I need some very long shifter cables (at least 3-4 inches longer than an 05 Maxima) to finish this 6 speed swap. Anyone know of any long cables that'll work, like Xterra 6 speed cables? I can't find a whole lot of information on shift cable lengths. All I know is the Sentra cables are shorter than the Max/Alt cables.

 

Search. The answer is there.

 

I have searched. I have read the entire swap thread. I have read EVERY relevant 6 speed swap thread on this website and many others, including yours. I am aware that you first tried Sentra cables then moved to longer Altima cables. Based on that, I went and bought 6 speed Altima cables after trying Maxima cables, and they are still short. I need someone to post lengths of Nissan shifter cables, a link to that info, or nothing at all.

 

If Altima Cables are too short you've messed up and you're SOL. You're going to have to recut the hole in your firewall.

Altima cables are WAY too long for the 4th gen chassis, they're routed in a complicated way in my car, they're so long that they're bunched up and I can not put my ECU back in my car and I still have length to move the shifter back out of the hole a few inches.

 

If Altima cables are too long for yours, then they should be perfect for mine because all I need is a couple of inches. I suspect that the dealer ordered the wrong cables because the part number was exactly the same for Maxima cables. I even had the guy double check and he showed 34413-8Y000 for both. Please tell me you had a different part no for your Altima cables.

 

02-03 Maximas are long also (but by like 1-2 inches)

(04-06 Maximas have conflicting reports, either they're the same as 02-03 or as long as altimas, either way long enough)

Where did you cut the hole in your firewall? I cut mine too far off and I still could have used maxima cables....

Mine is off center to the passenger side by an inch or so.

Just really it's like this.

Either you have the wrong cables, or you cut your hole way off, what I'm trying to say is that something is just plain wrong here.

I'm one of the few who didn't use Maxima cables, other people have used Sentra cables in their swap (I think they're CRAZY because I don't see how unless the hole is obviously offset to the driver side), but everyone has used any of the cables for the swap...

 

I drilled my hole above the accelerator pedal. that's why it's so off. I didn't have the hole in the firewall where the automatic cables would go. It was never drilled in from the factory. And my drill won't fit in that area so I had to bore out a hole that was near the master cylinder. I'm trying to bore out as much as I can now. Hopefully the cables will fit. All it needs is about 2 more inches of length to work.

 

0_0

God speed.

Re-read my thread, I had the same problem, I spent a very long night with my dremel under my car.

 

Ive been grinding and drilling all day. I just might be able to make this work. I'll update tomorrow.

 

Just realised I never posted pictures of my post op success.

Here's where I drilled my hole (The motor was still in the car when I did it with a dremel, I lost my pics of me dremeling it with the motor+headers in the car...)



It's actually more towards the driver side than I though.... Hrmm... It's hard to tell with the motor in the car.

There is a gap in the flame retardant material of where a AT shifter cable should go through, it's a pretty obvious HUMP of nothing along the bottom of it where something was but isn't there. I assumed that's where the AT shifter cables would have went so I just used that as my guide because I did not have a pre-punch hole in my car either.

OAN, now is a good time to use some sheet metal screws and mount the plate that SHOULD be sealing up the hole for the cables, even less road noise for me ^_^ (but I don't hear it from there it's from the hole in my chassis where a 5MT shifter assembly used to be... I really need to cover that hole up

Good luck! This is definitely one of my favorite mods to date, just a hair above coilovers because getting 40mpg and having a LSD is just the best damn feeling in the world (who knows what's my MPG gonna be like after the 3.5 though )

 

Quick update: I bored out the hole a little more and the cables now reach the shifter on the trans. However, the cable bracket doesn't quite reach its mounting point, and it is crooked. So tomorrow I plan on cutting a small rectangular piece of metal that will fit in between the bracket and the transmission, drill some holes in it, and bolt it up. It's going to look like crap but hopefully it'll work.

 

^^^ not sure you are known locally but im more than sure there is a few heads out the DMV area that would love to do a 6mt swap

 

Pictures of the dillema?

 

No, I don't go to org "events" or anything. I just come here to buy parts in the classifieds when needed. If they want to do this swap, God help them. I wish I had known that there was no hole pre-drilled. That might've been the difference maker between rebuilding a 5 speed and doing this 6 speed swap. What is so aggravating about it is that the fact that the hole might not be there is not mentioned in the swap guide. I guess I'm a fool for assuming it would be there. But I plan on posting up some more details on the swap once it's done, and solving this shifter cable problem is the last step for me (hopefully).

Original hole from factory (right across from the throttle body):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73830923@N02/6657075323/
Hole after drilling (actually I drilled it out more than this):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73830923@N02/6657080617/
Crooked shifter cable bracket (look at the center of the photo-at the top is the bracket, at the bottom is where it mounts on the transmission):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73830923@N02/6657086077/

 

I'm literally screaming NOOOOOO at my computer and my family is walking in here like there's an emergency or something

That hole is for the manual heater control if my mental image of your car is correct.... You have digital A/C I'm assuming right?

What did you do about your flywheel?

Edit:
JUST GOT IT!

NO! You neeeeed to have that bad boy mounted to the transmission properly or it can not manipulate the shifter mechanism properly for shifting.

This is what you have to do.

Take the cables off
Bolt in the cable stabilizer (as what I like to call it)
Thennn try to put the cables back on, if you can't then you need a little bit more slack for the cables!

 

The cables won't give any more slack without boring out the hole more, and I've bored out the hole as much as I can with the tools that I have.

So, I had to get creative.

Custom mount bracket:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73830923@N02/6668086463/
This bracket I made is about the size of a 3x5 index card. The holes are mostly misaligned because of my poor measuring, so it only mounts on one hole on the transmission and on one hole of the shifter cable bracket. But I can always redo it with another piece of metal. The second mounting hole on the shifter cable bracket (the hole closest to the firewall) is pointing too far up to mount on the 3x5 bracket. So I'll have to add another small piece of metal to it in order to mount it. Or I can just redo it with the proper measurements. I think that would be better.

How it looks installed:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73830923@N02/6668101753/
Ugly, like I said. But it works. I came across the problem of one of the cable ends "being too long" because of the bracket position. So I installed a Ralco Short shifter to neutralize that issue.

Ralco Short Shifter installed:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73830923@N02/6668128097/
I ran it through the gears with the engine off, and it seems to go in and stay in every gear. Now I must test drive it, once I get some fluid in the transmission and I get my air filter in the mail.

And for the flywheel, I'm using a Fidanza Maxima flywheel with one of Travis' timing rings that I bought from someone on another forum. And I do have digital A/C.

 

THIS.

either undo everything you have done already and put a rebuilt 5mt back in, or pull that nonsense and run those cables properly. that is all.

 

Well I wish the best of luck to you.

I'm saying nay, just start all over again, but the two guys replying in your thread have some pretty horrific ghetto work done to their cars so we don't have much room to talk.

 

If you would have made the hole larger, and further towards the driver side you wouldn't have that problem. You should have put the cable In the correct spot to start off with. I ran into the same problem when I did my swap. Made the hole larger towards the driver side and that took care of the problem. Put the cable on The shifter first, then on the tranny. Just my .02

 

I forgot to update this. Basically I bored the hole out a little bit more downward and it worked. I didn't use the little metal plate. Instead of using the stock threads on the trans though, I simply used a long bolt and nut combination for the two mounting points for the cable bracket. 6 gears in a 4th gen is...beautiful .


[Slight Rant]

The swap guide is kinda confusing and disorganized and doesn't contain enough info in my opinion. I've improved the guide a bit with some information from my own research and experience and with quotes from certain people on this site. It's in PDF form right now, so I will have to convert it to a really long post (or several posts). But I won't be able to do that until May or June, when I'm not so busy w/ school.

[/Slight Rant]