92 auto to manual swap with 240sx transmission

[DysfunctionalVeteranD21]

Hey guys,

So I found a D21 for sale from my neighbor. It had 66k on it and was virtually just sitting there for years. He was going through a nasty divorce and wanted to sell it. I offered him 1800 and he didn't even blink and said yes.


I looked it over. Drove it, and found the engine was perfect. Pretty much all I cared about. There was only one problem.. it's an auto. I hate autos with a passion if i'm going to turn it into a hoon machine.

So I'm super close friends with motorhead on here and he had a hardbody boosted. So I said screw it and decided I'm going to swap it.

At first I looked for a manual trans all over Long Island NY. Even in NYC there wasn't. Of course, there is a absurd abundance of 240sx parts around. So I did some research and decided I'm going to be ballsy and put a 240 trans in it.




Heres the day after I picked it up with motor head and his 2-stroke KA ... smoked out the gas station LOL


First thing I had to do was get rid of these ugly stock wheels

Now, I got a set of GM wheels from motorhead and they didn't fit on correctly. Alot of people are against grinding the hub, but I did it anyway.



I plasti-dipped the wheels and got a pair of pirellis from a guy I know in Brentwood,NY. He takes them off wrecked cars. I'm cheap, everyone knows that.




So now that I got some decent wheels on it I decided to pull that hunk of junk auto trans out of there. It was such a pain. Unfortunately, I'm a lone wolf and didn't have anyone to help me. So I pulled the sucker out by myself. I mean, I use to build jet engines for a living so how hard could a trans be?




First I pulled the POS drive shaft. later I realized it doesn't spline into the 240 trans so it's pretty much a rusted turd.






Auto -hunk-o- junk



If you go on East Coast Hardbody onFacebook. This pic is on there. Everyone knows how frustrated i was pulling this thing. There are 2 top bolts that are a pain. I went to harbor freight and picked up extra long extensions to get to them. the bolts are too short to use for the 240 trans. saved them for another project




Heres the hunk o junk auto that I hate with a passion. say bye bye to power loss!






so after I took the trans out I figured there would be a AT bearing in there like the 240 has. I heard it was notorious to being a pain to get out. Mine didn't have it. It just had a plate I politely threw into my spare parts bin to use as a toy for my dog... maybe






I got with my buddy David on here and need a fork assembly. **The fork internals are a direct swap from a truck trans to a 240 trans. they are both the same. So instead of buying a 240 clutch fork for 80$ I got it for way less.. hope I can save someone some money..



Since It's a 240 trans I couldn't use the truck flywheel. So I ordered one for 80 bucks. Decided not to go light weight because I may want to tow something with my truck eventually.




I went ahead and bought a stage 3 clutch since I plan on making a lot of power out of my KA. Do your self a favor and don't buy effortismo parts.. I had trouble with mind and I don't recommend





installed my flywheel and torqued the bolts to 105 ft pounds per the maintenance manual.

Ok, this is where I screwed up. I put the pilot bushing in a little too hard and bowed it out a little. So when I put the trans in... it wouldn't seat all the way. I ended up sanding it down evenly.

So my main point here is to carefully install that thing. I think I used a 15mm socket.




Out with the old.. in with the 240 manual trans...






so I got it in there.. turns out you cannot use the bolts from the auto trans. They are shorter.. I missed that part. So I drove my butt down to ace hardware and got some longer 14mm bolts.




So my old POS trans mount was garbage. motor head told me advanced auto sold a trans mount that works with most tranmissions. So I said screw it and got it for 30$ with my military discount


turns out it bolted right in with no problem... thanks franco you dirty dog.

So me being a cheapo... as I stated before. I wanted to use the auto crossmember. So I did. I drilled some custom holes and lined it up. I bolted 2 bolts in with some locktight and called it good.






Now you have to drill more holes if you plan on doing this. I had to measure with the trans up and down a couple times to get it right. drilled the crossmember holes and she is solid..



onto the front.. I got the clutch pedal and brake pedal from david. He had a manual donor truck. I also got a slave cylinder off him with all the lines going to the trans. In order to put the pedals in, you have to pull the dash.. no way around it.





So now I'm onto making a custom driveshaft for it. Anyone have any info on that? have that in the works now..


Starter goes in tomorrow and I'll try and document as much as possible on here.

thanks for reading homiessssss

[Motorhead]

Yoo looks good just the beginning

[Foul_Mouth]

Been through most of that before. Glad to see another one transform to stick.

[VOTS95]

Originally Posted by Foul_Mouth

Been through most of that before. Glad to see another one transform to stick.

+1

Nice write up.

VOTS

[Deerhurst]

Lookin good man!

[jp2code]

I'm envious of that low mileage/low price find.

I have a driveshaft shop about 2 miles down the road, but that doesn't help you any.

If you can get someone with a lathe to gently cut the one you have open or cut it down, then welding it up should be a simple task.

[R2D21]

there is a garage In upstate NY named Coles Garage, located in Davenport NY. They specialize in drive shafts. I dont know how far you are willing to travel but they have done plenty of work for me when I lived there.

[johnber]

seems to me the autos have a larger output shaft, (least the auto i got sitting here is larger dia tail shaft) does the old yoke fit? if so cutting em down is simple. yoke assy just slips in the drive line tube and is welded at the base of tube. Cut the weld carefully with a die grinder and knock the yoke out with a hammer. cut drive line tube to desired length.
the hardest part is cutting the tube clean and square. remember to check and mark orientation of yokes and reinstall the same. (spend time getting this right) weld er up and yer done. done this many times. with that longer tail you might have to go to a 1 piece drive line if it has a two piece with a center carrier.

[DysfunctionalVeteranD21]

The auto shaft is bigger and doesn't spline into the 240 trans. I made a call and have to get a custom one piece made. I'm going to have to get that done soon but the weather is not great here.

[DysfunctionalVeteranD21]

yeah this was a good find. I needed a truck for sure and figured I could tinker around with this one.