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Also, I contacted All Boost and asked if they'd just sell the little shift linkage collar piece so I didn't have to hack up my stock brass piece. The price was a bit more than I was expecting for that little piece, so I politely had to decline.
The result of that is I'm designing my own now. Very simple design. My buddy has the equipment to 3D print a prototype to test fitment. Then if it fits, he has a mill and will make it out of 6061 aluminum. He said he'll be able to make four of these from a single piece of aluminum stock he has. So I might end up with a few extras once it's all said n done if a few of you want to run it instead of your hacked up stock piece.
Here's a basic idea of what my initial design looks like. I'd prefer it to be round, but it has to be square as he doesn't have access to a lathe. The square shape might make the dowel pin tricky. I'll cross that bridge later though.
Side note, anyone know what size drill bit the ended up using for that plastic shifter piece to slide in nice and tight?
No problem buddy. Yeah I guess any disc can weld to the flywheel if overheated. But funny you mention that because in the instruction sheet from SB, there is a whole page about avoiding overheating the clutch and what to do when it does. They say to hold the clutch in for 10-15 seconds to allow cooling, and if it welds itself, to try starting the car in gear and the jolt will break it free.
And you are a lucky guy, your son is adorable!
That would be awesome if you get that linkage piece made up! Looks good! Unfortunately I used a step drill bit to drill out that hole for the plastic bushing, so can't give a solid dimension for it. I can't even measure it because I have it JB welded in place. But if you have the shifter handy, you can just measure the diameter of the bushing, although I'm sure you already thought of that
Oh yeah, and just a heads up on that design. I don't see any dimensions, but try to keep it as close to that stock linkage piece as possible because there isn't a lot of room between the piece and driveshaft, nor the upper corners of the piece and the underside of the 240sx housing especially when tilted to change gears
So, I had a bit of a scare today when starting it up. I filled up the radiator and left the cap off, figuring that I would top off the radiator as the car pushes the coolant through and "primes" the system. So, I started it up, and sat inside the car for a minute or two and kept an eye on the aem coolant temp gauge to make sure that the car wasn't overheating. It was around 100 deg F and typically takes about 5-6 minutes to get up to operating temp. So, I shot some videos and while under the car, I noticed my 2nd elec fan kick on, which is on a 180 deg thermostat switch, I thought it was weird because it never kicks on that fast, so I ran over to the aem gauge and it said 230 degrees, and the gauge temp needle was through the roof, literally. The thermostat must've never opened because I never got any coolant flow through the radiator, and the radiator was cold. If the aem gauge said 230, without any coolant flowing through it, God only knows what the actual temp of the engine was.
So, I let it cool down by itself. I didn't want to introduce any cold water or any other rapid cooling effects because I didn't want to shock the block and warp anything. When I let it cool down, I fired it up and immediately the gauge cluster temp needle started to rise above normal. So I shut it down and went out and touched the water neck and it was luke warm. So, it sounds like my temp sender is malfunctioning. I just about **** my pants when I seen that needle so high.
So, here's a question, if the temp sender is not getting any coolant flow, will it read high by default?
So, I will have to do a compression test this weekend to make sure nothing was damaged. Keep your fingers crossed for me...
Originally Posted by LoveSCs
Thanks man. I really hope not too. I went out this morning and started it from cold. Immediately after starting it, this is what the temp gauge read:
So, I am guessing that there is just something wrong with the gauge, and it didn't really get as hot as I thought it did
I will have to check when I go home and see if the gauge is all the way down when the car is off. If it is, then I know that the gauge is OK and was not "pegged" or broken by really overheating. This would tell me that there is definitely something wrong with my temp sending, and I'm not really that hot.
Originally Posted by LoveSCs
Thanks Marko, yeah it sounds like stock. It's hard to say what is actually deadening the noise, rather it be the flywheel or the silent disc kit that I have. To hear that yours was at 230 for a bit and is still OK is encouraging. It just sucks that I went through all of this and now have to deal with this issue. Which hopefully turns out to be a non issue
Originally Posted by LoveSCs
So, I have good news I think
I think I must have something wrong with my temperature sender and my coolant temperature sensor, and I don't think the motor got as hot as I originally thought it did.
For some reason, after a minute or two of running from a cold start, the temp needle starts to rise and I notice the engine bog down a bit and my AFR shows it richening up. Almost as if the gauge and the ECU both think that the motor is running hot. Even though after shutting it down, I went out and put my hand on the water neck and it was luke warm.
I measured the resistance from the coolant temp sensor signal wire up at the connector all the way to the ECU connector and it was 1 ohm, so I know I have a good connection. I rang out the other pin in the connector to ground, and it had a good connection. So I'm pretty sure I have good wiring for the coolant temp sensor. For the temp sender, I unplugged it and started the car and the needle stayed all the way down, then plugged it back in and it moved. I rang out the water neck to ground and it had a good connection. I filled the water neck with coolant, thinking that maybe it would behave better if immersed in coolant, still the same thing. I measured the resistance of the coolant temp sensor at room temp and got about 1600 ohms. TSRM says that as long as there is continuity at that temp, that it's OK.
The coolant temp sensor is about 1 year old with maybe 2000 miles on it. I have a new one that I will replace it with to rule it out, and I have a new temp sender on order as well.
Anyone have suggestions?
Got it all sorted. Apparently there was a jumper wire on the backside of the white combination meter plug in the passenger kick panel that fell off because it was twisted and electrical taped on... It was pin 10 on that plug which was a brown/black wire that apparently is Ignition wire for quite a few things
See pic: I just added that blue jumper wire for temporary test to see if that was the issue and it was. Tomorrow I will be soldering and shrinking that jumper in place, and also getting rid of that other nonsense splice you see in the pic... What a joke. But am VERY relieved that I didn't overheat my motor
Just wanted to chime in and say thank you for the great write up. I'm just starting a GS300 project and greatly appreciate the insight. Transmission to time/dollar cost options have me in a whirl and this write up is greatly helping me understand the eventual route that works best for me.
I will be reporting back on some running reviews in the coming days/weeks. I know how you feel about having so many different options to choose from. I was struggling between going built ATF auto with my SupraStick controller, or R154, or this CD009. I ended up going CD009 because the auto is, well, auto haha. Even with the SupraStick controller which changed the driving experience dramatically, it's still not the same feel as a third pedal. The R154 can be built to handle some power, but there are very prone to leaking out of the back seal, are getting more and more expensive, and is 5 speed. The CD009 has a tad more upfront expense than the R154 because of the adaption kit and everything else, and also is not native to Toyota so things need some massaging, but in the end you will have a solid reliable setup that can handle power in stock form. And it's 6 speed with gear ratios very similar to the V160. The CD009 is quickly becoming a popular transmission to swap in. Although I am not aware of any aftermarket upgrades for it, I wouldn't be surprised if we start to see some upgrades for it once numerous high power cars start to find the weak links in it.
Took the car out for a short drive to the car wash today. This thing drives like stock. I can't be more happier with it, unless my shifter was centered lol. But I will talk about that shortly. Anyways, there are no noises, slips, chatters, clunks, knotches, smells, nothing. Literally drives like how I envision a manual SC to be. The clutch grabs, but is slippable. Easy getting going in 1st just like any stock car, and easily shifts into every gear (1-3 and R, haven't tried the 4-6 yet). The pedal is a tad bit heavier than stock, but no where near as heavy as it could be for the amount of power it holds. This could also be due to the fact that I have a larger master cylinder than stock and it takes a bit more foot pressure to move the piston. The wilwood master cylinder extends the oem slave smooth and effortlessly. The hardline to 8" braided line is not spongy at all. It hasn't seen over 2k rpms yet, maybe one time to about 2500 because the rpms get up so fast with the stock SC400 diff, but just took the whole drive slow. I will continue to update reviews as I put mileage on it.
Now about the whole adapter plate thing... I talked to Brett Collins a couple days ago. He was willing to let me exchange the adapter that I have. But that would require me to remove the trans again, and I'm not doing that. So, he was also willing to give me a discounted rate on a new one to set in the corner somewhere for the next time that I have to service my trans. So, in all fairness to him, he is doing whatever he can to try and remedy the issue. Short of just giving me a new one for free, then me sending the old one back once I remove it. That's what I wanted to do, but that might take a couple years before I have to drop this trans again (hopefully never ha). So, I am going to drive it like this, and see how much this offset really bothers me, then make a decision on buying another one or not.
To anyone out there that has been contemplating a manual swap. Do it! It enhances the driving experience 5 fold. And that was only for my quick 5 minute drive to the car wash because my inspection is up so have to be careful. Also, it could just be that I'm happy that the project is finally just about done, except for some little clean up stuff. I can't wait until this clutch is all broken in
About my design, dimensional it's not too different than stock. Shouldn't end up sitting any lower than stock. Once I get it made, should be able to tell better if it'll work.
I can't find my damn protractor. Anyone have any idea at what degree that pin hole is at? Looks like maybe 30* my eyeballing it. Gunna have to buy a new protractor, but I'll be out of town for a few days now.
Thanks man! My shifter is mounted so sorry I can't help you out with that hole location. But I would say its actually probably more like 60-65 degrees (if where the plastic shifter bushing sits is at 0)
Here is the best pic that I have of it. I have a bolt through the hole, and you see the bolt head:
yeah, i was thinking of it as 0* being at the top. So 30* to the right. I might just take a guess, throw it at 30*, and when it's 3D printed I'll be able to see and change it as need be.
Just wanted to pop in and thank you for making such a detailed and informative thread. Also glad that your first outing with the new trans went well. Will most certainly be referencing this guide when I'm eventually ready to do the swap myself.
Also forgot to mention that you should look into the SerialNine shifter. It's a company based out of Canada that puts out top quality stuff. It's not quite out yet, but should be in the near future. Believe the price point is around ~$350 maybe more. I think it'll be the best one on the market when it's done.
Hey no problem man, and thanks for tuning in! We are aware of SerialNine, and if they had a released product, I may have went that route. But $350 is hard to cough up for a shifter. In case you aren't aware, CBF Performance does almost the same exact thing as SerialNine (and comparatively priced), and then there is also Brett Fenning who does a modified 240sx shifter version for about $200.
Nice Keith ... looks like things are working out good for you on that swap .
I might have missed it .. as of today , without counting or putting a dollar figure on all the time , work done and aggravation , how much did it cost you for the whole swap ? That will help people have a ball park figure if they want to do the swap with the same goals torque wise.
So I've been gone for a while. Got he new cd009 in and it's pretty noisy, gonna chalk it up to them
Just being loud. Got the wisefab stuff on and ripping. Need to get on the alignment rack and get everything dialed in. I'll post up some pictures later.
05-20-16, 08:29 PM
, how much did it cost you for the whole swap ? That will help people have a ball park figure if they want to do the swap with the same goals torque wise.
