jinx3 Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 I am looking for a shifter for my 5 speed, which came out of a 78 620. I am looking to your experience - this is going into a 510, some shifters may work better, so please provide feedback and suggestions. Shipped to 98682 (vancouver, wa). Shifter should work for any of the following: Any FS5W71B tranny from a '77-'78 280z and '79-'83 280zx non turbo OR '77-'79 620 and '80 2wd 720 truck, OR '78-'84 810/Maxima will bolt on to the L16 motor. Thanks, jinx3 Link to comment
datzenmike Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 The 4 speed shifters for all those cars and trucks will also work. Some of the 720, Maxima and maybe the late zx shifters are differently made but will fit on the striking rod guide. The problem is the pin may not. Most pre '80s shifters look like the one on the top. The others are from 720s maybe an S110 200sx I forget, but not gauranteed to work so check. . Link to comment
jinx3 Posted March 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 Thanks Mike for the info. What is the pin problem? Different diameter? Or is it the location of the pin hole? Link to comment
troyt Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 Just an FYI - An issue when replacing the early Datsun shiftlevers is the pin-to-ball distance, as there are two different lengths with the early levers (the one seen at the top of Mike's pic). The levers themselves come in MANY different overall lengths and bends (Z's, trucks, 1200s, etc), but for proper shift action, you need to match the pin-to-ball length to your trans. I discovered this after swapping many Z trannies in and out of race cars for several years. The "ears" on the transmission shift linkage, that the shiftlever pin goes through, came with their pin holes drilled at two different heights, neccesitating the different pin-to-ball lengths. The problem is they both fit in either application, and 'sometimes' causes no issues, initially... The prominent problem arises when you use the "short" lever with the "high" ear holes - as parts wear it becomes difficult to fully engage 1st/3rd/5th gears, and we mis-diagnosed this issue until we discovered the "real" problem. We also misdiagnosed another shifting problem and found a 'long' lever jammed into a 'low' shifter that had caused pre-mature wearing of the plastic bushing on the shifter ball. If you look at the tapered section between the pin hole and the ball, and see odd dents or wear marks in it (see Mike's 2nd pic), it was mis-matched with its trans. I wish I would have saved pics of two side-by-side, but can no longer find them. Link to comment
jinx3 Posted March 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 Thanks troyt for the info. I appreciate the information! Link to comment
wayno Posted March 13, 2012 Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 I have a few of the top ones in this photo, i don't use this type much, are they the 620 5 speed type datzenmike? I have several shifters of this type, you can have one if it is the type you need. Link to comment
datzenmike Posted March 13, 2012 Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 Pre '80s striker guides... Post '80s striker guide... . Link to comment
jinx3 Posted March 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 Those pics make it clear - thanks Mike! Wayno, that is really generous of you! I'll send you a PM to setup a time. Thanks everyone for the great info! I keep learning more and more good Datsun info on this site! Link to comment
wayno Posted March 13, 2012 Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 I have a few longer ones on the right that seem to all be the same, you can have one of them, the two shorter ones on the left I am keeping. Link to comment
troyt Posted March 14, 2012 Report Share Posted March 14, 2012 This forum rocks! I wish I had access to these pics years ago... Jinx, look at Mike's pics of the 2 striker plate hole heights (I always called them shifter ears), then look at the left two shift levers in wayno's pics, notice the different length below the pin hole. Be sure to match your lever to you shift plate. Link to comment
BillM Posted March 14, 2012 Report Share Posted March 14, 2012 Wayno- or anyone else who might have one- I would like to get one or two of the shifters that have that square slot at the pivot to see if they will work in my 210 4-speed. Say $20 each? BillM Link to comment
datzenmike Posted March 16, 2012 Report Share Posted March 16, 2012 The stock plastic bushings are the same so it wouldn't surprise me if you could swap a shifter too. BTW the later 720 shifter with the larger plastic sides will fit the earlier transmissions between the 'ears'. Link to comment
darrel Posted March 16, 2012 Report Share Posted March 16, 2012 Here are some pics of shift levers. The pic with 2 shift levers show the long and short versions of the pivot point. On the longer lever, you can see marks that the shift rod cutout made on the shift lever. That mark is on both sides of the lever. Take a grinder to the front and back until it clears the shift rod cut out. That should let the transmission engage fully. If you use the shift lever with the large plastic bushing, you can flip the bushing to match which transmission it goes in. http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c301/dlh2460/transmissions/ I also have more pics in my galleries on classiczcars and hybridz. In the galleries on the above sites I also have pics of the shift ears from a '73 4 spd, an early 5 spd and a late 5 spd. The levers with the shorter distance from pivot to ball belongs to a 5 spd transmission. Link to comment
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