gregom

iTrader: (3)

Before you all say its cheaper to trade my car in for a manual (which, it should be)... I think this can be done cheaper.

As some of us know the car market has gone to crap, especially for sports cars and trucks. Unfortunately I made a dumb decision of buying an auto and thought I would be happy enough. Well, i'm not... but I owe $30K on my loan and i'd be lucky to sell it private party for $20K right now. Dealers only will do $16K of course, so thats $10K + negative equity and there is no way in hell that will happen even if I dump $5K down for a down payment, plus, its just a waste...

So after looking around to see who has done this (in general, not specifically for the 350Z) I've found its not that bad, but will be time consuming and expensive. But compared to attempting to trade my car in will be more expensive.

At this point i'm getting pretty close to doing it. I've talked to some mechanic mates of mine and a couple shops. After looking up all the parts I think i'll need (new) it comes to about 6 grand or so... Compared to $10K + that's not bad, plus I possibly sell the auto trans parts (although not for much).

So if you could help me determine what i'll actually need should I decide to go through with this...

- Manual transmission, $1,755 new... could possibly buy used from here or junk yard a lot cheaper, but taking a risk.
- Clutch, Pressure Plate, Flywheel, Throw-out / pilot bearing, release bearing and release fork, ~$1,144 for new parts. Could go some aftermarket flywheel, clutch & PP here to help save cost and probably better durability for the abuse it will receive. Not sure if i'll need to round up some bolts and such as the pattern to mount the flywheel and such may be different or more bolts required.
- Hydralic system parts, hoses, lines, master cylinder and slave cylinder, and fluid reservoir, ~$170 for new parts. May need to grab mounts or fabricate my own.
- Shift linkage and shifter, clutch pedal and new brake pedal (or I could just cut the AT one down to size), probably new instrument panel would be desired as well. Have no idea how much this would cost though yet...
- Drive shaft for manual trans, ~$485 new... possible can get junk yard one for cheaper. Doubt there are aftermarket ones.
- Rear differential, ~$1,500 new, but do I need it? Will the diff for the auto mount up? Will I need more parts than just the diff or is that all I need?
- ECU for manual trans, $845. Used possible here as well I suppose, or aftermarket. Does anyone know if they are the same plugs / number of pins? Hopefully its just a straight across swap.


So all these parts added together comes to about $6,000. But am I missing anything? Is there something here I don't necessarily have change? I'm also wondering if i'll need a new starter or if just moving some wires around will solve it.

Anyway i'm either thinking of attempting to do this myself in a mates garage over the winter months (I have another vehicle I can drive then) to save a lot of money or have a reputable shop do it. With labor around $90/hr here, it'll probably tag me up to around $1,500 or so in labor. So factor that into, at least all new parts for this i'm looking at $7,500 but that is STILL cheaper than trading the car in. Plus... I get to experience this myself (which I think may be a fun project), and if successfull I can share my experience with people here. Because I know i'm not the only person who has thought about doing this. But realistically we were all hoping it would be under $5K and just a few parts.

Anyway... what do you all think? I think its doable and something I should heavilly consider, but then again I have never done anything this extreme when it comes to cars.

BTW if you know if some things that I may need for teh swap please let me know. I'm sure there will be lots of little things here and there I did not plan for that will make things difficult.

terrasmak

iTrader: (8)

The diff isn't needed, and have fun with the ECU swap, its just not that easy.

davidv

iTrader: (2)

Ridiculous comes to mind.

gregom

iTrader: (3)

Yeah i've seen the dash open and all the wires/plugs for it, looks insane. The important thing is though that the harness in the car will connect to the manual ECU.

Yeah it's a crazy *** idea but I don't really have any other options. I'm hoping the market will improve a bit so I can get out without doing this but I doubt it.

350ZTheStandard

iTrader: (4)

StoOPid idea to spend more huge $$$$ on a car that is quickly devalauating. Why not just go with a high RPM torque converter, shift kit & B&M trick shift fluid??? Less than $500.00

YOu bought a AT, guess you were thinking ahead, huh???

gregom

iTrader: (3)

I don't care if the value is going down I don't plan on selling the car! Everything is perfect about it except the auto. So it's worth it to me.

Does anyone have any feedback on the list of parts I put up? Am I missing anything that i'll need to complete the swap?

ag4670

iTrader: (1)

lol I been thinking of doing the same thing since my car been paided off for a few years, but i can honestly say if your gonna spend 6 grand to switch over to a 6mt i would just put that money into the car a vortech supercharger tuner kit is 4 grand and a sgp valve body is a 1000 and spend maybe another 2 for piggy back and injectors and other parts to get things running youll have around 390rwhp if not more unless you just want to enjoy the manual

plumpzz

iTrader: (10)

dude you owe 30,000 on a 2004.5 car. why don't you pay that off first?

gregom

iTrader: (3)

While more power is tempting it still wont be that fun being an auto. I just don't enjoy it as much, kind of defeats the purpose of a sports car. I really wish I hadn't made this dumbass mistake but its too late for that. Unless the market improves a little bit so it will be more beneficial to sell my ride and get a manual 350ZR, this is the only thing I want to do.

I am already making double payments on the car so its going to go down fast... unfortunately I overpaid for the car. I also have $2,850 into a extended warranty that I may not even need.

Either way i've already made a stupid decision. What's another one? lol... I'm hoping I can find another way to get into a manual ZR that is cheaper but i'm spending the money on something anyway, might as well do it on exactly what I want.

While I appreciate everyones responses, I really just want someone with plenty of knowledge on the 350Z transmissions to say if I have all the right parts.

ag4670

iTrader: (1)

well the auto doesnt defeat the purpose of a sport car if you noticed that everything is switching over to auto for example the gtr, evo mr, and even f1 cars are auto you just cant beat a computer now a days

i think you got everything right and sure itll be alot cheaper then 6 grand but i honestly think their something more to it since i have never found an article or forum that talks about the swap or anyone doing it i'm sure the nissan designer made it to where you cant do the swap.....damn nissan

gregom

iTrader: (3)

Sports cars aren't just about speed, they are about fun as well, and part of the fun of a sports car is doing the work yourself, its a more rewarding experience. I enjoy driving a manual, and I should of never made the mistake of accepting an auto. Yes the auto is consistant, faster, and probably more reliable, but its not as much fun... and thats 50% of a sports car in my book.

It doesn't matter, i'm going to find a way to get a manual. If it means doing this swap, trading my car in for another Z, or possibly even another car (which I don't want because the is such a great all-rounder), it will happen. I don't care if I lose some money. That's part of the passion too... passion and love for a sports car isn't primarily about speed, or practicality, or money... its also about what you want, what you enjoy, what is fun to you. A person who truly loves cars will get what they want because they want it, and will try to avoid money or practicality getting in the way. Sure I respect those of you who keep practicality and money in the equation and still manage to be happy, but i'm not that kind of person.

Anyway i'm not 100% if this going to happen, i'm going to try everything I can to trade my car in for a manual before I go the hardest possible route. But if it has to be done, it will be.

And why would Nissan make it so you cant swap? I've been looking around on the internet and have found someone who performed the auto to manual swap on a Nissan Silvia, and another person who did it on a Nissan 240SX... Granted those were less computer-dependent cars, but it can be done. The main reason people don't do this is because usually its cheaper just to trade the car in, and/or it will take too long. In my case it's not cheaper, and i've already considered the amount of time it will take.

Besides it doesn't make sense to make it so the parts cant link up, otherwise they spend more money manufactuing different parts for auto vs. manual when it really isn't necessary. The drive shaft, for example, is necessary to be different because the transmissions are physically different sizes.

Anyway, again... can anyone confirm if I have all the right parts here?

E K

iTrader: (10)

If you're already strapped for cash, paying for this swap won't help your financial situation. I'm pretty sure you can find an equivalent manual shift car from your same year for less than the market value of your car + $6000.

I went from a 03 G35 5AT coupe to a 06 G35 6MT coupe for an out of pocket cost of about $10K. But that's for a car with navigation, 3 years newer, and therefore another 3 years on the warranty.

gregom

iTrader: (3)

Not really strapped for cash, hence why i'm making double payments on the car. The problem is the banks right now won't even do $2000 negative equity. I'd need to come up with $10,000 for a down payment to get into ANY car. I know because i've been trying for months. It would be cheaper for me to buy all the parts and put them in my own car.

As for your trade... i'm thinking of trying something similar once I can put $8K down. Dealership is telling me that if i'm going to a brand new car the bank will be a lot more likely to take some negative equity. But going to a used car is the problem.

I was looking at 08 ZR's with Navi but most dealerships are playing it tough and wont let one go for less than 40K around here. And I don't have many to play with. I may have to look around to some larger cities like Portland, Salt Lake City, Reno, etc... and drive down there to make a deal. But I wanna save up a couple more grand before attempting to go that route. But I figure while i'm here I might as well look into swapping transmissions because it is a cheaper route right now unfortunately due to the crappy car market.

350ZTheStandard

iTrader: (4)

^ So your a BALLer huh??? Your upside down on this loan & trying to spend
6k needlessly. Post up pics of the tranny swap when your done.

gregom

iTrader: (3)

Yeah, I'm a baller alright! WTF?

I'm pretty sure just about everyone is probably upside down on their loan unless they put half the money done at the beginning. Part of this is due to our crappy car market right now too.

Regardless why does it matter if I like the car and will be keeping it?

How about some useful responses here people? Instead of coming in here attempting to insult me further.

And if I do ever go through this you can bet your a$$ there will be loads of pics of the swap process.

SuperBlack350z

iTrader: (59)

one of the vendors on here did a auto to manual swap. Do a search and ask them. I think that's the best method .

350ZTheStandard

iTrader: (4)

waiting for the pics BaLLer.

gregom

iTrader: (3)

Go play with yourself. I already know of my seriously ****ed situation. I'm asking for technical feedback and assistance making sure the parts list is complete. Your coming in here and being a jackass is just childish.

Thermal1

iTrader: (23)

Listen to this man ^^

Or gogo insurance fraud, that should fix your problems!

Netko350Z

iTrader: (8)

Pay the car off first.

Sorry it is the most logical choice.