Hello I am a new member here but have been using these forums ever since I got my f150 a year ago. I figured I would post a thread with my findings about the manual swap on these trucks because there were things that I was questioning but could t find the answers until I started to tear into the truck. The first thing that I found was the for the manual and automatic, they use the same drive shaft. From the bell housing to the tail shaft on both transmissions is the same length.
Secondly the transmission harness does not have to be spliced in, it is a large gray square connector under the cover on the firewall by the battery. My truck is a 1997 4.6 ext cab 4X4. The donor truck I bought on Craigslist was a 1998 4.6 reg cab 4X4. I bought the donor that was rolled for $500 with brand new tires on it. This past Saturday I sold the automatic out of my truck for $400 which paid for my new clutch, slave cylinder, and a nice set of stainless shorty headers. If anyone is interested I will keep you posted on the build or if anyone has any questions feel free to ask away, thanks.

 

You may need the ECU out of the donor truck.

 

You do know the manual is not shifted by the computer.
The computer has a different program, otherwise even if you did get it to run on an auto computer, there would be a gang of codes and a CEL light.
Also the deceleration and IAC control is done a different way.
Your already into a lot more than you thought for the conversion by the time it's all done.
Good luck.

 

And you probably know already that with the manual, the tow rating is cut in about half.