tlorber

OK, so I posted this last year, and was pretty underwhelmed by the representation of Datsuns. My roadster, a 510, and I believe one Z. This year, 2011 it is April 7-9 and there IS an entrance fee since it is now an insured event (I have no affiliation with this by the way). There are actually 7 cars registered so far that are being SHIPPED from the east coast for the drive, which should give some perspective of how fun this event is. I will be taking my Z this year, with its "new" tranny, suspension, seat, exhaust and a bunch of other stuff. If anyone wants additional information I can get you a flyer on the event (can't seem to post it here) and other information. If not, I understand and won't it bring it up again.

I generally use the 3M Perfect It (buffing compound) with a wool pad after 1500. If you don't have any orange peel on the color coat, you might try just the compound. After that, a polishing compound (turtle wax has worked well) with a random orbit buffer will remove swirls and fine scratches.

Chris, just to clarify, changing out just the tranny does NOT require a different speedo gear than the original one. In fact you would WANT to use the original one. However, as you alluded to, the manufacturer paired the trannys and the diffs together so as to provide cars that would launch off the line adequately but not have to over-rev on the highway. Changing one of these two components (tranny for example) does not MANDATE that one must change the diff to compensate for the different gear ratios, but one would probably want to. It is at only at this point where the speedo gear needs swapping.

From what I remember the clutches go more by year than by motor. As stated elsewhere on this site, you need to know which pressure plate/throwout bearing collar combination you have on there. Due to height differences they need to go together. Unfortunately the only way to really know is to have the tranny out when you buy your parts.

Steve, so how did the GT 3 compare to the other 2 cars?

I agree about the 5 speed. The ZX trannys are out there and not uncommon. For $200.00 or so you'll find one if you keep an eye out. For another $130.00 you can rebuild it with a kit. That way you know everything is good to go for another 150k miles. As stated above, if you're going through the hassle of pulling everything apart you might as well get what you want.

One way to think of it is that, in 4th gear, both 4 and 5 speeds are running straight through = 1:1 ratio, (the overdrive on the 5 speed then lowers this ratio depending on the specific tranny). At this point the only thing affecting speed (other than rpm's) is the differential. The speedo gears are all color coded to match the diff. I believe I got my 3.70 from Z Specialties ($22.00 IIRC). Pretty easy to swap-take the speed assembly out of the tranny, drive out the roll pin which is in there pretty tight, insert new gear, reinsert roll pin, put back into tranny and obey the speed limit now that you have no excuse.

Kia Sportage-wrecking yard-$8.00.

I think the boy friend just wants to mess with your rear endROFL Come on! Someone had to say it.

Sounds like a blast. I'm looking forward to getting my car on a track. I completely understand the seat issue. I recently installed a Miata seat on the driver's side-very easy mod and the seats look like they belong in the car. I've had one canyon run since then and for the first time since I've owned the car I was actually able to use the steering wheel only for steering the car rather than trying to keep myself in position. This makes you feel like your sitting IN the car instead of ON the seat. The anti-butt-slide may help, but the main problem with the stock seats is the lack of side bolstering. It's your upper body that tends to move around.

I sit corrected.

I believe the ZX came out in '81. You should pull the cross member off your 4 speed and put it on your 5 speed. Keep the drive shaft from your 4 speed since the 5 speed has the same dimensions. I used the shifter from my 4 speed as well (my tranny is an '82) You will need the bend in it or it (a newer, non bent one) will hit the front of the tunnel hole. Make sure the throwout bearing collar, fork and pressure plate all come from the same car-doesn't matter which one, but they all need to go together. As stated in one of those posts, the 3.36 will be a bit tall for a 5 speed. As stated, if you swap the diff, change out the speedo pinion gear to preserve accuracy.

That is my favorite color for these cars (though it is not the color of mine). Never understood why they call it "lime".

I will be putting seats from a '93 Z into my 240. Unfortunately the driver's seat is fully automatic. There is a harness on the bottom of the seat with 4 leads-two small ones for the seat belt sensor (which I will not be using) and 2 heavier leads. For these latter two I will be running an always hot and return to the fuse box. After the leads make it to the seat, all branching to the various motors occurs from there, so it is a pretty elegant system, designed for ease of assembly at the factory.

Motorsports has them-for $1.00 EACH. I know this is probably not a huge volume seller for them, (6 per car every 25 years) but there has to be a hell of a margin in there.

There is a place in Glendale called Sunrise Z. I haven't been there but pretty much all they do is Z's. 818 240-1594. However, since your carbs are not stock I don't know if they will be any better or worse than a regular mechanic. If you happen to cross paths with some round top SU's and intake manifolds that look ok you may want to pick them up. SU's are pretty simple once you understand them. Where in So Cal are you located?

So, just out of curiousity, what did that do? Was it to retard timing in the higher gears?

I used 1/8" pop rivets on mine. You'll need to drill out both the fuzzy strip and the door panel-burnish the back side with a dremmel if you have one. Spread the fuzz out of the way as much as possible so that the rivet head is buried. I believe I used 5 per door. By the way, I could not find my rivet gun anywhere, so I bought a new one at Harbor Freight for $4.99 got home, used the gun put it away and found my old one in the same spot. Duh.

There should be quite a few threads posted that will answer your questions about this. You may want to look into changing out the differential. I believe the autos came with a 3.54 and the later 5 speeds with a 3.90. If you do this, you'll need to change out the speedo pinion gear to match the diff. Unless you already have the tranny, you should look into gear ratios so that you get the ones that you want.

Good fix. I just recently found a source of gas fumes as well. The recess where the gas cap is was caulked to the rear quarter panel at manufacture. There were two pin holes in this caulking (I had a friend spray some alcohol in the area while I looked inside and noticed the liquid running down inside the quarter panel). I recaulked this from outside and inside, and then spray painted over it. I have yet to see if this has completely resolved my problem, but it has certainly reduced it

As Dave alluded to above, when I installed my 5 speed, I noticed a second hole, farther back than the one on the 4 speed. I just put the switch in the same hole location as that from the 4 speed (forward hole) and haven't had any problems. I'm not sure what the second hole is for.

Darrel, I never had any interference problem. I was concerned about it because you had previously told me about that, but when I measured the depth of the hole in my tranny (shift rod cut out) it would actually permit about another 3/8" of shift rod length before bottoming out.

On my '73 I used the shifter from the 4 speed on the '82 tranny that I just put in. No problems-in fact if I had used the one that came with the tranny I would have the same conflict you described. I'm not sure why the holes do not line up on yours, maybe it has to do with your shifter bushings? The 4 speed shifter is actually about 3/8" longer from the pivot point to the bottom of the lever (where it actuates the shift rod selector) and this actually shortens the throw slightly.

Eric, Before you buy an alternator (and voltage regulator) you should look into installing an alternator from a newer ZX with an internal regulator. For $60.00 @ auto zone (lifetime warranty) and around $15.00 for a small plug from Dave Irwin on this site, you can have a stable electrical system that will charge the battery well and not have headlights dim when the rpm's drop. This is the type of upgrade that I was referring to above. Generally , when you can replace a mechanical device with an electronic one, the performance and stability will improve. If you search "alternator upgrade" on this site you'll find more info than you have time to read. Ditto for the distributor.

By your description, my guess would be the bearings-3rd and 4th are on the same shaft. I just rebuilt an '82 tranny (I had never run it) and the countershaft bearing was fried. You can buy a rebuild kit for around $120.00 that has the baulk rings, syncros and seals. Maybe a little intimidating at first but you just have to study the diagrams a few times. The tranny works great and is very smooth.