Hey everyone new to the forum, and wanted to get everyones 2 cents. Just inherited my dad’s 2006 350z which I also used to drive in high school and we have had since brand new. The car has just over 23k original miles and is pretty much mint, garaged its whole life. So the down side is it’s an automatic. I love the car but I don’t enjoy the auto. I have a 99 civic 5 speed that i drive around more than this car just because it’s stick, sadly. Anyways what are your thoughts on is it really worth swapping the transmission to a manual. thank you for any feedback back.

 

I would sell the civic and get you a nice manual 350z.. and keep your dads car as is.. my 2 cents.

 

Agree with this. While rare, you can still find relatively low mileage MT Z33s. They're out there, but you need to be patient.

AT to MT swap is not that easy. Sure, it's been done and it is possible. Whether it's "worth it" is totally subjective and up to you. I think most of us on here will say it's not worth it.

 

Leave your dads Z alone. Dont start swapping things out. Sounds like its been well kept and you should keep it that way. I totally like MTs over autos BUT that automatic is a perfect car to daily it once in a while. Sell that civic and get yourself an MT Z.

 

Consensus seems to say: Don't swap it.

Honestly, I would just drive it. Nobody cares if you're driving AT or 6MT. Just yourself.

OTOH: If you're not emotionally attached to the car, you could probably get premium dollars for it given the low mileage. People seem to want AT cars - or at least the market for clean Z33s and 34s seems to indicate. Ehhhh, I'd been looking for a newer Z34N for a while and gave up, seeing that every dang facelifted Nismo was designed for millennial drivers. (Just a new take on the joke about "manual trans being a millennial anti-theft device", no offense to anyone with slushbox) And there is the observation that AT cars are almost always in better condition than MT cars - for whatever reason.

 

Good point. One of the Z br0s that I met a while back at ZdayZ had an 03 MT. I forget the reason, but he had to replace the engine and he sourced one from a Z33 that was AT. His thinking was that the engine was with whatever miles was likely in better shape than an engine with the exact same miles out of a MT since it wouldn't have been revved as high or driven hard if the trans was doing all the shifting. Makes sense to me.

 

that is just what i did...

 

I concur with most about keeping it stock. I have a 2005 350Z auto with 25k miles and love it. Only mods were coilovers, new head unit, 2006 Z headlights. I almost had a shift kit install but the shop closed the business before the work was started. I might still get that done. Regardless I love driving my Z and the handling is great. She may not be the fastest but it sure fools a lot of folks who ride my bumper when I pull away.

Enjoy driving your car!

 

Sounds like a clean survivor. Don't do an MT swap on it, it can be done, but there's going to be a lot of headaches along the way. Buy a clean factory equipped 6MT and never look back. As said before, they exist, but some patience is in order to find a good one. If you live in a strict state, doing a transmission swap can open up a can of worms for passing state or smog inspections. Your gauge cluster will light up with all the emojis, you will probably have permanent CEL codes stored. If this was going to be a track or purpose built drift car, then who cares, but if you want to daily it and not have to worry about passing inspections, then just leave it be.
Cheers!
-Icer