98 contour transmission issues

I have the AT that is impossible to find, it is the F83P-DA. The car is a 1998 Contour with a 2.0 (4 cyl) and i am wondering if anybody can enlighten me on the possibility of changing over to manual tranny and how much trouble it would be. Can not find anybody to rebuild the AT and buying another used one for it to go bad seems out of the question. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Changing it over to manual is possible, but only if you have a donar car that is complete. You would have to change the wiring, the PCM, the speed sensor, complete shifting mechanism, flywheel and the shift interlock would have to come out. It would be easier to just buy a contour with stick shift.