Shern's W58 to R154 swap thread
#76
Lexus Test Driver
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Meangreen1
Those are my shifters not Shern's. We ran both, we didn't like the throw of the goose neck and the JDM extension, so repalced it with an extension we fabricated. Keep in mind the goose neck is a bent Supra stick not the JDM goose neck. The problem is the gooseneck is an attempt to align the stick with the opening in the Lexus making for a long an awkward throw (good chance of hitting the cup holder in 5th as I recall). The extension works great.
Those are my shifters not Shern's. We ran both, we didn't like the throw of the goose neck and the JDM extension, so repalced it with an extension we fabricated. Keep in mind the goose neck is a bent Supra stick not the JDM goose neck. The problem is the gooseneck is an attempt to align the stick with the opening in the Lexus making for a long an awkward throw (good chance of hitting the cup holder in 5th as I recall). The extension works great.
#77
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Shifter Extension
We added 5 inches to the stock housing which was about perfect. You can see where I cut it to preserve the shape for the shifter ball. If you put a little extra depth in the housing under the ball you can extend the stick below the ball to make it a short shifter. I only had room to add 1/4 inch, 1/2 inch would be good. Just tack the extra length to extend the metal shift linkage until you are sure the length is correct as location is critical. Pictures show an after market short shifter with the extra length below the ball and the one we fabricated - an 8 inch above the ball straight stick is nice.
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JDM 154 Mount
#79
Lexus Test Driver
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The dealer can't order it unless they have a JDM contact. I used a JDM supplier in Canada. It was hard identifying the right part as they use generic diagrams and the writing is in Japanese but it worked. My supplier had to do a lot of research http://www.mustang.bc.ca/
(it's in the last post)
http://www.supraforums.com/forum/sho...0-parts-quote&
Then there's always the site named after the abbreviation for 'toyota' and 'do it yourself' dot com, aaaaaaaand this is what happens if you try to post link directly in a thread, so replace the asterisks with the aformentioned:
http://www.*******.com/parts/p_J_199...CMVZ_1107.html
and there's this
http://www.supraforums.com/forum/sho...reference-Only
#80
Lexus Test Driver
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We added 5 inches to the stock housing which was about perfect. You can see where I cut it to preserve the shape for the shifter ball. If you put a little extra depth in the housing under the ball you can extend the stick below the ball to make it a short shifter. I only had room to add 1/4 inch, 1/2 inch would be good. Just tack the extra length to extend the metal shift linkage until you are sure the length is correct as location is critical. Pictures show an after market short shifter with the extra length below the ball and the one we fabricated - an 8 inch above the ball straight stick is nice.
As far as the linkage how, what's the length. It needs to be perfect.
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Linkage Length
Just another thought, I would make the aluminum extension a little deeper next time as it would make it easier to fit it over the linkage for the install. Keep the extension in line with the original shift cover as it keeps the whole thing nicely below the tunnel.
Last edited by LP1; 02-22-11 at 05:53 PM.
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#88
^^ There was a company on eBay that was selling the OEM R154 Soarer extension housing and matching shift arm for a good two years. I don't know if stock has run out on that or not but as far back as 2009 or at least 2012 Toyota had put a stop sale order on the those parts for any Toyota dealers outside of Japan. So an importer was the only way to obtain it. That's how I got mine after hitting a dead end trying to order them from within the USA.
IF Toyota still has stock then they can be obtained. Just not through normal channels.
Or you can have your MKIII internal arm and shifter housing modified and welded to simulate the same length. It's HIGHLY recommended that you have this done on a jig at a shop that has done this before. Driftmotion offers this as a service but they tend to want to make it a 4" or so extension whereas the OEM housing matches the length that Shern posted earlier in this thread.
If you have a factory 92-94 5-speed manual SC, the OEM Soarer length is ideal because the shifter location will be right where the W58 shifter was. And your dust gaskets and seals can be reused just as with the W58.
For 95-97 factory 5-speeds that came with a tripod W58, the shifter location is further back and the OEM Soarer extension (or one that simulates the length) is not ideal.
For any automatic, it's really whatever solution you want to go with as there is no factory original location the Soarer extension corresponds to right on the tunnel.
Also, to reiterate, OEM Soarer extensions can use the OEM SC300 5-speed "swan" shifter or an SupraSport V3 "swan" short shifter. Aftermarket 4" extensions would use an aftermarket straight shifter.
IF Toyota still has stock then they can be obtained. Just not through normal channels.
Or you can have your MKIII internal arm and shifter housing modified and welded to simulate the same length. It's HIGHLY recommended that you have this done on a jig at a shop that has done this before. Driftmotion offers this as a service but they tend to want to make it a 4" or so extension whereas the OEM housing matches the length that Shern posted earlier in this thread.
If you have a factory 92-94 5-speed manual SC, the OEM Soarer length is ideal because the shifter location will be right where the W58 shifter was. And your dust gaskets and seals can be reused just as with the W58.
For 95-97 factory 5-speeds that came with a tripod W58, the shifter location is further back and the OEM Soarer extension (or one that simulates the length) is not ideal.
For any automatic, it's really whatever solution you want to go with as there is no factory original location the Soarer extension corresponds to right on the tunnel.
Also, to reiterate, OEM Soarer extensions can use the OEM SC300 5-speed "swan" shifter or an SupraSport V3 "swan" short shifter. Aftermarket 4" extensions would use an aftermarket straight shifter.
Last edited by KahnBB6; 08-30-15 at 03:46 PM.
#89
Pole Position
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^^ There was a company on eBay that was selling the OEM R154 Soarer extension housing and matching shift arm for a good two years. I don't know if stock has run out on that or not but as far back as 2009 or at least 2012 Toyota had put a stop sale order on the those parts for any Toyota dealers outside of Japan. So an importer was the only way to obtain it. That's how I got mine after hitting a dead end trying to order them from within the USA.
I've sourced a number of decently priced mkIII r154's and have managed to source the bellhousing, flywheel from a 1jz, assuming the same. Now just making sure I can source whatever hard to find parts are needed before jumping in above what I can handle. My clutch on the w58 is wearing out, and instead of replacing it, I figured if I could swap at a reasonable price then I would be much happier in the long run. This time of year it seems tons of people are giving up on projects for the winter and listing them at a reasonable price.
#90
Since you have a 1996 5-speed, you have the "tripod" tunnel that all 95-97 SC3 Manuals and all 93-97 Supra NA 5-speeds have. So... in a perfect scenario you'd have a tripod R154 which would just bolt in.
But since you're converting an MKIII R154 you still will need to cut your 1996 tunnel anyway if you plan to use an *OEM Soarer* extension housing which puts the older style toploader shifter closer to the cigarette lighter area.
The alternative in this case would be sending Driftmotion your MKIII R154 shifter housing and the internal arm (you have to open the gearbox in order to do get to and remove it) and having them make you an extension housing of longer length than Toyota's Soarer housing. And at the same time, you won't need a "Swan" shifter. You'd use a Beech Performance shifter.
So again, you can use the Soarer housing and arm if you can find them. But you'll have to cut your tunnel to give them the right opening... or you could see if Lexus still carries the 92-94 SC3 5-speed trans tunnel (plus the gaskets and boots to seal it all up like factory) that you can swap in. That procedure would be the same as outlined in the V160 trans tunnel swap thread posted a couple of years back.
What I cannot say from any experience is how the two approaches to housing length differ in how they each affect shift feel. I've only ever tried it Toyota's way :/
The takeaway here is you CAN make either method work. And of course R154's, early or tripod, don't grow on trees so the decision has to make sense to you of which way you want to go.
But with an MKIII R154 (or 91-93 Soarer non-tripod R154) you cannot use your 1996 SC 5-speed shifter because the shift mechanisms are totally different on the top of the transmissions. The MKIII R154 uses the same shifters as early non-tripod W58's.
I've sourced a number of decently priced mkIII r154's and have managed to source the bellhousing, flywheel from a 1jz, assuming the same. Now just making sure I can source whatever hard to find parts are needed before jumping in above what I can handle. My clutch on the w58 is wearing out, and instead of replacing it, I figured if I could swap at a reasonable price then I would be much happier in the long run. This time of year it seems tons of people are giving up on projects for the winter and listing them at a reasonable price.
New OEM 1JZ-R154 flywheels seem to be available right now. Several aftermarket flywheels around too. I picked up a spare OEM recently just to have for a rainy day in the future.
You still need a Marlin Crawler mechanical to electronic VSS convertor. Easy to get. And I'd recommend a YellowBox V4 to use with it since they now make a PnP cable for that for Supra/SC's.
Many options for clutches, though look up the neutral safety switch bypass mod (aka start in neutral with no clutch depress to protect your crank) that 6-speed Supra guys use since the R154 has the same clutch movement as the V160.
Best bolt in driveshaft solution is one from an R154 Soarer front shaft but you can use an MKIII Supra Turbo 5-speed front shaft if you can't find a real one.
Other than that, look into internal upgrade parts from MC and DM. At the very least, beware of the factory 1st gear thrust washer and front bearing retainer plate. R154's are WAY stronger than W58's but those two areas are their flaws in the design under major torque. Those and the factory cast shift forks. That's why you can now upgrade to all billet shift forks.
Remember these transmissions are quite old now (a good 24 years or more for MKIII versions) unless you have a JDM tripod... which would still be old since the newest versions ever made were (I think) was last sold in some 2005-2006 JDM Chasers and Verossas.
The SS V3 short shifter is pretty much the only short shifter available if using a Soarer OEM extension housing after all. But it's very good.
Hope this helps!
Last edited by KahnBB6; 09-15-15 at 06:29 PM.