alex44

Yes definitely, I'm keeping an eye out for a 240sx trans since they aren't very challenging to fit to a z from what I've gathered. I'll look into the tl70 adapter.. I know there is a 350z trans adapter on the market but that's going to be out of my price range. I have to disagree with this to some extent. Sure every single Z transmission that I've driven, including my own, had some minor 'whirring type' noise at idle that went away with the clutch pedal pressed.. however this issue that only started two months ago (I've owned my Z for 5 years now) is a horrible sounding rattle that one might even confuse for a rod knock. If you haven't watched the video I posted I encourage you to do so as it shows the noise I'm talking about quite well. A few days ago I met up with a friend who owns a 240z. Supercharged l28, 5 speed (rebuilt by the same shop who did mine recently), fuel injection, an endless list of mods... By far the nicest Z I have ever seen, difficult to find words to describe it honestly. Its an incredible experience to drive and looks the part. Anyways his transmission had no rattle to it, only the typical whirring at neutral which was nearly drowned out by the header exhaust system. If my Z was half as nice as his I would be a very happy man..

Ugh... That really sucks having spent 2 grand to still have this rattle and there's nothing we can do to fix it.. if it's in fact coming from the gears. Maybe some thicker oil, cabin insulation, lightweight flywheel, and louder exhaust will allow me to put up with it.. if I simply can't live with the noise after all of that Ill just have to locate a used 5 speed. Lots of 4 speeds here but since Im often on the highway that likely would be a bad decision.

I think this is my issue here.. some play between one of the gears is what the rebuilder told me he thinks it is. I don't have a lightweight flywheel but plan to lighten up the stock one soon. Guess there's really not much I can do except live with the noise since the trans shifts totally fine? The shop who rebuilt it even said they would rip it apart again under warranty which I'm considering having them do.. probably gonna end up sourcing another used 5 speed and put that in.

Sorry yes my post was long and a bit confusing with how I worded it.. late night posting.. anyways, what was discussed with the shop was that they were to pull the trans apart and rebuild with the overhaul kit (https://www.transmissionpartsdistributors.com/fs5w71a-fs5w71c-transmission-rebuild-kit-with-synchro-rings-fits-77-84-datsun-nissan-200sx-280z-280zx-maxima-pickup-bk104ws/). On top of installing that overhaul kit I told the tech if he sees ANYTHING else inside the trans while it's apart that isn't included in the kit and needs replacing to do so, which he didn't as there was nothing in the bill that said he did so. After I ground the gears about 3 times trying to get into 4th I put it into neutral, slowed down, and shifted into 3rd. I then sped up and went to 5th and tried to downshift into 4th again which it did successfully. I figured it was ok at that point and I must have been sloppy with my 5th to 4th downshift and continued home which was about 10 mins away. On the way home at a red light I noticed the rattle which never went away. Carefully drove it for about a week as it's my daily and then brought it to the shop for the rebuild.

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/7i40qUvmeYU

Really at my wits end here and would really appreciate some help. As title suggests I had the 5 speed transmission rebuilt from my '78 280z and it's still making noise... Some background info - a while ago I was on the highway and tried downshifting from 5th to 4th but it refused to go in and I heard the terrible ass puckering grinding noise of the synchro dying. Eventually after a few attempts I got into 4th gear. When I exited off the highway and came to a stop I noticed a rattle type noise which I thought at first to be rod knock. Quickly figured out that pressing the clutch pedal in made the noise go away so I assumed a bearing inside the trans was toast. Took it to a transmission shop that was recommended by a few local Z guys who I trust and really know Z cars well. The shop had a overhaul kit (new bearings and synchros) already in stock and I told the tech who was doing the work to replace anything inside that he thought needed replacing. After 6 weeks they said the car is ready to be picked up. I get there the tech comes back from a test drive and first thing I notice is the rattle is still present. Tech claims he inspected everything thoroughly and thinks it's one of the gears having superficial damage causing the rattle and there's not much we can do about it, basically says to insulate the car better and live with it. After spending $2000 and this is the end result I'm very very unhappy to say the least. I replaced all clutch components less than 4000km ago. A friend and I removed the slave then pushed the TOB off the pressure plate then started the car, rattle still there. Can hear the rattle in 1st, 2nd, and in neutral, while stopped or moving, but goes away when clutch pedal pushed in. I can't think of anything else it might be other than a bearing on the input or countershaft.. but they have allegedly all been replaced.. I'm at a loss on what to do here. Car drives and shifts great, it did even before the rebuild, but that rattle is horrible and makes for a miserable driving experience. Will try to upload a video of the rattle. It's late now and I'm tired so if I forgot to include anything that may help point to a solution just ask. Thanks.

Hey so I'm having a bit of trouble with my ignition after someone hit my 1978 280z in a parking lot which caused the 12v ignition wire (black/white) at the ignition coil positive to get pinched and shorted to body. This caused the ignition switch fusible link to smoke (and some smoke off the ignition switch itself) when I was cranking the car over before I knew the 12v black/white wire had shorted. I have temporarily hotwired a on/off toggle switch direct off the battery to the coil so I could start it, it fired right up which tells me it's something to do with the wiring/ignition circuit. I have replaced the ignition switch with no luck. I am reading 12v at ignition coil from the black/white wire when key is in ON position but as soon as I engage the starter motor the voltage drops to around 1, then jumps back to 12v when I release the key. I have checked continuity on all the fusible links but Im going to replace them soon just in case, glass fuses at fuse block are all good. I'd like to fix the black/white wire or rewire it to another source that provides 12v key ON and 12v when engaging starter but I haven't been able to find any so far when poking around. There is no ballast resistor on the car, its running a 280zx matchbox distributor with a z31 turbo ignition coil and have used this setup for years without issues. Any help with this would be appreciated I really am not the best with diagnosing electrical gremlins..

My z is still on stock springs, though they are a bit worn out and are lower then what factory ride height would be, I scrape coming out of some driveways and on all the ridiculous speed bumps they throw in parking lots around here. Also in and out of my apartment underground I need to go slow at an angle to not rub the frame rails. This has stopped me from wanting lowering springs as it's my daily driver. The roads here are terrible.

Maybe this is all I had on hand and it worked perfectly to diagnose what was wrong and maybe I will be buying new bushings and using marine grease to install them. Wd40 smells great though let's both agree on that, I use it as cologne sometimes.

AHHHH I spoke too soon. Clunk came back.. Although it's very quiet now.. good news though, I figured out what it is!! I forgot to mention in the work that I did I also sprayed the rear sway bar bushings with wd40, didn't think it would do much if anything but that's what helped eliminate this sound. Everytime the wd40 dries up the noise comes back ever so slightly, get down on the ground and spray it with some more = noise gone for about a day. So I can just buy a barrel full of wd40 and spray it every so often or I can buy new bushings and install them with some grease. Hmmm choices choices what to do? Can't believe the sway bar bushings would make a sound like this, but hey I'm not complaining, easy fix. Just glad it's not the differential or lower control arms.

Yea just wanted to take it for a nice long drive and make sure it was 100% gone, which I just did and it's clunk free. What I did last on it was Tighten the following - mustache bar bushings and where it connects to diff cover (very tight now), all cross member bolts, tie rod end links, half shaft bolts.. all to guten tight specs Also noticed the bump stop cover on the passenger strut had worked its way half off so I pulled it down and now it's just chilling on the spring perch, nothing else I can do until spring comes off unfortunately That's it

Fixed. No more clunk. No more highway vibration. Car hauls ass. 😚 Now on to the exhaust fumes.

Got under the car today to check all the bolts in rear, tightened a few things like crossmember mount bolts and tie rod ends but everything else looked good. Putting my focus to the passenger side I noticed the strut casing is much stiffer to push upwards and compress vs the drivers side which is easier to compress.. I also noticed the passenger half shaft had a bit of play from the diff stub axle, I could grab the half shaft and move it around a couple of mm inside the diff (hope this makes sense) on the passenger side while the driver side had barely any movement. I think this is where my noise is coming from. What exactly would cause some play in the diff stub axle? Pissed off because I just installed this 3.9 diff less than a year ago...

Installed the vibrant 1141 resonator today. First impressions - sounds perfect at idle, was just what I was looking for. Nice smooth rumble but not obnoxiously loud. Cruising around the city is definitely a bit louder than the dynomax which is to be expected, but the tone sounds nice and not too loud like my neighbors supercharged 240z with a magnaflow 2.5" bottle muffler. Still need to take it on the highway and if it doesnt drone I will be very very pleased with it.

Damn. Jelly. Got a thread on the build/swap by any chance? Would love an RB one day, my 280z is completely unworthy of such an engine at the moment though.

@seattlejester Too much noise when cruising around town is no bueno for me. I will be very happy if its tame at idle and under 3000rpm, just want it to open up and roar at WOT. Your Z is turbo as well correct? I used to have a single fart cannon muffler on the exhaust, 2.5" in and like a 4" ricer tip, sounded pretty damn good when getting in boost but the drone on highway was awful. Heard good things about the vibrant exhaust and I always like their other products they seem high quality. @DREW RBZ Just googled the dynomax VT muffler, never heard of it but looks pretty neat. Your rbz meaning rb swapped Z car?

Ended up ordering the vibrant 1141. Didnt want to wait around for a possible answer and I think the magnaflow would be too loud. Hopefully the vibrant holds up to its name "ultra quiet" and doesnt drone, just want a bit more decibels compared to the dynomax which is so quiet. The engine revving seems louder then the exhaust note itself. Will update this with how I like it once its installed. Hoping to find the source of my clunk that day as well because I will be under the car for the exhaust anyways, clunk/tap/knock sound is getting extremely annoying..

Looking to replace the dynomax 2.5" muffler thats currently on the rear of my 280z turbo. Its a very restrictive muffler, too quiet, goes from 2.5" to 2.25" on the inside for some reason. Exhaust is also equipped with a 2.5" vibrant bottle style resonator which sits besides the transmission. Im considering the following for the rear -magnaflow 10416 2.5" -vibrant 1141 2.5" These are both straight through designs. Im just a bit worried it will be TOO loud and drone like mad, I dont want this car to be a cop magnet either as its my daily driver but I want something less restrictive and with a bit more rumble at WOT. Thoughts on the two listed mufflers or suggest something different? and yes Im still working on the clunk😉

Ok so some good news - doesn't seem to be the diff itself as it looks as if this sound is suspension (or possibly mount?) related. The clunk has got a bit more frequent and I've noticed it does it over bumps like when entering my steep driveway or dips in the road. Bad news is I still haven't pin pointed it to anything specific yet, just too hot and tired to get under my car again recently. I'm moving quite soon into a new apartment with an underground parking lot so I'm not sure how/if I will be able to work on my car at this point which really really sucks, but the owners of this suite where I'm at now want their downstairs back so it is what it is. Anyways, I checked the strut tower bolts and the strut nut itself, all were tight. If I can manage tomorrow I will get under the car (love doing this!) and look for anything loose on the LCA, Sway bar end links, etc. Sound appears to be coming from the rear passenger side. Passenger wheel bearing was done 6 months ago and it was done correctly, replaced the stock nut with a ZX nut, seals were fitted properly, used lots of grease. I don't think its mount related simply because the mustache bar bushings are new as well as the front diff mount, plus it has steel cables where the factory strap sits above and the steel cables wont allow the diff to move up more than 1".. But I could still be wrong on this Appreciate all the tips so far thanks everyone.

Ah ok wasn't sure if you meant a hard launch or just starting in first gear, yes it does make the clunk when taking off from 1st gear but sometimes no clunk, depends how roughly I engage the clutch to get moving and when shifting from 1-2. Suspension is pretty stiff not sure if it squats that much. When flooring it and shifting hard I don't even notice the clunk as its pretty quiet, but still noticeable enough to drive me insane when cruising around slowly and in stop and go. It's most noticeable when in 1st gear and I take it to about 4000 rpm then abruptly take my foot off the gas pedal. Almost want to say that it sounds to be coming from the passenger side rear somewhere, which is the side I did the rear wheel bearing on. Also meant to say in last post will check the stub axle nut torque but wrote "gland nut" by accident. Impossible to say for sure I know but could this be an issue with the diff internals? I drained the fluid the other day and didn't notice any flakes in oil, just a tiny bit of metal dust on the magnetic drain bolt which I'm assuming is just normal wear and tear.. This might not matter but the l28 is turbocharged and probably making around 300hp at 15psi which I think is still low enough power for the stock drivetrain/halfshafts/driveshaft to handle? Didn't know about the capitalization rule lol that's definitely a first I've ever heard of this on any forums, but ok no worries will do. I've just been writing everything on my phone as I'm out and about, so I type fast and using the caps button on my phones keyboard is a PITA but I will type from my computer when I'm home from now on to talk here.👌

@seattlejester KYB shocks were installed months before the clunk began, I know what you mean by the spacers and didnt need to use any as the struts sit fine in their housings. I should have mentioned, that before doing the mustache bar bushings, diff mount+straps, trans mounts, I had much much worse clunk then I have now. after all that work was completed I had no clunking or noise from the rear end for a few months of driving. now all of a sudden I have this new clunk but its slightly different sounding compared to the original clunk which was solved at the time by the work mentioned above. I dont really ever launch the car so dont know, but will try tomorrow. as for the gland nuts I guess I can pull the halfshaft and check the torque because I did replace that wheel bearing recently, lets say about 2 months ago? @jhm I really really hope its a bad bushing in the rear LCA! I just visually inspected them yesterday but that doesnt mean too much I guess, aside from just staring them down I will try and see if I can stick a flat bar in there and check if theres a lot of play. for the wheels I have swapped them back to front and still the same issue, shaky steering wheel at certain highway speeds, otherwise its quite a SMOOTH (lol..) ride. I wouldnt be surprised if the el cheapo tire shop I took them to did a bad job or missed a out of round wheel/flat spot on tire, they have a very basic and old tire balancer so wont be using them anymore. will look for a shop that does road force measurements and try again. I plan to update this whenever I figure out the issue. and last but not least.. @NewZed its quite funny you mention satisfying intuition. when I saw that you had replied to the thread for the first time I said to myself, I remember this guy oh boy this will be good... and lo and behold it was! but I do really appreciate the grammar lessons, seriously I do. seems I must have rubbed you the wrong way by saying I 'hated this car' or something, and thats too bad as I was really hoping we could be good old buddies..😭.. oh well

lol..are you serious did you even read my post? "my issue is a slight clunk/knock in the rear whenever the clutch pedal is not engaged/disengaged completely smooth, its more noticeable around corners shifting from 1st to 2nd, also does it when going straight and sometimes from reverse. " how is that not descriptive enough? I can re write it in french if that helps? basically its 1-2- 3 gear shifts and when Im on the throttle and remove my foot quickly, but mainly when shifting quick. dont know what else to say...

yes I know this is a very common issue but Ive tried almost everything now. my issue is a slight clunk/knock in the rear whenever the clutch pedal is not engaged/disengaged completely smooth, its more noticeable around corners shifting from 1st to 2nd, also does it when going straight and sometimes from reverse. this is a 3.9 r200 diff, bought used and never made any noise for the months I drove it after installing. heres what Ive done so far -new mustache bar bushings -new diff mount and steel cable straps in addition to the joke pathetic factory strap that sits above diff -rebuilt half shafts -new trans mount -new wheel bearings -fresh diff fluid 75w90 -checked all mount bolts making sure they are tight -driveshaft is a used unit but never made noise for months as well, no play in ujoints -new kyb struts all around and gland nuts are tight as can be rear control arms are original with factory bushings but they look to be in decent condition still.. at my wits end with this car, Im seriously starting to hate the damn thing. steering wheel shakes as well at certain highway speeds but Im hoping its just the shop who balanced the tires did a shitty job, all new control arms/bushings in the front end.. grrr🤬

nevermind figured it out. onto the next issue!