Well, today I was starting to diagnose my transmission problems because it is not now shifting into 1st or 2nd. While under the car I noticed some little things.

1) The front portion of the support beam is missing one out of two bolts.

2) The rear portion of the support beam is missing one bolt as well and the other bolt is about to strip out.

What could have caused this? What are my options for fixing this?

It appears that three out of four bolt "holes" are stripped. Now I know that if I re-tap them with the same size tap, that they will just strip anyways because they will be weakened? Can I use a larger tap and get larger bolts? I am practically speechless now because of this.

And on-top of this, I don't know why my tranny will not shift into 1st or 2nd. And, my new rear main seal is leaking and my passenger side CV axle is leaking...........

 

Aren't you lucky you looked under the car to see what's going on. Two out of four bolts missing and one of the remaining two strip, that's sounds scary. If there's enough meat in the chassis to go next size up, why not go ahead. The next possible solution is a heli-coil, but with such a major support beam if that's questionable. You have a GXE but I see you did a conversion so I'll assume you're refering to your 5spd when you say it wont go into 2nd. Maybe your engine/trans is tweak causing your shift linakge to also be tweak which is causing you not to go into second gear. How long have you not been able to go into 2nd, did it seem like it happened slowly over time getting harder and harder or did it happen over night? After losing one bolt it probably tweaked, losing another bolt it tweaks more, then finally a third bolt strip and now you can't get into 2nd. Do you see what I'm saying, just a thought.

 

That does make sense. I jsut looked again and the rear support beam is hanging 1/2" lower (not touching) the underbody of the car. The tranny is coming out regardless because of the Rear main seal. But I do see how that is. The car has been down for 2 days now. It was having a hard time going into 1st and 2nd all of a sudden on Friday. Then, it just wouldn't go in at all. If the rear portion of the beam is hanging down 1/2", would that be the reason it won't shift into gear because of the angle of the rods and the tranny? Thanks Mike.....

 

Re tap, but get new bolts from Nissan, best option I can think of.

 

Funny you say that Mardi. When I was converting the car to a 5-speed, my buddy did strip one of the "holes" in the car. So we bought a tap and re-tapped it with the same size tap. That is one of them that has stripped out. So, what do you think now? Should I still try to re-tap it and use a new bolt?

Also, what do you think could be the cause of my "new" tranny not shifting into 1st/2nd? Could it be because of this? I do see the rods rubbing together, but the don't rub together when trying to engage 1st. I know it can be a lot of things, but I am just trying to narrow them down because there are as many causes here as there are stars in da' sky.........

 

Miss alignment of the engine assembly will cause hard shifting.

I have never helicoiled any holes so I dont know how har or effective it is. If you have the tap already the bolt is only going cost a few bucks, its worth a shot.

 

Cool, Thanks again Mardi. I will call tomorrow and get some. Hopefully this will solve my shifting problems....

 

If you've already re-tap one of the exact same holes we are talking about and it strip out again, you shouldn't have to think too hard on which route you're gonna take. Since you're gonna drop the tranny to change the end seal you can take the tranny to a shop to varify the internals are ok and it's not the cause of your shifting problem. Fix all of your bolts, that's right all four of them. Even the one that hasn't been damage "yet" because you never know. That one bolt is currently supporting 80-90% of a weight (just a guess) that was originally designed to be spread out between four bolts.

 

So you are saying I should just skip ahead and tap it for a larger bolt and use a larger bolt? I already know about trannies. Jay25 and I did my "new tranny", converted it to LSD, did the diff. bearings, etc. So I can verify it myself. Thanks

 

So you are saying I should just skip ahead and tap it for a larger bolt and use a larger bolt? I already know about trannies. Jay25 and I did my "new tranny", converted it to LSD, did the diff. bearings, etc. So I can verify it myself. Thanks

 

You might want to try to jack the crossmember up to the body and then tighten before you decide they are truly stripped. When I did motor mounts, all 4 bolts acted like they were stripped when I went to torque them down. Ends up I had to jack the crossmember up to the body before they would "grab" and eventually tighten down. Don't know if you had any tranny work done but if you don't tighten those bolts up really well, they will ultimately work their way out.

 

if any of them are stripping, then just remove all 4 and re-tap them. heli-coils work on large bolts like that too, although I would try re-tapping them first to see what happens. use the next size larger bolt in it- even if you have to go to SAE threads in order to find one that doesn't go too big. you do NOT want that engine and tranny falling out when you hit a bump on the highway at 80mph. that's going to happen if you don't fix the problem. re-tapping the holes that have already stripped out once is just going to make it happen sooner, and worse. fix the problem the right way so you don't end up totalling your car. think about what would happen if those bolts did come out on the highway. that engine & tranny are going to turn into an 800lb bowling ball rolling around under your hood. car will be completely totalled, no ifs, ands, or butts about it.

pay the $30 and fix it right.

 

So Matt, I should re-tap it with a larger tap and use a larger bolt, or re-tap with the same size tap and use a same sized SAE bolt? I understand that I am up ****'s creek, that is why I want to fix this ASAP. Thanks.

 

i would go +1 on tap/bolt

 

go up one size on metric or SAE. I just know that on most of the metric bolts, you have 6,8,10,12,14mm sizes.. I would guess those are 12 or 14mm, and that going up one size is goign to take a lot of meat out of the frame where the bolts is made to go in. If you can find an SAE bolt (say 1/2" = 12.7mm) instead of going to a 14mm, then you'll be able to keep some of that metal in the frame, where it should be.

in the case the bolt is a 14mm, then you're fubar'd.. a 5/8" bolt is 15.9mm, which you might as well just use a 16mm bolt and keep everything ont he car metric.

just make sure you redo all 4 of them, instead of just 1 or two.. that way you don't have to try and remember which bolts go in which holes next time you have to pull all of this out. (unless you like to be like me and stamp bolt #s on the tranny case and bolts so you know which one goes in which hole! stupid bolts on the bellhousing on my VE are all different lengths, so you have to put them back in exactly where they came out.)

 

Ok, I shall be doing that then. Thanks for the help Matt. I guess I will tackle this when I drop my tranny to do my rear main seal.

 

personally, I wouldn't drive the car until you have it fixed.. it's not like a bad ball joint that can be fixed when you have time.... I'm hoping the rear main seal is going to be done tomorrow or something.

 

i think they're 17mm bolts

 

Ok, they are actually 12mm bolts. The head is a 17mm, but that actual "bolt" is a 12mm with 1.25 threads. I already had a tap for the 12mm 1.25, so I am gonna re-tap everything now. If it works, then good. If not, I just bought a 1/2" 20 thread tap and bolts with washers. That will fix it no doubt, but once I start tapping, there is no stopping lol.....Hopefully this will also fix my tranny shifting problems, but if not, oh well. I will jsut drop the tranny, fix the problem, fix the rear main seal, etc etc etc....