Van 5 speed conversion parts, are 1st and 2nd gen parts interchangeable?

I am considering buying a turbo van. At the same time, I found a 5 speed (1994) van in the JY.
1. Will 2nd gen clutch/brake pedal assembly fit in a gen 1?
2. Do I need to get all of the transmission mounts or can you reuse any of the auto ones?
I will get the shifter/cables/brackets
3. Would it even be worth it to convert or just keep the auto? Autos are easier to launch in my opinion and are less stressful on driveline parts. A 5th gear would be a plus, but my omni's 523 can cruise around town in 5th at 40 mph, so I would assume the freeway rpms in a van would still be pretty high
4. axles are the same between manual and auto?
I don't think I want the 5 speed transmission in JY van. It has 150k plus on it (NA 2.5). Of course I would then need to source a 523/568
Any advice would be appreciated

The 5-speed will be much better on gas than the auto, but you are correct in that the auto will be easier/more consistent at the track.

I think you'll be happy with the 5-speed so long as you don't spend most of your time in stop and go traffic, then it can be a drag, but otherwise I've been pretty disappointed with the mileage and performance of the 3-speed autos compared to the 5-speeds.

That trans might not be too bad either, even with the miles on it, as a n/a 2.5 isn't going to be capable of beating up on it too much. Of course if you have choices, pick the best, if you don't know when you'll see another, grab it!

IIRC, the axles swap, but I wouldn't bet the farm on that, this is a Mini, and kinda like the "L"s, some stuff is unique and I'm not a "Mini guy" as such.

Mike

I think it comes down to personal preference. Autos are going to need more work to be made to hold the power. I prefer an auto and have done the research and taught myself what I need to know to make it work. Autos are kind of black magic to some so they prefer the simplicity of a manual.

All the parts will swap over in exception to the transmission mount and the plate that is welded to the floor.

I loved my 5 spd van, but the manual trannys are getting harder to find. rebuild parts are obsolete.

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Originally Posted by rib256

I loved my 5 spd van, but the manual trannys are getting harder to find. rebuild parts are obsolete.

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Another plus for the autos, parts are still plentiful since they used them up to 2000.

If you are new to, or rusty on 5 speeds, take the N/A box and knock teeth off of that one practicing.

One thing to remember with the vans is you don't have to pull the entire pedal assembly from the other van. The vans are the only ones that have a bolt on clutch 'stopper' bracket used to adjust the cable when pulling up on the pedal. All you need to do is to remove the clutch cable, disconnect brake rod, remove nut holding rod that the pedals ride on and pull the rod out. The pedals fall out. You need this rod since it is longer. Also remove the stopper bracket which is held on by 2 bolts. This is much easier than pulling the whole assembly which requires you to drop the column etc.. Remember to grab the clutch cable bracket from the strut tower. I prefer the sticks in the vans. They are much more fun to drive and fuel mileage is better. But as AJ said the auto's do have their benefits especially since they made them longer and parts are easier to get.

In my opinion, the autos are only a good idea for people who know how to or are willing to learn how to rebuild them. There's a fairly small number of 3spds with miles on them that dont have some kind of issues, and an even smaller number of them that wont GET issues as soon as you put some torque through them.

I have built 413s and 604s and thats what lets me put them in the 'maybe' camp instead of the 'hell no' camp. The 5spds are almost guaranteed to be just fine and not need anything but $200-400 in clutch parts to be able to hold all the power a typical lightly modded TM puts out.

Most people with 5spd vans get 27-28mpg on the highway and around 23 average.

Most people with auto vans get 21-23mpg highway and average like 17-18.

Thanks for all the advice guys!
I am not new to clutches or autos. I recently rebuilt a th400 that works fine. It was more difficult than I thought it would be from videos I watched, but I was patient and had help from a nice transmission parts shop in town. I like the simplicity of driving an auto, and I'm not getting any younger/ my knee isn't working any better.The van would be a 2nd DD to me. I need something that I can haul stuff around ( tools, parts, other junk) but I don't want a truck. I currently have 2 cars as DD's, and it is a real pain to go help a friend repair a car or get large parts into/ out of a trunk. The 5 speed advantage is mileage and lower highway rpm. Tucson doesn't seem to get very many manual transmission cars, but recently I have seen a lot more. Besides the NA 523 in the van, there's a 520 in an 87, and about a month a go I passed up a 568 in a daytona because I just don't have room to store any more transmissions ( already have 6 laying around)
Thanks for all the advice. It will really help in my decision.

If you just plan to build one right off the bat then you can work around some of the auto's stock crappiness by mixing and matching parts and setting the clutches up tighter with some valve body mods. I modded one trans with JUST the line pressure bleed mod that is stickied in this forum somewhere and it shifted very well for a street car, and that is without opening it up and changing anything in the clutch packs or bands.

You can mix and match transfer gears, ring and pinion sets, and torque converter to get a wide range of results. It's possible to set the car up with a 2.6:1 or 2.78:1 final drive ratio (which is what we call it after we multiply the ring and pinion ratio and the transfer gear ratio together) which is a VERY nice highway gear, and a lockup torque converter and have something that will run similar highway rpm to a 5spd, cut down on noise a lot (especially with a modified exhaust!) and take a lot of the mushiness out of the stock non-lockup setups. A stock lockup converter from a 2.0 neon stalls similarly to a stock turbo non-lockup converter and gets you that lockup clutch for low rpm and low heat on the highway.

So if you are willing to build one right off the bat i would say the auto CAN be made to be really nice. They just dont start out that way, in my opinion.