Hey there, was wondering if anyone has tried it or can tell whether its possible...my zed is auto at the moment and I wish to keep it auto however 4 speed does seem like its lacking a bit. Was wondering is it possible to still keep auto but have it as a 5/6 speed auto? would I need to buy completely different gearbox and try put it in or could i modify current one?
A shift kit and high stall converter will sort you out if you think its lacking something. it would be a waste of time and money trying to fit something else
You would spend WAAAAAAY more on the gearbox to do that as apposed to improving the performance of your Z. What about doing some suttle mods to pick up its performance a little.
Should you get a gearbox that fits, physically (with adaptor) there is also the issue with the ECU. Your Z32, unless its a '97+ (not 100% on year) will work on an 8-bit system. Any 5 or 6-speed auto gearbox you get will have a corresponding 16-bit transmission ECU, which will no doubt have to interface with your engine ECU, possibly your cluster even = wont work Ascertain as to whether or not your donor vehicle transmission ecu is completely stand-alone first... THEN investigate the shift patterns and comparative differential ratios between it and your 300zx. THEN, there is the abundance of wiring you will have to manufacture (or pay an auto-electrician a minimum of $90/hr to do for you) for your adaptor loom. ....... just fit a manual if you want a 5-speed
No way can a 4 speed be re modded to 5! You will need to totally re engineer the entire box! You could by a gtr or two for that venture.... Only if.... The box has a brother that is a 5 speed is it possible. Being the brother is the same case but with 5 ratios instead of 4, and ours is 4... But still just buy that one and stick it in.... The torque converter in our autos and like most modern ones has "lock up", this locks up the torque converter to you crank giving a 1 to 1 ratio. This acts like your 5th gear, so it technically already is 5 speed. Buy a SAW kit (shift at will) its what I will get one day when money permits. Gives you flappy paddles
If you crank the boost up too high such as 15+lb with a std auto box it will slip and result in power loss at the wheels. Boosting should also be accompanied with a valve body mod for an Auto box to handle the extra kwsps. When I had mine @ 15lb at times I thought the box was stuffed. Took it to the AUTO trans shop thanks to a rear main and asked for the bands to be tightened. Word came back my box is perfect. So valve body mod had to be done. Top mod So keep it in mind when the rear main seal goes. Good time to do the valve body mod on your auto box. Peter
At the end of the day, there is nothing you cannot do. You can adapt any transmission to any engine either by direct boltup (usually in ur dreams), adapter plate-converter spacer method, cut and shut the bellhousing bolt-up section or even substitute a bellhousing with a fabricated job which is not as difficult as it sounds to fabricate! As far as making it shift, you either graft into the car the later ecu and electronics from the donor car or convert the box to a SAW setup (if available). The possibilities are only limited by your imagination but WILL be limited by your wallet. ANY kind of one-off custom jobbing work is subject to $100/hour and you might eat up several hours just measuring up/comparing BEFORE anything is actually cut out/welded/machined or grown in the ground from imported Brazillian stock planted in the Upper Khazikstan steppes............. Its as simple as that and adapting say, a 370z 6 speeder slush-box (are they a 6 speeder...? i just pulled tho out of my arse) might cost more than just buying the entire 370 itself!!!!! Pay your money and take your choice. E
no where the expense this guy is thinking if tho lol its cheaper than all of the above and in half an hour youll be having more fun solved
Not neccesarily. You can get stand-alone transmission control units which operate outside of the factory ecu which rely on their own inputs. You can then run whatever box you want. 6speeds from the falcons are pretty cheap now from a wrecker, and with a bit of fabbing could get it to work....just saying.
Only problem with the 6 speed Falcon Box is whether it will fit in the tunnel with out using a sledge hammer.
Fitting a Ford auto will have all sorts of potential electrical issues. Using the ford speed sensor and modifying for the z32 speedo to work with..... and what signal speed input signal the falcon auto ecu then requires (is it a converted output from the falcon speedo?). Then comes the potential dramas of cluster interfacing to get the Ford Tiptronic shift to work as well. If so, are you going to j-box the ford speedo behind your nissan cluster and split the signal inputs to both speedos to satisfy your Nissan ECU (calibrated signal prior) and Ford Auto ecu input requirements, or attempt the impossible task of retrofitting a Ford cluster into a z32. If you get the ford gearbox to physically fit, you've then got to adapt the shifter to mount to the Nissan tunnel, within the console surround. Just a few things to consider..... can pretty quickly turn into a giant headphark.
Just out of curiosity....did you read my post or just 2 words of it? Standalone controllers will handle all the inputs, outputs from the controller for speed sensor is calibrated for individual scenarios. I'm not advocating it, just saying it's not nearly as big a head fuk as your trying to make it out to be. Also, the 6-speed from the ford was just an example that sprung to mind. There are smaller and better boxes out there, but probably not nearly cheap.
I'm liking your line of thought there Andy, but just for a moment ignoring the fitment and control issues - I'm wondering how many later model and 'better' autos are out there that will be as hard to break as our Jatcos after we mod the heavy old darlings, then turn up the boost a fair bit? ( serious question, not adding fuel )
Conventional auto's only before you get to excited. DSG and other auto-clutch boxes require more than the TCU can cope with.
What bit is lacking ??? .. and what makes you think adding a gear or two would fix the lackingness ????
I have a powerglide at home, got pretty close to adapting a Z32 TT bellhousing to it too (very similar bellhousings), but it has 2 forward gears - low and high, thats all! :rofl:
