How To: Convert from A/T to M/T

Advanced discussion of improving KA-T components
NiSSanFreAk
Dont Question My Nissan Knowledge
Posts: 674
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:27 am
Location: Oak Creek, WI

How To: Convert from A/T to M/T

Post by NiSSanFreAk »

5spd Conversion

Pre-Step :) = Gather your parts
--------------------------------------
- 1) Tranny I payed 100$ -
- 2) 5spd Driveshaft 65$ -
- 3) Flywheel 35$ -
- 4) Clutch Kit 100$ -
- 5) Shifter -free with tranny -
- 6) Crossmember-with tranny -
- 7) Clutch Master Cyl 25$ -
- 8) Clutch Slave Cyl 15$ - Haha the 8 ) is a smily, aww well.
- 9) Clutch Long Hard Line 20$ -
- 10) Clutch Rubber Line 20$ -
- 12) Clutch Pedal Assembly 25$-
- 13) Brake Fluid 3$ -
- 14) Synthetic Gear Oil 75w90 10$ -
- 15) Flywheel Bolts 24$ -
- 16) Belhousing bolts 15$ -
---------------------------------------
I think that does it for parts.


1) Remove your finisher plate from your console (runs around your shifter and your radio deck). Remove the console from your car, this is only 6 bolts or so and the whole damn thing comes out.
2) Next there will be 2 connecting harnesses that come out of your carpet and go to the a/t shifter, disconnect these from the connectors.
3) Now your going to want to remove the 4 bolts holding the a/t mounting plate in place. These bolts are going to be potentially tough to brake loose; I actually broke the weld holding down the opposite nut under the car trying to wrench these things out.
4) Take out the shifter and all the extra crap with it, you should be able see through the car, it’s just a whole in the carpet from there.
5) Next your going to want to take out your drive shaft, so on the differential side of the drive shaft there will be a 4 bolts that hold the drive shaft end to the differential. So remove those 4 bolts turning your tire to rotate the drive shaft. Be advised don’t use power tools on these bolts, you wont even be able to get a socket on then because of the way they are positioned. All wrenches guys.
6) Let that side hang on the floor then you going to want to remove your transmission fluid, I couldn’t find a dam nut anywhere to drain the stuff so I just pulled the pan off in aggravation.
7) Next take off the bracket that hold the middle of the drive shaft on, after this just slide the thing out effortlessly.
8 ) Ok more fun, now disconnect the exit end of the atf cooler line from the transmission on the passenger side. With all of this just directly cut all the wires right at the tranny that you can see, there should only be about 3. We cut them at the tranny because the connectors run into the car almost so we get the most wiring right at the tranny.
9) Ok getting there, remove the dust plate from the underside of the bell housing of the transmission. There’s 3 pieces to it and about 6 bolts.
10) Next take your extreme patients in weaving you hands into cracks and crevices you wouldn’t believe to the struggle of getting your bell housing bolts off. I had to use a ratchet that had a swivel head on it for most of them. But the most aggravating one was the one on the exhaust side (driver side) on the top half, I had to unscrew the recirculation pipe and move it a little bit out of the way. This gave me the leverage to get an air ratchet in there and go to work (that is the only time I used and air tool). Your going to have to take out your starter so be sure to remove the wiring from it before you trying yanking the thing out.
11) Next remove the bolt that bolt the tranny to the cross member, after that take a jack and jack the back of the tranny up until it just moves off the cross member. Then remove the cross member.
12) Remember the dust plate you took off earlier?? Well your going to need to unbolt your torque converter off of the flywheel in order to let the tranny drop off of the engine. The bolts are visible from the dust plate area, there’s about 4 bolts but its also not to fun to turn the flywheel when your engine is just starting a compression stroke : /
13) You should have everything off of the tranny by now but do yourself a favor and check make sure that all wiring and **** is off the tranny.
14) After your torque converter is unbolted lower the jack and the tranny should pop right off of the car without aggravation.
15) Get your tranny out of the way and the torque converter out of your sight, and beware that the tranny weights about 100-150lb’s more than your 5spd – there weight reduction in its finest.
16) Ok now you have your flywheel on by 6 bolts, at first I tried to take then off with a ratchet but it just turned the flywheel with it, so then I tried a air ratchet and that wasn’t powerful enough, in fact it just rammed my hand into the exhaust down pipe which really hurt. So I used an air impact “wrench” that took all the bolts out in less than a minute with NO kick at all.
17) Now you will notice a bushing sticking about a quarter inch out of the crankshaft, this is the A/T adapter bearing, yes it must also be removed, it’s in the way of your pilot bushing. So what “I” did is take a air chisel and chiseled on 1 side for a few seconds then put the flywheel and 2 bolts in, then turned the flywheel, then took the flywheel off, then chiseled on it from the other side, repeat steps until it pops off, it only took maybe 5 min’s tops.
18 ) Ok now we need to prep your pilot bushing. So take some 600-800 level sand paper, and get the surface rust out of the inside bore of the crankshaft. This will help the pilot bushing go in. once you’ve got most of the rust out. Grab yourself a 12mm deep well socket. This is what your going to use the drive the pilot bushing in. Now take something with some weight and pound it in until it really can’t much farther. I found that at a point I hit it too hard and the alignment tool wouldn’t go in, which is bad. So I took a file and filed out the inner edge until it went it pretty easy. ß You shouldn't’t have to do that, unless you hit it really hard so refrain from that.
19) Ok now, take your new flywheel, work it on the crankshaft, there will be a tiny whole on the flywheel and a much larger hole in the crank, line those up when putting the flywheel on. I don’t believe its necessary but I did it for kicks. Put all six new flywheel bolts in until there almost completely screwed in by hand, but noticeably not all the way in. This will help you to know which you’ve put in and which you’ve not. Now the torque specs are 100ftlbs for each bolt, but I didn’t have a torque wrench. So I just zapped them for a few seconds with the air impact wrench. MAKE SURE TO TORQUE THEM IN CRISS CROSS PATTERN. It is very important to torque them in criss cross pattern, you don’t need your flywheel warping on you, especially at 6k rpm’s.
20) Ok now make sure you have the bolts that bolt the clutch plate on, mine came with my flywheel because the flywheel I bought still had the old stock clutch on it. So this is very simple, take your clutch disc and put it in the alignment tool, then slide that into the crankshaft. The disc should be labeled as to which end of the disc faces the transmission. Mine said “T/M SIDE”. So then your going to want to take the pressure plate (the extremely heavier of the two if you don’t understand the terms) and slide it on with the alignment tool in the middle of the plate. Bolt this thing on; there is 6 bolts total. No need to torque these but crank then down nicely onto the flywheel, don’t be alarmed, yes it looks like the disc is crushing the pressure plate??? Yes it is in fact crank it down anyway. Its suppose to. Now you’re almost ready for the tranny.
21) Next your going to want to prep your wiring, so this is what you do, remember those wires we cut off in the beginning before we dropped the tranny, follow those up to the passenger side fuse box. There will be 3 large connectors where the wires end. Unclip all of them from the harness, then throw the useless cut wires aside, you will no longer need then. Next there will be your park/neutral switch. This is a 2 wire connector that almost goes under that very same fuse box. So this is what we do, cut the wiring off the switch leaving yourself a good 4 inches of wire on the fuse box end. Cross those two wires and permanently connect them. This is your park neutral switch, your car now always believes its in neutral J. Toss the extra wiring that went to the tranny its useless.
22) Ok tranny prep time, take out the shifter out of the tranny if you haven’t already. There are 4-5 different sensors on your tranny, you only need 2 of them. Your reverse lights, and your speed sensor. So make sure you have these ready to go. The middle of the 3 connectors I believe, is the inhibitor switch. Only gray one??? You may wanna double check this part. But there will be a green/yellow striped wire, and a green/blue striped wire. Run both of these to your reverse light sensor. Which is the first sensor on the bellhousing side. The speed sensor is the first sensor on the drive shaft end, it should directly connect to the old speed sensor wire, no splice ****. All wiring done there.
23) Ok Now get that bi*ch up there, this is one of the most difficult moments. You have to twist the tranny so the starter bell housing is facing almost 180 degrees other direction. Get the tranny shaft lined up and work it into the clutch/pilot bushing. Then you can turn the tranny all the way around, facing correctly, bolt 2 or so bolts in. You may want to have a jack holding the other end of the tranny up, or you can go my method and let it sit on your chest. Then bolt all the bolts in. Then get your new crossmember set up, line it up, bolt it in. Then drop the jack. Ok now we put out lovely new driveshaft in. Same steps as taking out, just backwards.
24) Ok we should almost be done, get you new clutch pedal assembly in. Nice that Nissan left the whole for the master in the firwall, just cut out on the template. Then bolt your new master cyl onto the clutch pedal assemble. Clutch lines- get the main line and the rubber line set up. Nissan also nice enough to leave clips on the car for clutch master. The main line normaly goes to the clutch damper but we don’t need that so it will clip in exactly then you will have to bend the line carefully by hand to face the tranny a little better. Your rubber line should screw right into the metal line, and that directly into your slave cylender which you should have installed by now also.
25) Fill her up with fluid (2.4quarts of 75w90 gear oil, use sythetic), DON’T FORGET TO PUT YOUR DAM DRAIN PLUG BACK IN. I fabbed up a rubber boot to go around the shifter to keep smell out, made it outta the old auto one. Then put your shifter in and get yourself a flashy finisher boot.
26) Ok bleed you clutch lines adjusting you pedal to where you want the feel. Your done J
27) If I left anything out guys please inform me.

Complete cost was about 500$

- Title Edited by SHIFT_SR20DET
- Stickied by: SHIFT_SR20DET
Last edited by NiSSanFreAk on Mon Jan 17, 2005 7:45 am, edited 2 times in total.
SHIFT_PSSHHT
appleburger
240sx Wannabe
Posts: 173
Joined: Tue Sep 14, 2004 3:03 pm

Post by appleburger »

parts list? i know there are a ton out there but having one included with this great write up would save a lot of questions.
NiSSanFreAk
Dont Question My Nissan Knowledge
Posts: 674
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:27 am
Location: Oak Creek, WI

Post by NiSSanFreAk »

Good Idea, i was just about to edit and add it. Ill throw one in.
SHIFT_PSSHHT
Calesta
Knows Some Stuff About 240's!
Posts: 487
Joined: Tue Nov 16, 2004 8:14 am
Location: Lufkin, TX
Contact:

Post by Calesta »

Nice! Now we just need someone to follow the directions and take pictures every step of the way.
NiSSanFreAk
Dont Question My Nissan Knowledge
Posts: 674
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:27 am
Location: Oak Creek, WI

Post by NiSSanFreAk »

Yea i may be able to get some pictures when i help my friend replace his clutch, so i can get some of those pics :)
SHIFT_PSSHHT
User avatar
Jordan Gladman
Belongs To The TOP CONTRIBUTING MEMBERS!
Posts: 3254
Joined: Tue Jul 20, 2004 11:14 pm
Location: Abbotsford, BC

Post by Jordan Gladman »

To add, you can replace the clutch hard line, damper box and solf line with a -3 stainless line from earls for about $20.
WWW.GLADFAB.COM SOHC Turbo Manifolds
NiSSanFreAk
Dont Question My Nissan Knowledge
Posts: 674
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:27 am
Location: Oak Creek, WI

Post by NiSSanFreAk »

Oooooo Single steel hardline sounds NICE!!!! GO WITH THAT EVERYONE!!!
Im gonna considering buying that! Yea i did a similar thing, I bent my long hard line by hand and ran it straight to the rubber line, bypassing the damper. But wow i wanna try the single steel.
SHIFT_PSSHHT
AnDrEw
Dreams of owning a 240!
Posts: 60
Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 9:41 am
Location: Toronto, Canada
Contact:

Post by AnDrEw »

can you do me a huge favour and take couple pics of cutting holes for master and clutch peddle. Only thing i'm worried about when I start on swap.

Andrew.
89 240sx
NiSSanFreAk
Dont Question My Nissan Knowledge
Posts: 674
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:27 am
Location: Oak Creek, WI

Post by NiSSanFreAk »

Dude the holes are already in the firewall, it just looks like you just need to cut the line out. Although you need to get the whole pedal assembley. All the brackets and shizzle. Theres 3 wholes, 1 big one and 2 small ones, for the master to go through. The master basically bolts to the pedal, it just has the firewall inbetween the two.
SHIFT_PSSHHT
AnDrEw
Dreams of owning a 240!
Posts: 60
Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 9:41 am
Location: Toronto, Canada
Contact:

Post by AnDrEw »

NiSSanFreAk wrote:Dude the holes are already in the firewall, it just looks like you just need to cut the line out. Although you need to get the whole pedal assembley. All the brackets and shizzle. Theres 3 wholes, 1 big one and 2 small ones, for the master to go through. The master basically bolts to the pedal, it just has the firewall inbetween the two.
Awsome, thanks for info. I have all the stuff from my old car, never really payed attention while I was disassemblying it a few months back :x

Andrew.
89 240sx
NiSSanFreAk
Dont Question My Nissan Knowledge
Posts: 674
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:27 am
Location: Oak Creek, WI

Post by NiSSanFreAk »

Yea dude just peak your head up in that area and youl know exactly where youl have to cut
SHIFT_PSSHHT
S14_240sx
NooB
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:34 am
Location: St. Catharines, Ontario

Post by S14_240sx »

I did a auto to 5spd swap on my 95 here is what I bought and used.

Engine with tranny attached with only 65,000KM - $350
Driveshaft - $200
Slave - $35
Master from Nissan - $114
ECU - Free
S13 clutch pedal and S14 brake pedal - $20
(might be forgetting other misc parts)

I basicly ran the flex line from the slave right into the hardline of the master cyl. Using the S13 clutch pedal is just fine and I have noticed no real problems. the swap took me and my friend and dad 16 hours without any real brake but we did put a new engine in at the same time so that was cool. just be carefull when your drilling the firewall to mount the master you want to be sure that your doing it right.
NiSSanFreAk
Dont Question My Nissan Knowledge
Posts: 674
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:27 am
Location: Oak Creek, WI

Post by NiSSanFreAk »

Yup, it took me a total of about 16 hours also, but over the period of a week, i was in no rush. We learned some cool stuff, and had fun doing it, and thats what its all about.
SHIFT_PSSHHT
S14_240sx
NooB
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:34 am
Location: St. Catharines, Ontario

Post by S14_240sx »

Ya I learned that you dont need a bleeder block, or alot of the sensors lol. So right now my tranny has no 5th gear sensor or revers light sensor(the holes are of course not open). I also put the 95's fule lines on the new engine that was from a 97. The 97's had an extra charcole filter and was alot more complicated.
NiSSanFreAk
Dont Question My Nissan Knowledge
Posts: 674
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:27 am
Location: Oak Creek, WI

Post by NiSSanFreAk »

You can hook up the reverse light sensors. But the other sensors are pretty dam useless, if you have the auto ecu, the sensors wouldnt make sense and your ecu would most likely freak out if you hook up the gear sensors since you have 2 extra. Check out step "21"
SHIFT_PSSHHT
S14_240sx
NooB
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:34 am
Location: St. Catharines, Ontario

Post by S14_240sx »

Oh I used the 5spd ECU for the swap my revers lights are not hooked up because the engine and 5spd tranny I had the dude cut the sensor wires like right at the base of them so I only had one sensor with the harness plugin. So it was either being able to start or being able to have revers lights lol. Once the snow is gone I will get a sensor for the reverse lights.
volcom41488
240sx Wannabe
Posts: 156
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 2:13 pm
Location: Iowa

Post by volcom41488 »

where would be a good place to find all the parts. I called my Nissan dealership and they wanted 2000! for just the trany. and I'm in Iowa so there isn't to many other people with 240sx Ive only seen like 1 other one
NiSSanFreAk
Dont Question My Nissan Knowledge
Posts: 674
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:27 am
Location: Oak Creek, WI

Post by NiSSanFreAk »

Uhh you may wanna try salvage yards, thats where i got 99% of my parts. I got my tranny for 100$ and my driveshaft for 65$
SHIFT_PSSHHT
NotSoSidewayS14
Learners Permit
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Jan 30, 2005 7:30 pm
Location: Memphis
Contact:

Post by NotSoSidewayS14 »

Hey i was wondering if you knew if an OBD1 tranny from a SOHC s13 would work on my 98. Also, could i use the s13 manual driveshaft? And if so could i use all the other parts from an s13 b/c i have a full s13 w/ everything I would need. Thanks

Trent
NiSSanFreAk
Dont Question My Nissan Knowledge
Posts: 674
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:27 am
Location: Oak Creek, WI

Post by NiSSanFreAk »

I highly doubt it. Although thats not for sure, do any of you guys know if the chassis of the s13 and s14 are the same? One major flag up would be that your trying to use the sohc tranny, which is a diff motor, so i would assume the bellhousing is different. So i would go with no, sorry dude.
SHIFT_PSSHHT
NotSoSidewayS14
Learners Permit
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Jan 30, 2005 7:30 pm
Location: Memphis
Contact:

Post by NotSoSidewayS14 »

alright... thanks anyways
JDM RICE
240sx Wannabe
Posts: 104
Joined: Sun Feb 06, 2005 9:08 am
Location: Murfreesboro, TN

Post by JDM RICE »

The SOHC tranny should be fine.

I'm almost sure they bellhousings are the same

I did the internals swap from a KA-E to my SR tranny, the only difference was the bellhousing.

I'm glad I came across this thread!

I just bought a 97 SE, and I need to do the 5 speed conversion.

I'm going to find out if any of the S13 parts are interchangable

Honestly, the only thing I think is different is the driveshaft

Anyone else?
NiSSanFreAk
Dont Question My Nissan Knowledge
Posts: 674
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:27 am
Location: Oak Creek, WI

Post by NiSSanFreAk »

maybe the belhousing, if its a sohc tranny, im not sure. Are the sohc and dohc trannys intrchange-able?
SHIFT_PSSHHT
appleburger
240sx Wannabe
Posts: 173
Joined: Tue Sep 14, 2004 3:03 pm

Post by appleburger »

yes they are. when we swapped my friends car (sohc to dohc KA) we used his original tranny and it fit fine. people talk about their trannies not fitting so i've come to assume that the bell housing from a dohc s13 is a little different that the s14. but i don't know for sure. but i do know from experience that the sohc s13 tranny bolted right up to the dohc s13 engine.
NiSSanFreAk
Dont Question My Nissan Knowledge
Posts: 674
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:27 am
Location: Oak Creek, WI

Post by NiSSanFreAk »

Hmm ok
SHIFT_PSSHHT
S14_240sx
NooB
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:34 am
Location: St. Catharines, Ontario

Post by S14_240sx »

Actually they are not the same there is differences even from the s13 to s14 Tran's but they are small. The crank position sensor is different, the speed sensor is not exactly the same, and I believe there are a few other small things. My friend told me you should not run into any major problems but he has done MANY swaps and said there are definitely differences.
JDM RICE
240sx Wannabe
Posts: 104
Joined: Sun Feb 06, 2005 9:08 am
Location: Murfreesboro, TN

Post by JDM RICE »

do you need the turn key ignition from a 5 speed? i notice that there is a release button for 5 speeds.

im about to start sources parts, and its be thrown back and forth about needing the 5 sp ecu or not...

Is it really necessary, or is it a simple plug and play matter versus rewiring and making your auto ecu work?
Image
One of too many S14s :loco:
NiSSanFreAk
Dont Question My Nissan Knowledge
Posts: 674
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:27 am
Location: Oak Creek, WI

Post by NiSSanFreAk »

Dude there is no bs involved, u dont need to rewire ****. All u need to do is cross ur park nuetral saftey switch. And if you want a spedo wire that up, and ur reverse lights wouldnt hurt.
SHIFT_PSSHHT
-kl-
Learners Permit
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2004 10:02 pm

Post by -kl- »

how much should i expect to pay for a s14 tranny between 75k-90k miles?

could 96 manual ecu with abs fit my 97 240sx without abs?
NiSSanFreAk
Dont Question My Nissan Knowledge
Posts: 674
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:27 am
Location: Oak Creek, WI

Post by NiSSanFreAk »

Id guess about 250-300 for the tranny. And as far as the ecu goes, you may have issues if the ecu u want to use is abs and the replacee' isnt.
SHIFT_PSSHHT
Post Reply