Gorge/Portland Area Tranny Rebuilders?

[mtngoat]

Hi All, 

my 280Z five speed in my wagon started making bad sounds last night. I've posted in the want ads as well as pinged a Portland member about a 5 speed in the for sale section. 

 

I'm also exploring other options, such as buying a reman from Datsun Parts LLC (Bought a l20b from there last spring, runs great) for $1000 shipped. My other option is to get a local rebuilder to go through my existing box. Does anyone have a transmission shop in the area that they recommend?

 

thanks folks

[mtngoat]

 

Found a guy in Oregon City who says they've done at least 50 FS5W71b's over the years, they've been around since the early 80's. Anyone have any opinions on Jim Estes Garage in Oregon city?

 

AllTrans no longer does older cars

Transmedic is not taking any manual transmissions for repair, says he's having trouble getting parts, has several apart on the bench he can't finish, and he's not taking on any more until the situation is resolved.

[mtngoat]

Dropped off the tranny on Sat after picking up a used 280zx box from DTP. DTP is a great guy, very easy going and he let me drive the two Z's I had to choose from and have a good look at the loose trans he had as well. Both Z's drove fine, one was noticeably tighter tranny wise than the other. When we pulled the shifter to check the ears it turned out the one I liked had th .865 5th. No way I want even higher R's on the freeway. So we popped the boot on Z number two...same thing. 

 

So I decided to take the long eared loose one, which has a .77 5th. Didn't get to drive it first but it felt fine and appeared as if someone had been inside, orange RTV around the case edges and pretty fresh oil in it. Bung had a fine coating of fur but no chunks on it, another good sign. So I took it. 

 

Got it wrapped up today and took 'er for a spin about an hour ago. Well, if it wasn't for the tall first gear, I'd really like this box. 3rd is nice and 5th is awesome, really liking that. .81 on the truck tranny (after research and ratio measuring i determined it to be a truck version, not Z) to .77 is quite noticeable. At freeway speed the R's at 60 was 2400...pretty cool. This trans feels much better, no shifter slop very smooth shifts and definite feel with each spot on the shifter. 

 

But alas, for my rock crawling I really need that 3.6 1st gear. I did a short dirt trek on the way back and the taller first was noticeably worse on the steep sloppy rock stretch. Simply could not go slow enough, with the other tranny it's perfect, putt along very slow plenty of torque left. 

 

So I guess I will wind up going back to the other trans when it's repaired, but I can already tell I'll miss this tall 5th. The L20b had plenty of torque for the moderate hill on the freeway with the new box. I wish I could have this box with the low 1st, or the box being repaired with the tall 5th in this one!

 

And oh yeah, DTP also got me on the road to another mod I've been wanting for a while...a larger fuel tank! the 11 gallons in the wagon tank has always rankled me since I do a lot of long distance driving. He had a 280zx tank loose in his shop, I got to eyeballing it thinking that it just might fit. It's rectangular and the filler is in about the same spot. DTW noted that measuring only gets you so far in a swap game, and let me take the tank with me so I could experiment with fitment without having to imagine where all the plumbing and mounting points are. Very cool, DTW. 

[mtngoat]

Been digging around reading more....it appears one can do some gear swaps inside these 71b's to get different ratios? What parts do I need to put a taller 5th in the box I'm having repaired? I see two lower ratios in the ZX boxes, one of which I'm driving now of course. There's the .745 which I think I have currently, and a .77

 

The gears fit the shafts or whatever, and all I would do is get the correct 5th gear set and have it installed in place of the 0.812 gears in place now?

[danfiveten]

Clark county transmission off hwy 99 in salmon creek area has rebuilt the tranny in my 510 before, and still works great after almost 10 years. 

[mtngoat]

thanks for the tip on that tranny outfit. wish I'd heard it sooner, but we'll see how the other place does!

[mtngoat]

Update: Clark County transmission did good work including a replacement tail housing and complete rebuild including some gears, for 500. I don't know if that's a lot but it seemed like a reasonable price to me.

The guy was on the ball and great to work with. I never met him and conducted it all on the phone. A work buddy dropped it off and picked it up. At pickup on his way to our work, my card had expired but I didn't know it yet. Yes the guy at the shop put an unpaid for rebuild in my buddy's truck and let him leave with it. I of course immediately called when I found out and made good. The upshot is he could have said no and cost me at least a day and my buddy another trip, but he didn't. I appreciate that and wanted to mention it.

So if you're in Portland and need good work done, for me it's Clark County Transmission.