I know nothing about Nissan transmissions but figured this would be the best place to ask about the pros and cons of the 6 speed manual transmissions in the 350z, specifically the earlier ones. I've done a search and found a few comments about weak synchros, but that's about it.

What I really want to know is:
How strong are they? When they break do they strip gears or break input shafts? What sort of hp/torque do they hold?
Do they shift ok at high rpm?
Are they prone to any other failure e.g broken synchros?

I have a friend with a few of these transmissions, and I'm tossing up between one of these, or a Tremec TKO500 from Libertys Gears. Obviously the TKO is a lot more expensive.

Any input is much appreciated.

 

2nd gear synchros are as strong as Stephen Hawking's legs.

 

as long as you have the CD009 tranny your good for high power

 

Synchro issues suck, but besides that they have proven themselves at 1000+ft/lbs without breaking. Maybe there were a couple that blew up on here, but those were heavily dragged.

I don't know the specifics of the tranny you are interested in, but the TKOs in mustangs I drove were a chore to shift compared to the Nissan tranny. As much as people complain about our tranny, they're far better than most domestic M/Ts.

 

My application is street/strip. I won't have anywhere near 1000ft/lb, but will be shifting at 9000+rpm on the track. The z transmissions my friend has are early ones, so I assuming there's a good chance of synchro failure??

When you buy a TKO from Libertys Gears they do an internal linkage mod which solves the poor shifting problem.

What year did the CD009 trans come out, and how can it be identified?

 

Honestly the only thing you will need to worry about is snyncros and even then it depends on your year