Looking at his join date it might make sense that he doesn't know much about Domonic tourettes and the gang. You might be more familiar with this fast and the furious.



But almost every car enthusiast that is probably between the ages of 18-45 probably watched the 2001 Fast and Furious maybe 1000+ times and can read you the script of the entire movie no matter how terrible the movie actually was lol.

 

I don't doubt for a minute that everyone between the ages of 18-45 have watched the F&F 1000 times. However, I am now 70 and the street racing scene means nothing to me. I don't understand the big deal. I was trying to help a new member who is having trouble with driving his manual transmission. I do have a little experience with manuals, having driven manual transmissions for about 52 years now so I am able to drive them fairly well. My apologies for not getting the joke about the F&F quote.

 

Nah bro you don't have to apologize. But I was being specific to "car enthusiasts" between the ages of 18-45 since those are the age ranges that the series either had an influence on or they would just have some knowledge of it from their generation if they were interested in cars. Especially if they were in their teens and 20s when any of the movies were released.

 

I'm 23. I fit perfectly into that category.

I only watch the fast and the furious movies for the lolz.

Like a charger can drag that big *** safe down the road keep going while it tears through a building..........

 

Or when they can keep driving on a runway with an airplane trying to take off at full speed for a half hour. Shifting into 46th gear on an automatic dodge charger I might add. So fake. We all know dodge chargers only have 42 gears.

 

No need to apologize, you're still well respected around here.

...for the most part

 

Em, compared to many other cars a 350 Z has a very high clutch pedal engagement point. This does make it difficult to drive smoothly until you get used to it. This is more of a man’s car and as such the seating positions accommodate a well over six-footers. Use the two ***** on the left side of the seat to raise up and slant the angle of the driver’s seat base to achieve a better angle to control the clutch pedal. In tandem with this adjustment do move the seat more forward, there is a lever under the steering column that will allow the wheel to be adjusted down to accommodate the new seating position.

Also confirm that the car’s clutch linkage is operating smoothly. In a quiet garage turn off the engine and open the driver’s door. Push the clutch pedal down then release it up very slowly. If you hear a squeak that seems to come from underneath the car, the clutch fork, pivot ball needs lubricating. At 9 years old your car’s pivot may have gone dry, (you hear a squeak) getting this taken care of will make the clutch operate much smoother.

 

Minor pedal adjustment and practice practice practice. Many of us with a lot of experience took a week or two to get used to driving them.

 

I was really curious what direction this thread was going to head towards. Kinda awesome.

 

Who brought the buster back?

 

Thanks Jennifer. Yeah I'm about an entire foot too short for this car. Clutch sounds fine. I've been following the advice on here to shift at 3000 now but 2nd gear is still hard on a side note, which engine oil is best for my car? I was gonna go for mobil1

 

Even though this has been covered 1000 times I will gladly spoon feed the noob. Use the oil in says in the manufacturer's book.

 

Em, your first post made it sound like you were having trouble working the clutch (car jerking). Is it possible we misunderstood, and your difficulty is more with actually getting into 2nd gear? If so, this is a common phenomenon (charming quirk) with this car. Usually evident from a cold start first thing in the morning. You will notice that it will shift smoother when the transmission is warmed up a bit (after a few miles driving). Please clarify.

On choices of engine oil, Nissan does approve Mobil 1 synthetic in the 5w 30 weight for VQ engines in their oil approval bulletin (more extensive than the owner’s manual). I used it for 10 years in my Z as do many people here.

 

My manual says Mobil 1 synthetic 5w 20 and some other brand but I forgot the name. But Mobil 1 is what I use.

 

I have trouble getting into 2nd gear smoothly. I feel like I have to hold my clutch for a bit longer than the other gears before releasing in order to get it to go smoothly. The issue with this is, impatient drivers behind me probably get annoyed because there's a slight delay in my acceleration when I'm going from a red light lol

 

i think the 1-2 shift is a common quirk of these cars. i noticed a trend when looking for information myself before i got my 05. just dont force it, you should never have to force it. all nissans ive driven have had notchy transmissions, not like most Hondas that ive driven which have been smooth as silk. just takes getting used to. took me about 2 weeks to get used to the Z's clutch engagement and shifting, now its easy. just practice and give it some time, and maybe change your transmission fluid. if its old and worn out it will make shifting more difficult than it has to be.

oh, and if its cold out it makes shifting 1,000,000 times harder. cold fluid and cold components dont like working correctly. just be nice to it until everything warms up, then you should be golden.

 

As Soc Monki has stated, the first to second up-shift is quite clunky on these cars until the transmission warms up a bit. This is not caused by the clutch action, but is a function of the shift mechanism inside the transmission. When you shift gears a synchronizer (synchro) comes into play to match the gear speeds to that of the output shaft in order to facilitate a smooth shift. The synchro is comprised of two parts, a friction component to grip the side of the gear and a lockout (blocker ring) The blocker ring holds up completion of the shift until the friction cones have finished the job of synchronizing gear speeds.

The resistance you feel in the shift lever when trying to engage second gear is the lock-out ring holding up the shift while the friction cones and the cold gear oil are still talking things over. The best technique is to move the gear lever with a gentle but steady (persistent) pressure towards the second gear position. As it pops into second gear you may feel (or even hear) a clink though the lever. This is the blocker ring (lock-out) part of the synchronizer abruptly opening. This is a signal for you to use slightly less (but still steady) pressure on the shift lever. After a mile or so of steady driving (not stuck in heavy traffic) you should feel everything get much less balky and the shifts become smooth as butter.

The Z shares this style of ‘Notchy’ transmission with some of the world’s greatest sports cars. And notwithstanding some quirkiness, the Z’s transmission shifts and performs brilliantly on the racetrack.

 

I knew it had to be something with this car because none of my honda friends know what I mean. Thanks Jennifer and everyone else!

 

Yeah it sucks, my 14 year old beater shifts a lot smoother than the Z.