Project SC300 Road Racer: Part 18 – We have transmission!
Tilton OT Clutch Cover and Discs Stack
That’s a sexy pile of discs.

You can also see the QA sticker on the clutch cover. Every Tilton clutch assembly is hand-inspected and measured for quality. Just about all of their components are.

 

Tilton OT Racing Clutch Test Fitted on 2JZ Flywheel on Engine
Yet again, using the supplied hardware, everything is assembled and double checked and then torqued in stages.

 

Quicktime 2JZ T56 Bellhousing on Bench
At this point, it was time to install the Quicktime 2JZ-T56 bellhousing. Here you can see the SFI certification sticker and the unit serial number.

We decided that it would be easier to install the bellhousing and then the transmission, as opposed to the trans and the bellhousing together. There were two reasons for this. First, the T56 and bellhousing together are HEAVY. Like seriously heavy. Like two or three people to lift it heavy. And, secondly, some of the bell-to-engine bolts are a real pain in the ass to get to. Trying to attach the bell to the engine with the trans on would be a real nightmare.

 

SC300 Tunnel Clearanceing with Hammer
The bellhousing is going to come really close to the tunnel on the SC300.

We tried to apply a little coercive suggestions to the tunnel with a tool. Unfortunately the clearance is needed right on a seam which makes it really, really hard to move. At this point I was wondering just how bolt-in this whole affair was going to be. Grannas had designed the swap on a late-model JZZ30 auto. Was the tunnel that different? Would Dammit strike again? Check in next time to find out.

Grannas Racing

Tilton Engineering

Quick Time

L2 Motorsports

jZilla Track Days

 

9 comments

  1. I T56 swapped my JZZ30 about 5 years ago. Definitely a far better option than going the R154 route as some parts for them are becoming almost impossible to get. Plus the option of going dog engagement down the track.
    I used the factory auto bell housing with an adaptor plate. Gearbox is tight, but just fits in the tunnel. I think from memory an obsolete bracket or 2 needs cutting off. And It can be removed and installed as a complete unit. It just requires a few wobble drive extensions.

  2. i would recommend that you loosen the motor mounts, and let the engine ’tilt back’, possibly by hanging a weight from it…then you can get to all the transmission bolts with the aforementioned wobble extensions…i’ve had 2 or 3 feet of wobble extensions, to reach the bolts, which looks ridiculous, but it works.

    1. When doing transmission work on RWD imports:
      Step 1 — obtain every 3/8″ extension in the universe
      Step 2 — obtain several wobbles
      Step 3 — assemble all extensions and wobbles
      Step 4 — stand four feet behind the car
      Step 5 — tighten that one bolt on top of the transmission

      🙂

  3. The V160 would never have to be changed as the aftermarket could easily offer replacement parts including gearing but between the race to the bottom price mentality of the bulk of buyers and the upper-side greed of potential manufacturers it’ll die one of the best high power manuals that ever was!

    1. Shawn, you sound frustrated that I’ve chosen the T56 as opposed to the V160. Is that accurate? Or are you frustrated that there isn’t better aftermarket support for the V160?

  4. Not frustrated at your choice more frustrated at my choices. You know my car from LI, we don’t live far from each other. Keeping myself on the DL 😉

    Would prefer V160 all day long but its a hose fest. Glad to see this option but its got to be plug and play. Was originally thinking the late Z unit but the info you’ve provided concerns me with the lack of plug and play for it.

    1. If you have a V160 equipped JZA80 then Grannas’ kits are going to bolt in with no issues. I have an early manual JZZ30/SC300, so there was some question about whether or not the trans tunnel was the same as the later year autos. You’ll see in the coming segments that in the end it wasn’t super difficult to make everything work on my JZZ30.

      1. Good to know as a fallback!

        Since V160 parts are still available, albeit rarer, I’m going to have mine rebuild. If all goes well on disassembly it should only need a 3rd gear syncho. Will have all the other weak items replaced with a complete REM polish of all components.

        Thank Erik 🙂

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