that2jzbby

Please don’t tell me that it’s cause your not a real “driver” or a “man” if you don’t have a manual or any other cringe car bull , I want to know if you actually get a performance difference between the sc300 auto vs manual , is the auto that bad in the sc300 or is it just the “fun” aspect as to why swap it ? I’m looks for real answers please I have an auto sc300 but if there really is not reason to swap it for a manual I won’t unless it’s actually hindering performance so let me know why everyone seem to swap it out so much

RudysSC

Manual is quicker, yes. And much more fun (if you're into that sort of thing). That's all there is to it!

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

What Rudy said! I bought my SC only because it was a factory manual car. I never originally intended to build it for more power but I knew I'd only want a manual transmission car. That's just personal preference. Some folks like automatics and some like manuals.

Now... technically other than the W58 which isn't all that strong in its ability to hold power beyond about 300 ft-lbs for too long (depending on how it's driven) the factory stock Supra MKIV 2JZ-GTE 4-speed automatic transmission, factory Aristo 2JZ-GTE 4-speed automatic transmission and any factory 4-speed automatic that came out of a 1JZ-GTE powered Toyota vehicle is the cheapest stock JZ turbo transmission that you can get and swap into your SC.

The stock automatic transmission in the SC300 does need to be upgraded in order to reliably hold turbocharged power. That goes for mild turbo power as much as it does high powered cars.

To hold 900whp+ levels of power you'd need to get one of those factory JZ turbo automatic transmissions built by a company like ATF (a few thousand dollars). Check out some of Gerrb's 2JZ-GTE SC300's in the build threads section as a good half of them are set up with built ATF A340 4-speed automatics.

Next up in the manual transmission range the R154 (and with conversion parts the R155 or R150), Aisin AR-5, Nissan CD009 6-speed and Tremec Magnum 6-speed are all excellent manuals that hold high levels of power (the R-series and AR-5 being reliable up to 650whp-750whp).

The V160 and V161 Getrags are excellent and legendary for their ability to hold power but they are also extremely rare and hard to rebuild now due to a lack of some critical service parts which are around in very short supply so they are mostly collector car transmissions now despite their great strength.

Usually the faster SC's, Soarers and Supra MKIII's and MKIV's are manual cars. Some are automatics but the automatic transmissions are not quite as fast as a manual transmission will be with most builds.

The Toyota A340/341 series 4-speed automatics are light years behind a modern and super fast lockup torque convertor automatic such as the ZF 8HP 8-speed automatic found in the MKV Supra and many other OEM cars.

And at the end of the day a lot of people find factory manual, swapped to manual SC's to be fun to drive. As Rudy says, that's a lot of the reason!

joewitafro

Started to learn how to drive initially on a vw sandrail that was a manual transmission when I was 7; and all of our dirt bikes and 3-wheelers and quads were clutch; so naturally growing up automatic transmissions seemed overly complicated and removed driver connection for me; I want to be in control and that increased my level of engagement. First car when I turned 18 was a 1988 turbo 5-speed supra that came with the 7mgte and R154, I got lucky when the cars were cheap and bad head gaskets were frequent; so I took it more as a project car but it made me highly interested in the platform; this is where I really started to fall in love with the inline 6, manual transmissions and turbo toyotas; especially the 90-98 years. Drove the crap out of this car, ended up selling it and picked up a 94 toyota pickup with a manual transmission so I could go camping with the quad more.

When I purchased my 93 GS300 in 2012 it started off with a blown automatic transmission, but with me and the brother having so many supra parts; I gave him $400 for an early model chaser R154 and in 2014 it got a 2jzgte vvt-i. I daily drove this car for 8 years; it got me through university and the start of my career. Fast forward to late 2020; picked up a new daily my 1995 SC300 with auto trans, all stock with the entire plan to strip my GS and switch to a new platform; from a young age I always wanted the 2 door SC chassis; but heavily fell in love with the wide body GS being manual transmission and single turbo. It completely changes the way you drive the car, up-shifting into corners; down shifting under boost, its a connection many of us have fallen in love with.

2021 picked up a new daily, a 22 honda civic turbo hatchback with CVT. After driving manual for so many years and having an hour long commute I realized that stop and go traffic with a stiff clutch is brutal; throw in 12-13 hour shifts and it was the smartest move for a commuter. But that leaves me with my "fun" car which will be the manual swapped R154 single turbo 2jzgte vvt-i SC300.

RudysSC

I'll just add this... I LOVE cruising these SC's. Whether they're autos or manuals. However, there is just something special in how to feels to row gears in a big wide coupe. It puts a smile on my face every time I drive it. But so did my old SC4 auto.