Harbinger's Automatic to Manual transmission swap.

[Harbinger]

Howdy all, it's been forever and a day, but I'm getting things figured out again. Been working to much to give the truck any love. With the school starting soon, and winter approaching, I've engaged the help of the mechanic who does all the work on my g/f's rig. He's willing to let me help and use his shop for a day and a modest fee. Will be worth it to just to be doing this in a cooled shop vs outside on the gravel.

 

I did replace my RMS a few months ago!

 

I have new engine to transmission bolts coming from Alkorahil,(Misplaced the old ones, and there are some length differences vs the auto ones) and a new slave cylinder coming in from Rockauto.

 

Things to do before I tow her down to the shop:

 

Rebuild my clutch MC.

Figure out a proper length for the lower clutch hardline, and bend an existing brake line to match.

Obtain new fluids for every where. She has been up on jack stands too long!

Do what wiring I can.

Install and wire pedal switches. Do I install an ASCD on both the brake and clutch pedals?

 

Speaking of wiring: I'm reading a lot of posts about how to wire this by jumping the Park Neutral relay?
http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/31899-truck-not-starting-after-at-to-mt-swap/?p=601697

 

Has anyone wired it up to the clutch so it won't start in gear?

Edited August 3, 2014 by Harbinger

[Harbinger]

So, I'm an idiot. I somehow misplaced the auto side wiring. I'm left with this.

 

 

 

According to the writeup for a 96 r50, found here: http://overlandtrucks.com/system-f/Transmission%20Conversion%20Manual_final.pdf , I need to:

 

Take the green & brown wire from the 7 wire (inhibitor switch?) plug (80M, EL pg80, I think?) for the reverse lights.

 

Take the two wire, brown and black plug for the neutral switch on the tranny. (Also 80M, EL pg80).

 

I know the 3 wire plug (white, black, white) 77M (EL pg 80) is for a heated 02 sensor.

 

I'm having trouble identifying the following.

 

The left, middle 3 wire connector.

 

The lower brown 8 wire connector. (76M?, EL pg80) Are these my tranny/transfer sensors/switches?

 

In the lower right is a grey connector with 4 wires, one red, one yellow, and two whites. All of them have grey dots every 25mm or so.

 

Can anyone confirm or otherwise steer me in the right direction on this?

Edited August 5, 2014 by Harbinger

[adamzan]

The one with the bright coloured wires on the top left is the inhibitor/neutral safety/range sensor. You'll need to jump one of those for your cruise, and the reverse lights are another pair of wires I believe. The 2 thick wired one you need to jump for it to start, I'm pretty sure, its been a while since I played with this. The left 3 wire one below the inhibitor one is for your speed sensor. The bottom brown one is the one that goes to the TCU so I'm not sure if you'll need that, although the 4x4 light switches may be wired through that plug. In the fsm if you find the wire colours you should be able to test the functions of each wire.

 

Hope this helps.

[Harbinger]

Thanks Adam,

 

This is my current understanding of those plugs, after a few days browsing the FSM, and tracing the wires back on a 92 J/Y pathy over the weekend.

 

 

The problem I have with wire colors, is they change after they enter a plug. The colors on 79M don't match the FSM until you check the wires actually coming from the harness.

 

I grabbed a 76M connector that has two switches for the transfer case (Out of an AT 92). I figure I can mix and match that with my 76M to add the red speedo wire.

 

Found a almost mint (for being in a jy) 94 MT over the weekend. Finally was able to grab a fairly rust free lower clutch piping, so I won't have to bend that myself. Grabbed it's ECU too, just in case I want to swap that out sometime in this process, or if it will simplify some of the wiring. I'll probably go back to the JY and get the truck side connectors for the MT, and just wire them up into a new harness using what I have already.

 

My engine bolts are on a slow boat from Japan apparently, due to be here on the 25th of this Month. Still though, I'm getting closer.

[Harbinger]

I found one of the first drafts to the overland r50 swap I posted earlier.

 

http://www.overlandtrucks.com/system-f/NPTC.pdf

 

He was more clearly stated with his wiring there, and I was able to verify the pin outs (despite the wires being different colors in the FSM), that the green & black wires coming off the 7 pin, 80M connector are indeed for the reverse lights (Or rather, for the inhibitor switch's "Reverse" position). The larger, other 80M plug (Brown/Black wires) gets connected to the MT Neutral switch.

 

So couple that with adding my speedo back in to the 76M plug (I believe), I should be fine. When I traced what I think to be 81M on the j/y pathy, it led to the top of the AT. Don't the 4 wheel drive pathys get their speedometer readings from the transfer case?

[adamzan]

Yes, they do. Its on the passenger side of the case, at the back.

[Harbinger]

Thought so.

 

Well got started on the new wiring section running from the engine bay to the tranny/tcase. Hit one snag on the tcase switches. The problem being that the AT Tcase (which I still have) has 3 wires for the two switches. A yellow, white, and a green one that is tied to both switches. The MT t-case switches only have one wire each.

 

Meanwhile, my 76M connector has 4 wires, two of which are the speed sensor. The other two wires on 76M match the yellow and white wires coming out of my t-case switches. This leaves me with that shared green wire and no where to take it.

[Slartibartfast]

My guess is that the shared green is a ground, and on your MT box, it's supposed to ground through the case. No idea why they'd be different, though. Maybe it grounds through the TCU?

Edited August 12, 2014 by Slartibartfast

[Harbinger]

Let me restate things, for my own clarity.

 

Building this harness, I have the original engine side plugs and wires that came with my pathy. The 76M connector has 4 wires. Two for the speedo (Red & White), and two for the neutral and 4x4 transfer switches. (Yellow/Black & White/Black). There is no green wire running to the connector, but both of my AT switches have a green wire coming from them.

 

I have a 78M (The MT's version of the 76M) from a 94 stick shift pathy, and all the drive train plugs it ran to. IE the MT neutral switch, reverse lights, speedo, and the two transfer switches. The single wire transfer case switches here use the same Yellow/Black and White/Black combination.

 

I also have the 76M connector from a 92, AT pathy. It had the Yellow/Black, White/Black, and green Wires. Here the green wire ran back up to the engine bay and into the harness through the 76M connector. So at some point after the changes made for the 94 model year, they ran the green wire elsewhere.

 

At this point I'm with you in thinking the green wire is a ground for the switches, but I'm still wondering where it went. (NEVER clean the garage while a project is underway, I'm telling ya) I'm half tempted to ground it out to a nearby frame point, but want to do more research first.

Edited August 12, 2014 by Harbinger

[Harbinger]

 

Building this harness, I have the original engine side plugs and wires that came with my pathy. The 76M connector has 4 wires. Two for the speedo (Red & White), and two for the neutral and 4x4 transfer switches. (Yellow/Black & White/Black). There is no green wire running to the connector, but both of my AT transfer switches have a green wire coming from them.

 

Fixed.

 

I got the lower clutch hydraulic hard lines, lower connecting block, and the (new) soft hose installed tonight.

[JohnnyHaywire]

Looking forward to your progress, Harbinger. Very cool swap!

[Harbinger]

Looking forward to your progress, Harbinger. Very cool swap!

 

Thanks!

 

I rebuilt my clutch master cylinder tonight. Reinstalled it and hooked it up to the hard lines. I'm nearing the end of what I can do while I wait for those engine bolts.

 

Regarding the transfer case switch wiring, I found this blurb in my searches.

taken from here: http://www.nissan-offroad.co.za/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=180&start=25#p2238

 

Top switch behind the cable is the 4wd switch. The lower switch is the neutral switch.

 

What caused confusion on mine was that someone had removed the switches and installed them the wrong way round. They look identical. Same thread and size and even the push rod looks and feels the same. The difference comes in that one is normally open and the other normally closed.

 

This is where my confusion and hence this thread came in. Your wire loom from the cab only has 6 wires (three pairs). According to the number of switches, you would think you needed four pairs, or as I assumed, the switch was used in vehicle with ECU monitoring or something like that.

 

The three pairs are therefore for the speedo pickup, reverse light switch and 4wd switches.

Turns out these two switches need to be wired up in series to the 4WD cable. The top switch will activate the dash light as soon as you go out of 2wd, and the neutral switch will break the circuit when the transfer case is in neutral.

 

Seems this was easier to do than to profile the selector that activates the 4wd switch so that it notched out in the neutral position. I presume that selector only has the positions and hence the addition of the neutral switch.

 

I was not able to find mention of this in any of the manuals that I had a look at, and that included the R20 and R50 Terrano, 95 Pathfinder and others that used the TX10 transfer case. The wiring diagram simply shows the cable from the 4wd switch with no mention of the neutral switch.

 

Don't know if this helps anyone, but anyways, mine is now working for the first time since I got the car in 2006.

 

 

So if the two transfer switches are wired in series, might it be best to just leave them connected, and not run them anywhere else?

Edited August 15, 2014 by Harbinger

[nitroman15]

Would really like to do this to my hardbody. Thanks for posting.

Edited August 15, 2014 by nitroman15

[Harbinger]

Ok, I'm overdue for an update.

 

 

A couple weeks ago, I had the truck hauled down to a friends shop.

 

 

Last Saturday, we Installed the clutch, and replaced all associated springs,bearings etc. The Transmission is mostly installed, I just ran out of time to give things a final check, add fluids, etc. The torsion bars are back in too, as are the drive lines.

 

Interestingly enough, it looks correct, despite us not modifying the transmission cross member.

 

On the transfer wiring, I ended up running the joined green wire to a separate ground. *shrug*

 

I'll be headed back down on Friday. Hope to do a double check on all the bolts, fill and bleed the hydraulic system, and do some maintenance. Noticed my lower radiator hose is cracked and leaking, so am flushing the rad at the same time. Also have new gear oil for both diffs.

 

I'm getting close!

 

[Harbinger]

Time for a Thanksgiving update!

 

I manged to get some things done last week, and got down there yesterday also. This is really becoming a story of bringing a parked truck back from the dead, so bare with me.

 

All the transmission bell housing bolts are in and torqued. I've got Redline MT90 in the tranny and the transfer case. Also changed out the gear oil in both diffs. Both shifters are installed!

 

I've got a new track bar installed, while I try and get the bushings replaced in my old one. I know, not transmission related, but wanted to install my drop down bracket since I need an alignment anyway.

 

Changing a cracked lower radiator hose revealed a hole in my radiator. I pulled it yesterday, and the guy I'm working with soldered it back up. All seems to be good now, but we'll see how she holds pressure later.

 

Current hold ups:

 

I seem to have a ton of banjo bolts and none of them are the right length for the slave cylinder. Will be calling the dealership tomorrow, and hopefully they will have the correct length. Looked for one in the scrap yard yesterday, but all Nissan currently in the yard are autos.

 

Reinstalling my starter - I have the main power cable on the starter, but am not sure where the other plug that grounds the starter body goes. Coming from the harness, I have one plug, and one random female spade connector. I know the oil pressure sensor wiring is part of this, but with my lack of notes, it might take some playing around to figure out what goes where.

 

So other than those two issues, I just have some wiring, and then we'll go about getting her started! I'll be back working on her on Friday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 27, 2014 by Harbinger

[Nefarious]

The starter grounds through its physical connection with the engine block. You just need to supply load power and the control wire to drive the solenoid. The small single wire off that loom hooks to your oil pressure dummy light

[Harbinger]

Ok, so if I'm hearing(reading) you correctly.

 

The plastic clip coming off the starter (looks to be connected to the starter case) connects to the other plug from the harness. While the single female spade connects to the oil pressure sender?

[adamzan]

Yes

[Harbinger]

Thanks for the info!

 

Well, quite a bit of progress today!

 

Finally finished my wiring loom coming from the transmission. Jumped pins 3&4, and 6&7 where the park/neutral relay used to sit.

 

Wired up the starter, and put a fresh charge on the battery. After two tries, she rumbled to life! Not bad for sitting for 2.5 years! One of the hoses for my oil filter relocation developed a bad leak, so I put an OEM size filter on until I can get some new hoses made.

 

Obtained a proper length banjo bolt, and got the slave cylinder connected. Filled and bled the system only to find my rebuild on the clutch master cylinder didn't go so well. So obtained a new clutch master, installed it, and bled all over again.

 

The good news is with the clutch engaged, she slips right into gear! Haven't given her a proper test drive yet, but I'm beyond giddy.

 

What's left:

 

Obtaining a new (to me) crossover pipe for the exhaust, since I cut my existing one. One has already been pulled at the local pick-a-part so I'll grab it tomorrow. Also have parts to replace the drivers side CV axle, and do new plugs/rotor/wires and fuel filter. Then I can start working on getting my interior put back together.

 

Edited November 29, 2014 by Harbinger

[Harbinger]

Another Friday update.

 

I brought the truck home today! So far have hit every gear except for 5th, with no weird clutch noises or other issues. Oddly enough, my tach works now. Nevermind the AT power button blinking at me like something is wrong!

 

I decided to keep the original exhaust installed - it's so rusted I didn't want to launch into earlier today because I was pressed for time. I don't have the interior put back together yet, so I had exhaust wafting into the truck on the way home. I'll put my interior back together this weekend, and run the truck out to school next week so I can weld in the missing section of exhaust routing. With the passenger side not hooked up to the muffler, my pathy is finally louder than my motorcycle.

 

I'm slightly concerned that my rear main seal replacement might have been botched, as I found oil on the back of the oil pan earlier. I've wiped it off and will continue to keep checking. Really hoping it's just extra oil from when my oil filter relocation was leaking/replaced.

 

The good news of the day is I can now change a cv axle in roughly two hours. Replaced the drivers side one this morning.

[Harbinger]

Yep. Definatley have an oil leak coming from either the RMS or the oil pan. Have a drip line (wiped it off yesterday) coming down the back of the oil pan, where the transmission bolts up to the rear of the engine.

 

Hoping it's the oil pan, as I did replace the RMS over the summer....dammit.

[Harbinger]

Been driving it for a few days now. Shifting is good, even got to use 5th on my way to school today. Currently getting just above 16mpg, hoping that will improve as I burn off this old gas. Have tune up parts/fuel filter to swap out this weekend too.

 

One issue I ran into today was realizing I don't have the snap ring that holds the shifter in place. Twice today, after getting off the freeway, the lower part of the shifter was popped out of the transmission. Both times leaving me in 3rd gear. I ordered a new snap ring for it today from Alkorhrail, but it may not be here till next week.

 

Welded on a temp exhaust pipe onto what was left of my y pipe. It was a larger pipe as we didn't have oem exhaust size pipe in the scrap bin at school. Slipped it over both ends and welded it up best I could, but the large mig torch was too bulky to get the very upper parts of the pipe, so I still have some leaks.

 

Slowly but surely....

[Harbinger]

Forgot to mention, I also fabbed up a plate to cover the hole where the auto shift cable used to come through. Used stainless steel so I wouldn't have to worry about it rusting from below.