Update on my car.

[Mr.Coupe]

As many of you know my car has been at SFR since May of 09. I'm having the car get a stick shift conversion w/ HLSD and some other stuff. The car is 95% done and Tim has been running into problems all year long. The latest problem to come up is that the master clutch cylinder goes behind the firewall where my XM and GPS receivers are. Those have to be relocated because he has to run some cables or something and the CPU has to be reflashed so my Keys can work. I'm getting frustated with all the BS coming up and my car can't get done. I spoke to Tim on Wednesday and he said those were the last things to do ( Master Clutch cylinder and CPU reflash ) so the car can be done. After he can dyno the car and tune it properly. Then I can go pickup my car enjoy it and drive it for the first time in over a year. So that's were it stands as of right now.

Ricky C.

[One Crazy Max]

why didnt you just trade it in for a 6 speed and boost that instead of going through all the hassle. im sure the digging up of the parts was hard enough, and the swap is its own headache.

hopefully it drives fine when it is done and you get to enjoy it.

what is it going to be tuned with?

[toxik]

why didnt you just trade it in for a 6 speed and boost that instead of going through all the hassle. im sure the digging up of the parts was hard enough, and the swap is its own headache.

hopefully it drives fine when it is done and you get to enjoy it.

what is it going to be tuned with?

with that mindset, you might as well trade the car in for something thats Turbo'd stock? or has 400whp... MT swap draws more attention and accomplishment rather than having it stock, thats just imo.

[PHENOMenalVinyl]

Wow bro this s*** is crazy IDE love to be able to do all this n I love that u r bc it shows how u really love the car

[Mr.Coupe]

why didnt you just trade it in for a 6 speed and boost that instead of going through all the hassle. im sure the digging up of the parts was hard enough, and the swap is its own headache.

what is it going to be tuned with?

I think Toxic said it perfectly.

with that mindset, you might as well trade the car in for something thats Turbo'd stock? or has 400whp... MT swap draws more attention and accomplishment rather than having it stock, thats just imo.

PhEnoM I do love the car which is why I didn't just trade it in. It's the FIRST AC that ever came out in the world 2008 ( I mean model ). It has more sentimental value than just getting a new one.

Ricky C.

[PHENOMenalVinyl]

Agreed n toxik is right it's all what u want if this is it then who cares bout $ ur gonna have a sick azz one of a f*** kind car which is exactly what I want

hey toxik u still got the cf door sills ?

[bunda4th]

IMO I don't think toxik is right about the manual swap and turbo. It is a new car and trading it in for a 6mt or buying a 6mt in the beginning would had been the better choice (before it went into the shop for turbo). Doing a transmission swap like that will not give you much attention or accomplishment with a new car. Doing the turbo will give it attention for sure but not the transmission swap. Also I don't see any accomplishment here since a shop is doing all the work.

[toxik]

IMO I don't think toxik is right about the manual swap and turbo. It is a new car and trading it in for a 6mt or buying a 6mt in the beginning would had been the better choice (before it went into the shop for turbo). Doing a transmission swap like that will not give you much attention or accomplishment with a new car. Doing the turbo will give it attention for sure but not the transmission swap. Also I don't see any accomplishment here since a shop is doing all the work.

Sure you can look at it that way. Thing is look at the amount of interest the other guy that is doing a MT swap is getting... people definitely pay attention. Not to mention plenty of people that I know with Altima Coupes that want a transmission swap, people who have kits and various parts to whom simply saying trade in your car is not really an option. Many got stuck with a CVT originally, CVT afterall is the more popular option on Altimas in dealer lots.

Oh and saying that "the shop is doing all the work" is ridiculous. I'm impressed if a shop did the work or if the individual did the work. Not everything has to be done by you personally, you don't have to forge your own wheels in order to impress people.... you just need to dedicate yourself to the car and spend money, that will always impress someone... and the accomplishment is the end result of your car.

[PHENOMenalVinyl]

Last part explains it perfectly

[One Crazy Max]

so is what youre saying just about impressing people, or is it about having accomplished something that no one else has, and being the only one that has done so?

not knocking or anything, but hmm Altima Coupe VQ35 6MT Turbo, thats been done already. you might argue that the transmission was swapped from CVT to 6MT, but others that do not know the history of the build will just see it as just another VQ35 6MT Turbo.

If it were me, and money wasnt the concern, which in your case it isnt, i wouldve traded the CVT in for a 6MT, and spent the money in modifying the piss out of the new car rather than wasting the time and hassle behind a swap. I wouldve appreciated you situation more if the car wasnt in the new car market anymore, and the parts were hard to find because it wasnt being sold in dealerships around the country, but the car is still new, and you couldve easily traded it in. maybe in about 3 years and more this build wouldve received much more attention than it is now, but to me its just another VQ35 6MT Turbo.

you probably dont care about my opinion, and you shouldnt really care because its your build and im sure you appreciate much more than others because its yours, and i would feel the same way.

what i am most interested in with your build is the turbo setup and the engine management that you will be using, that is why i read and post in this thread. so spill the beans.

[DReed86]

Yeah I heard about your swap through another member. Thats pretty awesome of you go through all of this.....
I love my car but I dont think I could have waited over a year!!!!!!! I would have bought a Camero or something....


Cant to see where you DYNO at!

[Mr.Coupe]

what i am most interested in with your build is the turbo setup and the engine management that you will be using, that is why i read and post in this thread. so spill the beans.

I don't plan to be the first or only person who's done a swap because there is another member going through the process. His upside to doing it is that his shop has a AC that was going to be torn down into pieces so they can take off piece by piece put them into his car and not run into problems. I took my car to SFR and told Tim I want a transmission swap how long. It was suppost to be a couple of months job, but since I was the first person recorded to start doing it without having a spare car next to mine to remove the parts from it turned out to be a job that's lasted over a year. The turbo setup will be the same SFR turbo setup for the AC. And as toward engine management I don't know. I just told Tim that I wanted a transmission swap, HLSD, some other stuff and as much safe HP as I can possibly get from my car. It's easy for people to say why not just trade in the car and buy another already MT. If I wanted to I would have done it, but I wanted to keep the car I already had since it had a place in my heart and garage . Money wasn't the factor because I'm out the pocket a crap load more than it would have cost me to just trade it in for a MT AC. What people need to realise is that sometimes the sentimental value of something is great than just "Oh well let me take it back and get what I want now." I bought the car I wanted because it was the car I wanted.

Yeah I heard about your swap through another member. Thats pretty awesome of you go through all of this.....
I love my car but I dont think I could have waited over a year!!!!!!! I would have bought a Camero or something....


Cant to see where you DYNO at!

The Camero. I've been inside that car and don't like it. It's to small for what it costs. I like to have the best of anything I own. And even that Camero wasn't good for my taste. As I stated the swap was suppost to be a couple of months thing seeing that SFR and I went into it blind with no idea of what it was going to take, but it's been much longer.

Ricky C.

[Mr.Coupe]

Just got off the phone with Tim. It turns out that the hole I drilled on the firewall for the Angel eyes is were the clutch master cylinder goes inside the engine bay. They removed all the wires I ran through there in order to attach the clutch master cylinder. The problem now is that Tim stated that if the hole doesn't/can't match exactly were the links for the clutch pedal go he's going to have to weld the hole through the indside of the engine bay. He said that in order to do this he is going to have to remove all kinds of parts and he is going to loose valuable time. Problem after problem keeps coming up. He told me to call him back on Thrusday to get another status check. He says he has the guys working round the clock to get my car outta there. That's were it stands as of today.

Ricky C.

[A_Hole]

Hey man good luck with this. I would also be interested in swapping over to a 6MT. Quick question though, how many of these problems are due to your car being customized?

I know in the past couple of posts you mentioned your gps mounting location was a problem and now it's where you drilled for your headlights. So if I didn't touch my engine (except for like headers, intakes and tuning) how long would this take?

Good luck, I'm excited for you. Slamming gears in a 3.5 turbo sounds pretty damn fun.

[Mr.Coupe]

Hey man good luck with this. I would also be interested in swapping over to a 6MT. Quick question though, how many of these problems are due to your car being customized?

None of these problems were due to the previous mods that were on my car till now. I drilled through the firewall on the top left of the brake pedal to run the wires from the switches I installed for my Angel eyes and right in that exact location inside the engine bay is were the clutch master cylinder goes. Cables run near the hole I drilled for the clutch pedal and if Tim can't get it centered he has to weld the hole back up to support the cables that are going to go through there.

I know in the past couple of posts you mentioned your gps mounting location was a problem and now it's where you drilled for your headlights. So if I didn't touch my engine (except for like headers, intakes and tuning) how long would this take?

My friend installed the XM and gps receivers right behind the glove box that's behind the shifter and Tim stated that there are shift linkages that run through there so the receivers have to be relocated. It's not a problem since one of Tim's techs used to be an audio installer and he knows his SIHT with audio.

Since my car has been done and Tim as well as the guys at SFR know what to expect it should be a crap load less time than it has for my car. What people have to remember is that Tim and his guys went into this project blind not knowing what parts will be needed and what not. I towed my car to SFR because my pressure control sensor went bad and my car wouldn't run ( GOD I HATE THE STUPID CVT ). I asked Tim while I was there what I could do so I wouldn't have any of these transmission problems with my car. He said "MT swap" and I replied without hesitation "Do it". He was like "Well Imma have to do some research to see what parts are going to be needed and other stuff." It was estimated to be a 3 months job, but all the problems they ran into (which they are aware of now and WILL AVOID THEM) turned it into a job that's lasted over a year.

Ricky C.

[A_Hole]

Well at least they got it all figured out now. I would be so damn excited getting my car back after a year haha. I'm not digging the CVT either, but as it is right now, the car is stock so I'll deal with it. Once I start screwing with the engine I'll go with a swap. But that'll be a while. So good luck, and hopefully it's all worth it once you get it back. It sounds like it will be.

[Hussain]

hey, sorry to thread jack Rickey......

you're from Tracy? (not you Rickey, this guy lol)
are you coming out to the Nor Cal meet in Vacavile sunday? all the bay area and sac people are coming.

Well at least they got it all figured out now. I would be so damn excited getting my car back after a year haha. I'm not digging the CVT either, but as it is right now, the car is stock so I'll deal with it. Once I start screwing with the engine I'll go with a swap. But that'll be a while. So good luck, and hopefully it's all worth it once you get it back. It sounds like it will be.

[A_Hole]

Sorry man, I can't. Weekends aren't that great for me right now. I spend all week in San Jose at my girlfriends house to not have to commute 50 miles to work each way. So on weekends I have to take care of my central valley business haha. But hopefully I'll be moving soon, once I get the word that my job is safe for another day.

So hopefully soon I can meet some of the people on here. And hopefully I won't be rolling stock either.

[Mr.Coupe]

I talked to Tim today and it turns out that the hole that I drilled did not lineup with the master clutch cylinder link cables for the clutch pedal. The guys are ganna have to remove some stuff inside the engine bay to have access to were the hole was drilled. They will patch the hole I made and will go from there. Tim is expecting the build to take another week. So far this seems to be the last of many problems that they've ran into. All goes well Imma have my car by the end of next week. I'm keeping ALL my fingers crossed .

Ricky C.

[mcheddadi]

oh man the anticipation is killing! I can't wait to see this! turboed HLSDed AND MTswaped , oh lawd.

It's going to be sooo strange to get back in your A/C after a WHOLE year.

[Mr.Coupe]

oh man the anticipation is killing! I can't wait to see this! turboed HLSDed AND MTswaped , oh lawd.

It's going to be sooo strange to get back in your A/C after a WHOLE year.

Oh brother I know.

Ricky C.

[Coupeguy23]

Mr.Coupe you gotta post pics when you get here back man .

[Mr.Coupe]

Mr.Coupe you gotta post pics when you get here back man .

Bruh I've just been waiting to get her back. I've been waiting for over a year now. And as soon as I do the pics will be up ASAP .

Ricky C.

[Mr.Coupe]

I will be calling Tim on Wednesday as he told me to do. To get the status of my car and hopefully will be picking her up this weekend.

Ricky C.

[stillbreathin]

dude good luck with your car, I'm pulling for you to get this done, it's lonely being the only one to have something done, I need a friend to join me =*(. Naw, but for real, I can see how not having another car would slow them down, but s*** dude it's been a year, you need to stop being so nice with them, and get them to get this s*** done. I mean I'm in afghan right now and have been away from my car for 6months, an I'm having with drawls from my baby, so I could only imgine what a year would be like.

[Mr.Coupe]

I'm hopeing it'll get done as well. If I stop being nice and give them attitude what will that accomplish? Not much if their running into unavoidable problems. And them just thinking I'm a butthole.

Ricky C.

[Mr.Coupe]

Well I spoke to Tim today and he told me that my car wont be done by this weekend. He said that they had to remove a lot of parts from behind the drivers side firewall in order make room to weld the hole cautiously. He also told me that he wants to be extra careful with the area that has to be welded because there's carpet and some other materials inside the cabin that could catch fire. He also told me that he or his partner Shane are pretty much the only people who can weld that area because it's so thin that if it's welded improperly it can actually make a bigger hole or more damage and extend the build. Which is something I don't want right now since it's been long enough as it is. So that's were it stands as of right now. He told me to call him anytime next week to get an update. Meanwhile my wife has tells me that she wants a new car. I say to her WTF like the 05 Frontier, 08 Sequoia and 98 VR6 Turbo Jetta aren't enough besides the AC. Then she tells me she wants an Altima SR Sedan. So I can't argue with that and say OK honey we'll get one. So in the next week or couple of weeks I'm getting a Sedan to add to the garage .

Ricky C.

[Rob.Vegan]

She going to join us in the meets now

[Mr.Coupe]

She going to join us in the meets now

Hell No... I don't want her bitchin about my driving to them .

Hey Rob I wanted to ask if you knew anything about Daniel ( BlackNWhite )? Haven't seen or heard from him in a LONG time.

Ricky C.

[Mr.Coupe]

I will be calling Tim again tomorrow Monday or Tuesday as he informed me to do in order to get a status update. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything went fine/smooth and I can PU my car by this weekend.

Ricky C.