Hi,
I searched on here and found a couple helpful posts about swapping out an automatic to a 5 speed, but any additional advice, info, tips, links etc. would be appreciated. I scored 2 93' NX 2000's for $1,400! They both run and drive. One (5-sp) is wrecked with front end damage, the other (AT) is an 80K miler survivor NX with stone cold AC and super clean interior. I was going to fix the front end of the 5 speed car with the parts from the automatic car, but darn it, can't bring myself to messing up this cream puff with only fault a crappy automatic that slips, so decided to convert the nicer of the two cars to a 5-speed and call it good. I have the convenience of looking at both cars, side by side, so hoping it is a pretty easy swap. Just hoping to get some feedback from someone who has "been there, done that..." Parts are a non-issue, as I have two complete cars....

Thanks!

Ok, well if you have above average mechanical skills, a decent set of tools, and about 15 hours of free time I have the knowledge. It's still fresh in my head. I did mine about a month ago and was worth it totally. Actually I'd give it a good 30 hours since you need to remove stuff from both cars. One thing I'm not to sure about is the difference in the pilot bushings on the auto and manual engines. I read a post that you need to grind down a lip on the auto crankshaft for the flywheel to fit, but please dont quote me because my engine came from a manual. I also noticed my car ran way better after the swap since i had manual sensors on my engine running on on an auto ecu. It's the IACV, TPS, and AAC that are different that I've heard of, but didn't really believe until my swap. I have bad compression and it's running better, lol. So, swap those 3 sensors from the manual.

You need the manual clutch/brake pedal setup. This is the fun part :) Clutch pedal removal is easy. Just a few simple bolts and slip the clutch cable off the notch up top the pedal. The brake pedal though requires removing the master cylinder completely, and slide the brake booster most of the way out since the brake pedal actually bolts to it with some really long bolts. The brake pedal won't slide out until you pull it back. Don't fight around not removing the master cyl. I did both times i did it and lost. After you get the brake pedals out its a simple reverse install.

For the clutch pedal you need the pedal, cable, that little piece the cable pops into on the engine side of the firewall, and the little clip on the frame that the cable snaps into. There is a black plastic plug in the bolt hole for this clip on the auto frame in the same spot. There is a spacer you must remove from the manual car for the clutch pedal to rest on. It is on the pedal side of the firewall, just tack welded on. A simple few bends with pliers breaks it free. It looks kinda like this O__#__O it's a crude example but the O's are the bolt holes for the pedal and the # is the tack welded tab. It's a little piece of formed sheet metal and located right behind the padding where the pedal bolts to.

Now for installing the pedal on the auto car took me 2-3 hrs. If either car has cruse control you need to remove to little cruise actuator that's tucked in the corner of the wheel well up top. It's directly above where the clutch cable comes through. To get this out take the front left tire off and remove the wheel well cover. If you look up you will see 3 10mm nuts holding it on. Now under the dash...If you remember the clutch pedal has 1 bolt going up and 2 studs through the firewall. That 1 bolt on the auto car is holding down a little green box about 3.5x5x0.75 inches. It has a big plug in the end with alot of wires, and what looks to be a mini speaker grill in it. After you unbolt it tuck it under the dash and tie wrap it to something. You need this box to be able to turn the key and to be able to remove it.

Drilling the 3 pedal holes aren't as hard as you may think, but takes time. I made a template from a piece of soda box to match the 3 holes. Use that little piece the cable pops into on the firewall to trace the template on. There is a little outline on the rubber padding that you should see in the shape of your template. Remove some of the padding right there so you can see the firewall. When done making the template get the pedal and loosely install it with the top bolt, then eyeball where the pedal studs go through the firewall. Don't use the exact spot the studs touch because when the holes are drilled and the pedal sits flush the location the holes need to be will actually shift up about 1/4 inch from where the studs touch. I found out the hard way, lol. So get your best eyeball guess and move your template 1/4 inch up for good measure. Its also really tight under there so this is mostly a on your back one handed task :( Two sided tape is your friend to hold that template in place. Once you get it where you need it don't let it move and mark the holes with a permanent marker. You can throw away the template now and begin drilling.

I used an electric drill to do this, not a battery drill. Unless you have a Dewalt or better you may run out of power. This must be done from under the dash. You will need a 5/16in drill bit for the stud holes, and a 3/4 or 7/8 hole saw for the big hole. Measure it to be sure, but go a lil bigger to give yourself some play. I actually used the 5/16 bit to do it all. If you do it this way just drill holes on the inside of the line of the big circle and connect the dots after to smooth it out. Once this is done test fit the pedal. Make sure to put that little spacer on the pedal and tighten it down using the top bolt. Study how it sits in relation to the brake pedal and push it down to make sure it travels straight. If it needs adjustment from here just ream the holes with your drill in which ever direction you need to go. When it's to your liking bolt it down. The little piece the cable pops into has that tilted nipple on it. This needs to face downward. From there just bolt down the bracket on the frame and slide the cable into place. You can pop the cable on the pedal hook with a little effort, but it's tight. Done finally.

To bypass the inhibit relay is easy. This it the safety device on all cars that makes it where you have to be in park/neutral(auto), or clutch pedal pressed in(manual) to start the car. I did it with out knowing when I swapped the engine in my auto car from a manual car. The manual sensors were throwing off my auto ecu and wouldn't let it start, so i clipped the hot wire from the ignition switch and ran a wire with a fuse straight to my starter solenoid. You can find the hot wire by having someone turning the key all the way and probing the solder joints with a volt meter. It may work correctly without doing this if you have the manual sensors and manual ecu though. I didn't at the time. You can just hook your neutral switch and reverse switch up to try it out before you start chopping wires. I have the FSM in PDF format that I can email you pages from that shows which switch is which on the manual trans, and the diagram of the auto switch plug you need to splice. You will need to clip pigtails from the manual harness trans plugs.

The brake pedal switches are easy to just plug in, but IDK whats up with the clutch pedal switches. I know 1 is for the inhibit relay, but the other i believe is to cut the cruise control off when depressed. Still don't have my cruise working, but I did notice a plug taped up in the auto harness right next to the clutch pedal. IDK if it's for either yet as I haven't tried it yet. So if you hook up your neutral switch right you can only start the car in neutral, but if you have cruise IDK bout that yet. You also can wire in the pedal switch if you wanted by running parallel wires spliced into the neutral switch to start in neutral or the pedal depressed, or just running the two wires from the auto switch harness straight to the pedal switch and eliminate neutral. Mine are bypassed all together using the way I did mine though. Sounds complicated but it's really simple.

There are two things you need to do as far as ECU's. First there is a small one down by where your left foot rests. This is the AT shift control. Remove the kick panel then unplug, unbolt, and trash it. It's no longer needed. Second the engine ecu is bolted down to the floor against the firewall below where the radio and stuff is. There are two 10mm bolts holding it down up front. You need to remove the kick panels from both sides to get to each bolt then slide the ecu out and remove the main harness plug. IIRC it's a 10mm also. When installing the new ecu don't tighten it down to much. There is a little orange tab that will start poking out when you get the ecu plug bolt tight enough. Stop tightening it when the tab sits flush.

The shifter swap is pretty straight forward. Nothing much really to explain. You need to separate the cat from the downpipe and let them hang. Then remove the heat shield below the shifter. 5 10mm bolts total on it. Where the auto cable punches through the floor at is held by two 10mm bolts also. To cover this hole up you can make a plate, or chop the auto cable in half to get the cover off then fill that cable hole on the plate with caulk and use it as is for the cover. Then there are 4 bolts on the shifter plate holding it down. The 2 up front must be removed from under the car with a 12mm. Same size for the rear 2 but they are up top. There is 1 10mm holding the auto cable to the shifter, and a few plugs to undo. Now pull the auto junk out and do a manual transplant.

You will also need the manual trans rear mount bracket, so the shifter will bolt to it. The left side manual trans mount bracket +mount is needed as well. The manual cross member with mounts and dog bone mount bracket of course. Also the manual axles must be used.
Everything else is simple like unbolting the trans from the engine and dropping it. I really suggest pulling the engine and trans together from the top to make life easier. I didn't and it was a major bad pitfna. The auto trans weighs 150 lbs or more, and I didn't have a trans jack. Plus lining the manual trans up to the engine is hard with or without the trans jack when the engine is still in the car. It seriously would have took only half the time if I pulled them both out at once. Because separating them without doing that is serious cramped up knuckle busting work. Plus changing the flywheel and brackets are hard to remove or install that way.

You will need to remove both axles anyway, so to do that first drain the fluid from both trannies. Then have someone hold the brake pedal to get the axle nuts loose. Remove the calipers, their brackets, rotors, and unbolt the struts from the hubs. At this point you can pull back and twist the hubs to pop the axles out. The right side axle also has 3 10mm bolts holding it to the carrier bracket on the rear of the engine block. Remove those 3 then it will pop out as well, but you may have to bang a lil on this one to get it out of the bracket. I suggest a lil WD40 or PB blaster to lend a hand. I think I covered everything that wasn't obvious and some things that were, but if you have any questions I didn't answer feel free to PM me and I will help to the best of my knowledge. Good luck man.

Hey NX_TC, did this help ya any man? If you have any more questions feel free to PM me.

tswii, I am speechless man! Thanks so much for the detailed info, I really appreciate it very much! Super helpful, I read every word. I will be sure to bump up the holes for the pedal and hopefully end up with less holes in the firewall, thanks to you! It is supposed to be -7 here tonight, so gonna wait till it warms up to start in. Keep you posted and will hit you up if I get stuck... Thanks again!

-Scott

Hey , just trying to help a brother out. Everyone always ignores or says to search, but there really isn't any detailed info on this subject (in 1 spot anyway) I searched for weeks and didn't really find much. Bits and pieces scattered about, incomplete, and inconclusive. I did get a lil direction from Miko, and some other members. But yeah, just hit me up when you need help, or need parts. I'll help ya best as I can.