Need tips for driving manual 370z

Cory Gillmore

After reading that product page that thing looks literally like a dream come true and is probably a must have for performance driving in the 370. $300 ain't too bad either! Probably another $300 in labor and it's still not too bad!

The clutch feel has always been my least favorite thing about my car and it made it a little harder than it needed to be for me to learn a manual transmission in a car. I hated how high up the engagement point was on the clutch pedal. And how stiff the pedal is. And how it seems like such a tiny engagement window for the difference between not moving and stalling the engine lol. I haven't stalled this car in probably 8 months but it was a rough couple of first months.

But I take it that means that smooth and fast 1-2 isn't possible with the factory assembly? Haha

EDIT: after a little more reading it seems the install is fairly easy. Is this true? Is it easy even for a disaster with a wrench like me? I installed my short ram intakes myself...

redondoaveb

It's a night and day difference. Everyone on here that has installed one (and there are a lot) will verify how good it is. There are multiple reviews on here also. It was my first mod, I absolutely hated how my car drove before I made the change.

This pedal will solve all the issues you mentioned.

It can be kind of a pain (literally) to install only because of the position you have to be in to do the work and you're working in tight quarters under the dash.If you don't feel comfortable in your mechanical ability then I would pay someone to do it. If you get stuck and end up not being able to complete it and need a mechanic to finish it, you won't be able to drive it to the shop.

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Fast Intentions "Stage Seb" twin turbo #098- Specialty Z/Tial-Xonarotor/CJM/Ecutek/HKS/KW/SPL/Hotchkis/Rohana/Toyo
750whp/700ft.lbs

madwi

$300 in labor is quite a bit more than it should cost, I would think. Someone that can turn wrenches decently can have the new style pedal installed in an hour, tops.

nandosman

I can turn wrenches and it took me several hours, but mostly because I'm 6'3 big guy, and had to take multiple breaks from the awful position you have to work in.

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FI Non-Res Test Pipes | FI 18" Res CBE | Stillen Gen 3 CAI | Dynotuned @ Dynosty EcuTek 325 whp

madwi

I am 6' and quite fat and I just installed the v3 last weekend. It is a breeze as all you have to do after removing oem pedal is two nuts to the CMC and a bolt on the top of the assembly. Hook the fork up and put the two sensors put back on and the plastic strikers. Done deal.
I do have to admit that I installed the v2 pedal a long time ago and my back hurt for a week afterwards trying to contort under the dash and reach tools.

HEK

I learned how to drive stick at 14 and then I drove a tractor-trailer. The Z with its rev matching I hardly ever touch the brakes which I can see the person in my rear view mirror become disoriented as they do not see the brake lights but if I ever get rear-ended well a new Z and a lawsuit...anyway check this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPihrjB37bg

dts3

What really helped me to pickup smooth fast speed on 1-2 shitfs (and I still have a lot of work) was to work out getting back on the throttle fast enough. I was always slow to throttle coming out of first gear because I was so focused on the RPM drop

radix023

Downshifting to a light I generally let revs drop to 1200 then downshift. From 3rd I go to neutral.

For sport/racing cornering, I will downshift a bit more aggressively (earlier) but I leave the transmission a gear longer than what I will apply power in. I only go to that gear when applying power. This is from decades of racing simulations when I realized that when transitioning in a corner an aggressive downshift may have left you with unwanted engine braking, hence I leave it a gear long to mitigate than and only do the last downshift to apply power. YMMV

The only way to be really smooth from 1-2 is to baby it and shift around 2k (economy shift). If you are hooning around, you are going to be a bit rough. You can't engage 2nd at 5k and not have your head move.

Where I find myself skipping gears is away from a traffic light. I give it some welly to get away from traffic then go to 6th/overdrive.

falsereality

If you are small, flexible, and mechanically familiar then this install should be easy. It took me 3 hours to do a 1 hour job because it was a PITA to get where you need to be and see what you're doing.