Does pops know best?
 

I let my father drive the Z a long time ago and I always forgot to ask him what he thought about it. First thing he said to me is that he thinks I may have a loose transmission mount or something. "you can feel the shifter move right/left when you accelerate and move back when you let off" was along the words he said. I know the Z has a lot of strange things that go on with our transmission but is he right or is this a common thing?

Also this is my first manual car and I swear I've read on here once that you shouldn't drive with your hand on the shifter. Only touch it when you are shifting. Now he's an old school guy so my pops said he has his hand ALWAYS on the shifter. Which one is right? Thanks for the help and reading guys.

Need more info on the movement. Make a video maybe? The shifter is going to vibrate and move a little so its hard to say. Any weird noises?

The shifter always has some movement and vibration. Mine does it too. When I floor it and let off, the shifter kicks back about 1/4"-1/2" There is no shift cable, its basically a direct link so there is no give in any direction.

Yes, you can hold onto the shifter while you are driving. Don't believe everything you read here in the forums. The manual tranny also has an annoying "clunk" sometims when starting off. My '09 was worse than my current '10.

Well with it being winter here in Ohio I have the car in storage right now so I can't drive it around and I don't really recall any noises when I drove it last. Like I said in my post I never have my hand on the shifter unless im shifting so I didn't even notice this.

Drivetrain mounts are rubber, so everything attached to it will move.

I remember the shifter moving as early as '88 in the 300ZX. Maybe it's just part of the drivetrain.

It depends on the shifter and which way you are putting pressure on the lever. If the shifter has stops and you are gently pushing toward the stop, it's not a big deal. If you are pushing the lever to the point where the transmission starts to come out of gear or the shifter doesn't have stops, then that can cause problems. Just don't push the lever forward or backward. Rest your hand so its' weight is pressing straight down.
A lot of "old school" shifters don't have stops and pushing on the lever can cause problems (gears aren't perfectly meshed), but I never saw anybody really worry about it. "Everybody" drove with one hand on the shifter a lot of the time, we just didn't push on the lever. I shift my 7AT with the shifter and seldom use the paddles - old habits die hard.

I was once told never to rest my hand on the shifter. Something about the throw out bearing. The only time my hand is on the shifter is in the act of shifting so it didn't pertain to me. Because of that, I didn't really pay attention to why it would affect the throw out.

You're thinking of resting your foot on the clutch pedal. The shifter has nothing to do with the throwout bearing (unless you have a car like the old VWs that had an automatic clutch).

Resting your hand on the shifter shouldn't be bad for the car. However, it takes 1 hand off the steering wheel - which is how you control the car, and how the car gives feedback to you. I always keep two hands on the wheel for safety reasons. Not to mention, I'm not sure what would happen if you had one hand at 12:00 and the airbag deployed. Arm to the face.

Resting your hand on the shifter when driving, pushes the shift forks against the slider and wears out those parts faster. It's best to use your arm rest not your shifter. Makes sense to me, got this info from ZCSD. It may apply more to older cars but I believe it may still apply to today's technology. Also, as an owner of the DE and HR versions, I remember my shifter "nudging" me in gratitude when I drove the girls spiritly =) I think it's natural for the Z to give you actual feed back when driving which is one of the things I love about this car.

Not to thread jack or anything,
I'm on SouthArk's side

But I let my dad drive my car a few times, his complaint was "it's so loud it FEELS like you're going fast"
Although he was going 80 in a 40... In the rain... For shitz n giggles... LOL!!!

And he said when he was in a Porsche the áss used to kick out...
I took him to work (closed parking lot, we own it) and showed him how the áss kicks out alright, LOL!!!

:icon18:

you guys have been really helpful. Thanks for the feedback!