First, I am well aware of all the issues and complaints of the Z's clutch and transmission.

2006 Base 6mt sitting at 87000miles. Bought at 79000 in March 2011. Transmission fluid replaced with OEM at 80000 miles.

At first I just thought that I had fallen victim to bad syncros because going 1 - 2 was difficult or would grind if not done gently (while under 3k rpm) whether the car is cold or fully warmed up doesn't seem to matter.

But now I have discovered if I go to shift, pull the shift-**** to the left with a bit of force while at the same time down into 2 it slides in like butter?

If the syncros were bad I didn't think it would matter how I performed the shift it would always feel gross.

Or am I missing something completely here?

Thanks for any input!

 

shifter needs alignment.

https://my350z.com/forum/engine-driv...alignment.html

 

oh man I didn't even think of that. Mechanic friend didn't either.

Ill give it a shot, thanks!

 

Wow, I feel like an idiot. Should have done that a long time ago and saved myself from grinding second gear so much.

Just did the realignment, shifts like a totally different car. All the gears feel better as well.

Thanks Emski

 

That's awesome that adjusting the plate worked for you. I'm having the same issues you were having with the 1-2 shift. Was it just that your shifter plate positioned a little too much to the right, preventing you from getting the shifter all the way into the gate?

 

Glad I can help.

 

350zjoe, you also mentioned that all gears felt better. Based on what I've seen with the plate, I'm having a hard time seeing how it would affect the gears in the middle. Can you explain a little bit the improvements you're seeing?

 

Yes that appears to be what the problem was. The shifter plate had to be moved quite a bit to the left (see pic below) It was a fairly simple job to do once I got the dam shift **** off. All that was needed was a 10mm socket on a extension.

In regards to your other question, I read that aligning 5th and 6th gear properly with the shifter plate using the notch on the shifter will align the rest of the gears.

All gears had a slight notchiness to them in the past few months. Sometimes going 4 to 5 would produce a slight grind. And 1 to 2 was horrendous. After doing this alignment, no grinding in any gears. And once the car is warmed up the gears all feel great and smooth. It honestly feels like a different transmission.

 

Hmm...You got me thinking now. Last november I purchased a new transmission for my 07 Z because going from 6th to 5th would occasionally produce a slight grind, but never up shifting from 4th to 5th. You're making me wonder if the shift plate was misaligned the whole time and maybe there was nothing really wrong with the original transmission.

Secondly, sometimes there's a slight "bump" it feels when you shift from 5th to 6th and ride the shifter against the wall. Is that the notch you were referring to?

Your pic is really helpful, so thanks a lot for that. But how do you know it's properly aligned, and where exactly is the 10mm bolt located (cant see in pic)? I assume once that 10mm nut is loosened, the shifter plate can be moved around? Just don't understand too well. Thanks again.

Btw what part of Ontario? I'm there pretty often to visit the gf. She's in Burlington-Oakville area. Driving the Z up there later on this month actually.

 

Sorry, I think notch is the wrong word to use. In my pic you will see something protruding from the right side of the shifter. When in 6th gear that piece of metal should be firmly against the right side of the shifter plate. Then when shifting 6th to 5th it should slide along the shifter plate and when you reach 5th it should still be firmly against the right side of the plate. :

To adjust this you need to loosen / tighten the 3 10mm bolts on the shifter plate itself. It will take some trial and error to get it all lined up, but it is not difficult. I screwed the shift **** on temporarily to test drive the car before covering everything back up.

Hope this helps!

And I'm on the east side of Toronto, about 30mins from downtown.

 

thanks for the clarification!

 

Any time, I hope this solves your problems like it did mine!

 

Im so glad I searched. I was almost about to either a) sell my car or b)buy a new trans for 1600... On a scale of 1-10 how hard would it be for me to try this alignment in my own garage with basic tools? Do I have to lift the car up and remove the shifter bolt under the car?

 

1 being easy and 10 being hard. I would say about a 2? lol

It is very easy. Follow the directions in the link posted by Emski at top of this thread. You do not need to lift your car. You can sit in your drivers seat with the door closed and work away.

All you need is a 10mm socket on an extension. And you might need a good set of vice grips, pipe wrench or equivalent to get the shift **** off

Joe

 

Last question just for clarification. In the dIY thread it says to push the shifter down a little bit to align it with the guide? I don't know what he means by that did you just shift into sixth and then align the plate so that it's perfectly up against the shifter notch?

 

When you push the shifter down it's easier to move the guide plate.
Just put the shifter into sixth gear, move the plate over so it touches, then do the same for fifth. You'll get it when you open it up.
Honestly the hardest part for me was to take the **** out. Felt like I had to turn it 30 times haha.

 

Ah haha so not necessary to push down? Yeah the previous owners put in a different shift know and idk how the hell they attached it lol, and idk if they put in a new shifter assembly. plus thisll give me a chance to fox the shift boot(the zip tie came undone and i didnt know i could fix that till i watched a vid of shifter replacement). Is the difference in shifts really dramatic? Like a lot smOother shifts?

 

Serious QFT ^^

And Gorizza it really depends on how misaligned it is in the first place. Mine was dramatic as you can see in the pics how far off it was.

 

Is this picture taken before or after the alignment?

 

That picture was taken after the alignment. But the shifter was in neutral at the time, the pic was only to show how far off the alignment was by looking at the bolts.

UPDATE: And even though all the other gears feel great still, my 2nd gear is feeling like **** again. I think permanent damage has already been done to the syncros. This alignment still helped greatly, but in my case I think I waited to long to fix the problem