jake0978

I picked up my Max from my neighbor for $60. The auto transmission was out. I went to the local salvage yard. They had several Max's but all were auto. I found a Stanza RS5F50A, I thought great that's the one I need. I bought it for $200 and started parting it out. The transmission bell housing won't work. You also are not going to get your cross brace. Anyhow this is what I used off the 87 Stanza: pedals, shifter, front trans brace on fender, hyd clutch steel line, I also kept the trans for parts internals are same. I found a 1989 manual at another salvage yard 200 miles away. Left alone at 5am, pulled it and had it in the back of my pickup by 11am. $150 Parts used off the 89: trans, rear brace (I bought the rubber mount for an 87 and it matches up with fender mount of auto) shifter linkage, steel stabilizer mount for the linkage, bell housing cover. I also robbed the exhaust manifolds. IMHO running the rear head exhaust to the front and back was stupid and by 89 Nissan agreed apparently. I had to relocate the oil filter to run the 89 manifolds. I found the manual cross brace on a 87 max with a auto trans and a tow package. Find a 87 Max with a trailer hitch and I bet you it has the manual cross brace. I put new seals in everything. The input shaft seal is pressed from the inside of the transmission out so you have to split the transmission and remove all internals. Not as bad as I feared, I pulled the Stanza trans apart and put it back together first just to see if I could. I also changed my input shaft bearing as long as I was in there. I ran a Banhoff clutch off ebay $80 and a reman flywheel off amazon for $50 don't forget to shim your flywheel to account for what they ground off. Haynes book is worthless for taking apart your trans, Chilton is a little better but the best breakdown I found online for free and printed it out. You need the 518 anerobic sealant to put the trans back together and a roll pin punch set to disassemble the transmission. I hope this helps someone like me reading the forums, before I started......... I will say coming from Chevy where most all parts cross that Nissan is very different and part specific in many instances. Not all 87's even run the same dash. I think mine is a Panama floater import, simpler I like it.

jake0978

One other thing. The rear engine mount on mine and the donor cross member both had the hole in the round rubber oriented down. I ended up with 2 new different brand motor mounts for the rear motor mount and both came with that hole up. I flipped one of the new ones to match the old ones. Cut up an old mount and used it as a cup and bowl to press it out.

vernk

welcome to the small crowd of 2nd gens. yea the VG bellhousing isn't going to be in any other cars, but what you will find that you can source from other Nissans is the 20 years of VG engines, the only thing you really want to watch out for is the A-B block (early VGs) but other then that about the only thing that is different are the mounts which the block has bosses for both fwd and rwd.
So you might have a gray market car, if you do a search you might be able to find a page that will tell you, don't remember where I found it once.

seabob4

I had an auto on my new '87 SE, really didn't mind it as I had a 6-speed in my Scirocco to satisfy my "rowing through the gears" cravings. Sold her in '93 (long story, ex-wife and chit), then picked up my current SE 5-speed in '06...so 15 years of driving a 2nd gen.

Both were/are enjoyable to drive, but the 5-speed...man, she is sweet. Easily one of the best manuals I've ever driven, in both clutch action and gear changes. She had a little balkiness in chilly temps when I first got her, so changed over to Royal Purple full synth 75W-90 which cleared that up...

lowpost99

Could you post the links that you found the free information?

aw11power

just out of curiosity, is your speedo out of whack now? 2nd gens had 3.428 final drive for 5 speed and 3.429 for autos. I got the 5 speed for my 88 out of a 91 and it had a 3.650 final drive. had to move up to 205/65/15s to correct speedo. it was off quite a bit. definately has a stronger first and second gear, but higher revs on the freeway. my MPGs dont seem to suck anymore than usual lol.

lowpost99

My trans is having issues for the first 5 mins or so.... I think what Awprw described like dragging a tree and then freedom into 2nd.....I could use that teardown info you found... and what oil filter kit did you use?

jake0978

Don't use the 3 gen exhaust manifolds. You will have to relocate the oil filter and oil pressure is slow to come up at start. I'm going to braze the crack on the 2nd gens
front exhaust manifold and go back.

CMax03

iTrader: (3)

The 3rd gen uses an adapter as well...Maybe you need a washer under your oil pressure relief valve spring....