hehe heres an update

dropped the 6speed trans, compared the AT Flex plate reluctor to the manual trans reluctor. Teeth are the same, but the AT one is slightly smaller in diameter.

Weird thing is when we crank the car, it sparks initially, car ALMOST starts, and then no spark anymore. Will be giving up in another week or so. I have over 40 man hours invested in this car....ugh


Car is a 02 Maxima. Convert from auto-6speed. there is fuel but no spark. any suggestions?

 

I know you have been working on this a long time, but have you pulled the transmission off yet and made sure those teeth were not contacting the sensor? Do you have an FSM? Anyway to compare part#'s for the sensors and see if there is a set distance from the teeth they are supposed to be placed? Good luck, I hate when 1 little glitch holds up a whole project, took me 3 weeks to get my turbo 240sx running right, I was about 2 days away from giving up.

 

Well, as you are more than aware, there could be several things. I'll go down the short list of what immediatly comes to mind and in no particular order. Fuses? Relays? Immobilizer? Bad coils? ECU? Plugs? Is there a flywheel sensor on the car (never taken a Nissan apart but some cars have them) that could be not allowing it to spark? Cam position sensor? Crank angle sensor (again, don't know if there is one)? Tranny and engine grounded?

On a side note, I had a Honda that would do this intermidently at one time. I traced it back to the main relay under the dash. Easy fix, hard to trace. I'd just start with what is easiest to check (fuses, relays, grounding, etc.) and work your way back around.

Good luck man! I've been following your progress and am impressed!

 

anybody know anything about the possibility that it wont start if the ECU has not been switched? ie: the auto ecu is still in, but maybe it wont start unless the manual ecu is in. heard something about that somewhere.

 

I would think it would still start just. You would just have a CEL saying no contact with the transmission or something like that.

 

You may have to drop the tranny again their is a peice that attaches to the manual flywheel. The flywheel is suppose to be 2 peices. A peice with the teeth and the regular manual flywheel. The peice with the teeth has to be from a manual trans or the car wont start. I had that problem when I did a 5 speed conversion

 

thanks for everyone's suggestions. A few things.....
5speed flywheel is different from 6speed flywheel. The reluctor gear on the 5speed is removeable, the 6speed one isnt, its attached on the flywheel.

coils have 12V and ground, no signal. Fuel pump works, can hear it and smell lots off fuel also after cranking awhile. Swapped a good working crank sensor from a 6speed and still didnt work. Sensors appear to be the same, and Nissan only has 1 part number for it. I dont think its the immobilizer, ECU wasnt changed, security light doesnt stay on solid when cranking(heard thats a sign its active) initial spark when cranking so car almost starts but then doesnt, and then no more spark.
We've pulled the tranny twice to see if anything was wrong. Compared the Flex plate and manual flywheel. Seems the distance between the crank sensor and manual flywheel is greater then distance between crank sensor and AT Flex plate. Meaning the Flex plate reluctor is slightly larger in diameter compared to the manual trans reluctor. Oh yea, 6speed tranny takes alot more work to drop then a 5speed tranny.
i doubt its one of the simple things because we're way past that point already.
ive done about 8 5speed conversions for people and this 6speed pretty much as hard if not harder then all 8 combined.

 

Damn that's alot of work. Shouldn't be to much more talk about doing 6 speed swaps after you've posted how much of a PITA it is.

 

Ive just forgotten what the thing is called, but does it have an ignitor chip somewhere in line in the ignition system? Also, Have you tried swapping ECU's?

 

I was thinking about this swap very seriously and I was just going to buy a 02-03 6spd car with some extra cash and fully do the swap. All the necessary items would be transfered and then sell the original 6spd car now as an auto.

That seemed like the only way I could guarantee I had everything I needed to do the swap. I decided that it may not be that simple to just unbolt everything and bolt it back on mine and the other car so I put that thought on hold.

After hearing all this I will definitely not be making that kind of effort just to not have it crank up.

Keep us posted on if/when you finally get it running. I still think there maybe some ECU related items that aren't getting the right signal. I would pinout both ECUs based on the respective FSM's paying close attention to the transmission wiring etc, to see if there is any differences.

Good Luck.

 

When you removed the flex plate you did not install the fly wheel in the exact same location...on the 3.5L cars the fly wheel has 6 bolts if i recall and the bolt holes will line up w/ the crank any way it is installed. Howeever it must be installed a specific way, meaning each hole through the fly wheel has a specific hole in the crank it must match up to. I have seen it occure on 2 occations at work, but unfortunatly have never had to do it and do not know how it is to be positioned. Both people that ran into this had to spend about 2 days doing tests and talking back and forth w/ nissan tech support. I would think if you have access to a FSM it would tell you how to do it. I have been out of work for a while but I will see if I can get in touch w/ my buddy to find out the exact procedure as he is one of the above mentioned people.

 

mtrai760, I havent tried to swap ECUs because im 99.9% certain it wouldnt start because of the immobilizer.

AllGo, if you were gonna buy am 02-03 6speed car and swap auto-6speed and 6speed-auto. Why not juss keep the 6speed car???? weird...
anyways, i agree with you that its somehow ECU related. It doesnt make any sense to me that the car wouldnt start with a different Trans. We could throw the Manual ECU in and tow it to the dealer and have them program it but what if that really isnt the problem? I dont wanna go thru all that trouble and money and find out we're exactly at the same prob from the start.

 

My car has full suspension, illuminas/maxspeeds, with rsb, fstb, stg I&II sfc's, also headers, catback, and place racings intake. Also the stereo system with full components with Alpine/ipod setup in-dash and hours and hours of applying 250+ sqft of dynamat xtreme on all 4 door outer skins, full trunk, and under the full carpet and rear seats in the interior.

With all that time/money spent on my current Automatic and the fact that I love the GLE trim and white exterior it would be the best deal for me to just swap trannies.

I say change the ecu and make that thing run so I can finally get my 6 spd project underway!

 

im gonna be starting my swap in a month hopefully i don't run into this problem. although i already have a 6-speed ecu and different starter. manuals and autos take different starters. im taking the ecu to nissan to reflash to program my key to it for the immobilizer. i know its expensive to do but like i said im doing myself at my shop

 

Ok. I'm throwing this out as a weird possibility. What about the timing related to the coils. I know the 5th gen and the 5.5 gen is a little different. I cant quite think straight, i've been up for a very long time and drove 9 hours from Toronto. I'm sure you have the flywheel on right cause like you said it's one piece. I dont know why i'm thinking there is a mark on the flywheel for a sensor that needs to be right or you the engine wont run. This may be very vauge but i'll look at the FSM tonight later or tomorrow and let you know better what i'm talking about.

 

ah i see, makes sense you got alot of time invested in that car, and you cant pull out the dynamat and reuse. BUT....its alot of work to convert a car to 6speed, and its even HARDER to convert a manual to auto. Its prolly not worth it.

 

ok get back to me on this if you have an idea.

If its ok with the customer. I might tow the car to dealer and have them program the immobilizer thing, but i wouldnt guarantee that will fix the problem. ugh i dunno what to do.

 

After 3 1/2 years with my 02 six speed.......... I realized I should have got an auto.

 

Hey matthel, give Andy a call. I believe he said he has a theory on how to help

 

In addition, give Jeff a call at Maximum Tuning (516)676-8470

He actually did this on his 4th gen and has it working 100%.

Mike

 

have you checked to see if any codes have been stored? Any pending codes?

 

There is a dowel pin on the end of the crank and a corresponding hole in the flywheel so I do not see how you could align the two incorrctly.

When I did my VQ35 swap, my engine came from an 02 auto. I cut the timing ring off an 04 6-speed flywheel and welded it to an adapter ring that I bolted to my 5-speed flywheel (4th gen) The engine started and ran fine on the first crank.

We really do not know what the ecus internal logic dictates for the non-existant TCM. If you have eliminated all the obvious possibilities, I would go the 6-speed ecu route.

 

car was towed to dealer, key was programmed for 6speed ECU, car still doesnt start.

 

damn matthel....hoopers car is giving you a hard *** time

 

man i give you props just for trying, and i just hope you can get it to start it. so many people were asking about this before, and someone is actually doing it.

 

Hey...
maybe you forgot to splice the PARK/NEUTRAL wires of an automatic into the NEUTRAL SAFETY CLUTCH PEDAL WIRE... It won't start because it thinks its in gear.... in anycase i want to be kept informed..

 

I believe he has had it turn over and get spark and fuel and almost fire off, so this theory would be incorrect. If the nuetral safety switch is disconnected and or faulty then turning the key will yield no starter activity.

His issue is much more complex and is more likely ecu specific programming or timing and or crank/cam sensor signal related.

 

Yo any updates on this?????/

 

yea. car doesnt run

 

Thats not really an update.....What has the dealer said? Have they had any luck?

 

Does anybody have a list of all the parts needed to do this swap???

 

Actually the car should still start with an AT ECU... but the engine light would be on... but your are probably right... this is a much more complicated situation....

 

OT: Just want to throw this out there: why go with a 6-speed? There are no aftermarket clutches for the 6 speeds, but there are plenty for the 5 speeds.

 

Any updates on this? Where is hooper?

 

1. There ARE aftermarket 6-speed clutches.

2. The stock 6-speed clutch can handle over 350 lb-ft of torque to the wheels easily. Very stout.

 

JWT, Spec, Clutch Masters all make clutches for the 6spd