The other day when I was returning to work from lunch my transmission decided it was time to die. At this point I am not sure of what is broken but I know all of the forward gears function but the thing sounds like it is full of gravel. First gear is the worst and is trying to lock up.

Today I went to my local trusty transmission shop and I purchased another 6 speed gearbox to install. I was fortunate to discover that they had a '04 gearbox on the shelf which is the one I took. As far as I know the '04 box is better than the '02 which I had. This thing is supposed to have a triple coned second gear synchro and I think about everything else is improved. What I am really hoping for is a vastly improved 3rd gear synchro, perhaps even a double coned piece. I will find out once I get the thing apart when I install my HLSD. And IIRC the '04 U.S. car wasn't offered with the HLSD option.

One other thing that I'd forgotten about was the lower final drive. The '02-'03 6 speeds had a 3.812 final drive and the '04 6 speeds have a 4.133 final. Initially I didn't care to test the lower gear but now that I have one I am going to see how the thing feels. First gear should be even more useless but it might make second gear more feasble to launch from.

I also managed to get my hands on a Z33 OE clutch and flywheel. The point of this is to do a thorough comparison of it and the OE Maxima parts to see if 350Z clutch/flywheel combos are feasible. If this works I will have more ammo to persuade people to stay away from JWT garbage and it will open the door for a much wider variety of clutches and flywheels.

Now I just need to find where I put my digicam.

 

sweet!
(well not that you broke it but ..........)

now just hope your axles work/etc

 

There is no reason why the splines should be different. Especially since I am installing my differential in the thing.

 

Cool! Getting in to stay updated with the e-mails...

Hope everything goes well and as always:

 

That lower final drive sounds nice.

Gosh my engine just went,im confused on what to do.

 

Keep us updated man.

 

First update.

I had the tranny out of the car in about 45 mins this time (getting much faster).

The OE 350Z clutch is different than the OE Maxima (A33B) clutch however they are interchangeable. You can use a Z33 OE clutch/pressure plate on a A33B.

The flywheels are identical except for one tiny detail. The timing ring on the Z33 flywheel is clocked differently. I already see a very easy fix for this. The real problem is the timing ring offset. It is about 6.5mm further from the engine. Now you can't do anything about the timing ring but the crank sensor could possibly be moved by machining the bellhousing.
This kinda sucks right now because I need another flywheel. My OE dualmass flywheel has tons of play and is causing the pressure plate to rub against the bellhousing. It is junk and needs to be replaced. It looks for certain that I won't finish this project today. I still have to open the '04 tranny and install the HLSD.

It is bad news that the Z33 flywheel isn't a direct fit but at least we all know that they can be made to fit with a few modifications.

 

I think you already know what my thoughts are on that.

 

One more thing for those of you that have aftermarket flywheels already. Who wants to sell me a OE flywheel?

 

Update #2

The first gear pinion is half a nuetral. I do at least have a spare input shaft and gear for the pinion shaft to repair this. Which are parts that I just so happend to keep while other parts got shipped off to Austrailia.
Overall I am glad I got my hands on a A34 tranny. It is easier to install the HLSD than it would be to repair this tranny. Now all I need is another HLSD so I can have trannys with two different ratios. And I know where one is.

 

I opened the '04 Transmission and visually everything appears intact and fine. I have decided that for now I am going to just put the cover back on the thing and put it in the car. That way I can determine what if anything is wrong with it and see if I really want the lower final drive. Seeing as how I am going to have to take the transmission back off the car once I get another flywheel I may as well do this.

 

Premilinary results:

I already miss the HLSD. This thing will now peg leg the hell out of third gear. But I will install that at a later time. First gear is almost useless and is way too short for this car. Second is still just out of reach to be a good launch gear. Maybe with slicks at a track this thing would be ideal. With a 7200 RPM rev limit it would be even more ideal except for the wheel roast. Second is now about where it should be and seems to finish at about 60 mph vs the previous 65mph. Third goes to about 84 vs. 90 and fourth goes to 110 vs. 120. Those are my favorite three gears and they are now better suited for my powerband. I also miss the taller sixth gear. Intead of the previous 2000rpm at 60mph it appears to be about 2200-2300 and when cruising at 80mph I feel like I want to shift to a non existant seventh gear.

 

thanks for this, u seem to be onto some good finds ; ). Let's hope we can figure it all out so i can get that os giken setup installed in a few weeks

 

Awesome work as always!

Good to hear that the Z33 OEM clutch is a direct fit. Plenty of aftermarket choices there!

As far as the flywheel I guess JWT would is still our only direct fit flywheel option at this point huh. How time-consuming and/or costly would it be to get the Z33 units to fit?

 

You're joking about your engine, right?

 

All you have to do is re-clock the flywheel by one bolt and then move the crank sensor 6.5mm away from the engine. You could probably make those changes in a couple of hours or less.

 

Well, I can't wait to see you finish this project.....you do so much

 

whoa this is cool! I didnt know the 6th gen tranny had different gearing. So would this be better for TS raised redline than the 5.5th gen trannys?

 

Very nice!!.......can't wait to get my clutch and flywheel in, and i'm going to ask you nicely to install it for me, when the time comes.

 

That tranny sounds perfect for the less torquey VQ30.

 

Especially for VQ30's with a raised rev-limit...

 

I could use the taller 3rd definitely and that 6th gear would be great for all my HWY traveling.

 

is the 04 tranny still a cable shifter? any improvements on feel or whatnot from the 02-03 maximas?

 

Matt,

I'm glad to see the car is still a screamer.

I'm curious. What would have happened if I had bought your car a couple of weeks ago and the tranny died on me? Based on our discussions, I hope you would have honored the fact that you knew how the car was driven and helped with the tranny replacement. Moot point now.

Word to the wise, be careful when considering the purchase of a car that has been taken to the drag strip and road courses. Unless, of course, you can afford to replace key components such as the tranny or engine.

Enjoy your toy.

 

Already forgotten that I had promised to go inside and repair the tranny before it was sold? Or that this car has a 6 year 75k mile powertrain warranty?

 

SR20,

Do you plan on still trying to put the HLSD in the '04 when you do the flywheel?

 

That is the plan if I decide to use this transmission vs. rebuilding the other one.

 

that it is...

did you buy the car? didn't think so...I don't see the point of you posting this crap in the thread trying to stir up conflict.

Word to the wise, nothing was hidden and it is well know that he raced the car and he posted about it. I again don't see how this has anything to do with this thread or the fact that you're trying to make out like he hid the fact that the car was raced. Afterall in his FS post that you obviously read it stated ***fastest all motor maxima***. Also word to the wise this is a car forum and not someones grandma buying the car that doesn't have a clue... we all know the consequences of tracking a car.

 

ouch......good point!!

 

I took the car out onto the secret Area 51 testing facility tonight. It bounced off it's rev limiter in 5th gear at about 145. The peak& hold on the SAFC showed 6810 rpm.

It is hard to tell from the butt dyno if the car is quicker but the new gearing seems to be a better match for my powerband.

 

Put the HLSD in that sucker, slap on some slicks, and GET TO THE TRACK~!

You missed Larrios' question...is the 2K4 any better shifting then the 2K2 tranny?

 

Yes it is the same transmission with a few interior updates. I can't feel any improvements. They all feel the same when they have low mileage and all get chunky after a few thousand miles. Right now it is full of come cheapie Penzoil GL that we had at the shop. If/when I put the HLSD in this on I'll use MT-90 which about the only GL that I havent tried.

 

Matt,

I'm not trying to stir any sh#t up. I didn't forget anything about our discussions over the sale of your car. I do remember that you stated you would repair the transmission before selling it - repair the 3rd gear synchro. I also remember a statement about you fixing the body damage - which you hastily retracted 4 days later. And let's not rely on the warranty as a fallback. We all know that the dealer will try to slither out of any responsibility on a stock vehicle-even more on an upgraded and raced vehicle.

I don't live on the org so I had no idea the car has been driven the way that most people seem to know. That's all fine and good. Beat on the car all you want and brag about it. My point is this: it's wrong to try to sell a car that is owned and maintained by a skilled mechanic to anyone other than a lifetime org member or another skilled mechanic without full disclosure. It is not fair to someone looking for a decent 6spd car that won't require immediate repair to even keep it on the road it.

Your posts are informative and somewhat amusing. I've learned much so far. But what the hell do I know I've only posted 3 times. Have fun tinkering.

 

It wasn't me that accused you of stiring thigns up.
Ok.

I never once mentioned that I would repair the body damage as part of the deal for that price. I said that I would get an estimate for it to see how much it was going to cost. All of these things that I promised have been done. I didn't think I reacted hastily when I mentioned in the email that I wasn't going to sell the car for that price with the body damage repaired.

In your case I would have returned the vehicle back to it's complete stock form because I knew you would rely on the dealer for maintenance and repair. This is why the target market I was going after was someone who wanted the car for the same purpose that I used it for.

At what point did I not disclose EVERYTHING about this car? There are hundreds of times where it has been discussed ont his forum. And I was adament aboutt he car being raced in our other conversations on the phone and when you came to look it over. I distincly remember repeating myself several times to let you know exactly what the car has gone through. Therefore the statement about nondisclosure being wrong simply does not apply here.

 

interesting stuff, keep us updated

 

Matt,

All of this is a moot point now. You did tell me that you had raced it. I guess that I didn't realize that it had been beat so bad that the tranny would die 3 weeks after I looked at it. I guess I need to apologize for throwing this crap on the post. Sorry for getting off the subject. Thank goodness for both us that we couldn't come to an agreement on the car. Good luck with the car. Consider this topic closed.

 

unbelievable....I wanted to comment but you closed the topic so I will leave it alone