5th Gen Manual Conversion?

This is just a dumb thought, but has anyone converted their 4R to a manual? It's just a hypothetical... I'm sure it would be hard, time-consuming, and expensive, but I thought it would be fun to make it a manual.

 

I'm sure can be done and may have been but you would have to deal with the ECU looking for the auto. Also the Aisin 6 speed Toyota used in the 2nd gen Tacoma with the old 1GR and FJ with the same 1GR V6 was garbage. In the end it would still be the same non sporty 4Runner with a manual and a smaller number in your bank account.

 

Manuals are nice. My 97 Tacoma was a manual. 21 years and 261k miles and still had the original clutch when I sold it.

I thought I might miss the standard, but with the sequential shift option, we get the best of both worlds.

Converting a 5th gen would be a major Pandora's box that would never close.

I mean all it takes is one compromised wheel speed sensor wire to completely shut down most of the systems on our 4Runners. That's why I chuckle when some say that they are more secure with a manual transfer case. Our rigs are completely at the mercy of electron theory.

Someone like Jay Leno with an automotive interest and more importantly unlimited resources $$$ could pull it off.

It is a nice thought though.

 

A manual swap is likely possible on 5th gens because the 2005-2015 Tacomas and FJ Cruiser had the same 4.0L V6 engine as the current 4runner, and they were both offered with a manual transmission. I'm not sure how the ECU interacts with all the other computers on the current 4runners, hopefully it is a simple as just swapping out an ecu. It is a lot of work to swap a manual transmission in, especially on a vehicle that never had a manual transmission offered on it. Its easier to find a manual 3rd gen 4runner or an FJ cruiser than it is to swap one into a 5th gen. . This is all in theory, I haven't seen evidence of anyone successfully or unsuccessfully doing this mod. If you do it please write up.

 

Haha, yes at this rate, it just a nice idea. I do not not have unlimited resources like Jay Leno , LOL

 

I guess I should remember the reason I bought it, is because the engine transmission combo in the 5th gen is bullet proof. Shouldn't try to do anything to mess with that. :/