After going through 3/4 transmissions due to broken shift forks, bad syncrhos, etc, I decident that since most of my time in the car is spent on the drag strip, its probably best that I go the automatic route. After alot of talks with Brett Dempsey at BDE (Brett Dempsey Engineering) we decided a reverse manual vavle body TH400 was the way to go. Brett has developed a conversion kit for the VG30 and the RB26.

The specs are as follow:

Built TH400 BDE RB26 Conversion KitJW Aluminum Transbrake w/Reverse Manual Valve BodyTCI Deep Aluminum PanPrecision 5000 stall converterB&M Composite X ShifterCustom OEM 1-piece driveshaftB&M Supercooler TH400 Kit

Now On to the install pics!

Current Engine Bay Setup



OEM Crossmember vs Modified OEM Crossmember



Autometer Mechanical Trans Temp gauge mounted to the Roll Cage



Composite X Shifter



B&M Super Cooler TH400 kit from Jegs



ARP 7MGTE Flywheel Bolts (same pattern as 300ZX/RB26)



Here's the old 5spd, had a pretty decent grind in 4th.....getting ready to come out



A good friend allowed me to use his garage which had a really nice lift and trans jack





A closer look at the tranny & conversion. The bell housing is a modified RB26 automatic bell housing



Here's the difference between the OEM flywheel bolts and the ARP bolts



The OEM bolts stuck out too far, sine the flexplate is thinner than the flywheel



This may be hard to tell, but the RB26 has a dowel pin for alignment of the flywheel. This had to be removed



Trans on its way in





Here you can see the precision converter



The trans went in super easy. The crossmember is mounted to an OEM TH400 tranny mount





Getting the 5spd stuff out of the way



Shifter contents



I made my own custom shifter mounting plate using some moderatly thin aluminum. I Just traced the bolt pattern of the 5spd brakect, and cut out, and drilled the bolt holes for this. I then had to drill a large hole in the tunnel for the shifter cable to pass through



Shifter is in, and interior returned in to place



A final look at the interior



Here's the shifter cable routing



I had to custom make the SS lines for the oil cooler



I mounted the oil cooler in the passenger side fenderwell of the car



Here's some pictures of the driveshaft. Its a Z1 1-piece driveshaft for a VG30 application, shortened 1-1/2" I also had to have a 1350 style u-joint installed (Z1 uses a 1310 style) and a 1350 yoke was installed as well. It cost around 100 bucks for the driveshaft shop to do.





Heres the driveshaft engagement. It has a few inches of engagement onto the tail shaft.



I have been driving the car around for a week now, and it absolutley RIPS! The car feels like a totally new animal, and since the car is manually shifted, its just as much fun to drive on the street as the 5spd was. I need to tweak the tune on the car, I think because of the heat, its getting to much fuel (its been adjusted for how cold it has been here lately) so I am getting a little sputter in high rpms because its so rich (10.0 or worse!)

The car is entirely streetable still, even with the 5k stall, the car starts to creep forwards when I let off the brake pedal, and its moving at around 1500rpms.

I am really hoping for some low-mid 10's on pump gas with this setup

Thanks for looking!

bad *** man, as always very nice.

Carl H wrote:bad *** man, as always very nice.

+1 super sick!!!!

Carl H wrote:bad *** man, as always very nice.

2nd that

over the years i've watched you build hands down the best Z i have ever seen. great job man.

That is totally sick..I love it man...

looking nice!

wow that is really nice. i bet the car MOVES now

damn that garage looks nice! is that built into the house? sweetness

and your swap looks great too.

krayton wrote:damn that garage looks nice! is that built into the house? sweetness

and your swap looks great too.

Ya, he started out with a 2-car garage, then built another 2 car-deep beside it......

Very nice! How high will boost be at the line now that you can run a trans brake ? Should be insane! Nice job.

cdorhout wrote:Very nice! How high will boost be at the line now that you can run a trans brake ? Should be insane! Nice job.

I run 18-19 psi on pump gas......so right there

How much does thatthing weigh?? I am not a weight savings kind of guy but I am a "hey ship one of those to Japan" kind of guy.

Why not do a rb25 auto with Level 10 insides and an aftermarket tcu. I would think that would be a cheaper route if in Japan. Nothing against the TH400, they're bullet proof, but shipping and parts availability would suck.

please get us some vids of the driveablility!

jdmser wrote:Why not do a rb25 auto with Level 10 insides and an aftermarket tcu. I would think that would be a cheaper route if in Japan. Nothing against the TH400, they're bullet proof, but shipping and parts availability would suck.

Tell me how parts availability on a transmission thats been in GM vehicles for over 20 years would suck? lol

I bought the stock rear trans mount for 6 dollars at autozone......nissan trans mount = 80 bucks

I dont know if you're thinking i'm located in japan, but I live in Illinois.....

I didnt have to ship anything. I bought the trans used and in need of a rebuild from a friend for 100 dollars, transported the trans 10 miles down the road to my builder, and had it back a week later.....and if i ever have any probs, he's right here.......

CursedGTR wrote:How much does thatthing weigh?? I am not a weight savings kind of guy but I am a "hey ship one of those to Japan" kind of guy.

Last time I weighed the car it was 3600 pounds but that was years ago, i havent weighed it since the RB26 swap, roll cage, etc

Booztd 3 wrote:
Tell me how parts availability on a transmission thats been in GM vehicles for over 20 years would suck? lol

I bought the stock rear trans mount for 6 dollars at autozone......nissan trans mount = 80 bucks

I dont know if you're thinking i'm located in japan, but I live in Illinois.....

I didnt have to ship anything. I bought the trans used and in need of a rebuild from a friend for 100 dollars, transported the trans 10 miles down the road to my builder, and had it back a week later.....and if i ever have any probs, he's right here.......

I think he was speaking to CursedGTR who, last I checked, is actually in Japan. Shipping a TH400 over there would not be cheap. I think he's suggesting that CursedGTR find an RB25 auto tranny and start there instead.

My $0.02...BTW, your car is tits! I've been watching your build since the early stages and I appreciate your detailed write-ups, especially the RB25 --> VG tranny housing swap.

I was replying to CursedGTR who is in Japan. I would imagine they don't have quite as many TH400s as we do.

Gorgeous car and thats a hell of a garage... Where in Illinois are you from? I'm from the O'hare area. Im finishing up my rb25 swap coupe and the sr i had is going in a hatchback soon.

jdmser wrote:I was replying to CursedGTR who is in Japan. I would imagine they don't have quite as many TH400s as we do.

Yes, that makes alot more sense, lol

Thanks for the clarification

Mistaken wrote:Gorgeous car and thats a hell of a garage... Where in Illinois are you from? I'm from the O'hare area. Im finishing up my rb25 swap coupe and the sr i had is going in a hatchback soon.

Peoria is a few hours south of chicago, and 3 hours north of st louis....

My car will eventually end up in the United states and shipping is not really all that expensive in comparison to the Dog Missions and the like, that I have been looking at. Things like RB25 guts and upgrades for the auto's are not that readily available as compared to being able to order rebuild parts from the states witha tried and proven application once I get the initial tranny over here. To me, this just seems liek a kick *** and affordable solution to a problem I am going to face here in the short time.

I apologize for the temporary thread jack. I will post an update of my car shortly so I can get the flaming and the why's and how's over there .

Andy, saw u talking about this else where, but sounds like a complete monster.

Good stuff. I'll hit you up later.

Wow nice writeup Andy! I can't wait to see vids of this thing at the strip without breaking shift forks

My goal this week is to get the nitrous stuff wired up, and the line-lock installed.

We have the track rented for the 14th, so I need to get my *** in gear.

*crosses fingers for 10 second pass*

Beautiful Z!

Andy,

Again, it looks beautiful. and your buddy has a very clean looking garage. I hope to see you at some of the CICE meets, provided I can actually get to one.. heh.

can i get some more information on the BDE RB26 Conversion Kit, just wondering if i could go this rought with my rb25

I know this is old.........im with matafied. More info on the auto rb26 bellhousing and conversion kit??