A silver R35-generation Nissan GT-R is barely the kind of car you look twice at, even with some minor vibrant touches like teal wheels and a yellow interior the car kind of visually blends in to the mélange of online tuner tweaks doing it for the ‘gram. This particular all-wheel drive twin-turbo Japanese icon has a little secret up its sleeve, er, in its transmission tunnel. Crewch Japan has converted Nissan’s supercar to shift with a manual transmission and three pedals. Other shops have done manual conversions on GT-Rs using 370Z transmissions and the like, but they lose their GT-Rness without all-wheel drive. Crewch has found a way to keep the R35 all-wheel drive while still allowing drivers to shift it themselves. For the full rundown, check out Motor1‘s reporting on the Crewch car.
R35(ゲトラグ6速)完成してます😁 pic.twitter.com/inrCfuLRXR
— CREWCH★クルウチ (@CREWCH_car) September 2, 2024
The DCT found in the R35 is hardly the car’s shining feature, as it evolved from a clunky and difficult box at the car’s launch 18 years ago to an aggressively OK one. You don’t lose the flavor of the GT-R’s speed by swapping that nasty transmission for any other DCT, but is it worth it to put a manual transmission in this heavy beast? Crewch made the whole thing work by adapting an R34-generation Getrag 233 transmission and ATTESA mechanical all-wheel drive layout to the R35’s chassis. It’s a completely different system altogether, and loses quite a bit of the R35’s techno whizbangery that made it special in the first place. Say goodbye to the advanced traction and stability control systems that gave the R35 its sauce.
Why would you do this?
If you can get your own R35 to Crewch in Japan, and deliver them your own R34 GT-R-sourced ATTESA system with transmission, the company will convert it to a manual using their own mounts and jigs for just about $35,000 at current exchange rates, says Motor1. They’ll supply the new components for just an extra 10,000 bucks. That seems like a whole lot of dosh for a demonstrably slower and potentially worse driving car. I definitely value driver engagement over pure lap time pace in a sports car, but at this kind of expense, what’s the benefit to swapping an R35 instead of just buying an R34 to begin with? I suppose this could be a good option for all those folks who bought early R35s and blew up their transmissions doing too many launch control starts.
