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1st to 2nd gear super tough


Pimm Junior

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Bought my Z 2 months ago and had fluids changed since then Iv covered just over 4K miles and my gears are getting really tough? Anything to worry about or...?

 

Also while Iv got your attention how often would you do an oil change? Currently at 98K miles changed last at 93.6K

 

Cheers all

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I'm having a similar problem and would be interested to see what they make of it.

I always thought it was me being an idiot and changing gears "wrong"

Always struggled with 2nd for some reason, just an unnatural motion on my wrist. Now if it was LHD.... hehe

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Zed gearboxes are very quirky to say the least. I always struggled with 2nd to 3rd.

 

As SMD says above, get some Molyslip added and do a gearbox fluid change. May or may not improve things (didnt for me, but when i dropped the gearbox oil it looked like new anyway so the previous owner to me had obviously done it recently).

 

In the end I settled on double de-clutching on every 2nd>3rd gear change. i.e.

 

Clutch in

2nd>neutral

Clutch out

Clutch in

Neutral>3rd

Clutch out

 

The eliminates any notchy/clunkyness. Annoying at first, but now, 4 years on, muscle memory causes me to still do this in most other cars i've drive. :blush:

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Zed gearboxes are very quirky to say the least. I always struggled with 2nd to 3rd.

 

As SMD says above, get some Molyslip added and do a gearbox fluid change. May or may not improve things (didnt for me, but when i dropped the gearbox oil it looked like new anyway so the previous owner to me had obviously done it recently).

 

In the end I settled on double de-clutching on every 2nd>3rd gear change. i.e.

 

Clutch in

2nd>neutral

Clutch out

Clutch in

Neutral>3rd

Clutch out

 

The eliminates any notchy/clunkyness. Annoying at first, but now, 4 years on, muscle memory causes me to still do this in most other cars i've drive. :blush:

was rev matching not enough?

 

i'm in the habit of trying to rev match while changing gears. means less strain on the sync and faster gear changes. but a double de-clutch is the momma of all gear change manoeuvres :)

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Got this myself in 2nd. Not so bad when hot. From extensive research, it seems to be because the syncros are made of cheese, and lose teeth.

Tried molyslip and it didn't work. In the end I drained a litre of oil out of the box and put a litre of 5w30 in which helped a lot, also quietened the box.

I'm rebuilding the gearbox next spring so I'll post pics of the old syncros when the time comes.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Zed gearboxes are very quirky to say the least. I always struggled with 2nd to 3rd.

 

As SMD says above, get some Molyslip added and do a gearbox fluid change. May or may not improve things (didnt for me, but when i dropped the gearbox oil it looked like new anyway so the previous owner to me had obviously done it recently).

 

In the end I settled on double de-clutching on every 2nd>3rd gear change. i.e.

 

Clutch in

2nd>neutral

Clutch out

Clutch in

Neutral>3rd

Clutch out

 

The eliminates any notchy/clunkyness. Annoying at first, but now, 4 years on, muscle memory causes me to still do this in most other cars i've drive. :blush:

was rev matching not enough?

 

i'm in the habit of trying to rev match while changing gears. means less strain on the sync and faster gear changes. but a double de-clutch is the momma of all gear change manoeuvres :)

 

If by rev matching you mean "blipping" the throttle when the clutch is depressed before bringing it back up then that's only half the story. In doing so, you're only setting the engine speed to the correct speed for the gear you're selecting (which will still stop the car lurching when you re-engage the clutch). However, because the clutch is still disengaged, the input side of the gearbox isn't speeding up with the engine, which means the synchros will still have to do all the work to speed up the input side of the gearbox to match the output side as you press the gearstick into gear.

 

When double declutching, you dip the clutch, put the car in neutral and then bring the clutch up again. Then either "blip" the throttle to speed up the engine and gearbox for a downshift, or let the revs drop for an upshift. Doing this, you are matching the input gears to the speed of the output gears, allowing them to mesh easily. Finally, press the clutch in and select the gear. This is all done in one quick action in practise, and can be completed in the same time as a normal gear change by an experience driver. Synchronisers were devised to remove the requirement to do this, but doing so can make for much smoother shifts and educes synchro wear, particularly on the bigger downshifts (6th to 3rd for example). Also a vital skill if synchros are fecked :D.

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was rev matching not enough?

 

i'm in the habit of trying to rev match while changing gears. means less strain on the sync and faster gear changes. but a double de-clutch is the momma of all gear change manoeuvres :)

 

If by rev matching you mean "blipping" the throttle when the clutch is depressed before bringing it back up then that's only half the story. In doing so, you're only setting the engine speed to the correct speed for the gear you're selecting (which will still stop the car lurching when you re-engage the clutch). However, because the clutch is still disengaged, the input side of the gearbox isn't speeding up with the engine, which means the synchros will still have to do all the work to speed up the input side of the gearbox to match the output side as you press the gearstick into gear.

 

When double declutching, you dip the clutch, put the car in neutral and then bring the clutch up again. Then either "blip" the throttle to speed up the engine and gearbox for a downshift, or let the revs drop for an upshift. Doing this, you are matching the input gears to the speed of the output gears, allowing them to mesh easily. Finally, press the clutch in and select the gear. This is all done in one quick action in practise, and can be completed in the same time as a normal gear change by an experience driver. Synchronisers were devised to remove the requirement to do this, but doing so can make for much smoother shifts and educes synchro wear, particularly on the bigger downshifts (6th to 3rd for example). Also a vital skill if synchros are fecked :D.

Thanks for the extra info :) Edited by HiddenWomble
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Double clutching, used be the norm before we got synchronised mesh ask anyone who had a car after the war.

 

 

Most of us had cars after the war :) I want to ask anyone that had a car before the war ;)

 

 

I started on tractors - they were just nuts to change gear on :lol:

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My first Zed that I eventually wrote off, was terrible 1st to 2nd shift. My next one was OK, I changed to nissan gear box oil with molyslip, no immediate effect but after 2 weeks it's nice and smooth, even improved at cold. Not as smooth as my ford focus but as good as it gets for a 350z i think (I can slot it in 2nd with just my fingers, even on cold.) I do Rev match for smooth changes when accelerating, and because my biting point is very low, gently lift the clutch up. I'm not old school enough to have the patience for the double de clutch method, but good to know about it. I recommend OEM oil with molyslip see if it helps.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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