First off, this was supposed to be a Spring upgrade that was pushed a little early due to my clutch completely failing on me in mid January (155,000 mi). This is the first work I’ve done to the car aside from oil changes since I purchased it in February 2012. What I had intended was a simple clutch and flywheel upgrade along with some NWP spacers and VIAS block off plate. I was also going to have a local exhaust shop install the full Cattman system (headers, fast cat, and cat back). I ended up ordering the JWT aluminum flywheel and clutch, the NWP upgrades (block off plate and five piece spacers), and the Cattman fast cat and catback. The Cattman headers was going to be a long wait and as I am impatient I decided to go with OBX. I also ordered the JWT pop charger from Cattman with R2C filter while I was placing my order.

When my clutch failed I ended up parking my car and started the process of accumulating parts to do the job. I also ran into several problems along the way that extended the job out much further than I had intended. As soon as I removed the engine cover I noticed my front valve cover was leaking. I decided to go ahead and order both new valve covers and Fel-Pro gaskets. I also figured I might as well do spark plugs while I was there. Another issue was a leaking rear main seal. It wasn’t a bad leak but it was seeping down the back of the upper oil pan and I knew it could get worse. I figured I was this far already so why the hell not. I also had to replace several water lines and oil cooler lines . I’ll give my thoughts on each repair/upgrade as I went through it (some of this information is in other threads but I am in a mood and feel like typing this out, live with it).. I will also include what pictures I have. I wish I had taken more but I was getting extremely impatient with the job and that’s never a good thing.

My first job was to get that big beast of a transmission out. This was a job I was completely unprepared for. Up until this time, the only clutch job I’ve done was in a Toyota Tercel with a 4-speed. That thing was maybe 40 lbs soaking wet. The 6-speed is over 100 lbs. It was a pain just to move around the garage, let alone position it in the vehicle. Get a transmission jack (I did).. The two main issues I had in removing it was the passenger side driveshaft (b1tch was seized in the bearing support) and the insane coil of clutch line that serves no purpose. I can’t tell you how close I came to ripping it off the car trying to get the transmission out. I ended up cutting it off the car anyway and replacing it with a one piece line so in retrospect, get it out of your way before hand.

Once I finally got the transmission out and had removed the clutch and flywheel I noticed two things. One, most of the burnt clutch material stayed in the bellhousing and the block and oil pan were relatively clean. Two, my ‘relatively clean’ block and oil pan had an ominous black spillage running down from the crankshaft. So off I went to order new oil pan gaskets and rear main seal. I ordered all Fel-Pro parts for this (they’ve always been high quality for most things in my experience and I wasn’t too disappointed). I did order the lower pan gasket that Fel-Pro offers but after recieving it I decided against using it and just sealed the lower pan with RTV. I found two things that make removing/installing the oil pan easier. One, make sure the engine is well supported. Two, (and this was my dad’s brilliant idea) buy two long bolts the same thread as the upper oil pan bolts. Grind the heads off and cut a slot in each for a straight slot screwdriver. Thread each one into opposite sides of the block in existing oil pan mounting holes and use them as a guide to insure your upper oil pan goes straight up against the block. this prevents you from from sliding all of that RTV around. Once you have a few bolts holding the oil pan up then just remove your homemade studs with a screwdriver.

As a side note I also found my oil cooler lines to be rusted pretty badly. I am tired of leaks so I ordered all new hoses and lines for the oil cooler from courtesy parts. The rear hard line I received (with the banjo fitting that attaches to the block) was not bent properly and I was unable to get it to bolt up to the bracket. It seemed fairly secure so I just left it. No problems so far.

The drive belts were also replaced. My only thoughts on that basically come down to READ THE FFSM. There is a bolt on the backside of the power steering pump that must be loosened in order to get it to adjust properly. Had me confounded for almost two hours.

I guess I’ll talk about the exhaust next. I’ve heard a lot of good things and a lot of bad things about the OBX headers. I was a little worried going into this because of some of the things on this forum. I do not enjoy working on exhaust but as I already had to remove the y-pipe to do the oil pan it was silly to put it all back on. The only thing i ended up having to cut off was the studs connecting the y-pipe to the main cat. Surprisingly, everything else came apart fairly easily. Some of the heat shields were a slight pain but the bolts that were rusted too badly to remove broke off quite easily. I have no intention of reusing them so c’est la vie. A couple of studs came out of the manifolds with the nuts but none of them broke. All in all it wasn’t too horrible.

Both headers have a bung for the primary O2’s in the same place, right at the collector. The front isn’t a problem but the rear will never clear the firewall. This is why most people have the bung moved. I actually intend to extend my secondaries and put them behind my main cat when the Cattman system arrives so my rear primary went into the bung just inside the loop. I plugged the other two bungs with a couple of plugs from a local garage. He just gave them to me. Told me he has lots of them from replacement exhaust systems that come in. So ask around and you might get likely. While I’m talking about O2 sensors how about the reach of the harness. The front one was easy enough, just separate it from the rest of the harness and it will reach without problems. The rear harness had to be extended about 18 inches. Solder and shrink tubing, wrap the whole thing in electrical tape and zip tie to the heat shield on the firewall (with enough slack for engine movement). Now that that’s done it does seem louder than I expected. I think I may have an exhaust leak (not surprising considering the condition of the flange on the main cat) but it is dead quiet at idle. I’ll look into it further when the rest of the exhaust arrives.

Now the valve covers, nothing too special about these. I ordered the 04 valve covers and gaskets from Fel-Pro. I was not disappointed. My front valve cover gasket was leaking and one of my rear spark plug tubes was filled with oil. This job went fairly quickly. I was surprised at how difficult it was to remove the spark plugs. I’m pretty sure they were factory original and had never been replaced. The electrodes were extremely worn and the insulators on several of them had burn marks. I used plenty of anti-seize when replacing them. The last thing I want is to break one off in the cylinder head.
The NWP intake spacers and VIAS block off plate was also fairly straightforward. The instructions included are very clear and easy to follow. They include new hardware as the old hardware is probably not long enough. I do think they should include nuts for the upper intake manifold. It has three bolts and two studs but the nuts aren’t included so you’re either stuck using the old rusty ones or you have to go out and buy new ones. I also wish I had read enough to know that it included a throttle body coolant bypass. I had already ordered the hoses from Courtesy Parts and could have saved myself a bit of money by skipping the OEM formed hoses. MAKE SURE YOU COVER YOUR INTAKE PORTS WHILE WORKING. I dropped a screw or two into the engine valley that were a pain to fish out but could have just have ended up in the cylinder head.

Clutch cylinders and piping...what was Nissan thinking? I’m pretty sure an engineer had a backroom deal with a tubing manufacturer. What a disaster. Also, the master cylinder could not be put in a more inconvenient place. I had planned on replacing it but copped out at the last minute. It’s not leaking and I didn’t feel like dealing with it. I have a new one on the shelf for a later date. I did end up cutting all of that tubing out and replacing it with a one piece stainless line from Race Tech Performance. It seems very well made and bleeding the system was a breeze (even if the bleeder screw is half a damn millimeter from the head and a pain to use).

Anyway, it’s getting late and my brain is turning to mush. I’m sure I’m leaving a lot out (ongoing driveshaft debacle) but I’ve already typed enough that few will want to read through it all anyway. Photos will follow.

Questions, comments, suggestions, criticisms, pictures of penises (I expect the worst on a public forum)? Do your best.

 

Pictures as promised

#!@##% Driveshaft


Oil Seepage


Makeshift Engine Support



New Flywheel!


Clutch After Install


Cover Those Intake Ports


Pretty New Valve Covers


OBX Headers (You can just see the plug on the outside of the loop)


ES Motor Mounts


It's Alive! (It's actually running in this picture. First startup.)

 

Good read and good to know!

 

Nice job. I went with obx too. I think it would have been easier to have the primary o2 port repositioned rather than blocked off. The 90 degree reposition to the left for the firewall bank primary works perfectly and that way you do not have to extend the harness and the primary sensor is near the exhaust ports thus matching the front bank too. (I have heard many failed attempts at soldering stainless wire.) Also, that would have allowed you to use the other two ports for your secondaries (with antifoulers of course). Let me know how it runs. I'm sure it will be just fine.

Nice to get all of that maintenance knocked out. How do you like the new fly/clutch setup?

 

that's a lot of work for a car with 155k.

Kudos to you for doing the work and GL with it all. I know first hand that the trans/ clutch can be a real hassle(I has bearings go out last fall).

 

I didn't extend the O2 sensors themselves, I extended the harness they plug into. That is copper 22 ga wire and is very easy to solder. I decided it wouldn't hurt to use the secondaries to monitor the main cat. The car does have a lot of miles and a failing cat can let you know ahead of time that you have a problem. As far as the JWT flywheel and clutch combo, it seems to work just fine. There's no excessive chatter and the clutch pedal isn't too stiff. I haven't had a chance to really get on it yet but when I do I'll update my thoughts.

It is a lot of work for a high mileage car but the interior is near perfect and the exterior only has a few dings (which I plan on having repaired along with a new clear coat). I really love the 5.5 Max and a replacement is hard to find. If the transmission does fail me then I'll have an excuse to upgrade to the HLSD. And a low mileage used motor is easy to find cheap too. I don't like the 6th gen Max and the 7th gen has no available MT (not that I could afford one right now). I see all of this work as a replacement for a car payment I don't have.

 

I agree with the no car payment thought process!!! All the work Im doing to my car (she has 134k now) is because I really love the body, the interior is nearly flawless, and I dont have a car payment. Congrats on the work and getting everything installed. Hoping to get my car up and put on the 3" exhaust and an upgraded valve body within the next couple weeks.