Looking for information and pix on this. I know of one person that has 3 Slingshots that were converted to auto trans ... all 2016 SL models. Very interested in this. Thanks!
Anyone converted a manual trans to auto?
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Looking for information and pix on this. I know of one person that has 3 Slingshots that were converted to auto trans ... all 2016 SL models. Very interested in this. Thanks!
rabtech - - might be able to help you on this
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Looking for information and pix on this. I know of one person that has 3 Slingshots that were converted to auto trans ... all 2016 SL models. Very interested in this. Thanks!
What information would you like to know, we have done a bunch of them.
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Hey CDASlinger, Dave@DDMWorks is the guy to talk to. He's done a lot of these including Bill Martin's, Rabtech (I believe) and knows what he's doing. There were some controller issues with the early conversion, but that issue has been resolved with the newer ones being used. If Dave tells you something, you can take his word for it. He's a straight a shooter as they have for Slingshots and aftermarket mods he offers.
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Sweet thanks all. Im looking to purchase 4 or 5 slingshots for rentals. I want NO manual trans. Too many people hammer them. Thanks
I'd personally talk to a few folks who have done this and see if it meets your business model / ideas. I looked into this quite a bit in CO as seeing the prices on Turo and other self rental apps it looked like a risk I'd try to manage until they got in the green. Colorado Springs is a fairly decent tourist spot, zero slingshot rental companies here in town and closest are 45+ min drives away. Turned out insurance was one of the biggest hurdles, it's like telling your current insurance company your now an Uber on the side. "Any Drive Share Programs" and their are special HIGHER rates when customers say or they find out your part of these. So lets say you have them all insured properly, the insurance will cover damages now however how long does that take? Does that same insurance cover the rental income lost while you track down parts? (If your fixing these yourself) If taking to a dealer how long for them to order parts and fix, etc...
"Too many people hammer them" - there is other ways to help with this. One of the best I saw was a contract used by a rental company in Vegas. Had it setup where they had fees for excessive speeding, braking, etc... and this was monitored by GPS. They couldn't "shut them down" on a customer really as I guess that's a safety thing, but got all the data to support the contract that had them paying all kinds of penalties when these situations occurred. That business I talked to has a fleet of slings, older manuals and newer autos. You'd think it might be mechanical issues on the manuals and while those do occur the majority of his damage is to the body. Front bumper, that bumper bar, and general front area. Most of his parked slings just costing them $$ were due to supply line issues since covid and waiting on parts - those have gotten better but still not back to where we were pre-covid.
I wouldn't even consider converting manuals to automatics, just buy 2020+ factory automatics. There was at least one company offering these conversions before newer ones came out and as I understand it they were true automatics not just PCM shifted transmissions. I haven't priced out how much those conversions actual cost if they still offer them, but my guess is that's it's not cheep. You'll need a computer that can run an automatic trans and while they do have slave setups that probably work with existing PCM, it's not going to be just plug and play.
I'm not totally trying to discourage you, just trying to give you some things to think about and solve for before you take on that risk yourself. This literally comes up in the facebook groups constantly. I'd search those posts out and see what others have said and create a list of challenges you need to solve for before you do this. 100% can be done and can be a solid income stream when done right. It's just no where as easy as folks think it is when they see those self rental apps. Last comment, because folks think this is easy and try to do it you can find folks selling sling packages from failed rental companies. That's what I'd look at as far as options to build a fleet and then hope your mechanically inclined to do most of these fixes yourself! Let us know how it goes if you move forward with your idea!
