240K AUTO TO MANUAL CONVERSION GUIDE

What to do - and what not to do!

Alright so today we had a crack at swapping the manual gearbox from my parts car 240K to my car which is currently auto. I decided to write this for two reasons - firstly to have a record of what we did in case I ever do it again and secondly to give you guys some tips if you do it... Anyway, firstly and definitely most importantly I'd like to thank some people. My good friends Steve and Victor for coming along to help with the whole thing and Victor's dad for lending us a big mother jack, tools and some jack stands. I'd also like to thank Peter (440K on these forums) for coming over on a Saturday to help guide us younglings through the whole thing. He was invaluable for the team. He knew exactly what he was doing and I'm sure without him we would probably be still out there......... So thankyou!!

Also we were very lucky with the weather. It was raining most of Friday and the forecast was for rain through the weekend. We got a bit of rain in the morning but none for the rest of the day. We worked in the garage anyway so it didn't matter, but it gave us plenty of room to clean stuff etc. Let's hope it's the same next weekend because no, we did not get it all done today. Keep reading and you'll find out why! I'm going to write this whole thing in bullet point form with all the major points, or else it'll end up as some huge essay that no one will want to read.

Day 1 - Saturday 21/01/06

- Sprayed WD-40 around a day earlier to soak.

- Drained the gearbox oil.

- All bolts came off reasonably easily, except for the exhaust ones up near the manifold. Turns out we didn't even need to take those off as we could just bend the exhaust out of the way a bit after detaching it from the rear. When we do my car we will try a slightly more delicate method, but for the parts car it worked a treat!

- Undid the whole driveshaft - had to jack the back up and rotate the rear wheel half way to get to the bolts on the underside of the shaft joint.

- Undid all the cradles with the gearbox one just slightly still on so that we could lower it when needed.

- Put a jack under the engine to hold it up while taking the gearbox off.

- Put a jack under the gearbox and nudge the gearbox off a bit until it's free - then slowly lower the jack at the same time as stablising the gearbox. Easier said than done!

- Gearbox was covered in oily greasy mess. It was absolutely BLACK when it came out. This is why you have degreaser, a big brush and a toothbrush!

- Flywheel is to be machined during the week.

- The new clutch was not the same as the old one. We measured and it is slightly thicker as well as larger in diameter - the Repco guy is sorting it out on Monday but I think it will turn out to be a 260Z 2+2 if what Stephen said is anything to go by. We imagine this was not stock and had been replaced at some stage... so I guess if you have the choice, try not to buy your clutch before you know what size your old one is The new one may have fitted... but I'd rather have the beefier clutch anyway. It was then that we decided no more work could be done today.

- IMPORTANT! The pedal boxes are NOT the same. There is a small L bracket that acts as a stopper for the clutch pedal, my car does not have this. Options here were to swap the whole pedal assembly or try to fab something up for the stopper. We tried to get the pedal box out of the old car but it's more trouble than it's really worth. I'm going to attempt to make a bracket during the week...

- I'm also going to restore the pedals themselves during the week.

- The circlip holding the clutch pedal on is a bitch... took a while but eventually Steve got it. I think he used needle nosed pliers?

- Going to also buy a new clutch master cylinder as the old reservoir cap didn't fit on very well... and of course you can't JUST buy the reservoir. Probably a good idea to replace it anyway, it's only $40.

- I'm also going to go to Nissan during the week to try to get a hold of some rubber boots, as the old ones were very worse for wear.

So, that was today. We made excellent progress and I'm sure if you tried you could do all of this in a morning. I was looking forward to trying to get it all done in one day, but alas we couldn't continue. I'm not phased though, at least this gives us enough time to get everything restored, finished and correct. I've waited years to make this car manual, I can wait another week!!

I will continue this thread as progress is made. Peter feel free to add anything if I have forgotten something...

Here are a few pictures I just took. Sorry we do not have any progress pictures, but it was impossible with the amount of dirt and muck that was on our hands.

Be thankful they only complain..

..one of my "friendly" neighbours decided to key my car on Australia Day (now THAT'S un-Australian) - only days after I got it back from the panel shop. What makes it worse is that I only got it back on the Friday, having spent $$ on getting little bits here and there on the body attended to. Now I have a lovely foot long scar on the passenger side.

I know who did it too, but I've got no proof. I don't do burnouts or make any noise, he just doesn't like me.

Ahh yes, 3rd gear chirp

Luckily we have a neighbour opposite that is generally louder and more car obsessed than us so, people around this area are somewhat used to it. DOn't do anything excessive, just when testing something out it gets a quick blat down the street and back and then back up the drive for more tinkering followed by another blat

Glad you've finally got it manual now though! All you need is one of Alan's S20's Of course, then you'd probably need a different box anyway!

Oh, also.. try getting some softer return springs for your twin SU's.. that'll fix the "sticky pedal" .. at least, that's the problem with mine, although I have got it down to a fine art now..

Great to hear, Lachlan! Sounds like you're enjoying the manual experience. It's only a matter of time before you have the triple 45mm Webers fitted, with fully worked L28 up front. :tapemouth

Two reds go into gearbox (that's reverse lights), and you must short the two blacks (inhibitor).

Of course - makes perfect sense now! Why didn't I think of it?? :stupid:

Pretty lame of the neighbours to call the cops though. It's not as if you regularly hoon around your neighbourhood. Might be time to get a second muffler (or resonator) fitted, if the cops are going to be keeping an eye on you.

Hey Michael, yeah I got some softer return springs and it helped a bit, but there is still some slack before it starts. I think shortening the cable might do the trick... I just wish it weren't a floor-mounted pedal... the Z one was perfect.

Peter, it didn't make sense to us because the two reds were male, and the two blacks were female. The two wires from the box were also male. Odd... but easily worked out. We have continual problems in the neighbourhood with reckless drivers testing out their rubber burning skills on the street. It quite possibly could have been some random person who saw the numberplate and just reported that. Who knows... all I know is I won't drive around the block at night anymore. Just a longer walk home if something doesnt work

Youre finally there! Ive been reading every post with anticipation - and where have these twin SU's come from ? When did you get them put in - was this your mysterious 'side project'? Bet its an infinitely more enjoyable experience.

And whats this about a chirp in third gear? Perhaps the ratios are slightly different in the five speed, because there is absolutely no way the tyres will chirp in third gear with my four speed. Anyway, sounds great, hope to see pics/video soon

Tom

Tom, I have a S130 (280ZX) 5speed and mine chirp in 3rd.. well they did until my shocks in the rear realised how old they were

Hi Tom, I have had the dual Hitachi SU's in for a long time now... one of the very first things I did. I put off the "side project" due to underbudgeting for the conversion. The four and five speeds do have different ratios:

	F4W71B	FS5W71B
1st	3.592	3.321
2nd	2.246	2.077
3rd	1.415	1.308
4th	1.000	1.000
5th		0.864
Rev	3.657	3.382

But using my immense car knowledge, wouldn't that mean the ratios are actually shorter in the 4-speed? I guess there are a lot of other factors too, including carbs, weight, engine condition, tyres, gradient of the road etc. etc. etc.

Anyway, will try to get a video soon. As for pics... you want more?! What of?

Rear end gearing also has an effect on the final drive. I've not tried spinning my tires yet, but I swapped out the F4W71B 4 speed for a FS5W71B 5 speed and lost some off-the-line jump. However, once in third gear, the car moves like a scalded cat. This is with a 3.90 rear end. Funny, though all I've read seems to point out that these are 72 transmissions, and my car is a 71.

Really? I must have missed that...or my memory has since faded into oblivion. In any case are they round top hitachis, or flat tops? Just a pic of the engine bay is all i was after!

In regards to the 5-speed trannies, im not sure if that (small) descrepancy between 3rd gear ratios would account for the chirp? The ZX box is an altogether different box, isnt it?

Tom

According to the manuals and things I've got the differentials should be the same (ie R180 3.54). My carbs are round top hitachis from a 240Z. They add a bit of performance, but chew a lot more fuel and harder to keep in tune.

This just in - the metal frame that holds the outer gearboot in place is NOT the same in early and late-model cars. The later ones must have a slightly wider console or something. Lucky I checked before I got a new gear boot made up!! I am now searching for the frame for an early car. Sure I could fabricate something, but I'd rather have the real thing.

Picture shows what I'm talking about.