N/A Auto 93 MKIV to 6 Speed 350z - TT BPU

[Rowlze]

For some reason I can't post in "Supra Projects" page. So apologies in advance.

 

I brought this 93 Supra in January 2017. She was in a pretty bad state. She had sat next to the river Medway for 7 years and had moss growing all over the underside. The paint was fading and the wheels were awful...but brought at what I would now call a sensible price for that time.

 

 

First things first, Paintwork. At this time, I was content with the power it made and hadn't researched the possibilities of what I could do to this car. I was happy with just having a Supra. Not that I regret it but I should have done the engine swap first and then got it painted.

 

 

A lot of work went into the exterior of the car as I wanted her to look OEM.

 

- OEM stock 16" refurbed wheels

- Headlights split and repainted by NOZ,

- Wiper arms powder-coated

- Clear preface front bumper indicators

- Calipers painted with new pads and discs all round

- New Toyota badges front and back

- Air vent (previous one had lost a plastic arm)

- Dashboard cluster repainted in satin black

- Jesus handle

- Titanium Supra Key

- UK spec black headliner - but not the visors unfortunately.. working progress.

- Cream leather seats front and back

- OEM boot sub

- Dyed carpet - Grey to black

- Double din Sony stereo

- Facelift (Grey) rear tail lights

- Swapped the plastic headlights for Uk Specs and had them painted in original colours.

- Finally changed to Ultralite UL37's 18" wheels.

- Bilstein B6 shocks with Eibach Lowering springs

- HKS Hi power exhaust (installed with BPU)

 

I was content for ... 6 months. I was fed up with loosing against car that it felt that the Supra should be beating, bigger things needed to happen.

 

I contemplated selling the supra and buying a original TT at the end of last year but the prices had already shot up in 6 months from when I originally looked. I had discovered on fleebay a 91 MK1 Aristo auto TT which I brought.

 

It was my intention to swap the TT engine out and put it in the Supra. It's not as straight forward as it first appeared and I never had the time to do it. So I got in contact with Mike at Hidden Performance as he had been recommended to me by a member on here whom I sold the original cloth seats to. Great guy, knows Supra's inside out literally.

 

He talked me through and sent me a shopping list of everything that we would need to complete the conversion. I had also looked into the gearbox part of it. V160's had gone through the roof so I invested in a 6 speed CD008 - (I think) gearbox. I got this gearbox for a good price. Still to this day i'm not 100% sure if it is a CD008 or 09 as there was no sticker attached. Apparently the only difference internally is the 'synchros', where the 09' are stronger. Some people have said on Nissan forums that you can tell by various things such as:

 

- Shifter extension, whether its hollow or solid. Solid meaning it was 08 which mine was.

- Rubber boot on the rear - meant it was the 09 which mine had.

- 09 has a extra metal rib on the top of the box - mine didn't have that.

- 09 has an internal slave - mine was external. But then I've seen the 09 sticker on boxes with the slave on the outside as well.

 

I'm pretty sure it's a 08. However, it works well. Mike has dropped the box out this week after I've done over 500 miles on her and everything looked good. 5th gear can be stubborn but once the car is up to temperature, it's fine. I have a feeling it's something to do with the short shifter and how it engages 5th.

 

There are adapter kits out there from Collins and other companies. However, I used the PMC adapter and flywheel simply because it was cheaper and the import charges are far less from Europe than USA. Other then them sending me two adapters, the plate lined up well and flywheel plumbed straight in. The only difference between the PMC flywheel to others is that it doesn't have the 'flexi' plate welded to it for the starter. This wasn't the end of the world as I retained it from the Auto box.

 

I did buy the Collins short Shifter which in my opinion isterrible. After leaving the garage, it lasted a day before it literally fell off in my hand where it's designed to only bolt on with two fixings at the top of the box. The mount that was based on the Collins gearbox mount wasn't great either as it vibrated the car massively over 70mph.. Like sitting in a washing machine with a brick inside it. After looking at it, the bolts had vibrated themselves loose. I sent the shifter and mount off to a fabricator who has made the shifter and mount himself. Luke welded on 2 extra arms which would bolt onto the side of the box to hold it better. he also made up a aluminium mount with a rubber bearing to absorb the vibration. This changed the car dramatically. So much smoother to drive.

 

 

350Z Gearbox:

 

BPU:

 

The car produces 418 BHP at 1.3 bar which I'm happy with (for now).

 

After 500 miles, the car is great and holding up well although it felt very low geared. I could get to 30-40mph and sit in 6th gear. It felt like an auto again. After doing a bit more digging on various forums, I found that the Lexus LS diffs are more or less the same with the same casings. However, they are all open diff whereas mine is LSD. The idea was to take both diffs and change the ring and pinon. The Lexus LS430 diff is a 3.2 which would give the Supra longer legs. Mike has run into some issues with fitting the ring in where it is slightly thicker than the Supra ring. Hopefully he can find a solution to this and I'll update this post. If this solution works, It will be a lot cheaper than buying the bigger, TRD diff from original Supra's which I have seen go for £1500 up.

 

Small update on the Lexus LS 430 3.2 diff, you need to use the Lexus case, Lexus pinon, Supra LSD and Lexus ring and it'll fit / work.

 

Mike is also wiring in a speed sensor so I can actually see how fast I'm going. This is because the original speed sensor came off the auto box and the Nissan have them on the diff.

 

If anyone is interested in this swap, please feel free to ask any questions about it and I will do my best to answer.

 

Edited December 13, 2018 by Rowlze
Lexus Diff update (see edit history)

[rider]

For some reason I can't post in "Supra Projects" page. So apologies in advance.

 

https://jza80.mkivsupra.net/imports/2018/12/143.jpg

 

No one can other than to add to existing threads. It seems when there was a mini site tidy up about a year ago the Projects section lost its new thread capability.

[Wonga Spar]

With the prices on V160's I have a feeling a lot of members over the coming years will be wanting to investigate these conversions, information seems quite scarce atm so threads like these (and parts lists) will be total gold. Sounds fantastic and thanks for sharing!

[mattdavies]

No one can other than to add to existing threads. It seems when there was a mini site tidy up about a year ago the Projects section lost its new thread capability.

 

This is incorrect, the procedure has always been post it in Supra chat and if the images are uploaded to the forum and not links to external sites it will get moved to Projects.

 

This is a great project and good to see someone gaining some power in a method which will be used more and more with the rising prices of "Supra" parts.

[Tom_K]

Nicely done

I've often contemplated doing the exact thing you'd planned; buy a 'cheap' NA, auto. Then buy an Aristo an a 350/370 box and doing a conversion. Like others have said, I fear the prices of the Nissan gearboxes will start to skyrocket.

I come from the Nissan world and you're right about the CD09 /CD009 information; it's all over the place! I know this because I need one for my 350 :|

If I were to do a conversion, I'd use the 370 box; it's completely different so there's no confusing it with a weaker item, but the adapter plate is also different obviously as the 370z engine is different.