# 5 speed transmission



## tedhrs (Dec 30, 2002)

I was curious as to whether or not there is a 5 speed tranny out there for my 88 sentra. I currently have the 4 speed manual and am tired of running high rpm's when doing 70 mph. Is it possible to mate a tranny up to it?


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## LoOoD (Jul 10, 2002)

I had a '87 5 speed so I sure there should be one. I was wondering the samething for a '89 sentra.. I miss my 5th gear. Would you also need to get an ecu from a 5-speed or does it not matter?


anyone ? ..


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## Crazy-Mart (Jul 14, 2002)

as long as you have the manual ecu i dont think it will matter that much....


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## Webfoot (Apr 24, 2003)

tedhrs said:


> *I was curious as to whether or not there is a 5 speed tranny out there for my 88 sentra. I currently have the 4 speed manual and am tired of running high rpm's when doing 70 mph. Is it possible to mate a tranny up to it? *


 Here is a shot of my tach in 5th @ 64mph Here  it is in 4th @ 53. What rpm does a 4 spd run at around these speeds?


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## BluEyes (Jun 21, 2003)

sux that you got a 4spd. Nissan really kept those around a long time. I used to work with a lady whose '92 had a 4spd manual! 
and, my g/f's '86 has a 5spd! 
On my g/f's car, the engine is turning 3K at 70mph. Part of that is probably the tires. The car is specced for 155SR14's, and is running 175/80-14's. A taller tire will reduce RPM's on the highway, but at the expense of acceleration... 
For reference, my g/f has a F30A trans. 

Webfoot - does your car have the F31A trans? I ask because we're likely going to end up with her parents B12. The car seems like it accelerates faster than the B11, despite having roughly the same power, and more weight. Seeing as your car turns more rpm's on the highway, it would seem like a lower gear ratio could explain this.


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## blownb310 (Jun 10, 2002)

BluEyes said:


> *
> Webfoot - does your car have the F31A trans? I ask because we're likely going to end up with her parents B12. The car seems like it accelerates faster than the B11, despite having roughly the same power, and more weight. Seeing as your car turns more rpm's on the highway, it would seem like a lower gear ratio could explain this. *


 ***** You are absolutely right. The B12's generally come with 3.89 to 1 final gears. The B11's [RS5F30A] transaxles used a 3.55 to 1 [diesels] most all sedans got 3.65's, and only the coupes got 3.89's. So your right, the B11 sedans didn't rev as much on the highway-and they all had five speeds to boot! It wasn't until the B12's ['88 & up]came out that Nissan cheaped out with a four speed on the inexpensive stripper standard model. The '87 B12's escaped this cheapness, and all had five speeds. 

The idea of putting taller tires on them is a good one. I had to do the same thing with my 4WD B12 wagon. Get this, the 4WD wagons got 4.47 to 1's from the factory! I'm at 4,000 rpms at 75 mph.


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## Webfoot (Apr 24, 2003)

Hell, I dunno what it is. 87 4dr w/5 gears. 
Tarnak says that I will know more about the drivetrain next time Murphy commes knockin...

PS thanks for the info blown


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## Red_Coupe (Mar 20, 2003)

hey I 'sell you my 5- spd out of a sport coupe? cheap.. lmno


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## fastpakr (Sep 18, 2002)

Blown, a long time ago you mentioned having a set of higher (numerically) gears that would work in the N12 5 speed trans. Do you still have those?


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## blownb310 (Jun 10, 2002)

fastpakr said:


> *Blown, a long time ago you mentioned having a set of higher (numerically) gears that would work in the N12 5 speed trans. Do you still have those? *


 ***** Yeah I sure do. They are 4.17 to 1's from the Motorsport catalog, for the B11/N12 [RS5F30A] transaxle. I bought two sets and one set is still in my B11 race car. I used them for rallycross and ice racing. I took out the stock 3.65's and put in the 4.17's and it really woke the thing up. The rpm drop between gears was less evident, and the car accellerated much better out of corners. It's sort of like a poor man's close ratio.  I'd sell the other set for $100. That's about 1/3 of what they cost new, if they're still available.


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## fastpakr (Sep 18, 2002)

How difficult is the installation/special tools required? I'm used to RWD where setting pre-load and lash and all that requires a decent bit of skill and tools. Do you have anything else 'interesting' laying around for an N12?


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## racingnismo (May 4, 2003)

Hey blownb310, I kinda have a pic just like yours.








Just hoped that I would not drop my camera out the window! LOL. Good fun. 

Oh yeah I am running 4,000 rpm at 75mph. It doesn't matter what size tire or wheel you got, because the RPM to wheel rotation is going to be the same all the time. Checking the gear ratio's in our user manuals in 4th and 5th gear would be interesting.

We used to have a Nissan Axxess (mini-van) predecesor to the quest, but anyways, it had a KA24 motor with a 5-speed manual tranny. The user manual had the exact same gear ratio from 1-4 gears as my car, then the 5th gear.


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## Mervic (May 1, 2002)

blownb310 said:


> *
> Get this, the 4WD wagons got 4.47 to 1's from the factory! I'm at 4,000 rpms at 75 mph.
> *


 Blown, when you say final drive ratio of 4.47 to 1, means 4.47 is number of engine revolution per 1 turn of tranny gear? If thats the case, its not a good thing on the highway, but better acceleration from dead stop and through corners? Also isn't your GA16DE has a much higher RPM limit than the E16 or the GA16i? So, even with high rpm at a given speed compare to other B12's, yours got a wider powerband. I believe that Nissan decided to use these gear ratios so that you can cruise on the highway @ speed limit, near or at the torque peak of the engine. Since the GA16i TQ peak is ([email protected])[email protected], GA16DE [email protected], E16i [email protected] and E16S [email protected] so I assume these numbers.


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## blownb310 (Jun 10, 2002)

fastpakr said:


> *How difficult is the installation/special tools required? I'm used to RWD where setting pre-load and lash and all that requires a decent bit of skill and tools. Do you have anything else 'interesting' laying around for an N12? *


 It's not the easiest operation to replace the ring and pinion in a Nissan transaxle. You'll need a gear puller setup to remove the tapered roller bearing on the end of the main shaft [pinion gear]. Have a new one on hand because you'll likely destroy the old one trying to remove it. You'll have to remove all of the gears and synchros from the old pinion and install them on the new one. If you've done any manual transmission work before, it'll be no problem. Once the shaft and differential are reassembled, you simply bolt it all together and torque the case down. Technically, the shop manual tells you to measure the clearance between the case halves and the input and main sfts bearings, yada yada yada, but I have never bothered doing that, and never had a problem. Nissan's machine work tolerances are so close, I've even swapped on other case halves and not had any clearance issues. I have sold a lot of my B11/N12 performance parts, but I do still have an extra set of Nismo engine mounts for the B11/N12 cars. They can be a bit of work to install too, as they have to be pressed into the original mount brackets. But alas, I have already done it, and these would come complety assembled with brackets, and ready to bolt on.


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## blownb310 (Jun 10, 2002)

racingnismo said:


> *Hey blownb310, I kinda have a pic just like yours.
> Just hoped that I would not drop my camera out the window! LOL. Good fun.
> *


 ***** Nice shot! I was hoping someone would like my picture. I held my camera out the window too. I took many of these shots before I got it right. I wanted the wheel to be blurred and had to go at least 50 mph to get that effect. I also wanted the double yellow line to show [missed it a few times]. It actually took me a while to get this pic to look the way it does. 











racingnismo said:


> *Oh yeah I am running 4,000 rpm at 75mph. It doesn't matter what size tire or wheel you got, because the RPM to wheel rotation is going to be the same all the time. Checking the gear ratio's in our user manuals in 4th and 5th gear would be interesting.*


 ***** That's true racingnismo, but if you have taller tires, you will be traveling _further_ for every rotation. So you're speedo will still say 75, but your actual speed will be slightly higher. In my car 4th is already an overdrive gear at .902 to 1, and 5th is taller yet at .756 to 1.


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## blownb310 (Jun 10, 2002)

Mervic said:


> *Blown, when you say final drive ratio of 4.47 to 1, means 4.47 is number of engine revolution per 1 turn of tranny gear? If thats the case, its not a good thing on the highway, but better acceleration from dead stop and through corners? Also isn't your GA16DE has a much higher RPM limit than the E16 or the GA16i? So, even with high rpm at a given speed compare to other B12's, yours got a wider powerband. I believe that Nissan decided to use these gear ratios so that you can cruise on the highway @ speed limit, near or at the torque peak of the engine. Since the GA16i TQ peak is ([email protected])[email protected], GA16DE [email protected], E16i [email protected] and E16S [email protected] so I assume these numbers. *


 ***** Yes, 4.47's would indicate 4.47 engine revs per wheel rotation. And yes, that's great for accelleration and not great for top speed. Don't forget that my GA16DE was not factory installed in my 4WD car, so the gearing has nothing to do with the 4,000 rpm torque peak. These cars were built at a time when the national speed limit was 55 mph.  My opinion is that Nissan had to put the steep 4.47 gears in the 4WD cars because the E16 [or GA16i for '89] engines are too weak to deal with the extra weight and drag of the 4WD equiptment. The 4WD wagons are almost 500 lbs. heavier than the 2WD B12's, but they didn't get more power to offset the weight. So by putting lower final drive gears in it, it could still feel peppy and better yet, be able to climb steep hills and pull out stuck 2WD motorists.


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## Crazy-Mart (Jul 14, 2002)

Hey blown !! Super nice pic!! look awsome !! i changed a couple time tranny in my car but i think i got one for speed... but still the 1st his going a bit over 50kmh at full rev... ill have to check further in the next few week as ill be putting time down on the track... but in 4th i know it gets way up to 160km/h... didnt test the 5th yet


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## BluEyes (Jun 21, 2003)

racingnismo said:


> *Oh yeah I am running 4,000 rpm at 75mph. It doesn't matter what size tire or wheel you got, because the RPM to wheel rotation is going to be the same all the time. *


ah, but it does. Yes, the RPM's at the driveshaft would be the same, BUT with a taller tire, each driveshaft revolution gets you farther down the road, so for a given speed you'd be turning fewer RPM with a taller tire. Basically, it's an easy way of changing gear ratio - shorter tire is like a lower gear, taller tire is like a higher gear. 

Oh, and the final drive is only one part of the gearing. 
First, you have the gear reduction within the tranny itself, this varys between each gear. First will give you really deep reduction, second a bit less, third even less, etc... Then, after the reduction from the trans gear, the final drive ratio reduces things further, but this is fixed and is applied to all gears. Total end reduction in first gear ends up pretty hefty, but that's to allow acceleration from a stop.


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