Tranny swap

[240ZMan]

As said above, the 81-83 has the best ratios. Pair that with a 3.90 diffy and you'll have a great touring car. Use a 4.11 like I did, and it's very lively . Do this if you like to shift a lot and like revs. If you want a more sedate ride, I think the 3.90 would be a better choice.

Of course, I know some people just swap the 5 speed and leave the stock 3.36 diffy in the car. If all out acceleration isn't your objective I suppose this might be a nice option. Certainly would keep the revs down! Or swap a 3.54 from an early automatic. They are a lot easier to find, and not expensive at all. That would get the revs up a little.

Again, as GunnerRob suggested, http://www.geocities.com/z_design_studio/transmission.html is a great tool to figure out how the different combinations would affect your speed in gears.

[texasz]

I can't remember where I read a nice writeup about a couple different combinations, I think it may have been on ZGarage. In any case I chose to go with the '77 5-speed and an R180 3.9 diff. This seemed to be the best for autox and some street driving. Now if I were going strictly autox then the R108 4.11 would have been the diff of choice with the same '77 5-speed, but if I wanted top end (highway speed) with lower RPMs then the later '81-'83 5-speed with the R108 3.7 or 3.9 would have been the choice set up.

This is from memory so please be gentle if I'm off a little bit on this information.

[sblake01]

My 78 has the stock 3.545 rear which was used in all 77-78 regardless of trans, along with the 82 Maxima 5spd which is essentially the same as the 81-83 zx trans. For the way I use my car it's just fine for both street and highway. My 810 has the stock tranny which is the same as the 77-78 z 5 spd but it has a R180 3.7. That kind of make up for the smaller engine but I would really prefer the higher fifth gear of the later trans and if I ever have to replace it that's what I'll go with.

[speedyblue]

The only 280zx that had the BW tranny was the turbo.

Whoops, I left out the word turbo.

The 280zx turbo tranny thay are talking about is the borg warner one that is tougher and clunkier than the standard Z one.

I read the same article about the yellow Z with the Silvia box. I'd assume that the 240sx box is the same box since silvias and 180sx's are almost the same car. America just got a 2.4L na version instead of the turbo import version we see around here.

silvia gearbox swap

[Go240Zags]

The 280zx (Turbo) tranny thay are talking about is the borg warner one that is tougher and clunkier than the standard Z one.

I have a 280ZX Turbo 2+2 parts car with the B W 5 Speed. I thought about swapping it in to my Series 1, but haven't heard good things on here about it. Awhile back someone sold one on eBay for more than $900 so someone must like them. I might have to drop mine and see what I can get for selling it, altho shipping one doesn't sound like fun. Gary

[280ZXtreme]

ok here is some other cool stuff: you can get a 4.11 R200 from the 85-86 200sx turbo. it is a cv shaft but thats not a big prob. i have an 82 na 5 speed with the 3.90 and the excelleration is great. 70 mph is about 2900 rpm in 5th. the 280z 5 speed from 77-78 has a first gear of like 3.3 so as to keep excelleration from having the 3.54, and second gear is also higher than the later zx tranny, but 3rd and 4th are the exact same, and 5th is just a tad lower gear (higher number) than the later zx. the borg warner T5 used in the turbos has a first gear of around 3.5 and second gear is a bit higher too, i believe this was done to help with turbo lag even if there wasn't much of it with the little t3. the turbo 280zx also got the 3.54 like the 77-78 cars but had cv shafts like the 200sx turbo. the 4.11s are getting hard to find and the 4.38s almost impossible so i would just go with a 3.90 and keep a little top end, my 280zx tops out around 130-132 with the 3.90, but the 77 we are trying to get has the 4 speed with the 3.54 and the owner says he had it topped out at 138, thats with no motor modifications that i can see. does that sound realistic, i guess being that it has the higher rear end but my car is pushing around 165 HP and i know that 77 only goes for about 135-140 hp so i think that would be enough to turn some more rpms to go a little faster. anyway, i love all z's from 70-83, you can swap almost anything and they last forever!

[Reddog929]

Rob I just picked up a 70 240 and lots of parts. One of the trans looks like it might be a 5 speed how can I find out?

[Ben Chu]

Try Z Barn. Roger rebuilds all of the five speeds and has matching differentials as well and the necessary moustache bar kit.

[gnosez]

I'm running the tranny most people leave out, the 1980 5-spd. I've coupled it to a quaiffe 3:70 diff and a 3.2L L28 motor. Doing 80mph at 3,000rpm in 5th gear means I'm right at the start of my power band. Third gear is even better as the motor was set up for road course and highway driving. I've taken many a Boxster, Z3/4s in 3rd gear. I tell them all the same thing; "you need to lose weight".

[gator]

I took out my auto and put a 5spd from an 82 maxima diesel into my 77 280. It seems to be geared better than most and it has a shorter through so shifts great. Only problem is it needs some new bearing work because in deceleration there is some growling noise. BTW I also took out the FI and installed rebuilt SU's. The car has responded like a person who has been running through knee deep water for awhile then on an open track with a tail wind. I guess that is what happens when you let the motor breath better.

Cheers ..Bruce

[zman525]

wow today 2 of my really old threads have popped up, and how my plans and knowledge of my Z have changed =P i was screwing around with my Z one day and found out it had a 5 speed in it, i was like noooo thats not right. Shifted through the gears again and sure enough it was a 5 spd =P Saved me some work, time, and money . Atleast these two threads that came up today contain alot of good information!