R154 (IS300 swap) - demonstration & discussion

[@davidpownell4937]

When you where starting to move did the clutch chatter and driveshaft clang a little bit?

[@GroovesAndLands]

Sure did. I talk about how that clutch is aggressive and difficult to drive a little later in the video. I think the lightweight aluminum flywheel is the culprit. When I bought the car, the clutch chattered a lot and was tough to drive smoothly. I was *sure* the clutch/flywheel was hurt. That was a Clutchmasters FX400 with 6 ceramic pucks and the lightweight driftmotion flywheel. I replaced with the driftmotion stage 3.5, and installed a new steel friction insert for the flywheel. Chatter certainly improved, but was NOT eliminated. Worse in reverse. Took some getting used to, to be able to get the car going smoothly - basically the clutch just didn't like to be slipped. At all. That's when I decided to improve the trans mount, which didn't really help. I replaced with a McLeod RXT twin and steel flywheel. The McLeod has some kind of sintered bronze friction material and does NOT have marcel springs in the hub. It's a great clutch. It can be made to chatter, but very nice to drive - even daily. However, for $1800, it SHOULD be great. Ouch!

[@Ahmed-ti2rn]

can you tell how about the rpm / speed on each gear ? specially on 5th gear on 74 mph and 80 mph what diff you have so i can understand if i have the same because i am going to same setup thanks

[@GroovesAndLands]

I don't recall the rpm/mph for the R154 setup. My car has the 3.73:1 rearend, which was a nice match with the ratios of the R154, but is awful tall for the close-ratio T56 I've got in there now. I'm planning to swap in a 4.10 rearend, which should help a good bit. I have an excel spreadsheet that allows you to key-in your tire size, rearend gear, and trans ratios - and it outputs a table of rpm and mph, as well as plots out the graph of each gear for visual reference (like you see on Gran Turismo when you're playing with gear ratios). I'd be happy to share it with you if you provide email address or a google drive place where I can post it.

[@Ahmed-ti2rn]

@@GroovesAndLands oh ok thanks that would be helpful albahrani.a7medatgmail.com

[@GroovesAndLands]

@@Ahmed-ti2rn sent

[@zebpfeiffer950]

@@GroovesAndLands me too? great info

[@GroovesAndLands]

@@zebpfeiffer950 The Gear Ratio spreadsheet can be downloaded here: drive.google.com/file/d/1_L7dK1pDgwsgitRn3VHvQwivciHhtZUV/view?usp=sharing

[@11onejay]

Why are people selling brand nee rebuilt r154s? Makes me not even want to grab one in the future. Are they really that bad of a trans?

[@GroovesAndLands]

Nobody prefers an R154; what they actually *want*, is a V160 or T56. However, those are thousands of dollars more, which is not insignificant! R154 isn't a "bad" transmission. They're just a bit rough around the edges. They handle quite a bit of torque, shift well, are relatively inexpensive, and are easy to work on. But noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) is poor compared to more modern stuff.