> The Roadster tranny is unique onto the R and U engines. So I know
> that a 510 tranny isn't a bolt-up swap because of the bellhousing and
> who knows what else (length? starter location? Whatever). BUT..
> are the internal designs similar? Can I pull the internals from a 510
> box and put them into a Roadster box? The 510 has two different ratios,
> one that matches our Roadsters and another, lower ratio. I haven't
> compared part numbers on the fiche yet; that'll probably tell me, but
> has anyone out there successfully done such tinkering?
>
> -- John
> John F Sandhoff sandhoff@csus.edu Sacramento, CA
Hi John-
I've wondered this too, especially as the Z units seem to be more
common (read=inexpensive) than the roadster trannies.
Way-back-in-tha-day, before the 5speed 280Z's came along, it was
not unheard of to put a roadster trans in a 240Z. Building theory
on hearsay (heresy?;-) it stands to reason that the L bellhousing
can be swapped with the U/R bellhousing... (I can hear someone out
there thinking, "U/R silly!")
I have it first hand from a local Z dude that the servo-type roadster
five speeds appear nearly identical to the BW-type Z units. 'Course,
things can look a lot alike and still be incompatible.
So I dunno! But it seems that you could put a Z/ZX/510/PU/200sx/etc
trans into a roadster with a bellhousing swap. But it's likely more
complicated... bearing bores and shift rod holes have been mentioned
as a stumbling block when converting a CA tranny to L-series duty; I
wouldn't be surprised to hear that similar shenanigans are required
for a L->U/R swap.
Anyone have some of ye olde Z-carre hop up manuals from the mid/late
70's hanging about, and/or have first-hand knowledge of what it takes
to get a roadster unit in a Z? That tech oughtta be backwards-
compatible with a Z->roadster swap.
'Course, I've just shelled out the bucks to fix my Roadster 5spd, so
there better not be an easy L-tranny swap;-D
HTH
Kyle
still broken
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