Manual transmission/transaxle

electrictony

Has the Windstar ever been offered with a manual transmission (transaxle)? Does anyone know if one can be fitted from a different Ford vehicle?

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I have a 1985 corvette that has locked itself into reverse after giving me some trouble earlier in the day. but the main trouble had been going on for awhile, which was I cruise down the road and whatever gear I was in would make this airplane going down the runway noise... until I 'd push the overdrive button and everything would get quiet . Run fine tell I'd half to push the button to turn off, and it would get all noisey again... So later coming to a stop sign ,downshifting and the gears felt like a bowl of jello. Got it home ,backed in my driveway,put it in reverse, shut it off etc. etc. 10 min later go out put the key in and the shifter was locked in rev. .,backed it in the garage and there she sits. Whats wrong??? Trany? Gears ? Overdrive It's a 4 speed.

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jeffyscott

Never was a manual in the Windstar.

I'm sure anything is possible, if you are willing to spend enough money. I doubt it would be worth the cost, though. The same engines were used in trucks that, I assume, had manuals.

wwest

For almost as long as FWD vehicles have been commonplace the manufactuers have deemed it unwise to equip those with manual transaxles for sale to general buying public.

That may change now that VW has come out with a technique to make the combination less hazardous. The VW technique will automaticall uprev the engine if a downshift results in too much engine compression braking for conditions.

Manual transaxle in a FWD "soccer mom" minivan...no way.

jeffyscott

Manufacturer has not deemed anything, they simply build what people want to buy and for about 95% of drivers what they want is an automatic.

We did have a manual transmission in our first minivan, a 1989 Voyager. But in those days the manual gave you 5 gears, instead of the 3 in most automatics and it gave you significantly better mpg.

When we got our 2nd minivan, 1997 Windstar, automatic was the only option but at least it was a 4 speed auto by then.

igozoomzoom

I'm sure anything is possible, if you are willing to spend enough money. I doubt it would be worth the cost, though. The same engines were used in trucks that, I assume, had manuals.

The two engines used in the Windstar were the 3.0L Vulcan V6 and 3.8L Essex V6.

The 3.0L Vulcan was used in '86-'07 Taurus but only with an automatic. The only front-wheel-drive application of this engine with a manual transmission was the '90-'92 Probe LX and '92-'94 Tempo/Topaz. The Tempo/Topaz used a slightly revised version of the 'MTX-IV' used in the '89-'91 Taurus SHO. It was designed and built by Mazda for Ford.

The 3.8L Essex V6 was used in everything from the Taurus and Mustang to the Lincoln Continental and Thunderbird/Cougar. The rear-wheel-drive Mustang was the only one that offered a manual transmission with the 3.8L. It was never paired with a manual transmission in a front-wheel-drive vehicle.

So, in theory, a Windstar with the Vulcan V6 could be modified to work with the MTX-IV. The Essex V6 has never been paired with a manual in a front-wheel-drive, so it's unlikely that it could be done without spending ridiculous amounts of time and money.

With all that said, a manual-transmission conversion is rarely (if ever) financially worthwhile. In an older minivan, it makes no sense at all...

dub_c

i have recently lost first second and reverse in my sandrail, no noises that i heard, i have already pulled it once and replaced the nose cone and bench tested it, after i put it on i tested it again and then i put the motor on and tested one last time, with no motor on it went into first gear, i could not hold the transaxle shaft with it in gear and rocking the rail. I also put a new shift shaft on the rail, i can only think maybe the shift fork for 1/2/R either broke or the cinch bolt backed out. if u have any hints, tips, tricks, or ideas plz post, i have 2 days to either fix that box, or put a built bus box on for a desert trip. any knowledge of this problem will be greatly appreciated.

ty for your help

Amr11

My windstar engine is  3.0L Vulcan V6 and i am intrested to replace the Automatic transmision with maual one.

Can anyone help technicaly and commercialy

Mr_Shiftright

They didn't make a Windstar with a manual transmission so any conversion would have to be a custom fabrication and no doubt requiring a good amount of skill and money.

Daddyblaize_1

Definitely interested in this idea—find the Taurus or Tempo with the subframe that most closely matches yours and take some measurements. Buy yourself a little welder and start learning to weld on some spare sheetmetal. It doesn’t need to be beautiful it just needs to be solid and a little forethought can get you through. You can take a weak welder and with some common sense build very sturdy things. Joining two pieces just means beveling edges and start your welds in the base of the trench created by two beveled edges. Subframe material is thick(maybe 3/32nds) and is forgiving to a novice welder. I cut a huge window into my own subframe to repair some damage from the backside of a deep dent caused by severely bottoming out on a curb. I took some MAPP gas to the dent and pounded it straight with an iron doorstop and a 5lb dead-blow sledge hammer. A lot’a noise later I straightened out that dent. I used my flux-core welder from harbor freight to weld the pieces I cut out to create the window back into place. Used the best and most used tool in my arsenal(1/2inch belt sander) to clean up my work. Painted it—you can never tell it was done. Never blew through that metal and with a good roll of quality .30 wire penetrated the base metal very well. I’m considering exactly the same manual transaxle idea and like the idea of a column shifting. This harkens back to the days of my dad’s vintage Chevy and Ford vans. Only thing is I have the 3.8. Other ideas of the 3.4l V8 Cosworth/Yamaha engine come to mind though. Not sure if the engine bay can house that engine though.