Oiluj Posted December 9, 2007 Share #1 Posted December 9, 2007 I've searched the posts and there;s a lot on "how-to", but not much on if it's worth the effort...What are the pros & cons of changing to a 5-speed?JP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zs-ondabrain Posted December 9, 2007 Share #2 Posted December 9, 2007 5-speed allows you to have a 5th gear for cruising on the free way, better gas milage at higher speeds, and occasionally lower 1st and second gears for quicker take offs.I'll never go back to a 4-speed now that I have the 5-speed in the 70' 240Z.Definately worth the effort and very easy to swap.Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonetreesteve Posted December 10, 2007 Share #3 Posted December 10, 2007 JP,Unless you want to keep the car purely stock, I would say no. If not, you should do it. The '71 918 Orange Z that I recently sold was very close to be being almost pure stock with the exception of just a few things and the 5-speed was one of them. The 5-speed was already in the car when I bought it, so I really don't know how easy or difficult it is to install. All I can say is that I liked the 5-speed for the same reasons Dave mentions in his post. My other two Zs have the original factory 4-speeds which I plan to keep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arne Posted December 10, 2007 Share #4 Posted December 10, 2007 I really don't see much downside to having a 5 speed in a 240Z. The possible need to enlarge the tunnel hole for the shifter (in a '70 or '71) would be a bummer, but there is a way around that.On the other hand, I try to avoid driving on the freeway anyway, preferring to drive on the back roads instead. For that driving the four speed is fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Camouflage Posted December 10, 2007 Share #5 Posted December 10, 2007 The 240z came with a 5 speed in every other market except the USA, so its pretty much just a bolt in job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sblake01 Posted December 10, 2007 Share #6 Posted December 10, 2007 The non USA S30 used a type A trans and the majority of the conversions done here use the type B. Still not a difficult conversion and there are many posts about that on this, as well as other sites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tx260z Posted December 10, 2007 Share #7 Posted December 10, 2007 I did mine for the mileage factor, but only gained 1-2 mpg more and i do 90% freeway driving, it is quieter on the hwy though because of the lower rpm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sblake01 Posted December 10, 2007 Share #8 Posted December 10, 2007 That's 15-30 extra miles per tank using a 15 gallon tank for example sake. You really can't expect much more gain than that unless you chage the differential ratio also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjfx1 Posted December 10, 2007 Share #9 Posted December 10, 2007 They all had a 1:1 fourth, so whether you have a 5th or not doesn't significantly affect the 1-3 ratiosThat said there are different lower ratios (slight changes year by year - quite a mess if you want to figure out just what you are getting) - just not big differences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sblake01 Posted December 10, 2007 Share #10 Posted December 10, 2007 You can refer to this:http://www.geocities.com/z_design_studio/transmission.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tx260z Posted December 10, 2007 Share #11 Posted December 10, 2007 That's 15-30 extra miles per tank using a 15 gallon tank for example sake. You really can't expect much more gain than that unless you chage the differential ratio also.Already have the 3:34 rear end, was just hoping to get a little better mileage, 15-30 miles per tank equals about 1-1.25 gal which is about 3 bucks in savings per fill up, which i fill up about once a week, so it should only take me about a year to break even from the swap cost b4 i start to save money. By then the v8 sbc will be in there, then fuel mileage wont matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zguitar71 Posted December 10, 2007 Share #12 Posted December 10, 2007 Get the 5 speed from a zx 81-83, the ratios are close and the 5th is the lowest and it is stronger than the 5 speeds from the 280z's. Worth the effort? Yes. I did it for the close ratio aspect and the extra strength of the zx unit over the older z unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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