BadDog

I recently put an '83 N/A ZX 5-speed in my '73 240Z. I am having a shifter issue that I haven't seen described in the posts I've searched on here, zcar.com, zhome.com, or even hybridz. I can't use the ZX 5-speed lever without bending it and (IMHO) making it too short to the point that the knob would barely clear the console. When using my original 4-speed shifter, 2nd, 4th and Reverse will engage, but not as far in as 1st, 3rd, and 5th. 4th pops out of gear on occasion. I compared the action of the ZX lever vs. the 4 speed lever and found that when using the 4-speed lever, the actuator(?) moves about 1/8th of an inch less than when using the ZX shift lever. It appears that the section of the shifter below the pivot hole ont he 4 speed is slightly longer than the ZX lever. Oddly enough, I have found a temporary solution: with the nylon cup removed from the bottom of the 4-speed lever, it is able to engage all gears fully i.e. it will travel that extra 1/8th of an inch or so. This works, but results in somewhat odd-feeling shifts and ugly-sounding vibrations in 3rd gear at certain speeds. I tried what a friend believed to be a 5-speed shifter from a '77-79 Z, but it looked identical to my 4-speed shifter and had the same problem. The only combo I wasn't able to try was the ZX cup bushing on the 4 speed shifter (the ZX bushing *looks* to be ~2mm smaller in height?) because I couldn't get it off the ZX lever without mutilating it. I have looked into the "Competition Shifter" part # 99996-E3030 shown here but it looks to be the same shifter I already have from my "Type B" 4-speed. So it seems my only options are to live with the no-bushing-cup arrangement, bend the ZX lever, or chop the 4-speed lever's upper portion off and weld it to the base of the 5-speed lever. Any suggestions?

Don't worry about it being "show quality", its unique enough where it'll get a lot of interest! Nice electric burnouts BTW but don't break your R180! :-)

I gotta hand it to ya kid, you're doing a great job. Two things: 1) You *gotta* bring this car up to a show in Syracuse or Rochester this summer. I have to see it in person :-) 2) What's your budget for this project and by what % do you think you'll exceed it? ;-)

I put sidepipes on my first Z, a black 280Z with wire wheels, louvers, and the wing that MSA called their "California Wing" in the late '80s. Mine weren't as nicely done as the pic Mr Camouflage references. I liked them, but you better wear some Nomex socks :-) I have 1 picture left of that car somewhere, but I don't know where it is That car also had no badges and I was always being asked by people who didn't recognize a Z if it was a Corvette or a Ferrari(!). I guess those people were really fixated on the wire wheels and sidepipes

No, that was the only unit they had. I found it using car-part.com, and I got a lot more hits searching by "carrier assembly" than "differential assembly". Still, some of the places I called didn't have what was listed on-line. I just got lucky I guess!

I'm hoping so! Its a lot of work, but I can't wait to get it done and get her on the road this spring... That L28 should give you a bit more grunt ;-) I pondered taking the L28 that's available with the tranny I'm trying to get, but the scope of work is wider and the budget just isn't there (this is kind of an un-planned expense as it is!) I'm pretty happy with my L24 though, it loves to rev and I love to hear that sound

yeeeeeeeeouch! The sets I found were new old stock and were $125. Anyway, I found a good 4.11 R180 at a recycler that was only ~50 miles from here, so I picked it up. Wish me luck! :-)

Any tips on inspecting a junkyard R180 before purchase?

Must be!

That's interesting, because when I charted the various tranny/diff combos, I got 3443 RPAM @75mph with the 4-speed and 3.364 and 3635 RPM @75 mph with the 79 ZX 5-speed and 4.11 diff....

So what do you have, a '79 ZX 5-speed? According to the transmission calculator, you must be turning more RPMS in 5th that you would've with the 4 speed and 3.364 diff....

I would have no clue about that That's a nice looking 810 you have there, by the way

Thanks for the info Stephen, I thought they were more rare than that because I had a hard time finding one

I didn't end up buying this for myself, but I thought I'd pass the info along: "Y70" flywheel, Nissan part # 12310-Y7056 (supercedes old part # 12310-Y7000). I think it was out of an '83 Maxima. They're asking $75 for it, and it needs to be re-surfaced. I chose not to buy it because my local machine shop wants too much $$ (for my taste) to resurface it. Its at General Auto Salvage Co. (in New Hampshire) 800-562-3845. Ask for Bruce. He verified that its got "Y70" cast into the back side.

Snag, what did you get that diff out of?

Yeah, my friend was saying his car has the 3.9 and gets a little buzzy on long highway drives - but then again, I've put sound deadening in my car. And yes, I've used that calculator, its great! Funny thing is, even with a 4.11, my car would still be turning 300 fewer revs than it does now at 75 mph with that '83 tranny. A 3.9 would knock it down to 2974, which would save a lot of gas on the highway for me - I like to drive ~75, but tend to keep my Z under 70 i.e. around 3000 RPM or else gas milage drops way down.

Really? I was thinking 3.7 would be a good compromise for highway cruising where I (have to) do a lot of my daily Z driving, yet still not be a dog off the line like the original 3.3x or even the automatic 3.5x might be... Thanks for the other info too, I had come across ringpinion.com before in my research but hadn't checked out that .pdf yet The ideal situation for me would be to get a used R180 with the desired gear set, as that would require fewer "donor" parts and save some weight over an R200 for my poor L24 to lug around ;-)

Thanks guys! exploring my options, basically... I posed this question because I found a few ring and pinion gear sets for sale and one was a 3.7 set for a Maxima R180. But then I found at that the "early" R180 a different internal size than that "later" R180. I checked my '73 FSM but couldn't find that spec :-\ I've seen statements that "early" R180s are up to 76-78 era, but others that say it's only 71 and earlier... Either way, I have a line on a 4x4 3.9 diff, and an '84 Maxima 3.7 diff. The guy helping me out with the whole swap is an ex-racer who did most of his own work (and he has several R200 3.9's lying around) and he seemed pretty comfortable with the idea of a ring and pinion swap if I could find the parts.

I'm looking at putting an '83 ZX (NA) 5-speed into my '73. If I could get hold of a 3.7 or 3.9 ring and pinion set for the R180 diff, could I just swap those parts to change the diff ratio, or is it more involved than that? I'm trying to avoid the added expense of an R200 swap to get a 3.9 diff, and/or having an entire diff shipped to me...

Well said xray, and that brings up the point I forgot to mention, re-sale value. One can't reasonable expect to be able to sell the car they "restored" to their personal tase for what they put into it. By the same token, if you can buy a well-done, reasonably-original-looking Z car that you can enjoy without putting a lot of extra $ into it (i.e. buying somebody else's 20K "restoration" for 12-15K) then if you choose to at some point, you should be able to sell that well-bought car and not lose your shirt :-) I (and many others) wanted the experience of fixing up an old Z, and we paid for it ;-) Now that I've had that experience, if something happened to my Z and I wanted to get another one (and I had the $$$$!! ), I'd probably take 10K and go buy somebody else's 15-20K up-to-snuff restoration

Having done my own amateur "refreshing" just 3 years ago, I may as well put in my $2.40 :-) I'd have to agree with Carl's assessment of what's incorrect/missing on the car. I'm no purist (see my gallery for pics of my resto process), but some of those things Carl mentions stick out like a sore thumb to me: missing diamond-pattern vinyl, engine bay color (and painted-over rubber bits and seals in there) and the missing/blacked-out trim. I can't tell if those hatch hinges look rusty, dirty, or orange/red, but I see rust on the little hatch bumper/guides on each side. A *lot* depends on the quality of the body work (how straight those panels are) and paint, and how good of a job he did on the floor panel replacements. IMHO, purely as a driver and in NY state, I'd probably put it at about 6K-7K, depending on the condition of hoses, brakes, seals, etc. You could probably sell the intake, linkage, and carbs and get enough $$ to fix the carpeting, vinyl, and seat issues while having enough money to put stock-style intake and round-top carbs back on (if you wanted to go that route). For a $12,000 driver, I'd expect to not find all the incorrect things Carl mentioned, and I'd want it to be a completely fresh driver, i.e. not mainly sitting for 18 years. I kind of disagree with ajmcforester on the 280 vs. 240 point... I've had both cars, and I'd probably go with the 240 again. Yes the 280 has fuel injection, but my SU's are pretty trouble-free and easy to maintain. My 280's fuel injection was reliable too, but parts seem to be getting pretty expensive for that system. I wish my 240 had the better body rigidity of the 280 as well as the steel door beams (for crash protection), but then again she's lighter on her feet :-) And for the record, I see the oft-maligned/overlooked 260 as kind of a bargain: Not as heavy as the 280 but stiffer than the 240; less electronic$ for the engine but a bigger block to build mild-to-moderate performance onto, etc. Also, contact the upstate clubs (Rochester, Syracuse, Albany) as there have been e-mails shooting around locally in the last year with nice Gen 1 cars for sale at reasonable prices (I'll PM you an example, but it may be gone by now).

We care, keep us posted :-)

BRE-240Z, FilipeA: Thanks! awsm73z: I don't plan on returning them, especially since I requested they be my gift :-D I think yours look slick Mike: since you started a new pro/con-purist thread, you may as well clear away the unnecessary posts from here. It just clogs up reading this thread as a reference in the future. I've always thought this site was relatively flame-free, I guess I haven't been around as much as I used to. I've never understood why the "anonymity" of the internet seems to lull people into a sense that they can say and do things they wouldn't otherwise say or do in a polite conversation in person. Especially in a community like this, where chances are you're going to meet some of these other Z enthusiasts in person at a show, or recognize their car. But I digress :-)

That's cool, even if you don't like my choices 100%. I can understand the purist mentality, and I respect it, just as long as those pursists respect my right to mod my own car. I'm just going for that 70's look, and I love the Raised White Letter tires, my mags, and my stripes. I won't be putting louvers on though :-D

No, I still haven't mounted my PS mirror yet. I did sit in the PS side and adjust the DS mirror to try and get an idea of how useful it'll be and what position the mirror glass will have to be in. Seems to be OK to me, maybe my seats' mounted a little higher than yours?