Interesting fact I learned about 5-spd transmission swap for I30 owners

[rxm6]

I've been playing hell trying to find a 5-spd for my 98' I30 and so finally I found this place in Florida ( http://www.transpowerfactory.com ) who will track down the transmission you need and ship it to you. The guy priced me out at $700 to $1300 depending on if it's rebuilt by them or just taken from a car and shipped. But I asked him about maybe finding a Maxima 5-spd because it is essentially the same car. He told me that even though the Maxima and the I30 are identical mechanically, the axle from the Maxima 5-spd will not match up with the I30 differential. The axle's are off just enough to not allow a swap between the two cars. Maybe some of you already knew this, but I've never heard or read anything about this until I called the Power Factory. I was always under the impression that they were the same car except for the LSD in the I30. Well, I hope this helps any I30 owners out there.

[915max]

The only axle that is different is the driverside axle(because of the LSD). But the passenger one is the same.

You can find an I30 transmission a little cheaper than what they quoted you on car-parts.com

You can even go with the 00-01 Maxima transmission, which also has LSD, and use the same axles you currently have.

[A.Tech]

I thought it was the I30T that mainly had VLSD.

[915max]

I think the VLSD comes in some other I30's as well. I've heard that only the base models come with non locking differentials. I could be wrong though

[DjNikos]

i've been lookin for a transmission quite a while now. But im convinced that a valve body upgrade might satisfy me enough to save me some trouble and money.

thats interesting though, to think that maxima/i30 is now only 98% mechanically identical to the Maxima counterpart. -1% for the infiniti cover on the engine and -1% for the LSD which i was not even aware of until this thread. Thanks! lol

[jmasters]

What is LSD or VLSD as it pertains to the I30?

Justin

[maxhopper]

An explanation of LSD can be found here: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/differential4.htm, VLSD is explained further by #6 at the top of that page.

[callchrisusa]

i have recently swapped in a 97 maxima 5 speed into my 96 I30t...

first i found it on craigslist from colorado...

everything i needed from a rollover donor car...for about $500...including shipping...

i had some difficulty with bleeding the clutch master and figuring a way to route the hydrolic lines with ABS but i got the clutch to work eventually...

i forgot to install new axle seals in the transmission BEFORE i installed it which has made for some serious down time...it leaked right away on the passenger side...

so with difficulty i removed and replaced the seal with a new one...it still leaked...

thinking i needed a new axle i discovered that they are all the same length besides abs and non abs basically the passenger side is the same...so i installed the new axle and it still leaked...

now if the new seal got damaged somehow during installation maybe...i am going to find out after i reinstall another new seal with the new axle...crossing my fingers it works...

still trying to figure out where the neutral parking wires are to bypass to get the car to start...color coded wires and no schmatic...

installed new eibach prokit springs and looking for 18 tires for konig imagine wheels i picked up...

anxiously working on getting this thing on the road... any tips or advice about bypassing the neutral safety wires and installing the passenger side seal would be great!!! thanks...

[callchrisusa]

the only other alternative to my leaking passenger side axle i have found is that if my transmission is a locking or LSD then the part number for the axle is different which may be the reason why its still leaking since i am using the axle from a non locking which is the same for both manual and automatics...how do i determine if i have a locking or VLSD or non locking 5 speed? my next step is to just go buy the locking 5 speed axle and see if that works...

oh yeah the guy i bought the car from cut all the wiring to the lights...so now i have to find a local yard with good wires and cut and splice...what fun...

[915max]

The passengr side axle is the same(whether its LSD or non locking differential). There might be somthing else going on with the axles or seals.

Sorry to hear about the lights... good luck with that.