Instead of opening up the transmission, removing the shifter housing, cutting, adding metal, re-welding, and extending the entire tail of the R154 (MKIII)...

would it be possible to simply extend the shifter by a few inches? In comparison to my spare W58 transmission, the shifter on the R154 is only about a couple inches too forward. Why not just cut the shifter and make it more "swan necked", resulting in a properly positioned shifter? Would this significantly lengthen the shift throw, or have any negative effects? Seems like it should be ok IMO, but I may be wrong.

Any advantages / disadvantes in doing this? I know a real soarer r154 tranny would be sweet as hell- but we all know how rare these things are.

What do you guys think of simply extending the shifter? Any comments/suggestions would be appreciated. I'll take some pics of my transmission/shifter tonight and post them in this thread.

 

Yes, I believe that extending the shifter itself will lengthen the throw. The shifter pivots on a fixed point, just like a seesaw. If you extend the distance between the fulcrum and the end of your "seesaw", you also extend the distance the "seesaw" has to move for it to fully pivot. That being said, the early model soarers DO have an extremely swannecked shifter. So I guess if you don't mind the throw could get an early model soarer shifter, or even an early model soarer short shifter to compensate. But I don't really have first hand experience on the early model so I'm not 100% sure if you could just slap one into your MIII r154.

 

Makes sense.

If I shorten the actual height of the shifter, would it possibly compensate for the longer throw?

 

i was thinking of this as well. the length of the throw wouldn't change all that much, especially if u shorten it. it's more the angle in relation to the pivot point...going into first would require a bit of an push towards the ceiling of the car, and second requiring more of a downward push towards the tranny, if that makes any sense.

 

Yes.

It is all about the hypotenuse of the triangle that is important: the distance between the shift **** and where the shifter assembly enters the shifter housing. If you lengthen the base and decrease the height, you can keep the hypotenuse of the triangle the same while moving the shifter into a workable location for the car.

 

Blizzy, I remember you posting the part numbers for the early SC transmission shifter housing. Any idea where we can get it from?

blksc, did you get your driveshaft?

 

Yea, got it. Thanks- I left u a positive trader feedback rating on SupraForums too. Thanks

How much is that OEM piece (the shifter housing)? Is it available in the US, or do we have to order it from Japan?

 

he is referring to the swan neck shifter... actually buying the piece that makes the early soarer r154 different from the mk3 r154. The shifter has a much more exagerated bend in it compaired to the mk3. You can make one by removing the vibration isolator from the shifter and then heating + bending it then cool it using a water bath to reharden the material so it doesnt bend while slamming the gears. Then all you have to do is trim the vibration isolator to fit to the new bends... the free 99 shifter extension.

 

Will one of you please try this, with pics, and a write-up????

Im installing my r-154 as soon as I get caught up, at work.

 

You can get the shifter housing (33521-24040) and the shift control lever (33570-24010) from the JZZ30 Soarer via Carson Toyota for $76+shipping. There is a 3-4 week delay on the order of these parts since they are not a USDM part.

However, these parts alone will not fully convert the transmission from a MK3 R154 to an SC R154. You will need a more swan-necked shifter as well. I received my C's shifter straight from a retailer in Japan for $270 w/shipping. I was never quoted the price on the OEM shifter from the JZZ30 Soarer (33530-24030), but I imagine it is not light years away from the price of the C's.

Don't forget than the USDM MK3 trans is fitted with a bellhousing for an M engine whereas you will need a bellhousing for a JZ engine to mate the trans to an SC. Champion Toyota in Texas prides themselves on providing these bellhousings at the best price around. Their price of $300+shipping is very competitive.

That being said, I think a basic modification to the shifter itself should yield a positive result so long as strides are made to ensure structural integrity of the shifter. I am definitely interested to see what Allen comes up with to make his R154 work (not to mention my interest in the numbers he puts down when he can actually tune his car aggressively and up the boost).

Nevertheless, I am going the route of the C's shifter with the JZZ30 shifter housing. Once I receive the parts (they are still a week or two out), I will be sure to post a number of pictures in the thread dedicated to my build to benefit the community with as much factual information as possible.

 

I'll be taking care of doing this for Allen when we do the install. I'll take pictures of it on the way. So long as everything works out, I can do these for people if they want.

BTW: you don't lengthen the throw by any significant margin unless you lengthen the vertical distance from the fulcrum, since the shifter largely moves the forks in a for/aft motion.

I put together a shifter in a 65 shelby GT350 that had a 32" rod on a pivot shifter and the throw as less than 2".

Ian

 

Since you found that out, I don't see why someone would want to go through the bother of having to custom weld something up rather than just buying bolt-on parts.

 

I wish it was that simple

.. also, I don't wana wait a month to receive a part

 

+1. mine will be going in shortly too. and this would be sooooo much simpler.

 

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...=261873&page=2

So what's the distance from the end of the bell housing (where it mates to the block) to the middle of the shifter? R154? W58? I can't seem to find a definite answer as to what the correct length is supposed to be..

26.75"?
27.00"?
31.00"?
32.00"?

I'll measure my transmission tonight.. this way I could see how much of an extension is actually needed for the shifter to be in the correct location

Could anyone contribute some #'s?