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Unfortunately I've never seen either version of an R154 in person so while I don't have any measurements or dimensions of my own to provide, I know the bolt pattern for the shift housing is identical to the tripod-style JDM R154 Soarer. The tailshaft area in general looks very similar to the tripod-style shifter (minus the actual tripod apparatus itself, obviously).
The inside of the Verossa shift housing looks like this:
There is a linkage bar with a "female" shift lever/receiver. In one of my responses above, I showed a picture of the linkage piece inside the tailshaft on the R150 and it is also a "female" shift lever piece. The main shaft in the Verossa R154 tailshaft has a "male" shift lever (#33252-22030) which completed the link from shifter to transmission. I ordered a 33252-22030 and it should arrive tomorrow. I will remove the tailshaft of the R150 and swap out the levers, then I'll be able to dry fit the Verossa shift housing and make sure everything lines up as it should/take measurements (I'll make sure to document). I was lucky enough to find an OEM Verossa shifter + **** on eBay, so I'm hoping as well that this lines me up right where the OEM '95 manual hole would be in the tunnel.
Yup, that pretty much sums it up ^^ let us know how it fits together once you get it back together.
You probably know but clean the tailshaft sealing surface once apart and use a good amount of sealant on it when putting back together.
Clutch pedal finally came in last week. Waiting on a clutch line (tried to find OEM, couldn't, went aftermarket) and once that gets in I'll start the swap.
Looks like a nice piece. I always convert to a -4 AN line for manual swaps with adapter fittings on the master/slave cylinders.
It's easier to route, looks tidier and will last a long time. I only reuse the oem lines if it was a 5spd car.. well cause they are already there.
Tried to remove the tailshaft and swap out the shift lever this weekend but one of the ten 14mm tailshaft housing bolts broke about an inch up from the bottom and I can't get the tailshaft off. Any advice?
This is the best tool I ever got for broken bolt heads, since I got this set I can now skip the mandatory 10 minutes of cursing in the garage after breaking a bolt head off and instead just grab this and I usually have it out in a minute or 2. you can get it on amazon for like under $40. I actually get excited when I use it now since it has not failed me yet, which is saying alot actually. IRWIN Screw Extractor/ Drill Bit Set, 10-Piece (11119)
They are left hand drill bits and extractors, so use it in reverse on the drill. 95% of the time, the drill bit will back out the broken bolt and you wont have to use the actual extractor.
Left hand drill bits will usually heat it up pretty good during the first few seconds of drilling so the corrosion will loosen up and they usually bite and back right out.
If you want to save some $ and time you can just get the right size left hand drill bit at a local store, that is what I use its so much easier than drilling out completely with a regular bit and wont mangle the threads. It has to be a quality bit though that wont dull, the Irwin is a good set to grab if you do alot of wrenching and nice to have around.
^^ I have used one of these Irwin reverse thread extractor kits myself and they’re very good. I’ve removed broken lower exhaust housing studs with this kit. Carefully select the right size that you’ll need for the broken bolt. It does make life a lot easier.
(The same style kit is often needed whenever you may need to change out your SC door lock actuators as one particular bolt holding the old factory actuator in tends to seize in there and may strip out which also requires this kind of extraction)
Nice, haven't run into the door lock actuator yet but good to know. I just used that kit 2 days ago for a tiny allen head bolt on my audi key that was all rounded off, came out no hesitation on the first try with the smallest drill bit in the kit.. didn't even really drill into it the teeth just dug in and backed it out lol.
Received today, can confirm that the bolt pattern is identical to the R150.
Is changing the 1-3 gearset on the R150 an option? I had 1-3 changed on my Skyline to a closer ratio, seems like changing to a longer ratio could be an option as well. It would've been awesome if this would fit on the MK3 Supra R154 but the idea of making a R150 into a reasonable replacement for the Tripod R154 is pretty exciting.
It is not an easy option, wont even go into that on here but check out the marlin crawler boards there are early and late styles and some stuff is swappable between early and early and late and late, but if you are not careful you end up with some very odd ratios.
I would call Marlin and ask (might take a while) if that is a must, but honestly if you have to have that then buying a soarer r154 or adapting a ar-5 are both much much easier, the soarer tripod r154 is just alot more expensive than the others but it is an oem drop in solution with about the best shift feel you will get out of these transmissions. the ar5 comes close but it is not technically a tripod shifter after the conversion, but it does have extra synchros over the r154 since it is a newer design and they are not super expensive yet (The LS swap guys have caught on so these may be getting more scarce).
I think with the right turbo and rear end ratio having a deep first gear is not actually that bad cause it will get you moving easier before the boost kicks in, but depending on the turbo you may not get usable boost in 1st. Really just depends on the setup, lots of ways to do it!
Since the '95 SC300 diff already has a deep ratio of 4.27, combining that with the deep gear ratios of the R150 would not be the most optimal setup, especially since I am going NA-T after the swap is complete. Instead of messing with the transmission internals, I opted to get a ring and pinion out of an SC430 (has a 3.26 ratio, easy to find) and an LSD out of an Aristo. That way I won't have the super odd ratios that Ali talked about.
That will work but your 2-5 will be spaced out, better for highway etc.. You could also consider the older sc400 diff at 3.92 they are easy to find and would help over the stock ratio without getting too wide. The 3.76 TT auto diff would be better but they are harder to find now and expensive. Not much option wise between the later sc400 3.26 and the tt auto 3.76 unfortunately.
QuickSC ran a R154 with the 3.26 if I remember right, he liked it but it is not for everyone. Either way tons of fun over an automatic
Apparently there is another ratio we can get but it takes more work: finding a 1989-1994(?) LS400 rear diff, dismantling it and removing the 3.615:1 ring and pinion and then grafting those into an SC/Soarer/MKIV/Aristo 200mm diff pumpkin. I've never seen this confirmed but I've considered finding one of those diffs just to try it and compare to the dimensions of the 4.272:1 ring and pinion I have in storage.
