I have my 03 SE in the shop right now for a clutch replacement. Once we found out the flywheel was shot, I went ahead and ordered a Fidanza. Everything is installed now, but there is an issue. The lever arm for the TO bearing does not fully disengage the clutch. The owner of the shop said that the tolerance stack (the flywheel and clutch together) is not thick enough. The part number on the box for the fidanza flywheel is 143951, which should be right. The number etched on the actual flywheel is NIS18F-7719.

The clutch is a Boss kit, made by valeo, which appears to be the "signature series", based on this pic http://www.valeoclutches.com/Performance.asp

The stampings on the clutch are as follows:
Inside splines: NDC DD1
Pressure plate: NSC-55 Made in Korea
Disc: T-NKK 08.08.08

The shop owner is going to follow up with Fidanza on Monday. I informed the seller of the clutch that I had a general fitment issue, before I knew all of the details. I wanted to know if there was a way to verify they sent me the right kit. They responded quickly with the following info:
NISSAN O.E.M. SPECIFICATIONS: 9-7/8" X 1" X 24T
BOSS KIT #: KNS92807
P.H.VALEO MFG # NSC-55

At this point, the shop owner suspects it is the wrong flywheel. This is based on the fact that when you put the stock flywheel in the fidanza box, it is too tall to fit in the box.

I also talked to Derrick2K2SE about it, because of his extensive experience with the flywheel for this car. He was very helpful.

I will post more details as I know more. If anyone has any ideas that might help me, please post them. Thanks.

 

I assume he's tried to adjust the pedal?

Where did you get the Fidanza from?

Has he pulled it apart and actually taken measurements?

 

is it possible you have the wrong TO bearing? I used an oem one instead of what fidanza supplied. I have my fidanza box here and the numbers you quoted coincide to what I have here.

 

The lever arm actually stops on the casing before full disengagement, so probably not a pedal adjustment issue.

I got the Fidanza from Import Car Parts Plus. I just sent Justin a PM to let him know about this issue that we are trying to troubleshoot.

It looks like pulling everything apart and taking measurements will be the next step. We were just trying to rule out something simple first.



That was my first thought. The shop owner noted that it seemed to be the right TO bearing. It had the specific brackets on the side, and was a perfect fit into the fork. I guess if we discover a difference, I'll need to purchase an OEM one from Nissan.



Thanks for the replies. I sure wish it was something simple.

 

Was there multiple pilot holes on this flywheel for alignment? Im not sure if this is the same flywheel jwt uses, but there's has three set ups for 350z, max, altima which has to be aligned for each.

 

That only affects starting, not clutch disengagement.

Maxima and Altima should be exactly the same, no need for a seperate alignment for each. Also, the RWD VQ35 flywheel has an offset timing ring, won't work on a FWD car.

 

Can work with some simple mods.

 

Well, the owner of the repair shop called Fidanza today. Fidanza says there have been complaints about fitment issues with this clutch in this car (with their flywheel).

In theory, it shouldn't matter, right? I guess they'll be taking everything back apart, and taking measurements. Hopefully it is something that can be solved with a Nissan TO bearing. If not, it looks like I'll either need to get a different clutch or a different flywheel.

 

fidanza owner here and i had no issues and i got mine from the group deal section as well

 

He was asking for help, and I don't think a comment like that helps.

 

edited to make everybody happy

 

Im interested what the conclusion with this is.. I just installed a jwt clutch kit and flywheel in my Altima. Its since been disassembled as it wasnt shifting properly. It should be back together soon. I believe my issue was the transmission however. Hopefully there will be no issues once reassembled.

Keep us posted... Good luck.

 

Nathan,

Received your email with the part numbers.

I have contacts at Valeo and the pressure plate part number you have is for a 350Z. The Nissan equivalent part number is 30210-233001. The correct part number for your car is 30210-A33b005.

I looked up the part number for the throw out bearing and found the 614048 is the wrong part number for your car. It should be 614049. The 614048 is 1.116" thick compared to the correct part number 614049 being 1.195" thick. I did not find what the correct application for the 614048 is, but it is not your car! This would definately cause this problem. The two bearing look basically the same, just a different thickness.

I was also told that they suspect that these may be factory reject parts being sold by this company or knock offs, not real Valeo parts.

Based on the info we have, I would strongly recommend going with a different clutch.

Looking at the parts they sell, I really am suspect of the parts they sell. As I mentioned, they sell puck clutches with stock pressure plates. Usually high performance puck clutches have significantly higher clampling loads.

Brian
Performance Driven

 

The first number is too long to be a Nissan PN (on second look you probably meant 30210-Z33001), and the second looks to be the internal part code designation for Courtesy's parts site.

FWIW current part number for the A33B pressure plate is 30210-8J101. The Z33 part number you should have is 30210-CD020.

 

Courtesy is who gave me the Nissan Part numbers, so that could be the case that they have different part numbers.

Either way the Valeo part number for the pressure plate he has is the 350Z part number. I am not aware of the differences between the Maxima and 350Z pressure plates.

I am also not aware of what differences might be caused because of the "Boss" clutch having a sprung disk vs. the stock one being unsprung.

There are several things that changed from his stock set-up. The stock flywheel is a dual mass vs the Fidanza standard flywheel. The first thing we noticed was the flywheel total height was less than the stock. We called Fidanza and they confirmed the part number we had was correct and said the tolerance stack between the crank mating surface the flywheel surface is the same as the stock one.

Since the stock clutch was an unsprung disk vs the ebay "boss" clutch being a sprung one, we did not know if any of the parts should be the same as the stock ones or not. We confirmed the part on the box to the ebay add. Being a none brand name internet company they do not have a phone number we could find to contact them to confirm.

I am re-evaluating my companies policy on installing customer supplied parts now. We have seen a few times that the parts supplied by customers are defective and they want us to do the labor for free because of their parts. Mostly Ebay purchased parts. Although we did refuse to install a set of Summit Racing headers when the customer dropped them off due to poor quality. We knew there was no way they would ever stay sealed and always have leaking problems. Our policy is we warranty what we do or supply, but we cannot be responsible for parts not purchased through us or the labor to replace the parts not purchased from us. We definately will not install any parts purchased through Ebay any longer.

I am always picky about the brands we sell. If a brand is know for having problems or we have experience problems with them, I drop the brand from our product offering. The same goes for warehouse distributors. In the last year, I have dropped 15 brands from our product offering and 2 warehouse distributors. When we get requests for these parts, I inform the customer as to why we have dropped them from our line and that the parts would have to be purchased elsewhere.

In this particular case, I have an extra 3 hours in making sure the clutch was blead correctly, pedal adusted correctly, and trying to troubleshoot what the problem is. I even brough in someone I know that is a Nissan Mechanic and has raced Nissans for years, and had them double check what I was finding and they agreed that the stack up of the flywheel/clutch was too short. The pedal is at max adustment right now and it barely disengages with the clutch all the way to the floor. With any heat in the system it does not disengage. We inspected the clutch fork when it was apart and found no defects with it since we know that there are issues sometimes with these.

 

Everything is back apart now. I'm no expert, but it seems like this should be an easy thing to measure. Am I correct? Please, anyone, chime in.

 

There are two holes on the back of the flywheel ( front and rear ). Which one are we supposed to use on the 03 max?

 

So I'm guessing you did none of the following:

• Checked the paperwork that came with it
• Checked Fidanza's website
• Searched the forums

Front == FWD, Rear == RWD.

 

Just wanted to post an update. The short version: after $28 for a new T/O bearing, and $350 in additional labor charges, the car drives great. The work was performed by Performance Driven, LLC.

And the longer, more detailed update: I am nearing the end of the break-in period. I've driven over 400 miles on the new clutch. I'm still going pretty easy on engagement, but once fully engaged, I'm starting to put my foot in it a little more. I don't beat on 1st gear too much anyway, but in 2nd, that lighter flywheel seems to make a big difference in acceleration. The clutch disc has 6 springs on it, and seems to match up really well with the solid flywheel.

We've established that the pressure plate is valeo's part number for the 350Z, which means it should have 1050kg of clamping force, compared to 750kg for the stock Maxima. Seems to be holding nice and firm. It reminds me of the reports from other people who have gone with a Z clutch and fidanza in their gen 5.5s. I haven't really noticed a difference in pedal pressure, but then again I didn't drive my car for over 3 weeks, so maybe I just forgot.

The seller of the clutch acknowledges that the T/O bearing they supplied is not a stock Maxima T/O bearing, but they insist that it is required to make their pressure plate work in an 02+ Maxima. They even offered to send me a stock Maxima T/O bearing for free if I really wanted one. By that time we had already ordered one from a local auto parts store.

The T/O they supplied is actually the stock part number for some older Nissans (4cyl Altima, Stanza, etc.). It has the correct style of fork bracket, but is thinner. The fork contact surface actually sits about 3/16" lower, compared to the stock bearing.

I assume they designed their clutch kit to work with a stock flywheel (which they should). I have not seen any proof that it would not work with a stock flywheel, so I can't really fault the seller. I believe there is some variability in the thickness of the flywheels. No measurements were taken on the Fidanza that I know of, but I do still have my stock flywheel.

Again, I am no expert, but it seems like measuring the tolerance stack between the flywheel surface and the crank mating surface would be a pretty easy thing to do. It also seems like a pretty smart thing to do when installing aftermarket performance parts on a vehicle.

So this all brings us back around to the same conclusion that several others on this forum already know about:
Fidanza flywheel + 350z clutch + maxima T/O bearing = a pretty good match

Although I only paid $159 shipped for my clutch kit, I guess at this point I would stop short of recommending it. The reason for that is the engagement point is still pretty low (when the pedal is about 1.5" off the floor). This is with the pedal adjusted as far as it can go (the threaded pushrod is adjusted all the way out). The important thing to me is that the the fork is no longer stopping on the casing. With the clutch pedal on the floor, it looks like it could still be pushed over perhaps another 1/4". I have gotten used to driving it this way, and as long as the engagement point doesn't go any lower, I'll be fine with it. If it starts getting lower suddenly, I'll need to inspect the master and slave cylinders, and maybe replace them. If that happens, I'll post another update.