I go back and forth between entertaining the idea of attempting this to saying it is too much of a hassle. After just seeing what my tax return is going to be, I am right now in the maybe attempt it camp.

I'm just curious what sort of fuel economy improvements those who have done it have experienced. I know most of the improvement will come on highway miles, but also curious about the effects on city economy, better, worse, or negligible?

The whole reason for my interest in it would be for the economy gains so I'm just trying to figure out how many miles I would have to drive before the gas cost savings would be realized.

 

This has been discussed before.

 

Fuel economy??? How about you spend the money towards engine tune ups, fresh fluids, fresh tires, alignment and so on... keep the car in perfect running condition... mine has the 5 speed and I can push it as high as 30-31 mpg on the highway... If you want something that will save you on gas get a car that is not a V6 and over 200hp... Trust me, no matter what you do a Maxima is a Maxima... it will burn gas

 

Yeah, a Maxima will certainly never attain 30mpg in the city and about 36-42mpg on the highway, that's just ridiculous!! No one on this forum has even attempted such a swap anyways, a manual tranny is a manual tranny.

Oh wait a minute....

 

lmfao

 

My advise is dont do a swap. Buy a manual and sell yours.

 

LOL) really can't believe you could hit those numbers...

he states that has 5 speed, probably you didn't see that

 

Lol at the guy who said buy a manual trans car .. I think it would be a good swap but I would just keep the 5mt IMO .

 

You and I both. As far as economy goes I am already at the top of the list. In fact you are the only person other than myself I have heard to claim 30-31 highway. But my question stands, if not just to ease my curiosity, what would you or I get with a 6 speed on highway mileage. I realize your point about it being a V6 over 200hp, but that doesn't mean it's not possible to squeeze more out of it than we are already getting.



NmexMAX: As far as this having been discussed before, I have seen discussions on the 6MT with VQ35 vs 5MT with VQ30, comparisons of just the engines, and comparisons of just the transmissions, but never seen any discussion about the 6MT paired with the VQ30 in terms of economy. I apologize if that has been discussed, but searching only turns up the standard comparisons and not anything by those who have done the swap.

 

Here you go. Not exactly the info you want, but still info:

http://forums.maxima.org/all-motor/6...-6mt-swap.html

http://forums.maxima.org/all-motor/3...edure-faq.html

 

As far as I know the gear ratios on the 6 speed a completely different... there were a few people here who hate their 6 speed trany due to the fact that gears are too short... I have, on some occasions pushed my second gear to almost 75MPH at the red line limiter...
Many people explain the fact that the benefit of the 6th gear will only be if your cruising speed is above 85mph...

How do I achieve the mpg on a consistent base? I do use nothing else but Shell V Power, I fill up my gas tank once a week and check my tire pressure every time I fill up my gas tank... I do change the oil every 10K using nothing else but Mobil 1 full synthetic and Mobil 1 Extended performance oil filters... I clean the TB every time I do the oil change, I clean the PCV valve every time I do the oil change... on average of 20K per year I get the car aligned once... Easy and gentle on the TB and most of the time I shift between 2.5K and 3K... never hard on the brakes... most of the time I just cruise to the stop light... Simple little things like that save you gas... Is my maxima a gas guzzler compared to my 96 Corolla with a 1.6L 5 Speed??? Yes, but for the size of the car and comfort and power the Maxima is very Well balanced...

 

In another thread from aackshun he mentioned how 3rd gear on his 6MT swap maxxes out at 85 mph. Compare that to the original 5MT on a 4th gen which maxxes out at about 100 mph in 3rd gear.

Some people seem to say that the 6MT in the altima or sentra has better spaced ratios when compared to the 5.5 gen Maxima 6MT.

 

I mean, more gears, more money, more weight, I see no reason why some idiot would want to swap to a 6speed tranny, twice, just makes no sense... Unless the transmission was superior to the 5MT in every way imaginable....

- Oh wait.... It is.....

Can't be, I'd be shifting a lot w/ the shorter final drive.....

- Unless you skip gears ... Actually when skipping gears on a shorter final drive 6mt you shift a lot less

Well even then, I wouldn't be saving any gas mileage

- If you romp the gas pedal all the time why does it matter? Fuel eco goes up because the engine is doing less work to accelerate the vehicle in all gears.

Well fine, so I shift less and save more gas, but it can't be all that great.

- Actually it is... Did I mention the winnings of HLSD?

HLSD? I have the ultra rare VLSD in my 5MT why would I want that?

- Because it's like VLSD, but doesn't suck

Explain?

- You know how VLSD fails no matter what after a period of time?

Yeah?

- HLSD won't as long as you keep oil in the tranny

Nuh-uh

- Uh-huh

Way?

- Way dude.

Then why doesn't everyone have a 6MT?

- Because this is Maxima.org, the general pop on here is cheap and close minded, anything that cost over $100 and doesn't bolt up in under 15 mins won't work for 90% of the users here.

Sucks bro.

- I know right?

So would I really get 40mpg w/ my car if I 6mt swap it?

- No one knows for sure, but there's this guy who had a working red maxima once, and road coursed it often, he was always talking about getting redic mpg in his car, you may wanna PM him, I heard he swapped his daily to a 6MT to go w/ his DEK because he's too lazy to have a working VI w/ his DEK swap.
On second note, don't PM him, he's a bitter ******* who only trolls on the forums these days.

 

Thanks for the links Galactica! Those will come in handy if I decide to actually attempt it.

Thanks for understanding where I am coming from. I'm at 130K miles right now, so I figure I will be with this car for at least another 170K+. For the sort of economy gain you mention, that would be a huge money saver.

Using the figure of 170,000 miles and $3.60/gallon, I have calculated the amount of money that would be saved for every 2mpg gained on total fuel economy during that period. Considering over that time period gas will probably cost more than $3.60 the savings would be even greater.

Amounts are calculated from the previous economy, ie 24-26, 26-28, and so on. I figure 2mpg overall economy gain would be required to break even on the project, if I decided to undertake it.

@24mpg 7083.3 gallons
@26mpg 6538.5 gallons 544.8 gallons savings, @$3.60 $1961.28 savings
@28mpg 6071.4 gallons 467.1 gallons savings, @$3.60 $1681.56 savings
@30mpg 5666.7 gallons 404.7 gallons savings, @$3.60 $1456.92 savings
@32mpg 5312.5 gallons 354.2 gallons savings, @$3.60 $1275.12 savings
@34mpg 5000.0 gallons 312.5 gallons savings, @$3.60 $1125.00 savings

 

Depending on my circumstances in the next year, I may end up doing a 6-spd swap as well, even though I have the VLSD in mine. Otherwise I will be selling mine and upgrading to something faster...

 

mine is 6sp will do 30-31 highway easily and i love the gear ratio of mine but i live in a mountainous region with lots of hills so the short ratio may benefit me more than someone who live in a more flat area