Manaray

The best way to do it would be to most like just buy the '98 SC300 tranny from junkyard...

siniquezu

Here's a picture of the interior of the car on ebay that swapped out the tranny:

As you can see, he also changed the steering wheel.

Lex Luthor

You know, I was pretty sure no one in their right mind had attemted this conversion, and i'm glad you posted that pic so that I can smile to myself... That car is a 98+, and it's probably an abortion, because it's got the older steering wheel on it, what you call changing the steering wheel is just an older wheel with an L emblem stuck onto it. The instrument cluster is 98+, and if you'll notice, here's one most ppl miss, the airbag is different on the later models, the cover splits in the middle and fires upwards, and the one in the pic has it. Here's the last clue, no perforated leather and the radio has no ASL button, which were both only in '99 and 2K, so the car in the picture is a 1998. Let me give you good advice, don't try to do this, you'll ruin a perfectly good car, if it bothers you that much, save up and get a newer model, and enjoy the many other upgrades they made to these cars in the last couple of years. Manny, no-go on swapping the trans, it is programmed to shift differently, not in the valve body (which would allow the swap of course), but in the electronics. Again, i'm sure with enough blood, sweat, and cheese it could be done, but why?

- LL

siniquezu

Strange. The guy said he did the whole retrofit on the air bag, the tranny, the body, and the trunk (has a remote). Why he would advertise that it is a LOWER year model is beyond me. As for the steering wheel, I don't know which emblem would fit perfectly on the steering wheel cover.

808state

the 97 sc4 got the split air bag like in the picture.

Lex Luthor

So you're telling me he retrofitted the newer style multifunction keyless entry and security too? I guess it's possible, but who would retrofit allll of that into an older car, it would be more money and labour than buying a newer one. Just sounds fishy to me is all, i'm not calling him a liar, but something is up. Changing the instrument cluster to the newer style isn't exactly something i'd recommend either....

siniquezu

I wish the auction was still up so I could show it.

aliga

iTrader: (147)

I remember it as well. I found the ebay link and posted it here, breaking forum rules and regulations.

Anyway it was a pre 98 sc, that was updated with new dash, shifter, tranny, cluster, etc.

lex400sc

From the picture, the seat leather cries of early model SC, which is why I believe it. Lex I think you have to swap out the gauge cluster when you change the shifter.

Anthracite SC

I had a taiwanese performance auto shop last year in San Francisco take a look into doing first the transmission conversion which then ended up being a proposal to do the entire 98 engine conversion.

Firstly, the tranmission does require to have the shifter, tranny-ecu and guage cluster all transplanted from the car. (lex400sc...u were right on that).

Secondly, the guys I knew do a lot of engine transplants and even THEY were not enthused about this project.
They said it would be about 1 week plus of labor, and the cost would be around 3500-5000.

The main mechanic suggested that adding the newer engine would be a smoother transition then trying to custom fit this tranny to the older engine. I could see that point. This would be two weeks of labor.

I stopped on the project because the labor and cost of the project was heading into the 7K range ..EASILY.

So the point raised earlier in this thread is that it is better to save money and get a newer model and save the trouble.

As long as I have this 93..I'll keep it as a 93. If u want the 98 look, speed, shifter, bodypanels..etc...u should get a 98 and save yourself the trouble.

Well said earlier in the posts.


p.s. Also regarding whether that car is a hoax. It's most likely it is. The seats didn't get perforated leather until 99. The 98s still had the leather of the older SCs and also the 97-98s had the older steering wheel too. I think he just added the chrome emblem. It wasn't until the 99 models that the 3spoke wheels came into play. Also trying to make the new dash w/the airbags and the new steering wheel and tranny conversion would be astronomical in price. I asked my mechanic about that today and he said it would be well over 5k(and he's on the CHEAP end of things).

Lex Luthor

Exactly, Anthracite. Believe me, it's no easy task, better off saving and getting a newer one. And the leather, aside from being perforated, really is more supple on the '99 and 2K, there's even nice soft perforated lthr on the steering wheel. I don't know what that guy from e-bay did with that thing, but the amount of time and money he'd have had to spend...

Onelove

Could also be a vin swap. I've seen other cars where stolen or theft cars had the vin plates swapped from an earlier model and a "complete conversion" was performed, even though such a conversion would take months time. Seen a supra like this that was too good to be true at auction and ended up being that way.

I though about converting my 95 to a 98 body wise, but when it comes down to it, 3-4 k and parts to change the look of my 11k car, or I can go spend 18-24 and get the nicer options available on the 99-01 model and have resale value (and lower mileage), which is something very important to me. IT's great to make your 92 look and feel like a 98, but when it comes down to it, its still a 92, and blue booked as such.

skininja

Yeah I believe back when that auction was up, everyone agreed it must have been a VIN swap. Everything from the car pics/description and his really bad grammar and language had everyone guessing it was a scam.

And I wholly agree about just waiting to spend the extra money on a completely new 98+ car. I have a 93, and it looks fine. When/If the time ever comes to upgrade the thing, it will make more sense to buy a 1998-99-00 SC400 will than to putting in that extra cash to upgrade your older sc with all the fixings(Side panels, etc.)

I am noticing the later model years are really going down in price lately.