Other than what GT-Ron wrote, there is a physical difference in an Auto car diff and the MT car diff...the MT diff is smaller - and the gears are desinged for the MT diff. SO - if you have an Auto car, you HAVE TO purchase the new diff and gears - the carrier is the same.

 

wow this really seems like a lot of work

 

MT owners have it easy - just a gear swap - and to make it happen faster, have it all pre-assembled and pay the core charges. The install of a pumpkin to pumpkin swap by qualified service people can be a less than 1 day job - and cost about $350.

Auto owners have to bite the bullet and pay more for the Diff as well. The work ends up being the same. The trick is setting up the gears properly by someone who is more than familiar with doing this.

Go pre-assembled and put all the doubt behind you.

 

ok so where do i start? i should contact a shop? any shop can do it?

 

I've come to the same conclusion. The ring & pinion bare-bones option has an attractive price, however, I'm pretty sure things will go much smoother with a pre-assembled unit.

To be sure I'm not missing anything (I have a 6MT): I'm accounting for the cost of the pre-assembled housing with OEM LSD, the cost of shipping (both to me and to return my stock pumpkin) and the cost of labor to install the pre-assembled pumpkin. Anything that I'm missing?

And does your cruise-control simply shut itself off if you try to use it or what? Just wondering what I should expect.

 

Yes and Yes ;-)

You'll want to purchase the assembled 3.9 OEM VLSD configuration for your 6MT, and then have the pumpkin's swapped out at local shop.

Say goodbye to your Cruise Control...

 

I would first get with BJ or JW (John Wright) at Wright's Tuning (A.K.A. 350EVO.COM) and properly price out your need. They will know and do everything - so you won't be left hanging. BJ is on hi noneymoon now, so wait until next week - likely around Tuesday or Wednesday.

Ask them for a referral to a shop in your area - if they have one. Otherwise - any decent Z/Infiniti shop can do the work. You can also ask transmission (they live with gears) shops - the guys that setup my gears are a transmission shop, but the installer is a Nissan/Toyota specialist.

Good luck and let me know how it goes...

 

Thanks.

 

Ditto^ ISMSolutions. You've single-handedly provided more info. on this mod than seems to be available elsewhere. Much appreciated.

My only conern is (with this being an '05) that I might have legitimate transmission problems later which are blamed on the swap. Either that, or if a new trans. gets installed by the dealer, I'm afraid I'll lose my gear swap. Does anybody know for certain if the dealer replaces the pumpkin or not when they replace the transmission under warranty?

 

^^ good question...

 

Transmission and differential - only linked by the u-joints and driveshaft. The only things that will cause the trans to go out are a bad harmonic balance in teh joints - or mis-use and abuse or plain simple failure due to use. The differential does not affect transmission life and is not part of a transmission swap. The differential only transfers the power given to it from the transmission to the wheels.

This should not be a concern - though dealers will blame whatever they want on a mod. ALSO REMEMBER - dealers have nothing to loose by replacing your transmission under warranty. They get paid the same either way. I have MANY friends at dealerships - if they rebuild or replace your transmission - they'll get $3,000 pluslabor for the effort - whether you pay or the warranty pays - you can get it done for 1/2 that, or less, at tranny shop - why would they let the sale go????

 

[QUOTE=GT-Ron]Ditto^ ISMSolutions. You've single-handedly provided more info. on this mod than seems to be available elsewhere. Much appreciated.

Thanks for the thanks! I have modded more than 20 of my own personal cars over 20 years of driving - so I have lots of experience. I also NEVER mod a car without every single bit of info on the mod. Gears are easy and the best result per dollar you can spend - and gear mods have been done for more than 50 years.

Glad to help where I can - I truly love this mod more than ANY OTHER MOD I have done, and as one person said recently - I have all the 'yummy stuff' on my car - only the best will do for me.

I love smokin' highly modded 350z's with manual transmissions - they can't believe I don't have NOS or FI....anmd I owe that to the gears!

 

Are you Auto or MT? A great compliment to the gears is the torque converter mod...really lights it all up for Auto's...

 

Can you elaborate on the torque converter? I was thinking of getting one from Level 10, but then I heard some bad things about them.