Worlds First 5-Speed Stickshift Q45.

[elwesso]

Today was the day, picked up the car and long story short, this thing HAULS AZZZ.. transmission the car, exactly what I thought it could be...

Still some little issues to work out, mainly i have to get a longer shifter rod (needs to be about 4-5 inches longer), and some other stuff. but the car runs and drives well, im uploading a video of it driving.

Tomorrow I'll post some pics of the drivetrain/adapter plate, and in a little while I'll post up some stuff when I get the console all done..

Im really tired and Im gonna go drive the car some more!!

Not the easiest project in the world, but very possible..

[unknown007]

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can I have it? Give you mine.

[unknown007]

Of course, a video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDlEURNzCBU

unavailable still processing.Really i'll take that Q gutted out if i have to.

[elwesso]

accidentally deleted my post...

Video, quick burst in 1st and 2nd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDlEURNzCBU

[unknown007]

accidentally deleted my post...

Video, quick burst in 1st and 2nd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDlEURNzCBU

same issue

[elwesso]

jeez dude be patient

[MinisterofDOOM]

5 speed Q = perfection. I MUST do this.

[unknown007]

jeez dude be patient

Hahaha NO!!! I want 5-speed!!!

I though the video was up that's why you posted.

I=FAIL for patience.

[maxnix]

So the five speed didn't require tunnel modification?

Good going. Now on to a 6 speed.

[Q451990]

NICE!!!

[Jesda]

NICE. This now puts the G50 on par with the 5-series in terms of acceleration.

[elwesso]

I dont really see why you'd want a 6 speed, the gears for this are perfect.. The VH has so much torque adding a gear would just be adding a shift. 3rd gear is intense on the highway...

For the record, I can lug this thing at 500 RPM going 10MPH in 5th gear going up hill and it doesnt lug, love the VH. The short throw shifter has NO play it and it feels like the bolt on a rifle..

No tunnel modifications required, however my transmission is sitting a little lower in the back and appropriate shims were added to the center bearing.

[elwesso]

Heres some pics... no pics of the shifter and pedals until all that is sorted..

I had some pre-mufflers (resonators) where the stock ones are, decided to take them out so it was a little louder... Sounds MEAN.



Drivers side exhaust (precat deleted)





Passenger side exhaust.



Closeup of slave cylinder and also a nice shot of the adapter plate



Starter and exhaust clearance, as you can see the pre-cat would have not even come close to clearing!



This shot you can see everything, you can see how we lowered the transmission a little less than an inch so that it would clear the tunnel..



Bottom view directly under the transmission. the bolts on the very bottom hold the factory dust shield and lower brackets on



Driveshaft (ooooh, shiney!!)

[elwesso]

Cruise control relocated to where my battery used to be



Master Cylinder where cruise control used to be (sorry its so messy looking)

[Jesda]

Does anyone remember what motor was in the original 5-speed Q from a couple years ago? Was it an RB25?

[elwesso]

Yeah it was an RB25... I dont like counting that since it wasnt the VH45

[MR. Q]

How hard was it taking the transmission out of the Q? Does the transmission have 2 bolts at the top where the transmission mets the engine?

[elwesso]

yeah you can do it a couple ways, we had to lower the front subframe a little bit anyway, so thats how he ended up doing however you can use long extensions.

its straight forward to remove the transmission.

[MR. Q]

Thank You! I saw your video and I want to say congratulations & thanks for being a Q frontier!

[unknown007]

Hopefully I can try this out next year. Congrats I'm wet!!! I can tell thats a lot of work to do.

[Skibane]

VERY nice...

...and your starter needs a heat shield.

[dusred]

Hells yeah!

It seems like anytime anyone mentioned swapping a Q for a manual transmission everyone yelled "illegal!". Very tight. Very nice, Wes.

[Jesda]

Yeah it was an RB25... I dont like counting that since it wasnt the VH45

Indeed, and that one looked to have been gutted. Yours appears to have -everything- still in tact. I can't wait to see this in PA. I think everyone here has been waiting years for someone to pull off a VH45 manual. The sound of the VH makes me SO happy.

[PBfrEAk]

Wow...beautiful.

Now do you have a thread with pics of the swap itself yet? I'd love to see those.

What transmission did you mate to the VH? I assume this was a custom adapter plate...but was it fabbed up by you or someone else?

If there is another thread with this stuff lemme know haha...I didn't even know you were doing this!!

[BadQ45t]

Post up another video in the daylight just showing the install of the shifter, that alone will get me up to youtube..just to see that stick where the slushbox shifer normally sits.

[mcheddadi]

Today was the day, picked up the car and long story short, this thing HAULS AZZZ.. transmission the car, exactly what I thought it could be...

Still some little issues to work out, mainly i have to get a longer shifter rod (needs to be about 4-5 inches longer), and some other stuff. but the car runs and drives well, im uploading a video of it driving.

Tomorrow I'll post some pics of the drivetrain/adapter plate, and in a little while I'll post up some stuff when I get the console all done..

Im really tired and Im gonna go drive the car some more!!

Not the easiest project in the world, but very possible..

AWESOME! 1/4 and 0-60 estimates?

[qsiguy]

Congrats Wes. Looks like fun.

Questions:Do you have a bill of materials yet?

What's the estimated total cost to this point?

How much does your installer want to do it again or what would he estimate a typical shop would charge to do this job if parts were supplied by the owner?

[maxnix]

I do wonder with collapse original mototrmounts and an addtional 1" deflection on the 3rd motor (transmission) mount how long the U joint on the driveshft will last? Wonder if the OEM coupling might have been better?

This is precisely the samce reason FWD cars use CV adn not U joints on the half shafts. Greater deflection there, but principal is still the same. maybe the only way to do it right is to cut and weld a larger cavity into the transmission tunnel to maintain correct alignment?

[Rex]

Nice to see this to the point of a driving/functioning car. Can you wipe the smile off your face?

I dont really see why you'd want a 6 speed, the gears for this are perfect.. The VH has so much torque adding a gear would just be adding a shift. 3rd gear is intense on the highway...

For the record, I can lug this thing at 500 RPM going 10MPH in 5th gear going up hill and it doesnt lug, love the VH. The short throw shifter has NO play it and it feels like the bolt on a rifle..

No tunnel modifications required, however my transmission is sitting a little lower in the back and appropriate shims were added to the center bearing.

Did you ever come to a final conclusion on whether you have a stock rear gear or not?

[MinisterofDOOM]

Just figured I'd post these numbers up for comparison purposes:

Stock '94-'96 Q45 4AT:1: 2.5692: 1.4793: 1.0004: 0.694

Z32 5MT:1: 3.2142: 1.9253: 1.3024: 1.0005: 0.752

Here's a nice tool for comparing gearing data:http://www.grimmjeeper.com/gears.htmlIt's a 4x4 calculator, so plug in a 1 in one of the transmission case ranges and leave the doubler fields (step 3) empty.