Light flywheel is no good for drag racing, but the stock 5-speed flywheel is 18 pounds, instead of 26-31 (forgot) for the 6-speed. A good middle between this and the 11-pound Fidanza flywheel (1st and 2nd gears are already jerky enough as it is, especially with the throttle cable).

What is interesting is that I should finish the 1/4 mile at 6200+ rpms (more like 6300-6400 because of tire use/pressure) in 4th gear, instead of 5000-5100, so I won't be wasting the 3-4 shift. I will also be going back to the original ratios like you suggested (3.285 and 1.850 for 1st and 2nd instead of the Altima 3.400 and 1.955).

Look here:

First column is what the gearing is now, and second is what it will be.

http://fatboyraceworks.com/gears/ind...raph&Compare=1

What do you think?


And for the record: The 1.8L Pulsar/Axxess/Maxima/2.4L Maxima transmission internals are all the same strength, thickness, etc. The 4.471 final drive is exactly the same size as the original 3.823 final drive, but has 76 teeth instead of 65. The individual gears are also the same size. Nissan went with the "one size fits all mentality".

The guy had a bunch of RSF50 final drives... 3.65, 3.82 (ALOT), 3.89, 4.12, 4.16 and 4.47. All of 'em if I'm not forgetting anything. Pick and choose guys, 3.89, 4.12 and 4.47 fit VLSD's, and 3.65 and 4.16 fit Open diffs.

This should be good for the 3.0L guys.

And it will make races from a roll more fun for me

 

Thread resurrection. So how difficult is it to break open the tranny and swap in a different gear? Thanks for being a pioneer, JClaw. But yeah, I think the gear data you have for the 1997+ Max is wrong. My 98 FSM has the same ratios that you listed for the 95-96.

I would like to swap in a higher 5th gear for highway cruising, and possibly change 2nd and 3rd.

 

Honestly I would not touch 2nd and 3rd. 1st and 2nd are on the same shaft so you have to change both together. The only alternative being the 3.40/1.95 1st/2nd combo, I've tried it, and while it does pull slightly harder in the individual gears, the 2nd/3rd drop off made me about 0.1 slowler despite better 60 footers.

It was wierd really, racing on street tires with stock gears, I'd often pull off a 13.80 or so with an average 2.25-ish 60-foot. With the new gearing in similar condition I'd need a 2.10 to do the same ET.

And it became even harder to get good traction on slicks. All in all it was a totally worthless experience and the stock 1-2-3-4 gear spacing is much better. The FD and 5th gear are another matter though.

5th is a good idea. I'm doing it with the FD swap. I would've done it last summer/fall, but my transmission decided that I had to blow a differencial and an axle beforehand, thus delaying this again. But I will take pictures of the guts this time.

 

10-12-14 mm ratchet, hammer, narrow punch, big flathead screwdriver and about 30 minutes to completely disasemble the transmission. I would download the FSM. The diffy is not fixed, but my fingers were too damn fat to grab the heavy SOB and I had to ask my grilfriend to help me out for that. Didn't wanna damage the final gear with a screwdriver/lever.

I would have loved to get this done last year but the car is staying parked 'till the snow clears (late March/early April).