How to buy and what cost a new Manual trans?

[Carbonsnail]

I live in Southern California and am the original owner of a 1992 240sx. It may need a new 5-speed transmission soon. I want to purchase an excellent-quality replacement. What should I look for when shopping, and how much can I expect to spend? Thank you all for your responses.

[e30gangsta]

Im not sure if nissan still sells them new, if they do expect to pay $1500+

[Thursday7]

It really is a gamble nowadays, most of those gearboxes have been through hell and back. While this forum isn't overly active, a good majority of people still seem to be from SoCal, and I'd imagine someone has one in confirmed good shape lying around. I'd think you'd be less likely to be duped by someone on here selling a worn out transmission rather than hitting a partout from a stranger or something.

On the east coast, [assumedly] good transmissions go for about $300-600 depending on the seller.

[jr_ss]

I’d contact @Crimsonrocket, or Alex Chang, they may have some parts laying around.

[AKADriver]

Alternately they are rebuildable.

There are companies that sell a full rebuild kit in the US but I've heard mixed things about the quality of some of the kit parts. This kit should be good as it uses all Japanese bearings etc.: https://zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=417958

True Nissan OEM parts for most or all of the bearings, bushings, synchros, etc. still exist but you have to dig into the parts diagrams and order them from a place like partsouq or amayama. Nissan USA doesn't stock them but they're still available in Japan and UAE to ship to the US.

Once you have everything then any transmission shop can rebuild it.

[Rustys14]

Rebuilding it is your best bet. I had mine rebuilt by a local transmission shop last year and it shifts flawlessly. Instead of sourcing the parts yourself like suggested above, its better to just let the shop handle everything imo.

Markup on the Nissan parts sites has gotten out of hand lately so a reputable shop should be able to source everything needed at a better price than you can on your own. I also learned the hard way that there can be a few unlisted variances from the official parts diagram so its best to order everything after the trans is torn down and you can verify exactly what you're working with.

Total cost for me to have the trans totally rebuilt was around $1200, so I would budget $1100 to $1400 to have it done depending on your area. I probably could have saved a bit by letting the shop source the parts. They had to order an extra synchro kit as two of mine were different than what was listed on the Nissan diagram.

[Carbonsnail]

Thank you all very much for your responses.