Jetspeed's VZV21 Manual Transaxle Conversion - A540E to E153

[JetspeedCamry]

Hey guys/gals,

Just thought to share this thread I made up a while ago regarding my E153 manual conversion. It's a bit old now, but still has some useful info and pictures for anyone interested in attempting it or something similar. Apologies if certain parts don’t make entire sense as it was written “on the fly” in a thread over a few weeks.

For those that don't know, the swap is from an A540E 4 Speed Auto to an E153 5 Speed Manual on a 2VZ-FE V6, 1988 Toyota Camry.

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Parts List-

- E153 5 Speed Transaxle [mine was the single syncro, long ratio box from a 1993 Camry V6]
- Flywheel from a 3VZFE or 1MZFE.
- A clutch to suit aforementioned flywheel.
- Clutch pedal and brake pedal assemblies from an SV21
- Clutch Master Cylinder from an SV21
- Shifter base/stick/assembly from an SV21
- Shifter cables from an SV21
- Clutch hardline from an SV21
- 20mm longer engine->transaxle bolts
- New flywheel bolts from Toyota
- Misc. other bolts/clips etc to be used during the process


Firstly, I removed allot of brackets and things that where in the way of easy access to the transmission. I removed the starter motor also.

* The starter motor used on the A540E bolts up perfectly to the E153. Not sure on flywheel engagement yet, as I haven’t got that far.

* To convert the brake pedal from the larger auto one to the smaller manual one, you do not have to remove the entire assembly!! Removal of just the arm is possible by removing the rod and R clip from the booster piston arm, and removing the nut and bolt running through the brake pedal arm.

[JetspeedCamry]

My clutch pedal and master cylinder are in and working!
This is not to be taken lightly!! As the process involved removing half the dashboard just to see where it had to go!!! After a long involved process of making sure the holes are correctly aligned, it all went together.

Some points to note.

* There was a cutout on the firewall - engine side - for the master cylinder. No holes where there however.
* There was a perforated section of insulation on the firewall - interior side - showing the general location of where the clutch pedal bracket had to go. Once again, no holes were predrilled.
* A few measurements had to be taken from reference points to allow good alignment. There are 3 bolts holes at the top of the dashboard where the pedal bracket can bolt. I have no idea why there are 3, perhaps for different designs of bracket. However in this case, I chose the middle hole, which was slightly elevated above the other two. By eye, this looked to be the correct position. Holes where marked through the bracket using a pencil. The larger hole for the master cylinder pushrod/rubber was cutout using a 32mm carbon cast metal hole saw. The other two where simply drilled out with 8mm drill bits. After a bit of "manipulation" it all went together well.
* The pedal arm is VERY difficult to get in AFTER you bolt the pedal box up. Best to attach the arm before you install the pedal box.
* The spring return can't be installed without the master cylinder being connected to the pedal arm. A bit of fiddling is required to get the clips on and off once everything’s bolted up.
* Driveshaft nut size, 30mm
* I'm using my VZV21 V6 drive shaft’s and CV's which are all from my A540E.

Some pics.

The clutch Master Cylinder bolted up to the firewall.


The clutch pedal in!


The general alignment of the three pedals.

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I found it is better to install the clutch pedal before the master cylinder, as it gives you access to the master cylinder and running the hardline across the firewall. The clutch pedal in my car was off an SV21, so same basic chassis. As I said before, there were 3 different alignment holes, which I assume where for three different types of bracket. I just used the one that aligned the best with the hole I made in the firewall for the master cylinder. Two of them where off by quite a bit, so it wasn't too difficult to see which one was going to fit. Getting the holes drilled properly was the hardest part, as I didn't particularly want a wonky clutch pedal! And even with the bottom of the dash out, it was still an effort on the arms to work in the tight space that Toyota provides.

My auto gearbox is now out! Flex-plate is off as well. The top mount has been customized to suit this gearbox and is ready to go back in. The front mount will bolt up with no drama at all! The rear mount will require part of it to be cut off and rewelded in a different spot, but the actual mount holes line up perfect. This thing wasn’t hard at all to get out, very simple. It might look big, but once its balanced on a jack, all is good. Just slid it out under the car.

There is a spigot 'indent' on the crank, which I later found out at Toyota, these don’t use a bearing so all is simple in that department!

[JetspeedCamry]

To make the E153 bolt up to the VZV21 chassis, minor changes to the mounts had to be made.
* The front mount remains unchanged, as it bolts up to holes on the tranny with no problem.
* The rear mount lines up with holes, on the mount only, but the support mount won't bolt up to the tranny, so this part had to be cut off, cut to size (approx 25mm shorter) and re-welded into the correct position.
* The existing top mount on the A540E auto is, 1) too big, and 2) the holes are mis-aligned. To correct this, a reference point was taken from the tranny/engine mating surfaces and taken back to the bolt holes. This allows you to see the difference in position of the holes from the A540E and E153. After doing this, you can see that the A540E holes are 26mm further back than the E153, which I’d assume is because the auto is a bit bigger. The existing holes in the plate where welded and smoothed out, and new holes, 26mm further forward where drilled. The front part of the A540E mount had to be cut off, as the part of the manual tranny fouls on it. So, if that made any sense, what you should have is a mount that will bolt up to the existing A540/VZV21 chassis top mount. There is a small part of the top mount that must be cut off (the part the corresponds to the piece that was cut off the bottom bracket).

The original front mount cleaned and painted.


The rear mount, where the support (the part sticking out) has been cut and shortened to suit the new box.


The top mount, bottom part. Original A540E on the left, modified one to suit E153 on the right.

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The next hurdle was the VSS (Vehicle Speed Sensor). The Gen 2 Camry uses a mechanical cable speedo drive. The E153 uses a VSS, which is an electronic version. Instead of a cable running from gearbox to gauge, it has a magnetic pickup on the back of the unit, which sends pulses to an electronic circuit. From the first looks, it would seem impossible to do this conversion from electronic to mechanical, however after a bit of tinkering, this is what I have.
The back of the VSS unit can be unscrewed. After removing the back part, there are a few o-rings and washers and rotating magnetic part connected to the gear shaft. After removing the magnetic part, you basically have just the gear shaft. To make it work with the cable, you simply cut the screwing part of the cable direction changer so it acts like a washer and sits flush inside the back of the VSS. You will then notice that it engages the gear shaft!!! The, simply add 3 washers to each screw and put the screws back into there holes so it holds the cable direction changer into the VSS housing! Bit tricky to write the process, but I hope it makes sense. The pics maybe a little clearer.

The completed VSS to Cable unit.


On the left, the old Cable speedo unit from the A540E. On the right, the VSS from the E153, adapted to suit a cable drive. Notice the gear size difference, the E153 uses a different ratio diff gear.

[JetspeedCamry]

This is my starter motor from the A540E. It fits the E153 perfectly, so I painted it, ready to go in.


This is my new flywheel, clutch and pressure plate. I needed to get a new set as the MR2 ones that I had, wouldn’t worked! The starter gear would’ve stripped, as it's different, and the clutch would’ve slipped as its 9", not 9.5" like the proper new one I have!
Flywheel is off a 3VZFE, standard. Clutch is an Exedy 5 puck sprung brass button disc. The pressure plate is Exedy.


Here are some pics of the old A540E tranny. Bit dirty!! haha.


If anyone's interested, pics of the engine without a gearbox/flexplate. First is the crank/back of the engine. Second is my rear extractor.

[JetspeedCamry]

Here is what's going in after I do the tranny. All polyurethane bushings. Front and rear. Should be awesome with these, as my rubber ones are getting tired.


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Well, the flywheel, clutch and pressure plate are in. New flywheel bolts where used, Loctite 263 High Strength Thread lock was applied to the threads. Bolts where done up to 88nm for the flywheel and 19nm for the pressure plate. All fit perfectly! A custom alignment tool was made however, using an old one they I had, and wrapping tape around the end of it so it fit into the crank!

Pics.





Manual tranny will go in tonight!
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The gearbox is in, and it fits perfectly! No problems at all getting it to line up. The main tranny/engine bolts that came off the auto don't work with the manual, as the casing is thicker, so new ones of approximately 20mm longer are required.

The custom mounts work great, and the alignment for the driveshafts seem spot on.

[JetspeedCamry]

The engine bay as it sits at the moment.


The next step, par the main engine bolts, is to get the shift cables done. The single cable for the auto went under the floor, just above the exhaust behind the cat converter. I put the two manual cables through this hole and they are too short to reach the gear shifter. So, the centre part of the dash, ECU and heater duct are going to have to come out so two holes can be drilled in the firewall for the cables. The 2 cables will then be routed above the steering rack and should give the extra distance required to hook them up. Then it's just a matter of getting it all back together. The crossmembers and sway bar are clean, and boy were they dirty!!!



I've also connected up the reverse wires to the original plug, so it looks neat.
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A hole was cut into the firewall to accommodate the shifter cables. It's very tricky to judge because it runs through the C channel on the firewall, which is 3 layers thick...so it took a bit of time. It all worked well though using a hole cutter. Care must be taken, as there are 2 pipes for the power steering that go from the rack and bend upwards, and the hole must be smack bang in the middle of it. A little bit out, and you'll cut right through the pipes! Fortunately, that didn’t happen and all went well. The whole mid section of the dash was removed for easy access, as was the ECU of course. The hole was plugged up with a rubber grommet that the cables run through, and then silicon around the whole lot adds that water proof seal. First shot, the cables reached and everything, but there was no 5th or Reverse gears. Originally thought it was a problem with the gearbox, which was a bit daunting. It turned out to be the bracket that holds the cables in place on the transmission was of the wrong offset for these cables (the bottom one at least). So the bracket was removed, the face cut off it, and 15mm removed from it. The face was re-welded back on, so now, the lower cable sits 15mm further back from the shifter arms on the tranny. It worked perfectly, and now engages all the gears. You can see with the 3VZ cables that they are a different design (thinner bosses) and don’t have this problem, mounting wise.

The clutch was bled, and gees does it have allot of free play. The clutch engagement on this is so low. It’s going to be very interesting to drive. I still think it needs a bit more of a bleed, but I’ll do that after everything working properly. The clutch line was a simple exercise of lightly bending it to get it to fit across the firewall, as for some reason, this line that wreckers gave me was different.

All the crossmembers are in and fit great, even better with the manual. No more big auto oil pan underneath! Very clean look.

The driveshafts also work perfect. They fit just like the auto ones, and of course, also fit the hubs perfect. So where in luck there!

[JetspeedCamry]

I've done the wiring for my battery nicely, done all the ground points on the transmission, neutral start has been bypassed with a loop wire, and reverse lights are hooked up...
All I have to do now is put the big hub nuts back on, put the braked back on, which involves 2 bolts each side, put the air box back on, and put the wheels on! I'll start the car on the jack stands and run it through the gears first, just to see if there’s any problems. If all goes well, ill take it off the stands and take it for a spin.

Some pics.

The engine bay.


The shifter cables/bracket.


The front mount, bolted up to the xmember.


The RH side driveshaft.


The LH driveshaft.


Underneath, showing the xmembers and tranny/engine.


The shifter, still without a boot.


The interior showing the pedals, shifter etc.


Another interior shot.


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So far, everything is going perfectly drivetrain wise. Not failures or problems with the swap. I have changed the clutch from the Exedy 5-puck sprung brass, to an Exedy Ceramic Heavy Duty clutch. Allot less grabby and nicer to drive.

Few little things to note regarding the swap in drivability:
- Starting wise. everything is perfect once the NSS is bridged.
- The car seems to drive with a little too much torque now. Very small amount of throttle is required to get the car moving and cruising, you’re almost OFF the throttle. Makes it a bit tricky to get around in traffic or control speed in a smooth way.
- The IDL switch in the throttle position sensor causes the car to dump fuel (normally ok since it's an auto usually), however, because the torque converter is no longer there, the drivetrain is still connected when the clutch is still engaged. causing the engine to jolt when contacting this switch. Not sure what to do here as some have said that adjusting the TPS to not have this switch engage will not allow the engine to idle.
- There is a surge between 1800-2200RPM. Still not sure what it is. I'm not sure if it was there after I did the conversion or if it's something else. It only ever happens at this RPM.

[JetspeedCamry]

I have some other little pictures here and there which ill upload too.

[Yian]

Simply awesome! + rep..

Talk about in depth...

[ZZT231]

Great Job!

[trd-st162]

Well done man,
Its helpful to read before i change the gearbox in my car, i'll remember how big a job is..

[Timma]

awesome man! this will be happening eventually with mine, i'll get there, just get my suspension sorted first

[RT104GT]

I just got a quote from Jap heaven of $900 for the 3VZ gearbox, will this fit? They say it does.

I also asked about the rest of the hardware and I reckon $1000 will see it all in including gearbox.
I hope its the right gearbox and Im not making a mistake

[RT104GT]

I have some other little pictures here and there which ill upload too.

Some more details about the E153 would help thanks.

And if anyone sees a NB Camry VZV21 for sale at a wreckers or anywhere let me know please as we are going to do this from the ground up.

[Timma]

As long as the box is a e153, from the 3vz it will fit. $900, is a bit much for just for the transmission, so i'd try and beat that price down. Has the transmission been rebuilt? What other extras are coming with the box? ie shifter cables, shifter unit, clutch, master cylinder etc?

Also there is a V6 on ebay, conditions are if you by it you have to give me the front lip LOL
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/V6-TOYOTA-CAM...QQcmdZViewItem