Official N54 AT--> MT trans swap Thread.

[sammy_0559]

+1 on it not being a good idea. Too many little parts needed to make it viable without a donor car. Just put the car back to stock, sell it, and buy an MT IMHO. Sure you may lose your ass selling but just buy the new car low too.

ahh... got the car for 35k now its barely gonna bring me 20k..

and donor car at this point is that car up in jersey you bought the motor from haha. spoke to him over the phone he was like y'all worked up a deal on JB4 price off the engine lol

a local salvage yard said they should have a MT coupe soon I'm gonna what a bit and see if can just go rip things out of my car.

And VTX 3's just F ucked my new car fund lol

[WDBi]

im in the process of doing this: here is what i have and what i know you need

shifter and shift link assembly this includes the arm that mounts the shifter to the car which bolts to the trans i bought the mount from bmw and a ssk from UUC

trans

clutch and flywheel i went with a clutchmasters fx850 twin disk

master cylinder, slave cylinder, and all the lines

you also need the clutch pedal and brake assembly as well as the clutch pedal sensor

i think you need the trans mount but im going to wait until i have it up there to see if its needed

as far as driveshaft the manual driveshaft is 17mm shorter than the auto i have been thinking about using 2 driveshaft bushings with longer heavyduty bolts to compensate i believe each bushing is 15mm so itll be 2mm off which i think is noise when it comes to our flexible driveshafts

dont forget if you launch it you will break your axles to upgrade these i think us auto guys only option is to buy mt axles and have those modded

i also know that you 100% dont need to swap the ecu and that its a simple coding change

ill let you know if i find anything else needed in my swap

[sammy_0559]

im in the process of doing this: here is what i have and what i know you need

shifter and shift link assembly this includes the arm that mounts the shifter to the car which bolts to the trans i bought the mount from bmw and a ssk from UUC

trans

clutch and flywheel i went with a clutchmasters fx850 twin disk

master cylinder, slave cylinder, and all the lines

you also need the clutch pedal and brake assembly as well as the clutch pedal sensor

i think you need the trans mount but im going to wait until i have it up there to see if its needed

as far as driveshaft the manual driveshaft is 17mm shorter than the auto i have been thinking about using 2 driveshaft bushings with longer heavyduty bolts to compensate i believe each bushing is 15mm so itll be 2mm off which i think is noise when it comes to our flexible driveshafts

dont forget if you launch it you will break your axles to upgrade these i think us auto guys only option is to buy mt axles and have those modded

i also know that you 100% dont need to swap the ecu and that its a simple coding change

ill let you know if i find anything else needed in my swap

I love you... no homo.. haha

anyways upload pics of your progress.. I'm gonna start collecting parts soon. and really in no rush to do it..
i reverted my car back to stock thinking of selling it..fml... and really don't know when VTX 3s are gonna hit my door. ~ 4 more months are my guess lol

and i was planning on keeping my 3.46.... and i have an idea for my own Axle upgrades. I've snapped around 5 axles in my car before, and all broke in same spot. I'm gonna take them to local speed shop and take the boot of each side have him run a couple nice tig welds across the seems to the shaft that connect to the CV and the diff.

i think the MT driveshaft is 17mm shorter because the Diff is bigger and nose is longer on the 3.08 diffs.
so where it connects to the rubber gumbo it end product should be same length. idk.. ill find out when i actually try haha

[WDBi]

I love you... no homo.. haha

anyways upload pics of your progress.. I'm gonna start collecting parts soon. and really in no rush to do it..
i reverted my car back to stock thinking of selling it..fml... and really don't know when VTX 3s are gonna hit my door. ~ 4 more months are my guess lol

and i was planning on keeping my 3.46.... and i have an idea for my own Axle upgrades. I've snapped around 5 axles in my car before, and all broke in same spot. I'm gonna take them to local speed shop and take the boot of each side have him run a couple nice tig welds across the seems to the shaft that connect to the CV and the diff.

i think the MT driveshaft is 17mm shorter because the Diff is bigger and nose is longer on the 3.08 diffs.
so where it connects to the rubber gumbo it end product should be same length. idk.. ill find out when i actually try haha

<3 lol i am actually in the process of singling my car as well as trying to put some time into another project car so its all moving slowly but i will get pics when its all done let me know what you find you need or helps and i will do the same

as far as the drive shaft i think that the diff is the same i have the big pumpkin which is the same that came in all manual cars i think the trans itself is shorter and thats why the driveshaft is longer sorry i think i said the manual is shorter but the manual is longer which means we have to add length to our auto drive shafts to meet up with it

manual driveshaft is 1470mm auto is 1453

[rudypoochris]

The 6MT is available for less than $1500 and a good clutch / flywheel setup is $1400. How much is a built domestic trans and torque converter going to be? More than that I'm sure. Plus the 6MT literally bolts right in with no fabrication once you buy the correct parts (driveshaft, mounts, etc). I think the 6MT is a cheaper and much easier option.

That's only part of it. The other part is you're buying in to a limited aftermarket transmission coming from a limited transmission. We have no clue if the V3 is going to work with this transmission for any significant number of miles. The clutch options are few and expensive. If you're going to go through all the work to swap, you want to swap to something significantly better that you know will last. Otherwise just buy the car with the right transmission. Almost everyone who has ever done an auto to manual conversion has repeated this. Having swapped a Ford 5.0 into my Nissan I can guarantee these things are more work than they seem. Juice has to be worth the squeeze. If you just want to invent work for yourself, okay great, but otherwise just do it right.

Sorry to jack your thread, just trying to save you a headache... all the time dumped on this swap could be spent doing so many more meaningful improvements to the car.

[sammy_0559]

That's only part of it. The other part is you're buying in to a limited aftermarket transmission coming from a limited transmission. We have no clue if the V3 is going to work with this transmission for any significant number of miles. The clutch options are few and expensive. If you're going to go through all the work to swap, you want to swap to something significantly better that you know will last. Otherwise just buy the car with the right transmission. Almost everyone who has ever done an auto to manual conversion has repeated this. Having swapped a Ford 5.0 into my Nissan I can guarantee these things are more work than they seem. Juice has to be worth the squeeze. If you just want to invent work for yourself, okay great, but otherwise just do it right.

Sorry to jack your thread, just trying to save you a headache... all the time dumped on this swap could be spent doing so many more meaningful improvements to the car.

Something call the mod bug and that feeling of accomplishment after you get a task like that done, its not gonna be a headache its more like puzzle that needs to be solved. its gonna be fun car can sit on the lift as long as i want it to, don't have payments on the car, and i have another daily.. this thread will be a blueprint for others until another solution comes out, as far as meaning full upgrades i can get anything and everything done... this car has been to hell and back.. and now going back to hell lol...
haha if i blow the MT before the motor.. id be pretty surprised.

[rudypoochris]

Something call the mod bug and that feeling of accomplishment after you get a task like that done, its not gonna be a headache its more like puzzle that needs to be solved. its gonna be fun car can sit on the lift as long as i want it to, don't have payments on the car, and i have another daily.. this thread will be a blueprint for others until another solution comes out, as far as meaning full upgrades i can get anything and everything done... this car has been to hell and back.. and now going back to hell lol...
haha if i blow the MT before the motor.. id be pretty surprised.

Alright. If you want to do it for the sake of doing it, then I agree... do it.

[sammy_0559]

Alright. If you want to do it for the sake of doing it, then I agree... do it.

yeas daddy.

[The Ghost]

ahh... got the car for 35k now its barely gonna bring me 20k..

and donor car at this point is that car up in jersey you bought the motor from haha. spoke to him over the phone he was like y'all worked up a deal on JB4 price off the engine lol

a local salvage yard said they should have a MT coupe soon I'm gonna what a bit and see if can just go rip things out of my car.

And VTX 3's just F ucked my new car fund lol

That's just how it goes. When you do sell the car in the future, it'll be worth $15k. Cars are not investments.

Good luck Sammy. I would buy an '07 6MT for less than or at what you'd sell yours for to break even. Sedans are much cheaper too, especially pre-LCI.

[little1er]

Did you ever pull the trigger on this project? What's the update?

[BoostinBiscayne]

Bump for an update on this, fingers crossed that all is going well.

[sammy_0559]

Well I'm still waiting on Vargas stage3's.. I got my hands on a trans with a level 10 tq converter and vb VB pretty much as what I had before I parted the car from my customer. Im Planning on blowing up that trans and seeing what it can handle. Then turn it into a night stand. And stick a manual with a stage spec 3+ clutch in it

[Torgus]

Sam should be able to sell yours for $22-24k or more depending on the miles, least that is what 07 verts go for in the Northeast.

You can buy a N54 equipped manual for 15k if you look. I got my E90 w/ nav and manual for 16k with 70k miles a year ago. Ditch the nav and find one with more miles sub 15k should be more than possible.

7-9k in your pocket easy and no messing around with a tranny swap.

Manual swaps are a horrible waste of money. I almost did one on my last car and thank god I sold the whole swap as a full kit and never installed.

Sounds like you are going to do this anyways but I don't see how financially this makes any sense. I still don't understand how/why people buy cars with the wrong transmission in them in the 1st place but this isn't the place for that discussion.

[135pats]

Well I'm still waiting on Vargas stage3's.. I got my hands on a trans with a level 10 tq converter and vb VB pretty much as what I had before I parted the car from my customer. Im Planning on blowing up that trans and seeing what it can handle. Then turn it into a night stand. And stick a manual with a stage spec 3+ clutch in it

Labor aside, what was the ballpark price you came out to for a swap? The actual trans swap I’d imagine would be the “easy” part of it. The wiring sounds miserable.

I wouldn’t mind the down time, but it doesn’t make any sense if it’s going to be a $6-10K type project. $3-5K is a different story.

[sammy_0559]

Labor aside, what was the ballpark price you came out to for a swap? The actual trans swap I’d imagine would be the “easy” part of it. The wiring sounds miserable.

I wouldn’t mind the down time, but it doesn’t make any sense if it’s going to be a $6-10K type project. $3-5K is a different story.

$6-10k is DCT price tag with out labor LOL

but without a clutch upgrade it ran me right at $2k parts and pedals and all. i got the wiring down, should be easy. i hope. lol but im not worried about the swap...the coding for it is a joke. just cant wait to Rape my AT trans again
but im tempted build the bottom end on my car before vargas.. but kinda wanna see what stock can produce first.

[135pats]

$6-10k is DCT price tag with out labor LOL

but without a clutch upgrade it ran me right at $2k parts and pedals and all. i got the wiring down, should be easy. i hope. lol but im not worried about the swap...the coding for it is a joke. just cant wait to Rape my AT trans again
but im tempted build the bottom end on my car before vargas.. but kinda wanna see what stock can produce first.

You should blow up the motor for science, build it and go for four digits, then do a 6MT swap and sell me the LVL10 VB

[sammy_0559]

You should blow up the motor for science, build it and go for four digits, then do a 6MT swap and sell me the LVL10 VB

An oops happened with that vb lol I'm sure it still works. But tricky when installing sleeve. Long story short I slipped on oil while trying to strap trans to hoist ...plug was still in vb trans came crashing down on my fore arm. Ripped sleeve out of vb. gonna test next week when I install it. In my car along with a bunch of goodies. If its toast I going MT lol my fore arm has nerve damage btw lol