6-speed MKIV in a MKIII

NTRA08

TWINKY
Jun 10, 2008
530
0
0
36
Conroe, Texas
I was wondering if I would be able to put the 6 speed from the mkIV supras into my MKIII. With the 7M. Would I have to do some modifications to the bellhousing to get the shifter to line up right? All comments are welcome. Excfept for the old man. You know who I'm talking about. J/K
 

Bruno Molly

New Member
Apr 29, 2009
73
0
0
NC
I wouldn't know for sure but I think I read somewhere where the J series motors in the MK4's have a different bellhousing mounting locations than the M series motor. Anyone? Prolly different Flywheel, Pilot bearing....Anyone?
 

Athena

Rawr
Jun 22, 2009
154
0
0
Raleigh, NC
Yep, I asked about it. But for my defense, I was asking to swap it to a 2jz mkiii not 7m.
http://www.supramania.com/forums/showthread.php?119590-6-speed-to-MkIII-swap&p=1538011#post1538011

Keros;1537708 said:
Absalutely the #1 reason why I laugh at all these "ZOMG V160 in mah MkIII yoz!" posts.

If you do some research about the gear ratios in the V160/V161, you'll see that they are only suitable for a really low ratio diff, in the land of 3.2X, as Sawbladz mentioned. Any higher... like say, 3.73, like what is the lowest ratio, commonly available MkIII diff, and you'll swim gears more than you drive. Ontop of that, your top speed will be significantly lower and your highway milage will suffer. Furthermore, you may as well skip 3rd in the V160 because the ratios between 2nd, 3rd, and 4th are so close anyway... effectively making it a 5 speed.

Jawsgear made a 3.50 (I think) diff for the MkIII ages ago but as far as I know they aren't available anymore... unless you've REALLY got money.

If you want a 6 speed, a T56 is a MUCH better idea. It's geared very similair to an R154, but with an extra gear after 5th, making the T56 "double overdrive". It's ideal for a 7M which can lug around at 1200rpm without issues. The T56 wieghs about 130lbs and has a few weak spots... if you wanted to do it, get a trans out of a Viper or get a rebuilt unit from one of the many trans shops that rebuilds them.

I don't know what you'd do for a clutch and flywheel on a T56, but you'd be just as SOL with a V16X trans anyway, but atleast you'll have more money to spend making custom stuff because the trans isn't 5 grand. A rebuilt T56 is ~2500-3500 depending on the specs, and a used one is probably a grand. Also, there's adaptor plates kicking around for 7M to GM bellhousings, I'm sure success could be found adapting the two. For a 1JZ series motor with a T56, a 4.10 gear set would probably be a neccessity. The T56 also has a funky clutch arrangement, so you'd have to do some research and figure out how to adapt an existing clutch and flywheel onto a 7M, I'd imagine... probably cheaper than making a 7M flywheel and clutch work on a T56.

Just my 2 cents.

Edit: To actually put a T56 in a MkIII would be easy: custom driveshaft, BFH [Big F*cking Hammer] to pound the sh** out of the trans tunnel, a custom bent shifter, custom transmount, and all the adaptors and stuff mentioned previously. Piece of cake really...

The only reason I'd do it is to go over 200MPH and still get good gas milage. But those two concepts next to each other is rediculous anyway.


Conclusion, its not worth it. Go/Stay R154. It's what I'm going with.
 

Nippon-teku

New Member
Aug 9, 2009
106
0
0
Hollywood, FL
Go with the 1J o2 2J...the only mod yo have to do to make it fit is cut the shifter houing (the rod). Otherwise the shifter will be in your center counsel...
 

Keros

Canadian Bacon
Mar 16, 2007
825
0
0
Calgary
NTRA08;1542630 said:
I was thinking on cutting 7m bellhousing and the 2jz bellhousing and then mating the 7m onto the 2jz tranny.????

If you had the tools, knowledge and/or the money, it COULD be done. But with enough money anything could be done.

A small kink in this plan is that the V160/V161 doesn't have a bellhousingin the traditional sense. The bellhousing is part of the forward section of the transmission case, which I'm sure would make your task quite difficult. If someone REALLY wanted to do this, and I mean really wanted to, and was prepared to pay $8000 to go the whole distance, this is what I would think needs to get done:

Make an adapter plate that bolts the V160/1 onto the M bolt pattern, mating the trans directly to the block. Get a kick-ass clutch for a 2JZ and an aftermarket flywheel... but make sure that the flywheel manufacturer doesn't drill the flywheel bolt holes for a 2JZ, they need to do it for a 7M, which is a weird pattern (6 bolts {JZ is 8} with one bolt offset 15 degrees from the regular 60 degree spacing, if I recall correctly). Your adapter plate will have to be a specific width to accomodate the input shaft length on the V161, whatever that happens to be. Should the shaft be unexpectedly short, you're probably hootched because it won't sit properly in the pilot bearing, if at all. Speaking of pilot bearings, you'll probably need a custom one.

This arrangement will let you use a clutch intended for the V160/1 and give you only 1 (and a half) custom parts, the modified flywheel and adapter plate.

Then you have to pound the ever loving shit out of your trans tunnel to make the behemoth of a transmission fit into the MkIII chassis, have fun. The shifter linkage is WAY WAY further back than you'd expect, relative to an R154, so be prepared for some gimmicks to make that work. THEN you're likely to need a pretty retarded driveshaft as that I believe the V160/1 is significantly longer than an R series... so the D/S will be real short, and probably one piece.

But, now we're back to the gear ratio thing... so really, what was the point of going this far? The car will be balls to drive unless you somehow come up with a ton of coin for someone to make you a ring and pinion that will stuff into an 8" MkIII pumpkin that's 3.22ish (I don't even know if this is feasable or possible, but with enough money anything is possible). Or you could fab a MkIV subframe into a MkIII, it's been done twice that I know of and works pretty well... but costs an arm, leg, and a kidney (or if done on the cheap will come apart and you'll die horribly in a fireball). As a bonus, you'll get a BBK on the back end for free!

Or you could do what IJ did and put a custom pumpkin, like a Ford 9", in the MkIII subframe and select your gear ratio as you please.

There's a guy in Edmonton, Alberta that did the V161 swap into a MkIII with a 2JZ. His opinion of the finished product is that it's a novelty and was totally not worth the money he spent doing it
.

He regrets not going T56.​
 

NTRA08

TWINKY
Jun 10, 2008
530
0
0
36
Conroe, Texas
kamikazemkiii;1542904 said:
Call sean at titan and see if he will tell you how he did his, are you trying to stay 7m?

Yeah I want to stay with the 7M . I have all the tools machines and materials needed to do such a thing.
 

Nippon-teku

New Member
Aug 9, 2009
106
0
0
Hollywood, FL
If you want a 6-speed, why don't you go T56 tranny? They have kit already made for the 7MGTE...it would be alot less hassel & a whole lot cheaper. Just putting an option out there....the T56 is a 6-speed GM tranny and can take a beating...thing about it.
 

madsupra88

BoOoOoST
Sep 17, 2005
1,245
0
0
36
Detroit,MI
Keros;1542901 said:
If you had the tools, knowledge and/or the money, it COULD be done. But with enough money anything could be done.

A small kink in this plan is that the V160/V161 doesn't have a bellhousingin the traditional sense. The bellhousing is part of the forward section of the transmission case, which I'm sure would make your task quite difficult. If someone REALLY wanted to do this, and I mean really wanted to, and was prepared to pay $8000 to go the whole distance, this is what I would think needs to get done:

Make an adapter plate that bolts the V160/1 onto the M bolt pattern, mating the trans directly to the block. Get a kick-ass clutch for a 2JZ and an aftermarket flywheel... but make sure that the flywheel manufacturer doesn't drill the flywheel bolt holes for a 2JZ, they need to do it for a 7M, which is a weird pattern (6 bolts {JZ is 8} with one bolt offset 15 degrees from the regular 60 degree spacing, if I recall correctly). Your adapter plate will have to be a specific width to accomodate the input shaft length on the V161, whatever that happens to be. Should the shaft be unexpectedly short, you're probably hootched because it won't sit properly in the pilot bearing, if at all. Speaking of pilot bearings, you'll probably need a custom one.

This arrangement will let you use a clutch intended for the V160/1 and give you only 1 (and a half) custom parts, the modified flywheel and adapter plate.

Then you have to pound the ever loving shit out of your trans tunnel to make the behemoth of a transmission fit into the MkIII chassis, have fun. The shifter linkage is WAY WAY further back than you'd expect, relative to an R154, so be prepared for some gimmicks to make that work. THEN you're likely to need a pretty retarded driveshaft as that I believe the V160/1 is significantly longer than an R series... so the D/S will be real short, and probably one piece.

But, now we're back to the gear ratio thing... so really, what was the point of going this far? The car will be balls to drive unless you somehow come up with a ton of coin for someone to make you a ring and pinion that will stuff into an 8" MkIII pumpkin that's 3.22ish (I don't even know if this is feasable or possible, but with enough money anything is possible). Or you could fab a MkIV subframe into a MkIII, it's been done twice that I know of and works pretty well... but costs an arm, leg, and a kidney (or if done on the cheap will come apart and you'll die horribly in a fireball). As a bonus, you'll get a BBK on the back end for free!

Or you could do what IJ did and put a custom pumpkin, like a Ford 9", in the MkIII subframe and select your gear ratio as you please.

There's a guy in Edmonton, Alberta that did the V161 swap into a MkIII with a 2JZ. His opinion of the finished product is that it's a novelty and was totally not worth the money he spent doing it
.

He regrets not going T56.​


If you really think it would cost that much.... your out of your mind,​
 

NTRA08

TWINKY
Jun 10, 2008
530
0
0
36
Conroe, Texas
madsupra88;1543737 said:
If you really think it would cost that much.... your out of your mind,

^^^^ your right there. I never thought of of putting the gm 6-speed in. Does anyone know what the difference in gear ratios are. Better or worse than the r154
 

Nippon-teku

New Member
Aug 9, 2009
106
0
0
Hollywood, FL
NTRA08;1544426 said:
^^^^ your right there. I never thought of of putting the gm 6-speed in. Does anyone know what the difference in gear ratios are. Better or worse than the r154

It would be a lot better..Not sure what there are but my 1989 Pontiac Trans Am GTA has a 455 V8 with a 6-speed T-56, and its really nasty. I'm very scared to drive that car...that S*@t is raw America muscle. 852Hp to be exact, bult by my uncle & I before he died....trust me its crazy horse power and hard to control. Atleast the my MKiii I can expect and predict the boost, but my TransAm its right there. But to answer your question, you can't go wrong with the T-56. Research it...there are kits out there for the 7M.
 

IJ.

Grumpy Old Man
Mar 30, 2005
38,728
0
0
61
I come from a land down under
Nippon-teku;1544539 said:
It would be a lot better..Not sure what there are but my 1989 Pontiac Trans Am GTA has a 455 V8 with a 6-speed T-56, and its really nasty. I'm very scared to drive that car...that S*@t is raw America muscle. 852Hp to be exact, bult by my uncle & I before he died....trust me its crazy horse power and hard to control. Atleast the my MKiii I can expect and predict the boost, but my TransAm its right there. But to answer your question, you can't go wrong with the T-56. Research it...there are kits out there for the 7M.
tfatf-70charger-how01.jpg


sound familiar?
 

Nippon-teku

New Member
Aug 9, 2009
106
0
0
Hollywood, FL
Hell yea "Ij" That almost happen to me once...that's why i'm scared. I need a wheele bar...but its ok i'll send pic soon...have to go to the storage. Anyway I don't want to mess this guy's thread up, Go with the T-56 man...its awesome.