Ok, my old clutch was slipping so bad that i couldnt even go 5 mph in first...so it was time a for a new clutch. I heard that the 5th gen clutch was supposed to be lovely, and after driving my boys 5th gen stick i decided to go for it. So i ordered a 5th gen clutch kit from Dave B. over at Southpoint Nissan. Costs $190 i believe? and i needed it in a rush so i paid the $90 overnight shipping costs. so totaled $280 for me. So i got the clutch, the kit comes with: 5th Gen Throwout Bearing, 5th Gen Pressure Plate, 5th Gen Clutch Disc: And i was ready to roll.

Now seeing as i never replaced a clutch in my life ( and never wanted to have to ) i decided to enlist the help of tavarish. So i got the car towed to his house using my mom's triple AAA ( 100 miles FTW ...infact..FREE FTW!!! )..and we got started. Was funny to see the look on his face when i had to rev it to 6500 rpm just to get it to NUDGE ...we couldnt even go up the incline in his drive, had to rev it AND push it at the same time.

So then, we got started, ViperVadim ( another forum member ) also came by and was assisting with the install as well. So after 4 hours of trying to get TO my clutch because my car's bolts were SO rusted that we had to literally wd-40 , impact, and air tool each bolt off. it took FOREVER .....so we finally got to the damn tranny, popped it off, and you could STILL smell the burnt clutch, mind you, the car wasnt drivin for so long. Never..EVEr...has ANY of us except for vadim seen a clutch this burnt...


Picture of the Burnt/Heat Warped clutch disc:

So it's hard to guage how bad a bad clutch and clutch disc is right? so lets do a side-by-side:

Old 4th gen clutch left New 5th gen right


Worn 4th gen clutch:


NEw 5th gen pressure plate LEft, Old 4th gen PP right
Worn 4th gen clutch:

 

So now onto the new:

NEw 5th Gen PP:


New 5th gen clutch on right:


Old 4th gen Throwout Bearing on right, New 5th Gen Throwout Bearing on LEft:


So after cleaning down my tranny...( Let your tranny know you love her! )


We bolted everything on, and everythign bolts right up. Now of course you put some red grease on the input shaft rod and make sure you wipe down the clutch disc with some simple green to get rid of any excess oil from being stored. I decided to use a microfiber cloth when i did this cuz i wanted everything gone, but for the cheap paper towels wwill suffice. I also used simple green with a microfiber clotch to clean down the tranny and get her spik-n-span.

5th Gen clutch on!:

 

After that we just put everythign back together, and started the car up, and VOILA!!...now tavarish taught me something i never knew, Nissan built in one of the strongest grounds which is between the engine and the tranny...so..when you break that ground, you have to replace it. So pretty much when we first started the car i figured he broke my dam starter then he decided to tell us that, lol. So do what i didnt do, and buy a hyper grounding kit off of ebay, OXYGEN Free 4-Guage grounded wire, and you wont have the starting problem im having now . So i've put about 300 miles on the cluthc so far, i must say tonight that it was REALLY feeling smooth, it grabs SOOO nice, like..i had to relearn how to drive stick type nice..lol...once it really breaks in i'll let you guys know how i like it. here's just some random pics of the work. Oh yea, we saved ourselves teh trouble and cherry picked the tranny to lift it up and down, none of that getting under the car and hoisting it up by hand crap...lol..LAZY FTW!!!!




Air Tools FTW!

 

Nice work. The engine hoist is over kill for lifting the tranny but it works.

 

Interesting technique of using the engine hoist for the tranny. It definately was time for the clutch to be changed!

 

my clutch disc was that color b4 i did the swap. mine was also cracked i wonder who wins now???j/k

 

any other tips? I am about to replace my clutch this weekdn i will have the help of my dads friend who is a mechanic but he is a good ol boy and i dont know how often he works on imports, thanks

 

Yeah Freddy and Vadim are two of the best mechanics I know. They really know what there talking about and can really teach you alot.


I never replaced that ground wire when i did my install, idk why you would have a problem with it...

Zack-
I think they used the lift to hold the engine up while they took out the tranny. From what i remember i had to take apart my engine mounts to loosen the tranny. I hope you put in an SS clutch line, makes it feel alot softer.I also had that same problem of learning how to drive stick again after installing the 5th gen clutch. You'll definetly enjoy it over the stocker, for one thing it grabs a hell of a lot quicker and smoother. Enjoy!!

 

Really, didnt have the ground problem? lucky you..I DO..but i'ts not that bad, just gotta get a grounding kit ...other then that no we didnt have to take off the engine mounts only the one tranny mount, you'd take off the engine mounts only if you wanted more room to play with but we were fine with taking off just the tranny mount.

 

fun little project huh

 

]
pretty much :-) ...tonight i was scared though, i shifted from 2nd to 3rd and it was SO smooth that i thought somethign was wrong with my car..lmao...this thing is NICE!!

 

How long did it take all together? Driveway mechanics FTW.

 

took maybe 5-6 hours with a stop in between for chinese food. The cherry picker made it really easy to get the tranny into place, and no one could get hurt in the process. The old clutch felt like clay, and was falling apart. It was pretty fortunate that the fywheel wasnt damaged.

This car had a grounding problem because the car was very rusted. More than i would have imagined for a '97 max. my 2 95's weren't this rusted. A good grounding kit should solve the issue. If not, VQ35 relieves all grounding problems.

 

i just checked my phone and i see no phone call...i guess u no longer need muscle once u started using me and doms idea to use the cherry picker....im hurt

 

if someone didn't complain about getting rocks and twigs in his hair, then maybe we would call you. But you're always welcome, always a 3.0 here to get walked on.

 

wat 3.0 u talkin about boss?

 

dominic's car, once it's ready, i'm sure you'd be able to walk it like a dog in the park.

 

i kno another guys car that im waiting to walk like a dog in the park

 

Nice pics and good job on the clutch job.

OT: Is everything back to normal with Tavarish's car? I'll probably send you a pm to keep it private.

 

i'd have to be misfiring hard as hell to lose again. come on the 22nd, and we'll see what the outcome is.

 

How many miles were on that old clutch?

 

Enjoy the 5th gen... I do.

 

probably 200k.

 

I will be doing this soon.....

 

Awesome gotta try this

 

did u get ur flywheel resurfaced?? i just did the same repair but i used a fidanza flywheel and my clutch feels like ****, i must have done something wrong, it grinds going into some gears and i have to push really hard to get it into others, is this a bad setup , fidanza + 5th gen clutch + 5th gen pp + 5th gen throwout bearing. i dunno what could have gone wrong, please look at my other thread for more infor titled "help, car wont go into gear with new clutch"

 

Its gotta be your install. I've been running the fidanza with complete 5th gen clutch set up smoothly for a year now.