07 350z 109k miles.

At high revs I am having a little trouble heel toe downshifting. For example: entering a corner at high speed in 3rd then hell toe at the end of my trail braking and popping it into 2nd gear to shoot my way out of the corner. I almost feel like I can't pop the throttle hard enough to get the revs high enough for second gear. Or else I feel like it's really hard getting the shifter through the "gate" into second fast enough to match the revs.

I heard the throttle is halved in these cars while braking. Is that why I can't get those revs high enough? Someone told me that's why you can't do a burnout in a 350z (not that I would or even want to do a burnout)

I am wondering what wears out that may affect the shifting precision. I did some research and did not come up with much. There's a nylon or plastic shift cup. Maybe that wears out and ruins my precision? I read the shift mounts don't wear out but I'll bet they get soft after 13 years. Anybody replace theirs and notice a difference?

Maybe I'm just not used to the large gap between 3rd and 2nd gear. I've been driving a much closer ratio geared car for the past many years so I could just be out of touch. Maybe I'm just not fast enough or maybe I'm not popping the throttle hard enough with my heel.

Kind of don't want to have to add a double clutch for that 3rs to 2nd shift. Seems like a lot. Trail brake, heel toe, double clutch

 

I blip just fine at the end of a straight. Usually the lowest gear i'll be in at the end of a straight is 4th gear for the tracks around here. i think 2nd gear has a lockout if i'm thinking straight (i know 1st gear has lockout at certain speeds). If this is the case you will have to bleed some speed before the shifter will allow you to get into 2nd for safety reasons.

To answer your question on helping out with the heel toe. You can try to add the 380RS pedal if you haven't already, it has an extra bit of surface area to allow better contact when you are heel-toeing. Also a lightweight flywheel/clutch combo will help you rev it up faster with little effort.

 

The flywheel idea is a good one. Within 20k miles I'll have to get a new clutch and flywheel so I'll go lighter.

I have the 380 pedal already.

There's a lockout?! So it's the car itself literally not letting me into gear? That's honestly exactly what it feels like. That's so stupid. It's going to be impossible to win at AutoX if that is the case. All that power is at high revs

 

No- second gear on the Z does NOT have a lockout! Depending on which version gearbox you have, first and second gear may have triple cone syncros, so it takes a bit more effort to get it into gear.

It may be technique that's hindering your heel-toe downshifts. I use the left side of my right foot to actuate threshold braking, and then roll my ankle outwards to blip the throttle hard. So it's more like "sides of the foot" downshifting rather than using the heel and toe. I find I have good sensitivity with the ball of my foot on the brake and maintaining it while rolling (pronating) my ankle outwards to allow the little toe side of my foot to catch the throttle. A third-to-second gear fast swap? Make sure you're blipping hard enough to allow for an easy downshift. The shift should almost feel like the lever falls into second gear if you do it right. I can think of a few tracks where I'm turning a high G in third and suddenly shift directions to come into a sharp hairpin in second. SO satisfying to get this right and rocket away from that turn lap-after-lap!

 

This! ^^

Was wondering about that "lockout" because I have never had an issue on a 3-2 while three-footing from any speed. (I do occasionally gronk the 4-3 because my tranny has that notorious 3rd gear but never 3-2) This was the first time I'd ever heard a comment on "lockout" other than reverse.

 

I had a similar problem but was having issues up and down shifting into 2nd. I replaced my transmission mount with a polythene one and in made shifting a lot faster and smoother. Did add quite a bit of NVM though.

 

Thanks for the input guys. I'll try two things then. First is work on my technique as I haven't even put 5k miles on this chassis yet. Are all the pedals adjustable like the clutch pedal is? I feel I could heel the pedal a little harder if it sat a quarter of an inch higher.

I'll change the trans mount too. I'll put back in oem though. I've done poly mounts. Not worth the car feeling like it's shaking apart on me. Maybe the motor mounts I'll do next winter. That should prevent everything from moving around on me while I'm shifting.

 

maybe change out shifters since you are used to a shorter throw

 

my bad on false information with the 2nd gear lockout

 

Its not a shorter throw I'm used to. It's shorter gearing

 

If you want a custom tailored clutch feel consider the RJM pedal

 

Wow, that pedal looks awesome! Added to want list. Do you have one? How do you like it? How was the install?

 

I do but not installed yet, I just literally got it like a month ago. I hear nothing but good things about it tho. Seems like a straight forward install.

 

Let me know how that goes. I'm interested to hear your feedback. Pedal feel is Def worth $300

 

So I started double clutching 3-2,and thst helped a lot. Also, mashing the crap out the throttle was what I was missing. Those gears are REALLY FAR apart. I got it now though. Not the easiest thing to do pulling high G and trying to do everything smoothly but I got it.

Still going to swap out the trans mount later though

 

Glad to hear your downshifts are getting better. Keep in mind the gearing in the Z is designed around the broad torque curve of the VQ engine. The closer spacing of your past Hondas were designed around engines with peaky power . One speed secret that I use in road racing is to find certain parts of the circuit where it's better to carry speed at a lower RPM rather than having to throw a shift and then downshift again. Smoother to let the tremendous torque do the work, while I figure out the best line.