I would expect it would be easier to use a manual transmission that actually went on a 4.4l from the factory...e.g. a 420g or a gs6-53bz. The main problem would be output shaft depth, I would imagine. I think the dude in Europe (NickP?) who did a manual swap on a v8 has said engine output shafts were different between transmissions.

I'd also expect ECU coding would be involved...and it would likely be easier to use an ECU from the motor that came with the manual trans--unless there is a coder around who knows about that.

I think I have read the 3.0 pedal setup will work. You would need two new driveshafts I would guess. Overall length of the sedan manual plus transfer case would likely be different. That means possibly the crossmember or mounts would have to change.

Plus...I would have some misgivings about putting the 3.0 trans behind a v8. I am assuming there was a reason there was no manual option on v8, and that some of that could have been torque spec of that 3.0 transmission.

That's what I have thought about, and I have put more than zero thought into this but far less than 100%.

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2001 E53 3.0 5pd