so before I get the  "thats got to be the stupidest question ever" / "why on earth would you want to do that" responses, let me explain:
 
its looking quite likely that I will be picking up a sw20 in need of some love for nearly nothing, only thing is that its an auto... not much of an issue for the minute while im on auto-only red p's (parents own 4 manuals, two are unregistered and two are race cars - got to love my luck :P) but once I get my greens im going to want to be in a manual, and would prefer to not to have to buy and sell,
 
which basically means a swap to a manual box with all associated bits and pieces... but the car will remain NA at that point...
 
however once I get to blacks im planing to go with a 2grfe swap, and would like to be able to drive vigorously (hard acceleration, chopping mates commodore's and various subies ect.) without needing to worry about destroying an s54 box... 
 
the e153+2grfe pairing is well documented and appears to be a non-issue, however my concern is with running a e153+3gse, pretty sure that there won't be any issues (other than it being kinda stupidly overkill), but I do have my concerns about ecu choice (guessing that a manual NA ecu is the way to go) and checking with those who have more experience is never a bad thing.
 
Thanks!

Essdub on here will be able to tell you about the difficulty of swapping auto to manual.

As for the gearbox, if you plan to use it on a 2gr you will need a late model turbo box. You will also need shafts and hubs to suit.

Additionally you will need turbo mounts for the gearbox (one on top and the two on the front/back)
Turbo shifter cables also

You will need a 3sgte clutch and flywheel. Whilst you can make this work, the ratios are a lot longer, meaning acceleration will be down. how far down i do not know.

If you are hard set on doing an auto to manual conversion, I have a rough s54 with shifter cables and hubs here you can buy to get you across the line, but it would nearly be more cost effective to purchase a manual car as then you dont have to worry about the conversion

ok, thanks for the reply, basically sums up what I though, mainly concerned with feasibility at this point, still have ages to figure out if there's a way to do it cost effectively...
 
glad to know that there's people out there with enough knowledge to be able to answer technical questions in a flash

No such thing as cost effective with a 2GR

Eric
No such thing as cost effective with a 2GR

everything's relative.... (and there's a first time for everything - however I don't expect any firsts)

Nobody buys a MR2 because they are cost effective or sensible lol.

They are usually cost 'affective' i.e. the costs you allocate to them often affect everything else in your budget. 
 
Actually, my n/a only needed wheel bearings replaced and one battery during the eight or so years I had it. On the other hand my turbo, whilst reliable, asked for and received quite a bit more. 

rikkir
Nobody buys a MR2 because they are cost effective or sensible lol.

Dudeman
They are usually cost 'affective' i.e. the costs you allocate to them often affect everything else in your budget. 
 
Actually, my n/a only needed wheel bearings replaced and one battery during the eight or so years I had it. On the other hand my turbo, whilst reliable, asked for and received quite a bit more. 

all too true... 

Dudeman
 
Actually, my n/a only needed wheel bearings replaced and one battery during the eight or so years I had it. On the other hand my turbo, whilst reliable, asked for and received quite a bit more. 

Wish I'd had your luck with my last SW20, man. I probably spent an easy 20k (I try not to think about it) on mine in the 2 years I owned it. That said, after I did the engine swap, I had no problems from it, and it went hard, and still does today!
Alternatively, my new SW, which is a Gen 2 turbo, has spend about 5 of the 10 months I've owned it off of the road due to a shortage of cash, and a large list of replacement parts needed.
 
I can also speak from experience, having been heavily involved in the AT to MT swap EssDub is doing (still in progress), that doing auto to manual swap is the single biggest PITA job I've done on an MR2. And the weekend before, we chucked a whole new engine in a different car in a matter of hours.
Seriously, the SMT to MT swaps in Spyders is less of a pain, imo.
My opinion could be jaded because of the specific car we're doing this swap to, but it has definitely been a less-than-enjoyable project.
 
If you want my opinion, I'd drive the auto while you're able, then sell it on and buy another manual one. If you keep an eye out, you'll find a good deal on an excellent car. Look into getting a Bathurst if you want a manual N/A. They're light, fairly cheap these days, and have a truly excellent engine.
Run that into the ground, then maybe look into doing a 2GR swap. Following Eric or Steve's (B24) builds has shown that it's a very slow process that will make your wallet hate you.
 
But that's just my 2 cents, of course. Hope it helped in some way or other :)
 
 

So I'm not sure where you're from but you said you're on your Auto Red P Plates then once you're on your greens, you'll want a manual..

It could be different from state to state, but in Queensland, you remain auto-only until you pass your manuals test. You could end up going the 3 years of your P plates as auto only, get your full license, and still only be allowed to legally drive an automatic.

Unless you've got it planned to get a manual license, and just didn't mention it haha