For the first couple thousand miles my speedometer and odometer were not calibrated correctly until i got the provisions to complete that.First off, HUGE props to my man JP (sishinthin on the forum) who did the vast majority of the swap for me... It was definitely a "right place at the right time" sort of thing, where I had money and he had the time and wanted to do the swap.. It will be 2 years ago in March. I know people have asked me how much this cost me, and lets just say that I'd be hard pressed to replace the AT for the price I paid, however as the saying goes "results not typical"..
Heres a picture of the Q I took in september when I changed my drivers side seat
The car has been ROCK solid reliable for these miles since the swap. Main reason for accelerating the swap is my AT was starting to bite the dust, mainly the torque converter.. I had to do something, and regardless the trans had to come out to be fixed, so I figured why not do this at the same time...
I am not sure how many people can say for a 17 year old car, that they would easily drive their car anywhere in the country, but I feel that way about mine. Granted, I have owned my car for 6 years and have maintained it very well, so mostly any time an issue arises, it at least gives you some warning. Just last year I did a 1900 mile round trip to Florida without ever hesitating.. Also, I put about 2000 miles a month on my car just on my daily commute. Needless to say, its a nice feeling to have a car you can put miles onto without feeling guilty about destroying resale value or wearing parts out..
Definitely something that very FEW people say when they own a 17 year old car that they would be willing to drive 500+ miles away, take their car for a weekend on a track, and drive it back home.. Outside of the last issue I had on the track with my OEM radiator, all the other track events Ive raced my Q in have been 100% rock solid..
Driving joy has been great. I know not everyone likes the "shift it yourself" mantra, but Im telling you a 5 speed trans really wakes this car up.. With the AT, I would really only be inclined to get that "rush" above 60, because below that it was a slug.. Now, I can give it a little extra RPM, let the clutch out and it takes off like a bat out of hell.. Its a great thing, because the car is very subdued when it needs to be tame, but its an animal when its time to get on it...
Probably one of the most notable things, which many of you guys will have a hard time swallowing is the fact of how much low end power the VH45 has.. I can easily say that the trans shifts less with the 5 speed than with the 5 speed. In 5th gear, I can be going 20MPH and the car does not buck, jerk or stall... Might seem insignificant, but this means that slowing down to take a turn, or turning off an onramp, I do not need to downshift..
Its a shame that more people haven't tried this, or that its not easier. I admit, that this kind of project to make this happen is not feasible for most people.. However, it is clearly possible, and it is clearly possible to make something that is daily driver reliable...
I also thought some of you would like to see my latest mod to the Q.. After being about 90% complete, I am finally about 5% closer to being COMPLETELY done with my 5 speed swap..
I had a round of 5 speed adapter plates made at my machine shop, and since they were open and I had the day off, I decided to let them tackle modifying the shifter in the car to fitting inside the stock OEM trim piece..
Overall I have to say they did a fantastic job.. Workmanship was great, and I would easily say that if I had tackled this myself they easily did a better job in much less time... On top of that, I ended up spending less money that I was anticipating..
Here is a picture before.. As you can see, the shifter sits way too low and not properly centered.. Overall it looks bad especially for a luxury car
here is a picture of the new shifter... What my machine shop did was weld a piece of stainless rod onto the existing shift rod and bend it into place.. Very simple and it works and looks great.
Here is a picture of the completed deal.. Sorry for the crappy pictures, but the idea is there...
As far as anything new I'll do, I will probably get away from the round aluminum shift knob and go to a standard leather shift knob like whats used in a Z32 300ZX or a 240sx..
Unfortunately the VH45 and VH41, despite being otherwise very similar, do not share the same bellhousing bolt pattern. I don't know how much it differs.
