Manual Conversion for the Fairmont - or options?

[Polyal]

OK well Ive been having issues for a while now with the auto and its off to see a specialist on wednesday, but from a conversion I get the vibe that the auto is pretty much cactus.

It changes ok, but when its cold its slow and needs about 1500rpm to go into gear coming out of P, had a large thud out of no where while cruising today and I can just sense its slipping.

So I asked the guy, alright, worst case for a rebuild what am I looking at, the reply was $1800

There is no way in hell I am paying $1800 for a bloody auto. So, that leaves me with a few choices:

1. Suck it up and pay the cash
2. Fit a refurbed auto, cant imagine it being that much cheaper than getting it rebuilt
3. Take a punt on a 2nd hand one
4. Convert it to a manual

Now keep in mind I plan to keep the car as a daily for atleast another 3-5 years, ive recently installed a SVI LPG kit which is very nice so I want to get my monies worth; plus as far as a daily goes its good.

Ive done some very quick hunting around and have found the following:

A conversion to a manual, all parts included is $1250

What I haven't thought about is what about the ECU? Can my auto ECU be tricked?

Another thing I wanted to ask is how good are those malwood clutch pins? For $105 they seem like a bargain and might/should bring the conversion parts price down as I dont need the pedal box and it will have $$$ in labour.

Anyone else done the conversion in a non XR?

Interested to hear peoples opinions on the options.

Its really something I didn't want to do but I think hell will freeze over before I pay $1800 for an auto. Also keep in mind I dont have the space or tools required to do it myself, so I have to factor in labour.

Cheers.