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I am swapping a 4speed auto for a 5 speed dual range manual in a 89 Leone. I am a touch worried about the wiring side of things as there is a whole heap of crap coming of the auto box and only two smaller connectors coming of the manual box. I should just be able to tuck most of the auto stuff out of the way and not worry about it right?

Is basically the only thing I need to do to get the car moving is connect the start/neutral wires? Can anyone remember which ones these are by any chance or am I going to have to start going through wiring diagrams .

The two connectors coming of the manual box (see pic)…… one is for the reverse light and the other for the 4wd lights on the dash, correct? I would at least like to get the reverse light working, how have people done this as the connector on the auto is different? Just buy a new connector and replace the existing one?

you need to loop the inhibitor switch ,park nuetral,so it thinks it in those gears for starting.for reverse it just a matter of finding the reverse wire/s on the auto selector cutting and splicing into the man box reverse switch wires.what ya doing with 4sp auto?might be interested

Ive swapped over a 5 speed FWD manual box to a 5 speed DR 4WD box in an L before - never had anything to do with autos. With regards to manuals, there are only two wires that need to be connected - a reverse light and a 4wd HI LO RANGE light. technically you don't need to connect either - the box will function perfectly without them. The reverse light however is easy to connect. Get out the wiring diagram - they look frightening but are really quite simple when you isolate the component you are interested in. Find where the reverse light is on the diagram - the diagram will specify two colours of wire which will come out of the box and into the connector- find these at the connector and just to be sure get a mate to stand behind the car and watch them go on and off as you complete the circuit with a scrap piece of wire. Connect these up to the box, just use an ordinary connector - theres no massive current travelling through the wires - no electrical tape though!!

I think the postie is right with regards to auto boxes - the only thing you need to sort out is the neutral safety switch - which is there so that you don't start the vehicle in gear.

Just trial and error - the worst you'll do is get a small boot, flatten your battery or blow a fuse.

I

L-turbo,
I just got to the stage of joining wires, and managed to suss out how to trick the car into thinking its in 'park'- the one plug that used to go to the auto box, that has more than one green wire coming out of it, if you join two of the green wires that should do the trick.

the car still won't start, so 'the postie' comment inhibitor switch is quite interesting to me.... will have to join wires and see what happens huh.

cheers,
Gus.

On the 3 spd autos, all the wires are on the gearstick.
The neutral safety switch wires are a LOT bigger than everything else & are BY & BW.
The reverse light wires are also on there, so I'd just extend them through the trans tunnel to the box.

Not sure about the 4 spds tho

wagonist wrote:On the 3 spd autos, all the wires are on the gearstick.
The neutral safety switch wires are a LOT bigger than everything else & are BY & BW.
The reverse light wires are also on there, so I'd just extend them through the trans tunnel to the box.

Not sure about the 4 spds tho

Cheers Wagonist

I am quite sure the reverse lights are up at the T-stick as well as the neutral switch. I'll probably post here with inevitable questions (but hopefully answers) when I get stuck into it.

There is another way .
Take the T bar shifter off and then click it to the park position then
re rout the reverse wires or what ever else you need .
take the shifter unit and stuff it in the console or hide it somewhere
out of the way.
It solves trying to fuss around with the wiring.
Cheers Pete

But then you don't get reverse light wires & you've got to worry about something metal floating about the cabin somewhere.

We're talking about 4 wires here.
The neutral safety switch wires simply have to be bridged to each other, & for the reverse light wires you need to find the wire going to the shifter that has power when ignition is on, & then the output wire to the reverse lights. They simply get extended to the gearbox.

You could do this properly by finding a brown 4 pin plug near the fuse box under the dash & extending the wires through the upper grommet like where Subaru laid them, but without pulling the dash apart, it easier to send them up the tran tunnel & secure them (cable ties to one of the handbrake cables) after taping them up & putting them in the convuluted tubing like in the rest of the engine bay.

wagonist wrote:On the 3 spd autos, all the wires are on the gearstick.
The neutral safety switch wires are a LOT bigger than everything else & are BY & BW.
The reverse light wires are also on there, so I'd just extend them through the trans tunnel to the box.

Not sure about the 4 spds tho

Okay, there are two places that inhibitor switches are placed. At the Shifter (3speeds?) and actually on the right hand side of the transaxle (4speeds?). Mine was on the transaxle so I am presuming its a 4-speed thing, so the inhibitor wires and the reverse light wires come straight of the transaxle and into the engine bay. The inhibitor wires are still the same though BLK-YEL (ignition switch) and BLK-WHT (starter), join em and it starts ya ha.

On 4-speeds there are wires that go to the Shifter stick, one set is for a light and the other is for the 1st gear hold button and that’s it. So on a 4-speed don't worry about of any of the wires going into the interior of the car they are not going to help you, its all in the engine bay .

So it goes? You've got it working?

Hey I should have told you on the weekend but there's two manual L-series wagons at a wrecker's over here. If you need any bits gimme a yell - I'm on holidays till mid December (and I'll be over your way every week or so) so I've got some time to get them.

MUDRAT wrote:So it goes? You've got it working?

Hey I should have told you on the weekend but there's two manual L-series wagons at a wrecker's over here. If you need any bits gimme a yell - I'm on holidays till mid December (and I'll be over your way every week or so) so I've got some time to get them.

Hi Muddy

are you able to get me a few things of those L's being wrecked?