Hey guys im lookin at doin a manual conversion on my TE in the near(ish) future, and was just wonderin if someone could post up a list of what i would require so i can start lookin into it a bit further? any help would be appreciated.... and for anyone that thinks this is a waste of money, i dont care, i love my car and wanna keep it..... plus its an altera and i think they were only made in auto? so itd maybe be one of the only ones around? i dunno, just any help with required parts would be great,
cheers guys. Also advice is very welcome too, and warnings..

search it on the forums...

theres a couple of people who have successfully completed the conversion.
ASYLUM is one of the members i think... PM him about it...

well hello there.. :D

i had the same problem, i have a TH Altera LS, which were only auto's... i did mine the expensive way, by buying a lot of stuff new (new keys, ECU, engine loom) not to mention i also got a cusco LSD, stiffer engine mount, extreme clutch, short shifter.. so my bill ended up coming to about $6000 :shock:

another member on here Guru has done it a lot cheaper. since he didn't replace the ECU he didn't have to get new keys or engine loom, not sure if the Greddy he has fitted helped to get it running afterwards tho.

the list is pretty easy, basically everything you'd think that would need replacing, gear shifter, cables, clutch, flywheel, gearbox (duurrrr) pedals etc, but also make sure you get the plate between the gearbox and engine (that the starter motor bolts to) and the drivers side driveshaft (as the auto one is a couple of mm longer and will cause huge problems later!)

Ok thanks heaps for your help, i think i read in your thread that yours is a 3.5, mine being a 3.0 would it still be able to be swapped? i dont see any reason why not, just thought id ask.
umm, also, anyone in the central coast/ sydney or newcastle areas be able to direct me to any good wreckers with reasonably priced stuff, also asylum how much do you think the parts are gonna set me back if i dont have to change the ecu/bem etc.? im lookin at starting to collect parts over the next 2-3 months or so, then start the conversion obviously once ive got all the parts lined up.... also has yours given ya any trouble since you changed it over, or is it all still schmicko? by the way awesome work on your one, i wasnt around these forums when you did it, but looks sweet as.. cant wait to get mine started! yay.....
Oh and as well, sorry for all the questions, you said the clutch like attachment part was already there in yours, is there any way for me to tell if its there in mine, like is it just where the clutch pedal would be?i just wanna see if mines the same or not.... thanks very much for the help mate, its greatly appreciated.

the only trouble i've had with mine was using the wrong driveshaft, which broke my LSD, so i ended up putting the stock diff back in and all new driveshafts/cv's/bearings. other than that i've been driving it for nearly a year and no problems. oh, except i had to get my clutch cylinders re-built coz they were leaking, but thats not surprising for how long they were probably sitting in the wreckers for.

theres basically no difference if youres is a 3.0L, you can even fit a gearbox from a 3.5 to it (apparently they're stronger?) as for the clutch pedal, that was one of the things my mate did while i wasnt there, i think he said he *may* have had to drill a small hole for something but it was only minor, and the only modification we had to make.

oh, you will also need the gearbox mounts, coz the auto ones dont fit either.

if you managed to get a box for a decent price, it probably could be easily done for about $2000, finding a wrecked manual is the easiest option, and grabbing as many parts from that as possible.

have fun!!

Hmm interesting about the 3.5 gearbox, i think ill try that, should be a straight swap you say? and if its stronger thats good too, dont wanna have problems like im havin with my auto box at the moment, hah. 2000 is alot cheaper than i was expecting, thats great news, also would you mind me Pm ing you or posting up here any questions i may have along the way? youve been an enormous help so far, and you can still say yours is the only one in the world after mines done, as theyre different models, :D . Hopefully ill have all the parts i need by march or april, providing theres no difficulty finding any of em, then the fun can really begin! yay. thanks once again for your help mate.

no worries man! any questions would probably be better posted here, i could say something wrong in a PM and no-one would be able to correct me :D

i'm 99% certain that the 3.5 box will bolt straight up, i'm pretty sure thats what happened with another member who's diff blew in their manual 3.0, under warrenty they replaced it with a 3.5 one? slightly different gear ratios apparently aswell?

i'd say $2000 is about the best case scenario, dont be surprised if it gets up to the $3000/$3.5K mark. i got all my parts for the conversion for $3.5K (excluding new clutch and diff) but i wouldn't be surprised if you can find them cheaper somewhere as the wrecker i went to is notorious for being overpriced.. (well, they know the new genuine prices so they're slightly cheaper than that! not like these skyline and silvia boxes you could pick up for $500 :doubt: apparently a new 5-speed magna box is about $4000!!)

Yeah well its gonna cost me about 3K to get the auto fixed in mine, auto new boxes are like somewhere along the lines of5-6K!! thats what i was told anyway. thats shi* if you ask me, and since manual is better in my opinion, and i want one, its probly gonna work out cheaper or the same cost to do the conversion.... but yeah i could get an auto box from a wrecker near me for 440, so a manual shouldnt be much dearer.... ill give him a call anyway and find out, guess ringing around is the only thing to do really.... hopefully i can get some bargains, get it all done quicker, hehehe.. well i guess ill post up any questions i have here, and will update with progress too... thank you very much for your help, was greatly appreciated, and still will be i'd say. :D :D also any advice someone can give me on changing/not changing ecu and bem would be a good help too...

umm, also, anyone in the central coast/ sydney or newcastle areas be able to direct me to any good wreckers with reasonably priced stuff, also asylum how much do you think the parts are gonna set me back if i dont have to change the ecu/bem etc.? im lookin at starting to collect parts over the next 2-3 months or so, then start the conversion obviously once ive got all the parts lined up....

Go to the salvage auctions and look for a 3rd gen thats been smashed. but the gearbox and all that looks to be good. should get the car for a few K and have everything there. plus some odds and ends you can sell off on here/ebay when your done striping the car, sell the rest to a wreckers.

Go to the salvage auctions and look for a 3rd gen thats been smashed. but the gearbox and all that looks to be good. should get the car for a few K and have everything there. plus some odds and ends you can sell off on here/ebay when your done striping the car, sell the rest to a wreckers.


salvage auctions hey? where are these salvage auctions? im guessin in sydney somewhere? thanks for the suggestion too cos i never even thought of that.

Hey guys im lookin at doin a manual conversion on my TE in the near(ish) future, and was just wonderin if someone could post up a list of what i would require so i can start lookin into it a bit further? any help would be appreciated.... and for anyone that thinks this is a waste of money, i dont care, i love my car and wanna keep it..... plus its an altera and i think they were only made in auto? so itd maybe be one of the only ones around? i dunno, just any help with required parts would be great,
cheers guys. Also advice is very welcome too, and warnings..

Its not what you want to hear but, get a car thats manual already. Its not cost effective to change to a manual transmission.

Well, just updating progress for anyone thats interested, i went and put a deposit on the parts today, so hopefully in about 2 weeks ill be starting the conversion.. im becoming excited now haha :D

would you be able to tell me if you have to change the harness

no you dont have to change the harness but you have to bridge the inhibitor switch so the car can start

also you will have to rewire the reverse loom and also cruise control if you have it.

with the driveshaft you dont have to purchase the whole shaft but just the jack shaft (the drivers side shaft if you look at it is like a 2 peice, you need to replace the shaft that goes into the diff)

only the top gbox mount needs replacing.

you need to drill about an 1.5 inch rounded hole and two bolt holes for the clutch pedal and master cylinder to fit through. Theres actually markings on the firwall so its easy to drill out

theres some more info :)

can i ask why you had to change the jack shaft??? we didn't replace the one on the verada, hrmm should we?? it's done a bit of work since we did the conversion too

the jackshaft was a few mm shorter. also depending on what shaft you get you will have to swap the bracket as there is a "step" on the engine the bracket has to go over and if you dont get the right shaft you will need to swap it with the shaft that came out of the car

So The Jack Shaft Is Shorter On The Manual?? Or Shorter On The Auto???

the jackshaft is shorter on the auto if i can remember correctly! i just done my conversion bout 2 weeks ago! :D soooo happy with it too! If theres anyone actually interested in doin a conversion in sa prefably adelaide or somewhere close to that then i can get hold of everything needed to do the conversion pretty cheep! all second hand parts including a clutch if needed for $2000! this is just all the parts needed but if installation is needed then we can also work something out!

cheers guys

ill come down to SA and u can do mine for me :D

i cant say it would all get done in a day!
but its possible without running into any problems :badgrin:

the jackshaft is shorter on the auto if i can remember correctly!

The auto one is actually 2mm longer,

unsure if it will cause a problem but Asylum put an LSD in his gearbox and used the orignal jackshaft and it cracked it after a while (not sure how many k's), so best to change for piece of mind

You can do mine if you like over a Sat and Sun but i have to drive back to Melb.

[QUOTE=Clarion Magna]The auto one is actually 2mm longer,

oops my bad! i couldnt remember cos i didnt actually measure them b4 changing them over i just knew i had the right shaft for mine when i got all my manual parts! yeah its best to change them over for safety and piece of mind! :D

i will need a definate b4 ordering these parts so if ur really serious i might need some proof of some kind :) cheers

Well, got all the parts on wednesday and started the conversion yesterday, so its all starting to happen, hopefully will be done next week..... getting excited now. yay. :D

well, manual gearbox went in today, finishing off all the litlle things tomorrow and hopefully it should be running by then.:D its starting to look like a car again haha..

Conversion is all done and car is going as of last night.... all i can say is.. hehehehehehehehehehehehe. so good. by the way did any of you other guys have troubles with insurance not covering you? mine wont after my policy runs out they said, cos i rang em this morning.

IS YOURS MOD PLATED ??? that could be the problem if it's not

nah its not, they told me they wouldnt insure me cos the alteras werent manual from factory or somethin. doesnt matter really i'll just change my insurance company.