Hi Jesam, hope all is going well with your upgrade. I have some advice regarding the conversion from auto to manual as i completed mine early this year. I had used a guide to convert the Evo 7 GTA from auto to manual and during my conversion i found a few things were different.
Basically you cant use the evo 7 driveshafts as they thicker than the the Airtrek ones at the hub, the airtrek ones fit in the manual gearbox.
biggest issue was clutch pedal mounting as the dashboard needs to come out and quite abit of drilling needed, as well as welding or bolting to make the pedal mount rigid and prevent flexing.
Handbrake has been relocated to the tunnel just beside the drivers seat front mount and is hand operated. gear selector cables was easy in my install as the gear lever is relocated to between the seats.
u will need the following parts.
-Complete clutch System, Incuding piping, master and slave cylinders, pedal and mount.
-gear lever and mount, with both selector cables.
-gearbox mount for the manual gearbox.
-handbrake (depending on where you mount it the factory fitted cable can be used).
-Manual brake pedal and its mounting bracket.
The Transfer case, drive shafts airtrek ones used.
Wiring related - reverse gear sensor, speed sensor and handbrake lighting switch.
What i did since i am running an aftermarket ecu i removed the entire oem wiring harness, stripped it and removed all wires that i didnt need, auto gearbox related, MAF, fuel pressure, boost control etc etc. its very time consuming and alot of patience needed.
As for the gearlever location we drilled new holes in the centre tunnel and used 8 inch threaded rods, so gear selector can be moved up or down to suit your driving position, right no with elebox resting on centre armrest the hand comfortably sits on the gear knob.
I dont have many pics during the install but i can send you some "after" pics.
Another thing is make sure the flywheel bolts are not too long as they tend to stretch after a while and flywheel starts flapping around....I am running an after market crankshaft so maybe same thing may also happen to OEM cranks.
I hope this may help abit, but if any advise needed please do not hesitate to ask. Best of Luck in your upgrade/conversion.