04 Four Door Manual Transmission Swap

So......
This morning I found a beautiful black Four Door 4x4 TRD local to me. It looks mint , there's not a spec of rust underneath the truck from pics. Interior is like new. The truck has 209K miles on it.
HOWEVER.........
The transmission had a leak and it was run very low on fluid according to the owner. Now it's having shifting issues.
So , my thoughts were this is a perfect candidate for a 5 speed swap . I've tried searching a little on here for a post on First Gen manual swaps but didn't seem to find anything ??
How big of a job is this going to be. I plan on trying to find a manual from the same year truck if possible. Will the wiring harness also need to be changed for the manual ? ECM change or reprogram ? Lots of questions here , but I've always wanted a 5 speed four door and finally found a nice one local to me to swap .

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or advice on this !!

 

Frame pics

 

I'm not an expert in this subject, but I know the automatic trucks have a portion of their ECM dedicated to management of the automatic transmission. Meaning you'd be best off finding a manual transmission parts truck with working 4wd, and swapping the T-case, transmission, and ECM together (this may mean modifications to the rear and possibly front driveshafts are needed too).

Basically this isn't going to be really easy bing, bang, boom, and she's done. But I can tell you that these trucks are so much more fun to drive with a 5-speed, so it'll be worth the headache.

 

Mine is going to happen at some point, but my trans is in great shape so I'm putting it off for now...
Having gone down the rabbit hole planning the swap, it looks pretty simple. There are some YT videos documenting the entire process and needed parts. Transmission, drive shafts, clutch (slave, master, lines, fork, pedal, pressure plate, disc, flywheel, TOB and pilot bearings), manual truck brake pedal pad, and ideally an ECM. Looks like it should be able to be done in a day.

 

I have an 04 double cab I’d love to swap also. Plenty of threads on it.

Once I get off my phone and on my computer I can look it up and link them here.

Edit:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2003-auto-to-manual-swap.792659/

 

2003-2004 trucks are the hardest to swap because you have to use the same model year manual trans ecu to keep the truck emissions complaint. Those 2 years of trucks are a partial drive by wire so they have 4 wire TPS sensors and are an early DBW series ECU which Toyota uses to this day.

You can just swap in the parts and the truck will for sure run without the auto trans hooked up but it will throw codes related to the missing sensors for the transmission.

There's resources to look up how to add resistors to the trans wiring so the ECU thinks the speed sensors and shift solenoids are still there.

OR go full stand alone with a Haltech and add some boost for a ripping good time!

@Madjik_Man I have a spare R150 for when you are ready.

 

from an 03-04? I love you, man.

 

The R150 trans can be from any year 5VZ 4Runner/Tacoma but not the 3VZ 3.0 pickup, the input shafts are a different length.

The ECU is the part you will need to keep your truck emissions compliant without resistors on the trans harness.

 

sweet I thought the trannies were all interchangeable.

I’ve been on the hunt for an 04 ECU and both sides of the wiring harness for awhile. To no avail.

I’ll reach out via text with other questions and hopefully I can make this happen soon.

Appreciate it.

 

UPDATE !!!!

Well........
Unfortunately the truck got sold on me before I could finalize the deal. Guy says he had 200+ messages from all over the country . I can believe it. The truck was listed for sale priced at $2900 .
Oh well.......

I'm working on an 05 4.0 6 speed right now. Frame replacement done , 240K . looks to be in nice shape from the pics . No body rust .
He's asking $2K for the truck .

 

The 05 I'm trying for now.........