Up until today I was using the Automatic ECU and Engine Harness in my converted 5spd Maxima. Today, Nissan finally finished up installing the 5spd ECU/Harness that Cbr2 got to me from our donor car. Needless to say I was surprised!

First off, getting these two things installed fixed my cruise control control, my CEL, my reverse lights, and stopped my car from throwing codes. My car is now just like a bonafide 100% stock 5spd from the factory and it feels great!

Here are the distinct differences I noticed in exhaust note/tone with the new 5spd ECU/Harness vs. the Auto ECU/Harness:

1)With my old auto ECU/Harness, as I would come to a complete stop at a stoplight (car out of gear in nuetral) my car would stay revved to around 1600rpms several seconds after I stopped. I would always give her a little revv, and they would rise to about that, lag there for a bit, then drop back down. With my new 5spd ECU/Harness, when I come to a stop the revvs immediently depress to idle speed. When I am stopped and give it a little revv, they shoot up and immediently shoot back down. Finally, true manual control of my car. Cool!

2)With the old setup, as I would let off the gas @ around 35-45mph while engaged in 5th gear, my car would burble and get really quite as it would sink below 2k RPMs. With the new setup I notice a much more pronounced, deeper/louder burble and the RPMs sinking faster.

3)Since the RPMs seem to revv and drop faster, whenever I shift, the exhaust note becomes deeper as I engage into the next gear. I think this is becuase they (RPMs) fall faster and I am engaging at a lower RPM range.

4)I'm still not too sure on this one. When I first pulled out of the Nissan dealership, I shifted into second @ around 4000rpms briskly. I noticed a more pronounced jerk going into second. At first I thought it was just me letting off the clutch to fast, but then it happened again. I think the new ECU is less forgiving then the auto requiring you to be more n'sync with the releasing of the clutch and the revvs/mph. Maybe it's just in my head but it seems the shifts are less forgiving now.


I have had my dual exhaust setup with 3 different setups now: Full Automatic, Converted 5spd w/Auto ECU/Harness, and now a 100% real 5spd. I am positive about the first 3. I am happy with the change becuase my exhaust sounds a little meaner at certain area's in my driving. I will have to test out #4 more though, but I think my statement holds true.

 

What exactly is replaced when you replace the harness? Surely not the entire wiring harness for the engine? How much did it cost?

Thanks!

 

Some of the jerkiness may just be the self adjusting clutch. 99% of the time, I drive totally smooth. But a combination of a heavily worn clutch and an automatically adjusting clutch sometimes throws me off. But, eventually the smoothness returns. I can't wait to get my ACT in.

 

The harness is basically a flimsy 3ft. pole wrapped in electrical tape with tons of wires and plugs dangling off of it. It hooks up to a bunch of plugs for various power things and ECU controls and what not. It's like the Central Nervous System of our cars, and the ECU the brain. This is the main harness (not sure if theres even more then one), and it basically plugs into everything. You gotta rip apart the dash to get to it. I got the parts extremely cheap from Chaz, and Labor was $800 for everything. This would take an experienced car guy 12 hours to complete with good tools, it took Nissan a day and a half of pure labor.

Sin, I think your right. Today It was fine and the shifts were easy enough just like before. I hadn't driven the car in a couple days after I picked it up and I was probubly just a LITTLE rusty.

 

The self adjusting clutch can be a PITA sometimes eh?

 

why is your exhaust "burbly" and why does it "burble". The point of dual exhaust on a v6 or bigger is to sound aggressive and deep.. you sound like you have a civic exhaust, you should think about throwing a high flow resonator to make the sound better.. i'd hate to hear you back off the throttle in 2nd gear around 40mph.. ::weedwacker::

 

It's all in your head.

 

2 words: shift points
at neutral idle my guess is they sound the same.

 

Heck yea!

Kevin-Gee

Sadler Huh? Civics don't burble, they fart. Have you ever heard a 5.7L OHV camaro with flow's? They burble like mad when de-accelerating. I have been thinking of a resonator, but i'm on the verge of selling it anyways for a Cobra so I'm not gonna invest more right now. At certain points it sounds great but also ricey at certain points...it's unavoidable. For example, when I'm cruisin' on the highway @ 70mph, the RPMs are at about 3,000, and when I mash the gas it emits a very ricey tone. Nothing like a 4-banger, but ricey in my book!

 

Yup.