I've been looking for a early model eclipse to tune but some of the best/not beat all to hell ones are automatic. SO i'm wondering how much money or work there would be in a tranny swap for a gsx.  

having done an auto/manual swap, i can say that they are pretty easy, at least on the 1st gens but i highly suggest getting the trans from a donor car. me and a friend were able to do the swap in a weekend, but we spent about 10 hrs a day on it.  is the auto already a gsx? cuz if not then your gonna have alot more work involved. We found the hardest part of the swap was getting the pedals out of the donor.e  

It owuld be a gsx. I don't have a chance of keeping up with my friends muscleunless it's a gsx. and colorado weather plays a role.  

lol yea muscle dominates straight lines, unless you dump alotta ching. altho depending on what his "muscle" is, if your plannin on using it as a daily driver (specially in winter), i would give up on tryin, as god forbid, you dump a couple grand into it, then wrap it around a tree in a snow storm.  Im kinda same boat, New England. Hence why i got a 4x4 truck as a daily, and have my "toys" for summer only.  

His 1980 trans am puts out about 700 horses in iowa and his daily driver is a late '80's silverado that puts out about 450. It would be a daily driver but I can snag my moms surburban if the weather turns sour.