not to hijack thread but semtex, how does the 370 tranny feel in comparison to the s2k tranny? i'm very curious.

Regarding the noise, OP, you need to understand that these are sports cars and you compromise some luxury for the high feedback short throw tranny. Like semtex said, if you've driven the s2k, you will never complain about the 370. The S makes all sorts of weird differential noises, whines, engine noises, etc but that rawness and hearing all the machinery function is the beauty of owning these cars. I've driven the 350 and the "weird" noises seemed VERY well mannered, so from what i'm hearing, the 370 should be more than fine.

Hmm . . . it's a little hard to compare the two vehicles, but I'll try. ;)
The shifter was a lot smoother on the S2K, and it had to have had a much lighter flywheel. Noise-wise, hard to say as that entire car was noisy (which might be why the Z never bothered me). But I say that it's hard to compare because the S2K was so low on torque, and it had a 9000 rpm where you didn't even really get any decent power until 6000 rpm! So it's easy for the transmission to be smoother on the S2K when it didn't have to handle as much torque. Plus that flywheel had to be light in order to spool up to 6k rpm in a half-decent amount of time, and I think the lightness of the flywheel also aided the smooth 'feel' of the transmission. You know how in the Z if you downshift without rev-matching it feels really jerky? Well in the S2K you could downshift like that and the transmission would hardly jerk. It'd 'absorb' the mismatched revs much easier. That's all down to the weight of the flywheel. The reason it jerks so hard in the Z is because it has a heavy flywheel, which means more rotational inertia. So the S2K's tranny was smoother, but it's easy to be smooth when you're low on torque and have a lightweight flywheel. Swapping the Z's stock flywheel for a lightweight one would help, but noise will go up.

As far as low-end torque is concerned, I came from a 2007 Altima 3.5SE 6MT. Now, as far as low-end torque from a V6...AMAZING!! The VQ35DE was absolutely fantastic in low-rpms! Had a VERY smooth/flat torque curve!! I loved it! I could EASILY shift gears without EVER getting over 1500rpms and still had plenty enough power to accelerate and keep up with traffic. It is a fantastic drivetrain.

THEN, I hopped into the Z and thought "what crap from a 3.7L V6". BUT, after I've broken it in fully, this engine has damn decent low-end torque! I can still shift through the gears @ 1500rpm and have plenty of power to accelerate! I think the amazing top-end kind of overshadows the low-end on the VQ37HR. It's just the peaky powerband on this engine that makes you think that the VQ37HR has no low-end, but it really does!! LOL.

Either way, I have the clunk in the transmission and I hear it ALL the time on the 1-2, 2-3, and sometimes the 3-4 shift! But I like it! Sounds aggressive, I think! Although....I also have the notorious 6th gear grind. The 6th gear syncro is just GONE! Even shifting from 5-6, I get crunching when shifting normally. So, I developed that little problem @ around 5000 mi, and now have 7000. It will be going back to the dealer, but if I shift slowly into 6th, it is fine. So, I've just been living with it til now. Add another to the BAD 6th gear synchro thread! LOL.

Late,
Trav

You want gearbox chatter? Drive a 2004 CTS-V. The throws are like 2 feet long, and the shifter moves almost 4 inches left to right when in gear.

Also, it chattered like a son of a gun.

Still, the car was badass.

I replied on the causes of transmission rattle on the other forum in extensive detail when answering Zoltan's great question. If you want to understand the root cause of the noise, you can go there and read my answer. For the short version, basically it just annoying and it doesn't hurt anything or mean that your car is going to blow up or anything. I think every car I have ever driven with an aluminum transmission case makes this noise to some extent or other when warm. On some cars its barely audible but the Z is on the more noisier side of the scale.

I dont really have a chatter, more of a whirring noise when Im in high RPMs. Its more pronounced in the lower gears. I dont mind it.

I just started getting a slight pop/pinging noise when I first start moving in first gear and in reverse, but not any other gears. It's never happened before.... I'll rev it up, slowly disengage the clutch, and as soon as the car begins to move it'll be like POP POP piiingggg then go away. If I keep it in first when I slow down and roll over a speed bump it'll do it then too.

Anyone else have this?

The only strange noises I hear are when I execute bad launches from first or clutch out really fast with a large load on the trannie aka going down a hill or gunning it to a light etc.

I'm starting to feel very solid with the trannie and now very seldom hear the chatter and rattles

Bump from the dead?

My bad haha

Z is in shop Transmission noise
 

I originally thought the noise was the throw-out bearing, so i was not too concerned. The dealer says the transmission needs to be replaced. I have never had problems shifting, so this really surprises me.