Friday, January 11, 2013 - 09:57 am, by: Ken Nakken(Veloce_2185)
Ok I need a little help and guidance. I have recently brought myself a R154 gearbox which I am going to convert my V8 to a manual. Im keen to learn how other people have gone about converting there car, So if a few of you could please help me with the following questions it would be very much appreciated. 1. What conversion kit/s did you use and where did you get it from? 2. What extra items are required for the change? So far I have, gearbox, clutch, pedals, bellhousing, tailshaft, I know I need a flywheel, and spigot and bearing. I think there should be more to this list?? 3. Computer, has anyone converted to manual without installing a piggyback? If so how, and what issues are there. 4. What issues/problems could I come I come across. I have heard headers could be an issue? Shedding light to any of the above will greatly help me along my travels…. Thanks for the time guys.
Friday, January 11, 2013 - 03:27 pm, by: Shane Haverkamp(Havabeer)
you can run the manual box on the auto ECU, you just get some dash errors.
lots of issues you could come across, especially with installing the pedals, as you need to drill a few holes in the fire wall to install the clutch master cylinder (i assume you have a master cylinder) you also need to cut a hole in the tunnel for the gear stick. honestly i'd consider getting a fien saw (the renovator things you see on TV) as it'll mean you wont have a •••• load of sparks flying around the cabin like i did with my angle grinder.
extra things you might need include: the manual shifter surround, toyota sell these for around $70 gearbox mount depending on condition gear stick may need "goose necking" depending which R154 you got (out of which car, remote shift or non remote) clutch lines, i just got a flexible hose from driftmotion
drift motion has alot of parts for this kind of conversion as i got alot of my bits from there, i paid for express post and they got here with in a week from america
you may also need to relocate your TRC button as the manual shifter surround doesn't have a space for it as all the factory manual soarers didn't get TRC as an option (or so i'm led to believe)
Friday, January 11, 2013 - 03:42 pm, by: Ken Nakken(Veloce_2185)
Scott, yeah I might give Neil a call, I have see some kits where you NEED to buy there modified bellhousing, not sure why, where others you can just buy an adaptor that goes between the bellhousing and gearbox. I keep getting confused.
Shane, thanks heaps for the information mate. As im a little silly and haven’t had a look at my tunnel yet, but would I really need to cut a hole in the tunnel? I would have thought there would have been one there for the manual soarers? - I do have a master cylinder - Im not too worried about the dash errors - TRC pft, hate the things, only good for when your stuck on wet grass or something, normal driving I find it more of a hindrance. - Have clutch lines - I should have a gearbox mount - I have a manual shifter surround The gearbox has come out of a manual soarer so I would assume most of the parts will fit nicely? You got any pics of your conversion work shane?
Friday, January 11, 2013 - 05:05 pm, by: Shane Haverkamp(Havabeer)
yep if its out of a soarer you wont need to goose neck your gear stick then as it should be the remote shift model.
but you'll find you need to cut a hole in the tunnel for it. there's a slightly "embossed" area if i remember correctly that would normally have been punched out for the manual soarer, its the same for the master cylinder bolt holes, they're marked but not punched.
either way with the TRC (i'm not sure if all v8's have it) you can do what i do and just shove it and the other left over wiring under the manual surround, but my cup holder is easily removed and i can grab the switch through there if i have to, eventually i'll mount it.
sadly i dont have any pics of my conversion. i always meant to take photo's and do a decent write up but time and other factors got in the way
Saturday, January 12, 2013 - 05:39 am, by: James Johnson(Jimbo)
Just to add to your list as I only completed my conversion a few months ago, you will need are: Bolts for bell housing as depending on the housing that you have they may be different from factory in length. Bolts for the flywheel and clutch cover/pressure plate. I used 3SGTE one's as they all fit my kit that I had.
The trans tunnel I had to cut about 2 inches forward from the hole for the auto shifter and I have a remote shift R154.
I used a hydraulic release bearing as I have Neil's Rush headers so a external slave will foul on the headers if you have them or plan on getting them. This is where I encountered a bit of a problem as there is no specific hydraulic slave designed for a R154 so I spent a bit of time at an engineering shop getting a mount and spacer made up so that it is the right spacing to not over stroke the pressure plate.
My traction control still works with my manual conversion and I have not yet mounted the switch but I have it accessible to be able to turn traction off.
What master cylinder do you have? You will need a Soarer or Chaser master. Also if you do run a hydraulic release bearing you will need the master to be customised to be bigger for the bearing.
You will need a universal rubber gear stick boot from Repco or the likes that will need to be riveted or bolted to the trans tunnel.
I think that is about it that you will need to consider, as it was stuff that I did not expect to encounter but, I did.
Saturday, January 12, 2013 - 09:05 am, by: Shane Haverkamp(Havabeer)
james the master cylinder from the R154 manual supra's also fit, as the master cylinder i got with my kit was stuffed and had to source one, found a supra one and it fits perfect.
mine was the same with cutting the gear stick hole, bout 50mm or so forward. but i just made a custom cover for it out of some sheet metal and silicon'd it up for insulation rather then using a universal boot.
another thing i had to do was cut my brake pedal down. my clutch pedal went in fine, but the auto pedal was just to wide, so i cut it down to the same size as clutch and just put a normal rubber cover over it and it looks normal.
Monday, January 14, 2013 - 07:20 am, by: Ken Nakken(Veloce_2185)
Cool. thanks all for the info and the experiences, this should help me alot... let the planning and work begin... or let the fun and problems begin.hahaha
Monday, January 14, 2013 - 08:26 am, by: Ryan McDonough(Ryan)
I got one of these to take care of the hole in the tunnel. It will also let you use the standard rubber boot to seal it off. Was about $80-100 delivered from Japan. Does require a little cutting on the part it self for a perfect fit as the Soarer tunnel is wider than the JZX100 is was designed for.
PS 3rd time lucky.. Uploading pics in a major pain in the ass... Now I know why no one bothers..
Monday, January 14, 2013 - 01:14 pm, by: Ken Nakken(Veloce_2185)
Yes Ryan, please do..... Nik, noticed you have a 6 speed v8? is that the V161 gearbox or something like that? how do you find it? was it easy to install?
Monday, January 14, 2013 - 03:30 pm, by: Nik Peacock(Niko)
Ken It's the T56 Magnum, I thought it was a very easy install, couple of hits with the hammer on the tunnel, use the t56 rear cross member fill the mounting holes and redrill(they are very close to actually fitting) reverse the rear mount, one piece tailshaft as the magnum is longer than the standard t56 and the front shaft of the two piece is too short and too much angle, cut a bigger hole in the tunnel(this is what I want the tunnel plate for) but the best thing is having a manual V8, it converts the V8 into a real sports car as they should have been from the beginning
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