The last three weeks have been a bit of a blur in all facets of my life- work, car projects, and family life. We have been taking turns trading sicknesses, and my oldest daughter has been dealing with walking pneumonia for more than two weeks. Schedules have shifted and changed more times than I can count, but I think we are finally moving in the right direction. Fall weather has arrived, with cold frosty mornings in the mid 30s this week and a lot of really nice looking colors on the trees. The smell of the fall season in the air is a reminder that it’s time to button up this manual swap on the 180SX and try to get a test drive in before the car gets parked for the season.

After my last post, I had a couple more successful nights in the garage while Alicia was out of town. After the pedals and clutch master were installed, I turned my attention to removing the automatic transmission components. I started with something easy and satisfying – converting the shifter bezel over to a manual configuration. I kept the manual shift boot from my coupe since I barely used it and installed that so the trim would be ready once the manual shifter was in place.

Next, I removed the automatic gear selector from the interior. With that out of the way, I started removing everything I needed out of the way to get the automatic transmission itself out of the car. As the exhaust was in the way, I removed everything from the turbo back. I held onto my Powered by Max Cobra downpipe from my coupe build and my DMAX catback from my hatch. I would love to get a cool Japanese O2 housing and downpipe, but there’s no substitute for the Cobra if you want to have your car low. All the dragging and scraping will eventually blow out your gaskets, so I’ve learned that this really is the way to go. I may buy a brand new catback this winter, but the DMAX is a classic that looks and sounds great – not to mention the fact that I already have it. It will get the job done for now.

I was surprised how many things I had to remove from the engine bay to be able to even come close to the transmission bellhousing bolts. I had only replaced a transmission with the engine in the car one other time on an S13, and I was about thirteen years younger to boot. It took me a lot of trial and error to be able to get to the top bolts, as well as a few trips to Harbor Freight – but with the engine mounts loosened, the engine tipped back, and no less than seven or eight ratchet extensions, I was finally able to break them loose. Once the torque converter was removed as well, I finally dropped the massive auto trans out and celebrated victory.

There was a point during the process during that weekend that I wanted to pull the engine, respray the car completely, and essentially rebuild everything on the engine. I was so frustrated with trying to get to the bell housing bolts and wondered if simply doing all of this work once was the way to go. However, I knew that this simply wasn’t realistic from a financial standpoint – not to mention the downtime that would bring with it. As much as I hate doing the same work repeatedly, sometimes it is best to keep the scope creep in check and just deal with the additional repetitive labor in the interest of keeping the car functional. It’s tough to talk yourself out of it, but its usually the smartest course of action if you can restrain yourself.

After taking a night or two off, I got back under the car and removed the automatic flywheel. To my surprise, the bolts broke loose easily. The next task on the list was one I had feared for a while: replacing the automatic pilot bushing with a manual one. I had never encountered this project before as I have always swapped a complete manual SR20DET engine and transmission setup into all of my cars. After Kev told me about the bread trick, I decided to give it a shot despite my skepticism. After trying this for multiple days to no avail, as well as breaking a cheap slide hammer/puller kit from Harbor Freight, I finally caved and purchased the $70 bearing puller kit they had for sale on day three of trying to remove this stubborn bushing.

I made some relief cuts in the bushing with a dremel after the more expensive slide hammer kit was still failing to remove the bushing. In the end, I tapped on the bearing remover with a dead blow in four directions – up, down, left, and right. I gave the slide hammer two good hits after that and the bushing finally flew out of the engine! This has to be one of the most frustrating tasks I have ever been faced with when working on an S13, but the relief I felt when it was finally removed made it all worth it. Once the auto bushing was out of the way, the manual one tapped into the crankshaft with ease.

With that tedious task out of the way, it was finally time to move onto the fun part- installing new parts! I started by installing the OEM clutch line and dampener assembly that I sourced from Japan. It was so nice to bolt everything into place without any headaches. I definitely recommend trying to source the correct OEM components from a manual transmission car if you plan to tackle this project. There are of course generic braided clutch lines out there, but I love having everything fit the way Nissan intended.

On Staurday morning, my good buddy Nick came over to try to help me install the manual transmission. I hadn’t lifted one of these into place on my own in over ten years, so I wanted to have some help with the process. I started by tackling the install of the NISMO Super Coppermix Twin Disc clutch kit that I bought before the car had even landed in the states. I have always wanted to own a cool clutch like this, so I was pretty stoked to finally make it happen. The first step was to install the flywheel portion with the provided flywheel bolts. One other note for anyone tackling this swap – the dust shield between the engine and the transmission is the same for both automatic and manual SR20DET setups. I had purchased a dust shield only to find that it was identical to my automatic one. One less part you need for the conversion!

I also installed the NISMO pivot ball, release bearing, and provide sleeve on the transmission with a fresh clutch fork and clips. Nick brought an S13 manual speed sensor with him for me as I did not have one, but more on that later – I ended up discovering that the 97-98 manual 180SX uses the same speed sensor as the S14 (and as a result, I ended up not needing the one I bought from him as my manual transmission was sourced from an S14 SR20DET.

Things didn’t go as planned on Saturday. After installing the clutch and lifting the transmission into place, Nick and I were not able to get the transmission to connect to the engine properly. In the end, I ended up removing the clutch and reinstalling it several times before I got the discs to sit correctly and the alignment tool to work. Once Nick had left, I finished reinstalling the clutch for the seventh or eighth time and wrestled the transmission into place by myself. While the engine and trans were closer together, I still couldn’t get them to seat properly. I wasn’t able to rotate the transmission enough for the bolt holes to line up, and could hear something hitting the bellhousing.

Kevin, Shane from Bosstown, and a couple other people told me to check to see if there were two dowel pins present in the same location. When I had initially checked, there were not. I decided to sleep on it and take a day off. I went into the garage on my lunch break on Monday with fresh eyes and a rested brain and immediately noticed there were in fact two dowel pins at the top of the engine and transmission bell housing that were contacting each other preventing the trans from spinning. I pulled the transmission once again, removed the dowel pin, and wrestled it into place again by myself. This time, everything lined up perfectly! Thank goodness. I was so excited to finally have the manual trans in place.

From here, I was essentially off to the races – aside from a lack of free time and energy during the week. However, I still managed to make a little progress each night. I bolted up the transmission with a fresh set of bolts I purchased on eBay as I read that the automatic starter bolts are too short for the manual trans. I installed a NISMO transmission mount along with a manual crossmember to get the trans fully bolted into place. I also installed the NISMO clutch line, which ironically deleted most of the OEM clutch line piping I sourced for the swap – but that’s OK.

On the interior side, I installed the NISMO quick shifter assembly I put together a few months back with fresh rubber boots and a new retainer. I highly recommend spending the cash for a new one of these vs using an old, rusty one. I didn’t expect it to be so satisfying! With everything in place, I was able to reinstall the interior panels, seats, center console, and shifter trim with manual boot in place.

My first look at my 180SX as a manual car was very satisfying. I was hesitant to tear the car apart, but I am so happy with the level of quality I have achieved with the install. It definitely feels factory and doesn’t feel like I hacked the car up at all. I originally intended for this blog post to end here and be shared last Friday, but I didn’t have the chance to get it completely buttoned up… so forward it shall continue!

I spent the entire morning and just about all of the afternoon last Saturday finishing everything for the manual swap. I installed the ABS driveshaft after some confusion about which one I had was actually the correct length. I actually ended up using the front half of one and the back half of another to make a combination the car seems happy with, aside from the carrier bearing being shot. I will need to address that at some point in the not-too-distant future.

Aside from the drivehsaft snag, things went really smoothly. I bolted up the exhaust components after removing the rear tow hook for clearance. I also wired up the reverse lights and installed the Wiring Specialties loop plug to the correct plug under the fuse box (Thanks to Kev) to trick the ECU into thinking the car is always in park (so that it will start after the manual swap.)

With everything finalized, fluids filled up, and wiring neatly tucked away it was time to finally get the car back on the ground. The car initially would not crank as I did not have the WS jumper harness in the right location, but once I talked to Kev and moved it around it started right up! It was such a strange feeling to back out of the driveway in this car with a manual transmission. I was overjoyed. Huge sense of accomplishment from this project! I went down the road a couple miles to pick up some victory pizza and Mt. Dew Live Wire (of course.)

Well, as fate would have it, I ended up getting pneumonia that night. I was completely wiped out from Saturday evening until Thursday when I finally got some antibiotics. That being said, I haven’t gotten to enjoy the car much at all just yet. I did determine last night that I still have a random no-start issue despite replacing the ignition switch, and I must not have wired the reverse lights properly because those do not work. But at least the car is a manual now. I can work on picking off these small issues as I get time and continue to feel better. I’m thankful to have this relatively large task out of the way before I continue modifying the car this winter.

Thanks as always for stopping by and sharing the joy of 180SX tuning with me. I have faced some pretty annoying challenges thus far, but the wins make it all worth it. I am so grateful I got a chance to own this car and am finally able to start adding some of my own touches. Have a great weekend and stay healthy!