I got my brand new, straight outta the factory 5 speed tranny with the limited slip differential this weekend!!!

This was NOT built in 95-96 (bad differential side bearing days)!!! It is recently built with all the latest revised parts and such!!! Fresh from Japan!!!

Picked it up off of everythingnissan for $1500 (the local dealer list is $2800)!!

It will be great to get that gutless open diff. auto outta there!!! I cant wait to install it!!!

that's a beautiful thing...doing the install yourself?

Wow. Doing the conversion yourself? Have there been any other I30s to do a 5-speed swap yet? (I know Max guys have done it for awhile, just curious as to whether you'll have the first I30 body that's been swapped - that we know of)

Yup... doin it myself. I have been collecting parts here and there, but this was the key part of the conversion. I also plan on doing light weight flywheel (probably Fidanza), new OEM clutch, rebuilt CV axles from carquest (or some place like that) and a short throw shifter while I am at it!! Even though it will cost twice as much, I decided that since I am gonna do it, might as well do it right!!

As far as I can tell I will be the first I30 to do this!!

noooo dont get the OEM clutch!! get something sick! just save some more money... ack I wish I was in your shoes right now.
Good luck!

Man, that is sweet! When it comes to mods, this is the kind of thing I respect. It takes a lot more dedication, time, and effort to do this kind of thing than it does to slap goofy-looking neons and the end result will be so much more impressive.

Good job! Take pics during the swap so we can all witness the transformation.

Sweet, I've wanted to do the swap since I got my car but the $$ ain't quite right for it. Ohh well, Good Luck, i kno it'll be worth it. Take plenty of pics for those of us who still have the dream.

Sweet! Very nice. I had no idea you could get a brand new LSD tranny for $1500. when I rebuilt mine I did not even look into a new one from Nissan because I thought it would have been at least twice that expnesive. If you don't mind spending the money that is the way to go.

The only thing I would be worried about is the differential bearings. I know you said it was not built in 95/96 and had revised parts but I still think the bearings might be an issue down the road. For one, Nissan has never admitted a bearing problem and I know for a fact that even 2K+ maxima's are starting to have bearing issues. Not trying to alarm you but I would no assume that the shim problem has been fixed unless Nissan stated that....but then they would be admitting a problem with the thousands of other tranny's they made. Either way you would not see any problems for at least 60K-70K miles or more.

I commend you on doing the swap your self. You get major props from me.

I know you had said you might go boost in the future, if so consider going with a different clutch and pressure plate than stock. Don't want to have to do the clutch twice.

Congrats

Sounds like fun man!

Ive wanted to do this for a while, so take lots of pics for me if you can

Man, I need a job NOW!

First I would like to say thanks for all the supportive comments from all you guys! I plan on taking many many pics and posting them so this thig will be well documented!

About the diff bearings, deep down I do have some concern that the problem could pop up. However I have pulled this same tranny twice on my buddys 96 and so if the problem does occur I will pull it and have the bearings replaced for about $600. I know that it is a pita but it will be worth it for the manual shift!

As far as a clutch goes I really do not know what to get so I was planning on the OEM. But you are right, since I plan on doing boost after I complete the swap I should go with a different clutch. The second time I helped my buddy pull the tranny from his 96 was to replace his fried clutch. It was a SPEC stage 3 and he only got about 10k out of it before it blew!! The release bearing was all mangled to hell and the disc fucced up his stillen flywheel to the point that it was unusable!! I took some pics, I think I will post them in a seperate thread. I thought that spec was a quality brand but now I just do not know who to trust after that fiasco! Any recommendations?

Clutchnet.com The #10 clutch is what I just got

Nice. I am on my way to convert my 00 I30T to 5speed Still collecting parts though. Keep us posted how this goes.

And who do you like it so far? I dont want anything that is too grabby, I would like to keep a relatively smooth shift.

I ordered excedy caz I have heard that ACT grabs a lil too hard and thus messes up our delicate trannys.

It is not on the car yet so I don't know. It is supposed to be their most streetable disk that holds the most power 400ft lbs at the flywheel. But it is full sprung disk, not a the 6 puck that most guys use from there. I will let you know how the driveability is and how it holds the power.

Thanks for the input guys!

damn that thing is pretty

I know, all clean and shiny. I just have to get my a$$ in gear so I can have all the other parts by spring!

man i wanna do a swap so badd

I have an oem nissan clutch for sale, brand new

Lucky bastard. My bearings recently failed on my 68k mile 97 tranny.
And $1500 for a brand new LSD tranny is rediculously cheap... considering they want $3500+ for a new shortblock.

Enjoy the "transaccel"

Thanks, but since I am going to be supercharging, I think I will need something different.

Oh I will ! Sorry to hear about the bearings. Somebody should start a class action lawsuit against Nissan . Every 95-99 5MT Maxima/I30 owner gets a check for $1500 .

I sure wish I had done what you did when my tranny went out....that thing is so pretty. Best of luck with the swap.

Nice all you need is the 5speed conversion parts

Ahh yes and thanks to you, that will soon be taken care of. Thanks again Zack!

everythingnissan rocks.

is the tranny code stamped on the tranny anywhere?

Actually it is not. And it does not use the typical "RS5F50V" code for the VLSD 5spd. Instead it came with a sticker "320B0-40U77" on it which matches a sticker on the outside of the box, which matches the part number on the invoice.

I called Infiniti of Scottsdale (everythingnissan) and asked them what the part number was for a 97 I30 VLSD 5spd and the number they told me matched the one on my invoice so I should have the LSD. They also said that the LSD has a unique "hump" on the differntial area...

I guess they could be lying to me and I have no absolute way of checking to see if it has the LSD with out cracking the case open, but I dont really want to do that... I have been thinking about taking two 5spd VLSD CV axles and seeing if they if in since the VLSD takes specific ones...

well what i am going to do is when it gets warm and i have my I30T up on jack stands i am going to spin one wheel and the opposite wheel should spin in the same direction. that is how the FSM outlines checking the Viscous coupling feature.

That is what mine says as well... however if the other wheel spins the opposite direction, the viscous coupling is not working properly...