My mom commented that she could hear me shift gears quite audibly while standing by the curb. (going from 1st to R back to 1st). She was concerned that something might be wrong because it was so loud. A friend of hers said it could be because of worn bushings. It's an '03 with 30k easy miles on it. I dont notice the gears being loud in the vehicle. Is this normal?

 

Normal. Even if you're double clutching 1>R R>1 like you should be doing, it will still make noise.

 

Push clutch farther in... its not the transmission.

There are 3 different systems when changing gears.
1. Cable
2. Crank
3. Auto

I believe the Z's have crank thus the noise while moving gears.
You will notice the difference w/ the cable shifter, less noise and less muscle movement. You kind of have to grab and pull harder w/ the cranks.

 

i have the same thing, when drivin slow with the windows down i can hear the clunk goin into a gear...it makes alot of noise and im not a fan of it but i live with in....about 37K miles on my 03

 

the transmission will make some amount of noise when going gear to gear while stationary - its just the physical mechanism moving

The transmission should be free of clunks and should be totally smooth while stationary or moving. Anything less than that, and you have some sort of a problem

 

i too have this loud noise thing,......curious, is there anything that can be tightened under there?

 

mines loud too. i was wondering if there's anything wrong with it. also when u accelerate slowly from low rpms, i hear this metal/spinning sorta sound that getting quicker when u speed up and eventually goes away. usually in 4th gear i think. do u guys know what it is?? or is that normal??

 

.....and i as well. Just like theanswer.

 

the clunk is normal as is the spinning sound... IIRC, the spinning sound are the synchros.

i like the noises, but then i also drive the car like I stole it so I rarely hear anything other than exhaust and tires

 

As it is mentioned in the Top 100 Questions Thread, the transmission is noisy. Most transmission noises you hear are normal.

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