Manual Conversion

See also Speedo Drive Conversion Auto Manual to get your speedo and wiring correct.

Mechanical

Parts Required

• Manual gearbox: RB30, RB20 involve the least mods
• Flywheel: RB20, RB30, (RB30 flywheel needs shorter headed bolts)
• Spigot bearing: - available at Repco, Nissan, Holden etc. - $4 from Bursons, $17 from Nissan... go figure
• Clutch pressure plate, driveplate, thrust bearing, clutch fork
• Manual tailshaft (manual one is longer and the yokes are different)
• Manual gearbox crossmember (costs around $150 from Nissan and around $100 from wreckers)
• Modifications to body for crossmember involves extra studs to bolt member to
• Slave and master cylinders for clutch also the hose between them
• Clutch pedal and brake pedal
• Floor bracket and boot
• Interior bracket, boot and gearknob
• Longer high tensile bolts - 65mm x m12 or m10 high tensile 8.8 bolts - for gearbox mounting to motor - (about $7 from universal fasteners)

Please note that the standard bolts which come with the automatic Nissan transmission are not long enough. You can grab them from Coventry Fasteners or anywhere else that sells bolts. File:RB Bellhousing Bolts.png 1x 10X65M88ZPB 2x 10X60M88ZPB 1x 10X40M88ZPB 1x 10X30M88ZPB 1x 10X25M88ZPB 3x 10MZPNBU

6 Bolts are required for the flywheel, however more can be placed on for the pressure plate to flywheel assembly.

File:Manual Conversion Parts.jpg

Extras

• Gearbox fluid - unless you know the history of the box.
• Heavy duty clutch - might as well do it while you got the chance.
• Mechanically minded - you need to know what your doing if your doing it yourself, prepare to get frustrated and get a mate to help.
• Research - do your research into it, nothing worse than holding up the process because something has stuffed up and you have to wait on new parts etc.

Information

Spigot bearing- Auto crank has a sleeve in the back of the crank which sits in it about 5mm and sticks out about 5mm. This allows the torque converter to sit central. You need to remove this to get the spigot bush into the right position and also so your input shaft can go all the way in. I drilled a hole in the sleeve on the top and the bottom and hit with a chisel on the side which crushed the sides in and it popped right out. You could also tap a thread into it and use a slide hammer to yank it out. Either way it has to come out. The spigot bush needs to be soaked in oil over night prior to installing, as the brass bush is porous and soaks in the lube which will stop the input shaft from freezing into it while spinning. Get a copper dummy shaft (something copper to knock it in) and knock the spigot bush into the back of the crank very carefully. Smack it all the way into the crank about 6mm from the lip. (you'll know what I mean when you see it.) Be very careful not to burr it over or crush it.

Clutch plate

Be sure to use a correct clutch pressure plate alignment tool to get it right the first time... it's better when the plate is as central as possible to make the installation of gearbox as easy as possible. Plus it's a bitch when you have to lower the gearbox over and over again to adjust the clutch plate.

Clutch pedal

This is a real pain because an air conditioning duct is in the way of getting the pedal up in the right position. The best way of installing this is to remove the air-conditioning duct and persist with it. I got mine in without removing it, it's possible but it takes time. Holes are already exist, you need to undo the bolts from under the bonnet. They are two small bolts with a plate covering the hole for the master cylinder and the pedal. It's best the have the master cylinder ready to install at this time as well because it saves having to undo the bolts twice. All up there is three bolts holding the clutch pedal in place. Two onto the firewall and 1 8mm bolt up above, below the dash. You will see the bolt hole and the hole it screws into. Hopefully the wreckers will provide you with this bolt but otherwise any M8 (metric 8mm) bolt will fit.

Removal of auto

I found this a fair task to do, best thing to do it remove the tailshaft starting with the diff end and work your way forward. Undo the crossmember and let it hang, then undo the electronics on the side and tie them back. Undo the fluid lines that go to the transmission cooler on the front, undo the support brackets which are underneath the car on the bottom of the motor, remove the bellhousing guard thingy and undo the 4 converter (14mm) bolts on the front end inside the bellhousing. You will see them when you get to this stage. Undo the starter motor, then support the trans on a jack and undo the bolts on the motor, one is really hard to get to, which is on the drivers side up the top. Just persist at it and swear a lot and you'll eventually get it out. Or you can climb underneath with a really long extension bar or 3 and undo it from the rear of the trans with the motor on an angle. That's the easiest way. When lowering the trans, pull it to the rear of the vehicle but be careful that the converter isn't gonna slip out otherwise you'll spend 20min cleaning up the fluid. Be aware that when you pull the tailshaft out, fluid will come out the back. Place drip container or rag in the back of trans.

• See "Automatic gearbox -Removal" article for more information.

Installation of gearbox

(This is where the fun begins), raise the front of the motor to get maximum angle so it's a little easier. You may need to disconnect the exhaust to get maximum angle. Best thing to do is take the selector out of the gearbox by taking out the circlip on top, and the gearstick comes straight out. Put the gearbox on top of a jack and wheel under vehicle ready for lifting. Have one person on the end of the gearbox and one at the front. You need to turn the gearbox anticlockwise about 45degrees to clear the floor just before the input shaft goes in. Then you can straighten it back up. It's really heavy so just be very careful of not to injure anyone. (safety first) As soon as you get the input shaft inside the driveplate , get the angle of the gearbox the same as the motor and push it towards the motor wiggling it side by side, the input shaft is really really hard to get into the spigot bearing first up so don't give in right away. It will take some time and sweat but as quick as you can say "it's in" it will pop in to it's place. Lots of jiggling and movement (but not too much) is needed to get it in the right place. Attach the crossmember and bolt her up. (Note: before fitting gearbox, place a little molykote grease on the input shaft but not too much as this will spread to clutch plate and you will be removing it again soon after. Also, if you can't get the gearbox flush with the back of the motor, providing it's straight, use the bolts to close it in and pull it towards the motor, adjusting each side accordingly.)

Crossmember mods

The auto crossmember uses bolts which are too far apart for the manual member to bolt up to all of them. The manual member can bolt up to two of the four. However, there are holes which you can weld studs into so you can add the two extra bolts. This will require new high tensile bolts of some sort, whether it be all thread cut down and welded or just bolts welded on im not sure. But this needs to be done and it's fairly simple. You can drive around safely with only two bolts holding the gearbox for a while.

Brake pedal

The auto brake pedal can not be used for obvious reasons due to the pedal being about 5 times too big. You can either be as dodgy as me and cut it with a hack saw and put rubber boot on it, or you can go out and purchase the complete assembly for $25 and install the manual pedal which i figured was a lot harder.

Interchangeable parts

R31 Pintaras are quite similar obviously so you can use various parts such as the pedals, master and slave cylinders etc. However don't get confused and think that the interior bracket and boots are all the same because they aren't. The gearbox in the Pintara isn't as long and the interior stuff isn't in the same position.

Thrust bearing

It's just common sense to change this while you've got it out, no sense pulling the gearbox out again because your thrust bearing is stuffed. It's only about $18 so why not just change it and have peace at mind. I got a new one with the h/d clutch i purchased from Adelaide clutch services and to replace you must remove the old one with a screw driver bit by bit, and smack the new one on evenly with a wood plank softly.

Interior

Before removing the auto it's best to pull apart your centre console and rip out the selector etc. Disconnect the selector underneath and the whole shifter assembly unscrews from the body. Leave the gap in the floor open until you've put your gearbox in.

Time and money

Expect to spend two to three days on the conversion at least and make sure you've got all the necessary parts needed and that they are in suitable condition. Ask plenty of questions and make sure you know what your doing before you tackle it so your aware of risks, procedures, parts etc. All the parts i bought separately so i could see what i was buying etc, however, most places don't want to sell manual parts because they go with manual conversion kits. Expect to pay from 800-1100 depending on whether parts need replacing or repairs. For example, my tailshaft cost me $150 to get cut and shut, and my clutch was $495.

Issues

A possible issue is the inability to select a gear or start the car in any gear with the clutch in, this is most likely caused by the clutch seized against the pressure plate and flywheel assembly... a method to get it unstuck is to start the car with the clutch disengaged, in reverse and then drop the clutch in. However be careful when doing so.

Compiled by

R31fast, tensop.

Picture -unknown source

Wiring

Wiring S1/S2

This applies to the series 1 and 2 automatic transmissions ONLY.

On the drivers side of the jatco automatic, there is a 8 pin plug on the shift selector. Tracing it back towards the battery you will find its other end.

A few of these wires will enable you to start your car.

The following is the wiring: Red + Black and white stripe - Reverse; on the manual gearbox there is a 2 wire plug at the drivers side on the base of the bellhousing. These must be connected, they are universal, as it is a switch, hooking them up allows you to have reverse lights.

Red with black stripe + Black with Blue stripe- Neutral; join these two into the neutral switch on the gearbox.

Red with black stripe + Black with yellow stripe- Park; join these two together to disable the inhibitor switch, this one will allow you to start your car.

Congrats, you now may start your car. To test with gearbox out, make sure the starter motor is grounded to the engine block.

Wiring S3

S3 wiring is different. The speed sender connection is a seperate loom from memory - just use the auto loom for that - easy.

There is a grey 2 pin connector with really thick wires near the battery - bridge these 2 wires to disable the start inhibit - easy.

For the rest, I used the connectors from both looms to make a custom loom, that is really the only way to go with an S3.

In the same area as the grey 2 pin connector there is a grey 8 pin, you want to use this plug from your auto box to make the custom loom.

Looking at the front of the connector from the auto loom, it goes like this:

File:Speedo drive 6.gif

On mine the colours were:

• 1 – Black
• 2 – Orange
• 3 – Red
• 4 – Yellow
• 5 – Blue
• 6 – Brown
• 7 – White
• 8 – N/C

Connect Pin 1 and Pin 5 to the neutral switch, and Pin 1 and Pin 6 to the reverse switch, and you're done.

Now, my car is actually one of the very last s3s to be built, and actually had a 300ZX auto box, but I am now 99% certain that the early s3s use identical wiring

You don't really need to connect the neutral switch, all it does is improve fuel economy when the car is in neutral (i.e. never). But since I was making a new loom anyway, I figured I might as well do it.

Wiring HR31

Hey, just like to clear up the pinout on the inhibitor switch plug on HR31's to make them start and reversing lights work - I just worked this one out today. This is the grey 8 pin plug near the battery on an auto HR31:

Splice 1 to 7 to bypass the inhibitor switch, which you can now snip off! Connect 1 and 6 to the reverse switch on your newly installed manual gearbox and voila! My car had the inhibitor switch jammed under the brake booster all taped up, the other unused wires (2, 3, 4, 5, & 8.) aren't needed and can be chopped. Colours are all different to S3 Ausdel as well.

-crayman

Contributors: projekt31, Smity42, crayman