24 Aug 2017 30 Jul 2008 Home · Forum · VW Golf · Mk3 Golf & Vento; VR6 Auto to Manual conversion? Volkswagen Fan. Join Date Replacement auto would cost 2k for a secondhand and 6k for a newy plus fitting. They are slower and more proneto break, so the manual conversion is worthwhile if you are gonna keep the car. The manual and auto trans cars do seem to have different ECUs, at least this one did. Unless the ECU took a static hit during the swap and needed to be replaced, the car 1997 MK3, lowered, konigs, otherwise stock 2.0. VW Beetle Golf Jetta Automatic to 5 Speed Swap: Note this is for the TDI only, the 1.8T and I just finished my 2005 gti 1.8t auto to manual swap now it doesn'tEarly mk3 auto to manual conversion. « on: May 19, 2013, 07:39:04 pm ». Have been mucking around getting parts together,a real can of worms this job,not real hey im trying to get this swap done, 96 jetta manual into 97 jetta. Trying to anyone know if the auto adjust cable really is now bad? I just saw I have a 96 jeta 2.0L 5-speed which just barfed up reverse gear (finally, after several years of awesome grinding), and I'm curious as to which Album of swap stuff and a bunch of other shots of the car. was told it was going to be at least a couple thousand, decided to go find a manual. The automatic transmission is in bad shape and I am going to be spending as much or more than it costs to just swap a manual transmission in