not for the supercharged 3800. They were afraid folks would over rev the engine and blow it with a manual transmission, plus GM didn't have a reliable manual longitudinal transmission that could hold the SC3800's torque, there simply was no demand for a high performance L-style transmission. All the 2000 GP transmissions were strictly variants of the 4L65-E transmission.

So the last transverse engine mounted manual transmission in a Grand Prix was the previous generation Grand Prix, 1988-1996 (this would also include it's sister cars from Buick, Chevy, Olds, etc.). A five-speed manual was available in those cars.

Since the Buick 3800 was pretty common in both the 5th and 6th gen Grand Prixes, the 5th gen tranny should bolt up to your current 3800. However, given the more horsepower that the SC3800 produces, you should see if a 5th gen manual tranny can be built to hold the torque. I don't know anyone who has done this, but that is not to say it can't be done. It's just not popular.