I started the search for a 3rd gear upgrade solution back in 2007. GTM talked about a gearset, but it's not cost effective for most of us that just want a stronger 3rd gear. Fast forward to last fall, my 3rd gear in my CD008 trans finally gave up after 3 years of intense beating with the turbos. Nealoc187 and I spent the winter calling around looking for someone who would be interested in electron beam welding the 3rd gear engagement gear onto the main gear (as most know it's got weak copper looking brazing from the factory). We basically ran into a wall with that idea because of the way the stock gears are treated they can't be electron beam welded.

I called PAR engineering about an upgrade since I'd heard they had been working on a gearset for the 350Z. Talked to Gerard Chan whom was very helpful and decided to upgrade both 3rd and 4th since 4th also has the same brazing as 3rd. Since there are multiple revisions to the synchros in our transmissions I sent my stock gears to PAR so they could make sure they were made for the correct synchro setup. I received the upgraded gears in the middle of May and Neal and I started to work on a time that we could go out to TRE in Michigan and install them in my CD008 trans.

Thread about that here with pictures of the gear comparisons...
https://my350z.com/forum/forced-indu...-solution.html

Long story short, the summer was busy and Neal finally got out there a few weeks ago. Install went perfectly, and we finished the trans swap last night.

The PAR 3rd and 4th gears have less of a helical angle than the stock 3rd and fourth and are actually very similar in profile to the stock 1st and 2nd gears. There is a bit of whine in 3rd and 4th, but nothing I'll worry about. They could be made with more helical angle to mitigate gear whine. Overall the car drives just like it did before, but I have the piece of mind of a 3rd and 4th gear setup that will outlast the rest of the vehicle now. I'm very happy to report that we now have a 3rd gear upgrade option.

From left to right 6th-5th-2nd-1st-3rd-4th
You can see how 3rd and 4th now are just as beefy as first and second.

 

Very nice. What was the price for the 3rd and 4th gears?

 

Great work! Thanks for posting this!

 

Who is TRE in Michigan? Do they specialize in Z's? Or just gear installs and such?

Thanks!

 

3rd gear is $595USD+ shipping from PAR. 4th is the same. 4 gears total (main and counter)

 

Thanks for that info....

 

TRE is Team Rip Engineering, I used to work there. Specialize in DSM and Evo transmissions, transfer cases, and rear ends.

 

Very nice, also a good amount of $$$

Looking into the guts of a 6MT scares me

 

Good info

Thanks

 

Why? It's pretty simple once you know how it works.

 

6spds aren't too nasty....now autos, those scare the dirt-pie outa me

tom

 

There lies the issue

 

Ah, yes.

You ever get rid of that trans with the INOP 3rd gear?

 

Autos and myself don't get along AT ALL.

 

Bri - how about a vid in 3rd and 4th so we can hear the amount of whine, please.

 

I can probably make a vid this weekend when the weather clears around here.

On request PAR could use the stock helix angle and there would be no whine at all.

 

I didn't know about the 3rd & 4th gear thing until I recently got my car back. At first I thought there was a problem with the new clutch or maybe I just forgot how to shift after 10 months of down time. One of the shops told me that if it becomes to problematic that I would have to get a "009" transmission and that they cost about $2k installed. My question is the mod that you performed + labor more cost effective or simply better than swapping the transmission out?

 

I still have it collecting dust at work

 

Wish they would mame stronger selector forks. I keep breaking the 5th and 6th selector fork arms....

 

A CD009 transmission won't solve the engagement ring problem AFAIK.

All you really "need" is third gear since no one that I know of has broken 4th. Third gear is about $600 and then you just have to figure labor to pull and reinstall trans and a teardown and rebuild. If you are doing the R&R yourself, this would most likely be cheaper than buying a 009 trans (that doesn't ensure avoiding failure down the road).