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did any of the early 240 260 Z have a 5-speed?


240ZR

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Stock tranny for most RHD Zeds was the 5spd - rare to find a 4 spd in a RHD Zed or in a RHD roadster SP311. I think the only 4 spd Zeds I have seen are S31 type. The S31 looks like a 260z (or 260z 2+2) but is called a Fairlady and was powered by the L20E with EFI 4 spd was standard in these but most had the optional 5 spd installed when first ordered/purchased.

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I've got one (well actually two) of those early 5 speeds - some call them 'competition' tranny's but I haven't figured out why. Best info I have put together they are just an imported 5 speed that wasn't available in the US. The synchro's were from Porshe but I've never heard that the rest was. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than I has more but I've asked before and this is the best I could find - search and you will find more info.

 

Thanks

Cameron

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I agree with 260DET, they had Porsche type syncros but were Nissan boxes. The only race boxes I know of the were the Nissan Motorsport units that had a 1:1 5th with close ratios - sometime people call these dog leg boxes as 1st gear is below reverse on the left - where as the over-drive boxes (with a 1:1 4th and 5th was 0.8 something) had a the more convensional H pattern. These units are like hens teath (rare) in this part of the would at least. Today you might say the Nissan Motorsport CR dog boxes are unobtainium (well the bigger version are at least - I believe there was two types those used for the Zed and the small bearing unit used on the L16/L18/L20 and A series 4 cylinder engines)

 

I hope most of my facts are correct

 

Cheers

Mike

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I measured the Porsche synchro ring vs the Nissan synchro ring and I believe they are identical.

 

It would not surprise me in the slightest if the entire gear cluster was Porsche since Nissan sells the whole thing as a unit and doesn't sell the synchro ring separately. I never got far enough into it to check the ID of the gear cluster to verify that they were the same.

 

The countershaft I believe is Nissan, because all the Porsche countershafts that I ever saw had individual gears on them. That is one of the nice things that I envy about Porsches. If you wanted to get a close ratio transmission, you just buy the main shaft gears and the countershaft gears and slide them on. Costs a lot of money, but you can have EXACTLY what you want.

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All of the manual boxes over here in the UK were 5 speed as far as I know, maybe a few four speeds got through in the very very early days but I have never seen or heard of them.

 

A lot of Californian Zs are imported here to be converted and we have to throw away the four speed boxes or even the automatics (why ? why ? why ?)

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Is there all that wrong with a 4 speed? IF (Big if) you have the horsepower to drive it, it can be quite nice.

 

A friend with a 1000+hp stang runs a 2 speed on his 67'. Pretty crazy. One speed for town, and one for highway, and 2 for going down the track.

 

I'd imagine that with a good rear end set up with lots of low end tourque a 4 speed would be fine. But now we're talking about HP numbers that would destroy these stock trannies...

 

Personally, i've never had the honor of seeing a 5 speed Z. But I love my 5 speed ZX ;)

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the syncro assemblys for 5th gear in 75-78 z used a porsche style syncho vs brass cone ring on later zx trans.the early 75 to 78 trans had a low 1st & 2nd, then a jump to 3RD ,4th is 1to 1,5th not much od.i found out at sears point that the gap between 2nd & 3rd wasnt good.82/83 zx trans works best.closer ratios and more od in 5th.as far as 240,260 five speed-never saw 1.some of the nissan comp trans had special ratios but are very rare.i rebuild my own trans-usually the countershaft bearings wear from leak at speedo gear drivei run zx na trans behind turbo motor with 3.7 lsd rear.drives great.

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If you buy from Nissan they force you to buy the whole gear cluster, which is several hundred bucks.

 

If you buy the synchro ring (which is really the part that wears) you can get aftermarket ones really cheap, factory Porsche still aren't terribly expensive. I want to say that jobber on the Porsche ones is less than $100, but I haven't worked at that Porsche shop in over 5 years now.

 

BTW Preith I looked at your site and your car is what my car wants to be when it grows up.

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If you buy from Nissan they force you to buy the whole gear cluster' date=' which is several hundred bucks.

 

If you buy the synchro ring (which is really the part that wears) you can get aftermarket ones really cheap, factory Porsche still aren't terribly expensive. I want to say that jobber on the Porsche ones is less than $100, but I haven't worked at that Porsche shop in over 5 years now.

 

BTW Preith I looked at your site and your car is what my car wants to be when it grows up.[/quote']

 

Thanks for the info. The best deal I came across on a comp trans which really did make me consider buying it was priced at 1k. There was a guy on ebay selling a wide ratio, which had the same ratios as the "A", or early 280 5-speeds, no thanks.

 

Thanks also for the compliments on the car, but I all I do is think about the next one....GT2 tube frame.

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