I know this is more or less, portential clutter for the already disorganized forum, but i will remove this once I get a bit of clarifaction from those of you whom know what the dealio is. I have a 5spd that ill be going in in a week and there are small things I was thinking may need to be replaced. Some for sure wil be repaced but questions arise from them as well. Sorry for the big pictures.



Both output seals.



Obviously the boot needs to be replaced, but notice the grease, in the pic below, that looks like Reese's PB. Is this grease garbage? It "flowed" out of the boot when I was trying to pair up the axle ends, like syrup. Is the grease like that of the axle with the torn boot better?

Is a rusty clutch going to be trouble, or will the oxidized surfaces simply remain dormant or simply be ground down to the usable surface?

As far as the boots, I think they look okay, but I wanted to see what you guys had to say. I want to clean up the whole assembly before it goes in and was wondering if anyone has any advice with that as well. Does Courtesy Nissan ship within a week on small stuff? Any advice beyond these items is cool too. Thanks for all the help everyone provides.

 

 

no access to photobucket, or whatever, but some surface rust on a clutch/flywheel will be rubbed off in a few minutes of normal driving.
also, try DaveB in southpoint nissan(I believe). he is an Org member, and from what I hear is prompt on shipping, good with prices.

cleaning: simple green. mean **** to dirt, gentle on the hands and environment (if you care), and works.

 

clean up the contact surfaces on the clutch fingers and pressure plate and flywheel.. the rust on the diff is a bit concerning but if you grease the splines before putting the axle in you should be OK.. make sure to replace those oil seals though. if you can, i would recommend popping the lock pin out of the shift yoke and replacing the oil seal on the striking rod. get some saran wrap to wrap up the nasty end of the rod and slide the seal over the saran wrap and onto the clean shiny part of the rod so the lip of the seal doesn't get damaged any by the rusty/rough part of the striking rod.

not quite sure what that peanut butter nonsense is.. never seen it before. the gray grease on the split-open boot looks alot more normal.

 

The striking rod seal is the one shown in the 3rd picture? Or is it beneath or behind where my finger is in that pic? Or am I outrageously wrong?

I was thinking about spraying some heavy duty degreaser on the whole thing and taking it to the DIY car wash. Naturally, I would try to plug any holes and cover anything important, would anyone advise against this, and why? The hubs and tranny are covered in grungy stuff.

 

IMO, it is worth putting in a new clutch, pressure plate, TOB when doing a swap. It is only $100-150 for the whole kit. And make sure to have the flywheel resurfaced first.

 

i mean i wouldn't worry about the outside appearance of it too much...

anyways the striking rod is the thing in the 3rd pic, where the shifter attaches to. underneath the dust boot there's an oil seal that tends to leak after a while (like mine does). I doubt there's any fluid left in my tranny at all right now.

 

What is the source for this kit and by resurfacing, what would this provide?

I want to clean it for no good reason I suppose. I don't enjoy getting grease all over me and my tools mostly. Thanks for the input, I will order the seals n stuff in hopes that I get them in time. Is suppose it's a good idea to go with Courtesy on these parts eh? All of my other seals I purchased for the engine and the bad Tranny are Timken, they seemed legit, but we shall see........

 

yeah some things are ONLY available from the dealer now.. keep in mind tho that sometimes that rod yoke puts up a fight even after you take the pin out. mine never came off, i just gave up on it. had i cared more though i'd have cut it off (carefully) and then gotten a new one for $20.

 

Wow, you let something slide, this may be the first reference to this type of behavior from you. J/k, I am wondering what you mean by "yoke". In thepic of mine above, do you mean the larger, almost "U" shaped metal piece which a pin seems to slide through both ends and a rod in between the two arms of the "U"? Or is it something on the housing of the tranny? Thanks for the help man.

 

lmao if you saw what we went through to TRY to get the thing off (yes there was even welding involved) then you'd have given up too. And i very soon thereafter lost my job so i didn't have money to go spending on stuff like that though it was probably cheaper to just replace the seal than adding a quart of tranny oil every month but whatever.

 

So I have a striking rod boot and seal, and an input shaft seal in my cart, on courtesy nissan. I can't seem to find the other seal in the diagram, the description says "one per vehicle" but is this the only seal I can get (is it the same for both sides)? the seal is item #30401J

Thanks everyone, I guess i need to get this order in if I want it buy next weekend. Is there anything else anyone can suggest? How necessary would a flywheel resurfacing be? Would nuts and bolts be hard to acquire/figure out if they aren't all with the linkage/piping/pedal parts I have coming to me? Just random thoughts I could use some clairvoyance on.

Caped: I haven't looked at the yoke yet, what do I need to do to get it off so I don't approach it the wrong way?

 

just find some sort of punch tool that is just smaller than the diameter of the hole and punch the pin out of the hole enough to grab it with vice grips or something. hopefully it will come out without too much fuss. after that if you are lucky the yoke will come off with some firm-but-gengle pulling and twisting. don't pull or twist TOO hard cuz there's a slight risk of hurting something inside the tranny with too much violence.

 

You can buy the axle seals from RockAuto. The Beck/Arnley ones are top notch.

My complaint with Courtesy is that half the time they don't have stuff in stock even though the website says it's in stock (or "should be" or whatever it says). I had to wait a week and a half for a strike rod seal, and I live in Dallas so that was just the time it took for Courtesy to get it in from the "warehouse" or whatever.

If there's good material on the clutch friction disc and none of the springs or anything are "loose" on it, I'd just clean up the pressure plate a little bit and re-use the kit. What I do on pressure plates is use some very fine grit sandpaper to sort of clean up the rust and whatnot. Unless the flywheel has a bunch of gouges and crap in it you can do the same thing yourself with it. The problem with trying to find a place to resurface your flywheel is that if it has any heat marks in it (and it likely does) most of places will turn you away because they say the material will just crack out if they try to resurface it.

I WOULD, however, get a new throw-out bearing either way. Go with OEM on it if you can. Alot of the ones that come with clutch kits tend to start rattling after a few thousand miles.

 

Cool, I figured the seals weren't of any major issue, I have a new OEM throw out bearing thanks to Chris Gregg, and I figured I would try this clutch to see what it is looking like. I don't have the spare cash to get another right now anyway, and considering the lengths I have gone to to fix this car, I by no means will have my feelings hurt if the clutch starts to wear out soon after I drop the tranny in. I will be excited to have a moving vehicle alone. When did you order the striking rod seal? I wonder if I would have to wait that long, which would be too long considering I have a window of opportunity this weekend to get the 5spd in, and thanks for your advice.

 

try getting an Exedy clutch off of ebay. Mine was around $110, and it has 55K+ miles on it without a problem. Even had a look at it after 30K miles when I changed out the tranny for a VLSD unit and it looked fine. You can also look at rockauto.com

Flywheel resurfacing is necessary if you want your clutch to properly mate to the contact surface and if you want it to last. It's about $30 at a machine shop.

 

i mean you CAN do the striking rod seal on-car but it's easier to do while it's off and empty. otherwise you have to drain it and refill it again and you have to lay on your back to do it.

 

Is this necessary only when replacing the clutch? Everything looks okay but how thick is the plate in between the clutch housing and the flywheel supposed to be? I don't know what to call it, sure I have read its name before on here.

I hear that, but I can't wait a week and half for the part. I am skeptical of the need at this point, I think I will wait and replace the clutch down the road along with the seal. Wheel seals are easy to acquire now, so I may go with those for now.

 

Judging by your pictures, it doesn't appear there's any evidence that the strike rod seal is leaking. I'd just leave it alone if I were you. You can always do it later on, and yes it can be done on the car but will be a bit more troublesome.

As far as Exedy clutch kit - the tabs (on the TOB) on mine broke off after not even quite 50k miles (maxitech I'd consider you lucky). The friction disc (ve30max, the part in your pics where you can see "LUK") from my Exedy kit also crapped out. The springs in the disc got so loose they nearly fell out. My clutch setup is now an O'Reilly TOB, LUK disc, and Exedy pressure plate.

ve30max - really, if I were you, if there's a good amount of material on the friction disc (again the part in your pics where you can see "LUK"), then I'd just stick that clutch in. Post a pic of it if you want and I/we can show you how to tell if there's enough material left on it.

Unless your flywheel is super screwed up you don't even have to get it resurfaced. Honestly, I've done probably 10 clutch jobs between my Maxima(s) and Honda over the years without resurfacing and have never had a problem (but yes, it is ideal). The one time I tried, I kept getting turned away by shops and ended up just getting a brand new flywheel. You're more likely to get initial chatter without resurfacing but it'll go away in a few thousand miles. However, if you do find a local place to do it, and they can do it quickly, you might as well.

My problem with Courtesy was just a few months ago. I'd doubt they "stocked up" on 3rd gen strike rod seals so I'd highly doubt they'd have one ready to go for you... but that's just my speculation.

 

i didn't think mine was either till I got it on the car and filled it up with fluid

 

 

Guess this may help assess the condition of each part. The springs on this part are tight, there is a little rotation in the some of them, but no loose play by any means.

 

We will see, I am gonna just strap it on and see how it goes. If I encounter leaks I will fix em, but for now, I can't afford any preventative maintenance.

 

I'm definatly with you on this...if you want to go economical..autozone has new flywheels for 100..and sachs clutches for 100..and also rear main seals and so forth..do it now and forget the shortcuts..you'll pay in the end!

 

Yea I am usually right there with you guys on the "do it now, save later" mentality. I am pressed for time and $ though, and I feel, intuitively, that everything will be okay. I haven't been using the car for over a year, I am used to by bicycle, and I don't expect to pump up Max to DD status anytime soon. I have to see what insurance is looking like too. Thanks for the advice.

 

See the circles I made? Those grooves in the clutch disc are usually what I look for to tell how worn the disc is. Usually the grooves run all the way across the disc. Like here:



If the material is worn down so much that the grooves are gone/nearly gone then usually the disc is pretty worn. I can see the grooves on the outer edge of your disc but not closer in toward the center. It *LOOKS* like the disc is worn a bit more in toward the center because on every disc I've seen those grooves run all the way across.

The FSM shows to check the material by the rivets in the disc (in between my circles in your pic). The disc should be no less than .3 mm above the rivet head. Looking at your pic, it doesn't appear the disc material is worn down to the rivet yet, but the grooves being completely worn down near the center of the disc indicates a good amount of wear.

You'd probably be fine putting it in but the wear on it looks like clutches I've seen with 50-80k miles. I guess theoretically you could get 40-60k out of it, but then again I wouldn't be surprised if you got only 20k out of it. Up to you on that one - depends on how ****/picky you are

Your flywheel looks pretty good to me. I don't see any major gouges/heatspots/marks, but I can't quite tell with the surface rust on it. Of course, you want to clean it up. Like I use some really fine grit sandpaper (ideally use a sanding block) to clean it up. You can do the same on the pressure plate.

If you wanted to spend a couple hundred bucks just for absolute insurance, you could always just get all new goodies. You can pick up a LUK OEM-type replacement at Pepboys, etc. for not a whole lot. Either way, I've done it both ways (buying all new crap vs. re-using worn/used parts, and I've never had an issue either way). It's just a mental insurance thing

 

That's a good measure and it seems my friction plate does have a bit of wear on it. I will look into a replacement, in case it is pretty cheap. I appreciate the help.

I have only been able to find that part on ebay with a few options:
XTD ceramic $78 shipped
F1 Racing ceramic (looks identical to XTD) $77 shipped

Each of the following look more like the "LUK" disc in my pics:
"aftermarket" brand disc (says it's new) - $46 shipped
Exedy - $82 shipped
-$70 shipped
-$54 shipped
CEEKAY (says its new) - $40 shipped

pulled these from this search:
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=MAx...1&_from=&_ipg=

Are any of these worth buying?
Has anyone had luck with the ceramic discs for longevity and long term performance? ( I drive like a grandma)

Any help would be very much appreciated and thanks James for your assessment of the parts. I will sand them and take pics to further clarify the state they are in.

 

You definitely don't want any of those ceramic/racing/6 puck discs. Those suckers are barely streetable.

That Exedy from seller grip-force ($46) is the exact disc I have in my newest VE. I bought the full kit though (seen here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/85-01...Q5fAccessories). I will say the pressure plate on the full kit is softer than I'd like. I mean the pedal on it is unusually/annoyingly soft, but it works.

I also bought a grip-force clutch kit for my '89 Civic that I restored about a year ago. I've had no problems at all with either and the shipping was pretty fast. Good seller.

 

Has anyone had any experience with Perfection clutches (mainly the disc)? There are some in stock at the local Advance for less than the Exedy on off ebay. I haven't heard great things about either Advance parts or Exedy, in general, but perhaps this would put them both in the same boat.

 

Might as well. All the Exedy ones on eBay are fakes anyway Plus this way you get it on the spot and have it ready to go

I believe Perfection is just a re-badged Valeo, and you should be just fine..

*edit* Also, if it's not just a re-badged Valeo I think you'll find that it IS either a re-badged Luc or Sachs. Those are the three big clutch manufacturers and most parts stores clutches are just re-badged from one of those three.

 

Awesome information there James. I was hoping you weren't going to say, "they blow, don't waste your time....", but luckily, as I figured, it's all the same. I am much happier with this too because of the fact that it is a few miles away vs. several hundred. So, I think this settles the friction disc issue, now, if I could just get some sanding done so I can see what you think about these other mating surfaces............ Thanks James.

 

On the sanding you don't want to do too much. Just enough (few minutes worth) with some fine grit paper (I think I used like 400) to get all the surface rust/crap off it. And then wipe it down with brake cleaner

 

Got a few more pics:
The new disc (perfection from advance auto)I bought vs. the old one.



It looks like the springs are a bit beefier on the new one. Mayeb not, I don't know what purpose they serve, any one care to explain?

James - The guy at advance did say that Valeo was probably the manufacturer, so, it's all the same I guess, like you said.

 

Here is a pic of EVERYTHING included in the swap. I guess there could be something missing, like the clutch pedal spacer, which I can't seem to find a picture of, nor is there anything in the pile of stuff which resembles the description in other posts. Can anyone provide a pic or better description of it?

Also, the VE motor mounts/mount brackets aren't needed. Anyone interest? I now have spare engine and tranny mounts for both manual and auto trannies and for both engines (minus the front VG engine mount).




By no means will I be completely lost if no one answers this one, but I encourage anyone with a pictographic memory to do so!

Where might I make use of these (especially the little black metal bracket in the bottom right corner and the honking huge bolt in the upper left)?

Does this seem like everything involved? Anything missing?

 

You can use, but don't need the whole strut assemblies. You can just unbolt the hub assemblies from the struts if the units on your car are in better condition.

I am not seeing a carrier bracket for the passenger side axle in that pile. If you do not swap that for one made for a manual car your axle seal will most likely leak.

One more thing: you will need to fabricate / get the piece of metal used as a spacer between the clutch pedal and firewall on M/T cars. Mine is ghetto-rigged; I just used a stack of washers as a spacer...

Oh, and I hope you have the corresponding wiring plug / harness that plugs into the M/T...it needs to be cut from the wiring bundle on the parts car and spliced into the bundle on your car.

 

i'm not seeing the 2nd flat metal plate ("half-moon" i call it) that goes bettween the tranny and oilpan.

 

That long bolt looks like the bolt that goes through the "front" transmission mount into the transmission. Although, in your pic, I see the mount is still on the transmission - are all the bolts on there?

If it's not that one, it's likely the bolt that goes through the same mount that holds the mount to the actual bracket on the frame rail

Not sure on the bracket. There's an angle brace type of deal that goes behind the "rear" transmission mount and anchors it to the frame rail, but its not that for sure.

 

nah the bracket only has 1 bolt-sized hole.. the other hold is tiny. i think the bracket is supposed to hold up the harness plug for the speed sensor or the one for the reverse/neutral switch. dunno why it was removed tho. cuz you have to remove one of the tranny case bolts to get it off..

 

Cool, thanks for the responses. I have the axle carrier bracket, and the metal shim that goes between the engine and tranny (it is a full "o" shape). I don't have the other end of the plug to splice the wires with ease, and I never considered that nor encountered it on the tranny thread I looked at. The tranny mounts are assembled for the most part except for not being attached to the tranny on one side and the frame rail on the other. I won't bother using the mounts laying on the ground since the tranny already has mounts on it.

I am thinking the little black bracket, in the picture with all the nuts and bolts, has something to do with the shift linkage whereby the smaller hole provides a location for the spring, on the end of one of the shift bars, to hold on to.

The person who sent me the clutch pedal said they didn't see anything behind it and nothing came off with it when he removed it. Is this normal, and what kind of space is needed to give the master cylinder rod the right amount of play?

 

Are you talking about the little guy in the pic with all the bolts?

Gotta get to work, will check back around 10, THANKS FOR THE HELP GUYS!