We sourced our CD00A transmission from Fontana Nissan, located in Fontana, California. These guys have supported the Southern California car community for decades and even fielded a competitive Unlimited-class Nissan 350Z in Time Attack competition. I actually had many races against them while piloting the FXMD Time Attack NSX. They were great to work with and had a few of these transmissions in stock.
The 6-speed Nissan CD009/A is substantially larger in every dimension compared to the FD RX-7s original 5-speed transmission.
The height of the gearbox is taller than the stock transmission
The bellhousing and shift linkage make the CD009 a longer gearbox. An aftermarket shift kit is required to move the shift lever to the original position.
The center of the transmission case is nearly 50% wider, housing a gear set that can handle well over twice the power of the stock transmission.
CD009/CD00A Adapter Kit
Fisch Racing Tech started in 2019 and are based out of British Columbia, Canada. They specialize in Nissan CD009/CD00A adapter systems for a variety of platforms from the Supra’s JZ, to the V8 Toyota UZ, Chevrolet LS, the Honda K series, and of course rotaries. Fisch develops everything in-house utilizing 3D scanning, CAD, 3D printing, and CNC machining to design and produce their transmission swap kits from bellhousings to flywheels, transmission brackets to everything needed to swap this transmission into a car. Between these engine platforms, Fisch has put hundreds of CD009/CD00A transmissions in cars. Their customers are everything from drift cars, to road racers, drag racers, and street cars.
The ROTARY to CD009/CD00A Adapter System comes with a custom cast bell housing that bolts to the front of the transmission (after cutting off the factory bellhousing), a Tilton HRB Hydraulic Release Bearing pre-installed with Goodridge lines and pass-through fittings, a custom lightweight Billet Chromoly Flywheel (in either a single or multi-disc layouts), a transmission mount bushing, spacers, seals, and all necessary hardware. We ordered their aluminum RX7 FD Transmission Crossmember to make the installation truly bolt-in.
7 comments
All of the CD009 conversions, I’m a little bothered that the replacement bellhousing bolts to the relatively small bolts intended for that cover. Obviously it works, I can’t think of a better way that’s not a lot more work and cost, it’s done a lot, it’s not actually a problem, but it just bothers me a little.
Nice to see the thoroughness of the upgrades – some of the other transmission options would mean the stock final drive ratios would be less than optimal, but that problem’s taken care of too.
There are (11) M8 Bolts that hold on the front cover, and (now) attach the Fisch Racing Bellhousing adapter. These bolts are also close to the very outer diameter of the transmission. Fisch has numerous 1,000hp drag and drift cars that use this adapter design on various RX-7s, Supras, IS300s, LS engines and K-series engines. Based on the success of their extensive testing and customer base, there should be no reservations of this tried and true design.
I know that any other solution would be a much larger casting, with a lot more post-casting machining and a lot more work to install. I know the design Fisch Racing came up with works and is well executed. I just wish there were a way to do it that fed torque loads into the case how it was originally designed; I’m really annoyed that design trends have gone away from separate bellhousings.
I suppose you could weld the bellhousing to the case if you really wanted to make it permanent.
If I were in charge of things, someone would make a front casing for the CD009/etc that had a T56/Magnum bolt face.
I’m not though.
Your builds are always thorough and exciting. I can’t wait for the next installment!
I’ve never had the privilege to drive any of the mentioned transmissions above. Are any of them smooth like S2k or Miata 6spd? I have a 05 STi 6spd in my 00 2.5 RS and while its wonderful, I still find it awkward to shift super fast. Its not a skill issue on my part (at least in my opinion), because I was still able to do some 90s style drag shifts in a low mileage FK8 CTR.