I can get a full LS400 for handy enough money and I have a complete RX7 minus engine and box. I won't be going for big power, just want it as a daily driver, what is the easiest / cheapest way of getting manual ? W58 : Cheapest ? What about adapter / bellhousing, clutch, flywheel etc ?
I'm doing a 1uzfe manual conversion aswell. There is a cheap and dear way to do it, me going with the cheap option because I'm a tight bastard! You will need a E39 530D gearbox, clutch and pressure plate. They are pretty much unbreakable as they are a ZF gearbox and can be picked up for about 200. Use a re-drilled 3sgte MR2 Turbo flywheel, and get an adapter plate made up. Its pretty much plug and play from there, of course there is alot more to it but those are the main things. I havent completed my manual conversion yet but I am in the proccess of doing so, that is just the information I have gathered and I will be using that set up when I take my finger out. Best of luck Edit : just realised this was posted in 2012 lol. Guess it will help others anyway.
The 530D 5 speed will be a shit choice for daily driving; the lowest diff ratio that came in the FD was the 3.9 final drive in the auto, couple that with the 530D box, which has a 1:1 5th gear and you'll be doing ~3800rpm at 70 with a 24" rolling radius wheel (i.e - including tyres). R154 5th gear is 0.753:1 and the W58 5th gear is 0.783:1, which will drop it down to 2800 and 3000 rpm at 70 respectively (with the same wheel/diff combo. Edit: FYI - the ZF box in the 530D is the ZF S5-31, gearing info found HERE Edit 2: with the standard 1uz 6300rpm rev limit and the 530D box, RX7 diff combo your top speed would be 115mph at the limiter.
If you're going bmw box, the M3 6 speed is the one to have I believe, much better ratio. A lot more expensive though!
