Jeff G 78

Based on that info, I'd say there is only a detent spring on the reverse side, but??? Thanks for taking the time to research it.

That is about what I remember. Mine has nothing on the left. When I do a 2-3 shift, I have to aim the shifter to the right. In the past, I always remember the shifter gliding from the 1-2 gate into the 3-4 gate.

I can't tell from the FSM if the spring would act on both sides or not. Can somebody tell me if their Z does or does feel like there is a detent spring on the left? I used to have five 4-speed transmissions sitting in my garage before I moved across the country, but I gave them all away. I don't have anything else to compare it to now.

Sorry Zed. I purposely didn't link FB for that reason. I will cut and paste the discussion without the posters' names. It sounds like there is no spring on the left side after a few new responses. Here is the OP's question... "Should my shift lever spring back to center from both the right and left? Currently it only springs back to center from the right. This is a 5 speed from a 280ZX. Thanks." And here are a few of the responses... "The people who say it should spring back from both sides are wrong. (Unless you have a turbo with a T56 or the KA24 5 speed upgrade). The only spring on the 5 speed is from the reverse/5 gear position. The other side falls back towards center sometimes, but that’s just the linkages and forks putting pressure on the shifter." "When I rebuilt my 5 speed I was sure that it was broken because you could feel the spring only on one side. Tearing into it I was suprised to find it was supposed to be that way. After doing some learning realized it was all the Datsun 4/5 speeds. But the way the forks and stuff are weighted it does naturally rest in the middle so it can seem like a return spring in there. Part of the reason I'm upgrading to the FS5W71C is they added the dual return over the 71B models. That and it being way more robust!" I thought my old 4 and 5 speed transmissions had centering springs on both sides, but I could easily be wrong. My current trans only returns on the right side.

A question came up on FB around the late S30/Early S130 5-speed transmissions. The OP asked if there is supposed to be a return spring on the 1-2 gate as well as on the 5-R gate. He stated that his only has a detent spring on the right side, but not the left side. My transmission does the same thing, but I swear it is supposed to have the detent on both sides returning the shifter to the 3-4 gate, with a heavier spring on the right and a light spring on the left. There seems to be conflicting info if there is supposed to be a detent spring on the left side. If there is supposed to be a detent spring on the left, is it repairable without a complete teardown? I assume not.

You don't see many wrinkle finish SU domes. Nice Z!

Sorry we never got to meet in person now that I'm in the valley too. I understand your reasons, as I've had to make hard decisions too. I've thought about selling my Z a few times, but, in the end, I could never walk away even though I rarely get to enjoy it. I hope your sale goes well and you stick around to chime in. Your knowledge is always welcome here!

S30 entrants are at a distinct disadvantage. The S30 drivers and navigators are woosy from the exhaust fumes! 😛

I read a 13 year old post about this and it sounds like there is no distinct date range for the sloped floor. Many '77's have the flat floor, but some were sloped with no early/late build date distinction. It would be interesting to get a real answer as to the story behind the sloped floor. Nissan did some odd things over the years such as the unique flange on the '75 differential pinion.

The '77 was an odd year for the hatch area. Like Cliff @siteunseen correctly stated, a plastic panel covered the tail light bulbs and wiring in all years except the '77 which had the sloped wood deck floor (the sloped floor didn't exactly follow the '77 model year either). For '78, they changed to a flat wood floor and used the plastic cover for the rear lights and wiring. The '78 floor is about 4" higher than the '70 - '76 floors which only had a cardboard cover for the spare tire well. The later cars had WAY less cargo volume due to the raised deck, but, at least, it was flat and there is room to hide stereo equipment under the wood floor. As for the original question, you don't use the plastic panel if you have the sloped floor. I can't remember the actual start and stop dates for the sloped panel, but I had a '77 about 35 years ago that didn't have the sloped floor. I believe it had the '78 flat wood floor. I have the plastic hook and I use it all the time while working on stuff. That wood floor is heavy!

You don't have to buy new handles. You can simply swap the handles left to right. They are identical and have two arms each. When an arm breaks off, the unused arm is still good. When you swap them left to right, you are using the good arms on both handles.

You need to check both speedometer and odometer error. My '78 280Z riding on 225/50R16 tires (same OD as 195/70R14) shows about 10% fast on the speedometer, but the odometer is dead accurate. I once did a road trip and watched the odometer over 100 miles and compared it to the mile markers on the side of the highway. After 100 miles, it was within 0.2 miles. The S30 speedometers are notoriously optimistic, so you will never get both the speedo and odo to read accurately. You can change the speedometer drive gear in the trans, but before you do, get an accurate reading on the odometer using either GPS or mile markers.

I've never heard of any vibration issues due to the eccentric, so I tend to agree. That said, it's one more thing in the torque stack that could cause the bolt to come loose. I wouldn't take it apart to remove it, but if the bolt ever needs to come out for something else, I'd ditch the eccentric.

Gotcha.

Remove the mechanical pump and install a block off plate to cover the hole.