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I'm the second owner of my pretty much stock 03 Pathfinder SE (auto, part-time 4wd) since 2015. Things happened in 2020. Decided to convert the Pathfinder to manual. Bought a manual trans from a 2002, took my time, and in summer 2023 finished rebuilding it. Not including that here as it's pretty routine - all new synchros, bearings, input shaft and some gears that had chipped teeth, then back together. If you have a 2000, 01 or 02 part-time or rwd you can swap in a manual, get a manual ECU, (deal with NATS), and be done. (You can't manual swap a full-time 4wd, fulltime unit only works with an auto) My problem with the 03 was Nissan discontinued manuals in the US in late 2002 for model year 2003, which also had new revisions with a more advanced ECU including electric throttle body and other changes. So I could either go 'backwards' to a US 2002 manual ECU and install throttle cable, find a wrecked US manual truck and swap everything across - or get an 03 manual ECU and make it work. I didn't want to go backwards. I'm also in WA which doesn't do smog checks so no issues modifying or mixing and matching. Luckily, Nissan still sold the 03-04 as manual in Canada. Looking at parts diagrams in Amayama it looked like the Canadian auto 03 model was near-identical to the US model, so the manual couldn't be that different, I figured. The worst outcome was it wouldn't work at all, or that I'd have to keep spending money until it worked or I gave up. I took the gamble. I reviewed the earlier Pathfinder auto to manual guide linked on this forum, and also looked up a lot of 350Z conversion forums as it's the same engine and ECU. Also Nissan Skyline and 300ZX forums as different engine, but same transmission. I found the throttle body changed part numbers in 07/2002 from cable to electric, so that was the cutover date. Anything after that was right. I searched individual junk yards in Canada until I found a place selling a clutch pedal and bracket, ECU, and flywheel. The tell with the 'right' car was there were no throttle/cruise cables in the engine bay pics, cuz electric throttle. The yards that had what I needed were in rural Alberta. Apparently Alberta has a lot of R50 Pathfinders in their yards. I mainly used car-part.com. I sent the ECU away to get NATS disabled so I wouldn't need to deal with it. Got everything in and worked end of summer 2024, and wanted to share here. Pics and posts to follow once I get an image service set up.

First things first - remove the transfer case Lots of extensions needed to get to bellhousing bolts. I bought proper long ones after this. Auto transmission detached Flexplate Flexplate removed Source of my rear engine oil leak (after clean up) - rear pan seal job was badly done Sealed it up good. Also I didn't take a photo, but you need to remove the steel inner collar. It's a total pita to get out. It centers the torque converter, but the manual transmission uses a small brass one. There's videos online, the 350Z auto to manual conversion videos cover it. I couldn't get it out for hours and broke various tools, I thought that was the end of the project. But I got it out eventually with the exact right sized puller. Fortunately the R50 chassis has the clutch master cylinder hole already there under a plate Turns out the auto trans computer sits on the other side of the clutch blank plate so both come out at once Factory clutch master cylinder. I thought about steel clutch lines, but ended up using an ebay 240SX clutch line kit. Works fine.