[DanR]

I was at my dealer yesterday getting the ECU upgrade and ask the service manager his policy on performance upgrades. He replied that if they are TRD parts and they install them, the factory warranty will be honored. He then started rambling off all of the available parts, wheels, body kits, supercharger, 5-speed conversion, etc. When I heard the last two I stoped him. I ask supercharger & 5-speed? He replied that they had just received their emission certification for the super charger and it will be available soon and they are going to offer a 5-speed conversion kit. I told him that I was shocked about the conversion kit and if it does become available it will probably be real pricy $5K range. He agreed. Anyway, this is not my statement, I am just conveying what the service manager said, but the guys really know his stuff about cars and was not speculating.
Take it for what you will, maybe somebody else can confirm the information

 

[tony]

Can anyone confirm or deny this? I really can't imagine seeing a 5MT conversion. It would involve the entire drivetrain and ECU...

 

[SpectraBlueIS300]

If the cost is that high, wouldn't it make more sense to just trade in your 2001 auto for a 2002 manual???

 

[vvtipwr]

what's the point of offering the 5mt conversion if Lexus is offering the 5spd model only one year after they rolled out the model?

I mean, would TRD release such a product knowing that only a handful of people (probably all on this board

) would buy a product? The market demand for such a product would be way too low to justify making one in the first place.

 

[Daniel]

Remember, they did it to the IS300 pace car. It wasn't a Altezza made to look like a IS300, it was a Solar Yellow IS300 automatic convert to stick. You can tell this probably from the pictures I took last October. You will see that the e-shift buttons are still on the steering wheel, so it is our car.
This proofs that they have spend the time/effort putting the 5 speed tranny in. The question now is, like some of you are asking, why would you offer a manual kit to the consumer?
Well, I think for us 2001 IS300 owners, it maybe cheaper to do the conversion than buying a new car because the trade in loss will be quite huge after this year. Also, this may not be the stock 5-speed, it could be a gearbox with shorter gears and is designed for better performance.
Let's just wait and see.

 

[IS300GTE]

it probably wouldn't be all that complicated either, i bet all the mounting points for the clutch pedal and necessary hardware are already there. i looked under the hood of the auto IS and noticed there was a spot of the firewall that is inlaid for a clutch master cylinder.
my question is, how hard will it be for me to put a race prepped auto trans in my 5 speed manual for drag racing it? i don't know what kind of bs to expect with the trans ecu and wiring.