My fifth gear synchro has started to wear on my early United kingdom MY03 Zed at c.120,000 miles, so I started investigating possibilities.

There are currently 1.47 dollars to the pound.

1. New gearbox from Nissan dealer: this came in at £3623.02 (excluding clutch); £2488.42 (+VAT) of that was just for the gearbox.
2. Gearbox refurbishment: I only have one car, so the car would be off the road for too long.
3. Importing gearbox from USA. Sharif, had a good deal on some CD009 gearboxes (latest revision) (c.£1,000 excluding delivery and VAT/duty, at the previous favourable exchange rate); but these were incompatable with RHD cars. The gearboxes are RHD/LHD specific.
4. Importing from Japan, via website traders: couldn't get a compatible part number
5. Breakers yards: Selling second hand gearboxes at c. £700; they were having a laugh!!!!
6. Ebay: Saw a box for sale for £460. Took a punt and bid for it and won. As luck would have it, it was a CD009 model (latest revision) from a car with 17k on the clock. Getting fitted with a new clutch tomorrow (current one has been on 50,000 miles, so thought it was prudent to change) at local garage. Also came with a 90 day warranty!! It even fitted in the back, with my girlfriend in the passenger seat. Tip: if you need to fit a gearbox in the Zed, put the narrow end in first, lengthways (end between seats, base sitting in boot).

End result: total cost c. £1,000 including gearbox, clutch, clutch cover, release bearing and fitting. Terrific if it all works out. Booked in tomorrow, with new tyres the day after, ready to drive to Italy.


UPDATE: Since this was booked in, I have found that the gearstick support bracket on the MY03 is different to the MY05; luckily, i managed to get the required part from the people that sold me the gearbox. I ended up having to replace the flywheel too (my second one). Hopefully this will all be sorted out on Monday. I'll let you know how it all works out.