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I took care of a few more small items after working on the M3 for a month, while I had a small break before I started up work on the FX. I installed the DS tail light I got at the junkyard a while back to replace the cracked one that had been in my car for like a decade...
And added some of that god-awful caulk back to make sure it seals up nice and tight.
I then took off the DS door panel to do the same stuff I did on the PS.
Trimmed excessive sound deadening that prevented the door panel clips from clipping in fully:
Trimmed some foam off the speaker foam surround that was pushing the door panel out and making it harder for the door clips to go in place:
Replaced the crappy style chrome door handle (left) with a better one with the larger clip area on the right.
And then put down more of the Tesa anti-rubbing tape all around the door. Here's the factory stuff (what's left of it):
Then some new stuff:
And with that, all the door clips clipped in perfectly, and my handle surround went from this:
To this:
It's the little things Big things come later.
Oh, and a while back I came across another 96/97 I30 in a parking lot and had to take some comparison pics:
Hey everyone, I know there are a few engineers out there reading this, and I have a question for you, and anyone else who has experience powder coating things (I'm looking at you, Mike!). My Enkeis need to be refinished, and they also need new tires, so I think I'm finally ready to pony up and get them repainted or powder coated, and do it all at one time. Due to the complexity of the spoke design, I don't want to do them myself, as I think they need to be taken down to bare metal. There's a good coating of brake dust on two from when I ran track pads and didn't clean the wheels soon enough, and the paint is flaking off a little bit on two due to what looks like corrosion around the center cap area. Suffice to say, they need a lot of work. And the refinishers I've spoken with say that if you're going to go to the work of taking it down to bare metal, you might as well powder coat instead of paint. My concern is regarding the heat needed to powder coat things. From the people I've talked to, it sounds like a gunmetal paint needs to be baked on at something like 300*-400*. I've read discussions where some people claim temperatures like that can damage the structure of an aluminum wheel and make it weak. I've also heard some people say that certain types of media blasting can weaken aluminum and cause tiny little cracks that are invisible to the naked eye. Do you think I need to worry about any of this, or is it more of a theoretical thing that's not really a problem in the real world?
That's actually the first I've ever heard of powdercoating heat damaging wheels. I know chroming weakens from internal stress and hydrogen embrittlement. I have no practical background in materials or casting. I did find that theoretically, you're right about the powercoating temps. Apparently the aging temp for the most common aluminum alloy is just over 300*F and over 350* if forged. It seems there are some aluminum specific powercoats that cure at 250*F though
The thing other thing you have to consider is no 2 wheels have the same initial strength and there's always (or should be) an engineering safety factor worked into the design. Safety factors on anything having to do with human life are higher. For piece of mind, if your wheels are super light, you might want to consider that aluminum specific powder or a paint option. Otherwise, you probably won't get close to having to worry about it.
For the media blasting thing, I call b.s. just because of how malleable aluminum is.
Well, I got tired of thinking about it and just pressed the easy button, and took my wheels to a local blasting/powder coating shop that charges $120/wheel. The wheels definitively needed to be taken down to the bare metal, as they are something like 18 years old and have some peeling/corrosion in some spots. I guess I'm willing to take the risk from the heat of the coating process. Getting the wheels blasted there and then painted at another business would have greatly increased the cost, so I said **** it and just rolled the dice. The car needs new tires, which have been sitting in my garage for a few months now, so this was the time to get the wheels done.
Progress on the 6 speed swap has been pretty much non-existent, as I had to do some lengthy projects on the M3 and FX. But, thanks to schmelly, I at least have a timing ring!
Thinking (far) ahead to the eventual 2nd gen 3.5 swap, I finally got my old DE-K from my parents house and tried to take it apart. First step was the stuck bolt for the crank pulley. Way back when this thing was still in my car, we tried to remove it at the shop with the big air lines and a big Snap-On gun, but it simply wouldn't budge. Fast forward ten years or so, after the engine sat outside in the elements uncovered for 5+ years, and things sure didn't get any easier. I sprayed the hell out of it with all of my penetrating oils, heated it up with my Map torch, and even tried my fancy new Milwaukee impact gun that's rated at 1,400 ft-lbs removal, but it wouldn't budge. My buddy Brian came over with his TIG welder one day to rescue me from a mistake I made working on the FX, and before he left offered to get the bolt red hot. So he zapped it with a **** ton of electricity, got that thing glowing red.....and it didn't budge with the Milwaukee. But then he zapped it again, and it came off!
The bolt melted a bit....
And with that, disassembly could begin. It hasn't though, because I spent over a month straight doing preventative rust repair on the FX (wifey mobile), fighting very stuck and rusty fasteners every step of the way. It needed new tires, and although it's rather against how I normally do things, I couldn't help but want to upgrade from the factory non-sport 18" wheels to the sport package 20" wheels in the tire buying process. And after 13 years and 130k, the original suspension needed to be replaced, so I threw on a set of BC Racing coilovers. The last mod I have planned is a set of ARP wheel studs and 20mm spacers all around. The BCs dropped it more than anticipated at the factory settings, but even with a 2" drop, 2" bigger wheels, and 70+ pounds of rotational weight per corner, it rides much better than before, which is a pleasant surprise. It also looks pretty damn awesome, if I do say so myself.
So with the FX and M3 in good shape, I can start working on the I30 again. I still need to decide things like:
-JWT or Fidanza single mass flywheel?
-Southbend (which version?) or 350z/Maxima clutch? To be safe, it needs to hold 300 whp and survive 7000 rpm shifts.
-Do I just take the Sentra and Maxima transmissions to a shop and pay $600+ for them to be assembled properly, or do I try it myself and likely screw it up in the process? I know absolutely nothing about shimming and pre-load....and most other things involved.
Man I had a super long reply typed then I got sidetracked and lost it
Lisle 19mm crank bolt socket. Life saver.
As I stated before, jwt, fidanza, AASCO all the same. Whatever is cheaper or whatever name looks the coolest to you is the best flywheel for you.
(I currently have Fidanza, jwt and z1's heavy flywheel on a shelf and my god..... I can use the same spacer on all 3 to turn them all into fwd flywheels, I was shocked z1 was able to use the same spacer as fiddy, jwt and AASCO)
I have, I am, and I will continue to beat the **** out of a 350z clutch setup. I'm currently using a z exedy OEM replacement right now and I've finally surpassed my break in period and went hooning with the G/Z guys and it held up to every shift and was predictable and easy to operate from beginning to end (redline is above 7k in all my cars).
I have not made more than 300whp so I don't have long term with other clutches except z1's performance clutch that I put on a customer's car (which I loooooved and will use for my 6th gen).
And I'm sure YouTube has a video on how to do it. Our transmission is nothing special. I had a great analogy typed out buuuuut it's gone.
Man I had a super long reply typed then I got sidetracked and lost it
Lisle 19mm crank bolt socket. Life saver.
As I stated before, jwt, fidanza, AASCO all the same. Whatever is cheaper or whatever name looks the coolest to you is the best flywheel for you.
(I currently have Fidanza, jwt and z1's heavy flywheel on a shelf and my god..... I can use the same spacer on all 3 to turn them all into fwd flywheels, I was shocked z1 was able to use the same spacer as fiddy, jwt and AASCO)
I have, I am, and I will continue to beat the **** out of a 350z clutch setup. I'm currently using a z exedy OEM replacement right now and I've finally surpassed my break in period and went hooning with the G/Z guys and it held up to every shift and was predictable and easy to operate from beginning to end (redline is above 7k in all my cars).
I have not made more than 300whp so I don't have long term with other clutches except z1's performance clutch that I put on a customer's car (which I loooooved and will use for my 6th gen).
And I'm sure YouTube has a video on how to do it. Our transmission is nothing special. I had a great analogy typed out buuuuut it's gone.
Thanks for the tip on that Lisle crank bolt socket, that thing looks awesome, I'm totally buying that. Do you run stock, lightweight, or underdrive pulleys on your cars?
Thanks for the tip on that Lisle crank bolt socket, that thing looks awesome, I'm totally buying that. Do you run stock, lightweight, or underdrive pulleys on your cars?
03 ralco lightweight under.
My 99 currently has a lightweight but I will goto 2j's lightweight under (lightest one evarrr)
my 08 will end up with the lightweight pulley that's currently on the 99, due to me trying to keep things stock-ish but modded.
Unrelated but i also accidentally came across a z1 midweight flywheel for $100... I'll be trying it out on my 08 since I do miss the low end grunt of the stock flywheel but the delay in engagement should be gone since it's a one piece.
Those are some good links, thank you. Too bad I don't speak Russian. But the procedure/tools are helpful.
I searched Google for shimming manual transmissions, and what do you know, but some posts by Nealoc were at the top of the results! Here are the threads:
in our transmissions, there are 3 shafts (we'll consider the differential a shaft for the purposes of this thread) that have a bearing on each end (6 bearings). those bearings need to have the proper preload or end play on them so they will last and not wear out prematurely. ball bearings need end play (i.e. a little bit of 'looseness') and conical/tapered roller bearings need preload (i.e. they need to be compressed a little bit). the input shaft has ball bearings, the differential and main shaft have conical/tapered roller bearings. (there are other shims inside the transmission too, but they don't have to do with the bearings on the shafts which is what you are asking about, so i won't bother discussing those.)
bearing shims are required to set the proper preload or end play on the bearings, because during manufacturing there are very slight differences in how the cases are cast and machined, how bearings are machined, and how shafts and such are machined. when the trans is assembled, these slight differences can make the difference between bearings lasting a good long time, or failing prematurely. hence shims are needed to keep everything consistent as far as preload or end play on the bearings is concerned.
improperly shimmed means you have a shim of improper thickness behind one or more bearings. if you don't shim shafts correctly, the bearings are going to wear out fail sooner than they would if they were correctly shimmed. it won't really affect shift quality initially, but once you have bearings that are severely worn, you could start seeing degraded shift quality. once your bearings are that worn out though, you have much bigger problems than worrying about how smooth your shifts are (like worrying about whether or not you are going to get stuck on the side of the road because some major part in your trans is about to fail catastrophically).
you make sure the trans is properly shimmed either by using a dial gauge as per the FSM, or by using the solder crush method. i have posted on here about the solder crush method so you should be able to find an explanation. basically you take some little pieces of lead solder and put it behind the bearing race and bolt the trans case together, spin the shafts, let it sit for like 20 minutes, unbolt the case and take the little pieces of lead solder out and measure their thickness with a caliper, and then refer to the table in the FSM to figure out how much thickness you need to add or subtract to get the proper shim thickness. then you have to find the proper shim and install it behind the bearing race and bolt the trans back together for installation into the car (finding the proper shim is often easier said than done for someone who is just doing their own trans because nissan is always backordered on these things for weeks if not months. guys who build lots of transmissions usually have a stockpile of shims they can select from).
Originally Posted by Nealoc187
Where's it leaking from? Where the axles go in or in the bell housing? If it's leaking at the axle you need differential bearing(s), if it's leaking out of the bell housing (not sure if you have the trans out of the car yet) then you need the input shaft bearing. On both of the trans I've had to replace input shaft bearings on, it was only the bearing closest to the splines on the input shaft that needed replacement, part number 32203M. Calculating the proper shim size using the solder crush method requires you to first replace the bearing, bolt the thing back together, take it back apart, measure the solder, do the calculations, then order the proper shim. The differential shims are on national backorder btw, so it will be weeks before you receive them if that is what you need.
Or you can just reuse the shims already in there which is what most places do, and the rebuild will most likely last you about as long as it did the first time.
Originally Posted by Nealoc187
degeesaman, yes I believe the solder we use at the shop is regular leaded solder. I will ask tomorrow, I don't buy the shop supplies I just use em
As far as what bearings to replace I think that is personal preference. At the shop we do not replace bearings other than those that are pitted, worn, or otherwise imperfect. If the bearing and it's race is in perfect working order, we don't replace it. We do however check the shimming of all bearings to make sure that it is exactly correct.
Originally Posted by Nealoc187
I asked for you today and yes I was right, we use leaded solder. After bolting everything together we usually wait about 10-15 minutes to let the solder set and then take it apart and mic it.
Red circled cruise air pump with bracket. Two nuts underneath in wheel well and one bolt seen in picture.
Blue arrow points too part of the clutch line mess part of this in in the picture below.. Ditch all that and get a full SS line.
Third picture shows the room you get with the pump gone.
So I finally took everyone's advice and replaced the maze of unnecessary clutch fluid hard lines with a single piece SS line. Looking at the pictures Chris attached in the post above, where the whole system came out intact, I kind of assumed this was going to be a straightforward job. WHY DIDN'T ANYBODY WARN ME?!? This was an absolute clusterfcuk of frustration that was only resolved through unbridled rage and mechanical violence. Let's go back to the beginning, back when I was naive and had hopes and dreams.
I knew I needed to change my clutch fluid for a long time, but I knew that bleeding it was going to be a PITA with the stock system in place, so I just kind of ignored it, even though my disgusting fluid was staring me in the face every time I popped the hood.
It didn't look any better when I sucked it out of the reservoir:
I had to use a few paper towels to clean out the bottom of the reservoir until I could see clean plastic.
But I finally got it clean:
I started by removing the remains of the cruise control system since the rest of it has been long gone, and it was kind of in the way.
Ahh yes, that's better. Now, on to the job at hand. I came across this unplugged connector right next to the ABS pump, going to a ground bolt beneath the ABS pump. It's been hanging there for as long as I can remember, but I don't have the faintest idea what I went to. Does anyone recognize this thing?
From there, it became clear that getting all these hard lines out of the car was going to require a significant amount of cutting. I can only assume that the picture of them all out in one piece was from a car that didn't have an ABS pump, because that thing and its assorted hard lines completely blocked all access to lines for the clutch. Specifically, there's this little rectangular distribution block sort of thing for the clutch lines, and it's tucked down under all the hard lines for the ABS.
I had already cut all the circular web of hard lines under the ABS pump, the hard line coming from the reservoir, and the hard line towards the front, but it was clear the distribution block was not going to be removed with the remaining lines attached to it. I tried all of my normal cutting tools, but there simply wasn't room to get them any closer to the lines that needed to be cut. Much time and energy was wasted on this fruitless endeavor. I eventually remembered I had a flex line thingy for my Dremel, so I got medieval on its a$$ with a carbide grinding tip, and ripped through the remaining lines.
Finally, mercifully, I was able to carefully extract the distro block and the remaining mangled hard lines that had been attached to it. This is the mess that was this job:
Installing the new line was a breeze, but I didn't love the angle of the hard part that attaches to the reservoir. It seemed to force the line to go up right next to it, which to me seemed to invite air pockets to trouble bleeding it, but I couldn't get it to install any other way, so I had to live with it.
But now I have beautiful golden fluid in my clutch system, and that makes me happy. The stuff that came out of some of the hard lines when I cut them was truly disgusting. Now, can we discuss WTF Nissan was thinking when they installed this system in the car? What possible purpose could it have served??? In the time of great cost-cutting, how did this unnecessary system make it past the bean counters? Granted, most of other wrenching experience is on BMWs, so it's not like I have experience with a wide variety of different manufactures, but I just cannot figure this out. Can someone enlighten me and show me the wisdom of Nissan's logic?
Last edited by 95maxrider; Jul 20, 2020 at 06:35 PM.
Yes, long story short, it's a delay system and pedal dampener built into those spaghetti lines.
Lol, all that for a delay? I had forgotten that I removed the clutch delay valve on my M3, mostly because it was so small and unobtrusive.
Dammit Nissan! Well then, I guess I'll be looking forward to driving this car without the delay in place. I can't help but wonder if this is the thing that has (occasionally) caused me so much grief when I try to shift gears quickly, especially when going from 2-3 or 3-4, where the car would shudder for a few seconds as I would engage the next gear. It's happened with every clutch/flywheel combo, and every transmission I've ever had in this car, and it's really frustrating and confusing. It's made me question my ability to drive stick shift, and has never happened on any other car I've driven.
This was an absolute clusterfcuk of frustration that was only resolved through unbridled rage and mechanical violence.
haha
Originally Posted by 95maxrider
I knew I needed to change my clutch fluid for a long time, but I knew that bleeding it was going to be a PITA with the stock system in place, so I just kind of ignored it, even though my disgusting fluid was staring me in the face every time I popped the hood. It didn't look any better when I sucked it out of the reservoir:
Congrats, that's some dirty dirty fluid!
Originally Posted by 95maxrider
Installing the new line was a breeze, but I didn't love the angle of the hard part that attaches to the reservoir. It seemed to force the line to go up right next to it, which to me seemed to invite air pockets to trouble bleeding it, but I couldn't get it to install any other way, so I had to live with it.
You should be able to get that hose connected to the master so it faces downward. I mean if I could do it, you can (I'm much more of a newb). On mine, the angle part of the hose is facing towards the firewall, which gives it enough space to wrap around the master on the firewall side. Hope that helps. I don't think it would cause issues having it high up like that, but it does seem like a better idea to have it angled underneath the reservoir. Wrapping it low like I did will make the hose shorter in the bay..... and while it does connect, there's not a lot of slack left; it's pretty much a straight shot to the slave. But it does reach.
You should be able to get that hose connected to the master so it faces downward. I mean if I could do it, you can (I'm much more of a newb). On mine, the angle part of the hose is facing towards the firewall, which gives it enough space to wrap around the master on the firewall side. Hope that helps. I don't think it would cause issues having it high up like that, but it does seem like a better idea to have it angled underneath the reservoir. Wrapping it low like I did will make the hose shorter in the bay..... and while it does connect, there's not a lot of slack left; it's pretty much a straight shot to the slave. But it does reach.
Don't let the long build thread fool you, I'm still extremely stupid when it comes to working on cars. Yeah, I was thinking about that after I was done. If/when I get around to doing the 6 speed swap I'll try to install it at a different angle. But for now, the system appears to be bled, so I'm going to move onto other projects.
Last edited by 95maxrider; Jul 21, 2020 at 01:20 PM.
When I flushed out my brake fluid a while back I came across this in one of the cheap shop manuals:
This seems to say that the order to bleed the brakes is PS rear, DS front, DS rear, PS front. I always thought it was supposed to be PS rear, DS rear, PS front, DS front. Does anyone know why it recommends this procedure?
I cleaned things up after the clutch line job with some purple power, and while it's clean, it doesn't look so pretty in there. I thought about repainting the engine bay, then thought about how much work it would be to do it properly, then promptly stopped thinking about it.
Then I found my old Stillen FSTB, and started wondering how I could possibly install it with a 3.5 motor. It looks like I could take a bit of metal off the UIM/elbow, but I'm sure there would still be clearance issues. Has anyone ever made it work?
A while back when I went to a junkyard there was this perfect I30 there and I got a bunch of parts off of it. I had been wanting to replace my whole trunk liner since mine was pretty grungy and had some rips in it. Apparently the I30 has a different liner than a Maxima does, so I helped myself to the liner in the I30 as well since it was in 100% mint condition. The dirt in mine didn't come through very well in the pictures, but this was totally worth the little bit of effort that it took. I've transported a lot of transmissions and loads of parts from junkyards over the years, and it took a toll on my trunk liner.
First, I removed everything from my trunk. That gave me access to the little cavities on either side, where a fair amount of crap had fallen over the last 17 years of my ownership, including a light up graduation pin from 2003. Naturally, I had to clean them out and then vacuum them.
And apparently there's some rust in the DS cavity, I guess I'll have to add that to the list.
Did some cleaning:
And I found this dinky little ground terminal on the DS, and I have absolutely no recollection of what it was ever connected to.
Like I said, it's hard to show in pictures, but my old one (top) is kinda nasty, while the new one (bottom) is very fresh:
I did a better job of trimming the pieces to fit around the RSTB than on the last ones, but of course as soon as I finished I realized I could have done an even cleaner job. D'oh!
This guy had gotten torn up from the broken cable ties (what are they called? I need to order a bunch of these things) so I removed all the ripped stuff and put on some fresh electrical tape.
Anyways, all done:
And with that, my trunk has been rejuvenated. Sweet!
I say the brake bleeding procedure from a Haynes (mine is 93-04) is wrong for an A32. It covers other years that have the ABS pump in a much different location. J30 is behind the right headlight and A34 is on the firewall above power steering pump.
As for the strut bar, you could modify the mounts to raise it. Or sell your yours and buy 5th gen version which might hit the hood. I have a Stillen Sentra B14 bar with generic A32 mounts. It just barely rubs the insulation. Can't say 100% it clears a 3.5 4th gen, but I did bolt it on an 03 when fixing a damaged strut tower.
Yep you'll want a 5.5 gen FSTB. I found out the hard way that the A33 Cefiro Ultra Racing FSTB does not clear the 3.5
I've cleared a stock UIM with a 5.5gen eBay bar and an Alutec. Your margin grows thinner if you have NWP spacers as well.
You want push mount cable ties for the trunk wiring.
Ahh, that's it, thanks man! I've needed these things for a while but never knew what to search for.
Originally Posted by schmellyfart
Yep you'll want a 5.5 gen FSTB. I found out the hard way that the A33 Cefiro Ultra Racing FSTB does not clear the 3.5
I've cleared a stock UIM with a 5.5gen eBay bar and an Alutec. Your margin grows thinner if you have NWP spacers as well.
I'd be very hesitant to buy from racingline. So many horror stories. Are they really still in business?
This.
Go with the Megan. But just a heads up you'll be back to the drawing board if you're still planning to swap to the 2nd gen 3.5. You'll pretty much need a custom FSTB to work around the plenum unless you go nuts with hood spacers.
Go with the Megan. But just a heads up you'll be back to the drawing board if you're still planning to swap to the 2nd gen 3.5. You'll pretty much need a custom FSTB to work around the plenum unless you go nuts with hood spacers.
Craps. Since that's the eventual plan, I guess I shouldn't buy anything. I don't think I want to mess around with hood spacers.
It's slowing getting closer to 6 speed swap time, and I still have parts I need to buy, mainly clutch and flywheel stuff. If I'm overlooking an option, please chime in and let me know.
Flywheel options:
JWT - $450
Fidanza - $463
Due to their commitment to the Nissan community, I think I'm going to go with the JWT flywheel.
Clutch options:
Nisformance Stage 1 - $289
OEM 03-05 350z disc and OEM 02-03 Maxima pressure plate - $375 (or is it the PP from a 6th gen?)
South Bend Stage 1 - $548 !?!
Due to positive feedback from Aaron, and my own preference for OEM parts, I think I'm going to go with the OEM stuff. Leonard loved his South Bend clutch, but $550 seems like too much for what you get, unless there's magic in there.
Other little things I need to buy include:
9 bolts and washer to attach pressure plate to flywheel
8 flywheel bolts
Pilot bearing
Throw out bearing
Am I forgetting anything?
Also, where is the best place to order bearings for the trans? The 2002 Maxima trans the Sentra diff and FD are going into only has 80k on it supposedly. Is it worth the effort to replace the bearings, or should I keep it simple and just reuse them?
It's slowing getting closer to 6 speed swap time, and I still have parts I need to buy, mainly clutch and flywheel stuff. If I'm overlooking an option, please chime in and let me know.
Flywheel options:
JWT - $450
Fidanza - $463
Due to their commitment to the Nissan community, I think I'm going to go with the JWT flywheel.
Clutch options:
Nisformance Stage 1 - $289
OEM 03-05 350z disc and OEM 02-03 Maxima pressure plate - $375 (or is it the PP from a 6th gen?)
South Bend Stage 1 - $548 !?!
Due to positive feedback from Aaron, and my own preference for OEM parts, I think I'm going to go with the OEM stuff. Leonard loved his South Bend clutch, but $550 seems like too much for what you get, unless there's magic in there.
Other little things I need to buy include:
9 bolts and washer to attach pressure plate to flywheel
8 flywheel bolts
Pilot bearing
Throw out bearing
Am I forgetting anything?
Also, where is the best place to order bearings for the trans? The 2002 Maxima trans the Sentra diff and FD are going into only has 80k on it supposedly. Is it worth the effort to replace the bearings, or should I keep it simple and just reuse them?
A34 Pressure plate.
Yeah the south bend was super nice on my 5 speed, but OEM was way cheaper for me when I was exploring 6MT options.
Nisformance clutch price is attractive, but they don't list any details which raises some flags for me.
It's slowing getting closer to 6 speed swap time, and I still have parts I need to buy, mainly clutch and flywheel stuff. If I'm overlooking an option, please chime in and let me know.
Due to their commitment to the Nissan community, I think I'm going to go with the JWT flywheel.
Clutch options:
Nisformance Stage 1 - $289
OEM 03-05 350z disc and OEM 02-03 Maxima pressure plate - $375 (or is it the PP from a 6th gen?) -
South Bend Stage 1 - $548 !?! Z1 - $288 + Ship + Buying OEM TOB on ebay for like $25
CZP - $250 + Ship + Buying OEM TOB on ebay for like $25 (You could try messaging these guys about getting a TOB for our setup... Next time I buy a clutch I will be doing that)
Due to positive feedback from Aaron, and my own preference for OEM parts, I think I'm going to go with the OEM stuff. Leonard loved his South Bend clutch, but $550 seems like too much for what you get, unless there's magic in there.
Other little things I need to buy include:
9 bolts and washer to attach pressure plate to flywheel -Re-use your old ones if you're lazy/cheap like me, or hell go ARP, they aren't that bad either and will outlive your car, just don't ugga dugga them and be careful when screwing them into Aluminum flywheels.
8 flywheel bolts -Bonus, with the cheap ebay flywheel, you can use ARP flywheel bolts, short of that, OEM new is your best bet, Z1 or Concept Z Performance (CZP) has good prices on either of these
Pilot bearing -Comes with all clutch kits
Throw out bearing -Comes w/ FWD clutch kits (you can't use a RWD TOB)
Am I forgetting anything?
Also, where is the best place to order bearings for the trans? The 2002 Maxima trans the Sentra diff and FD are going into only has 80k on it supposedly. Is it worth the effort to replace the bearings, or should I keep it simple and just reuse them? -Whoever actually has them lol. I email this guy regarding OEM parts but you have to be patient BUT stay on top of him, basically check in every 3-5 days until your order ships. vintage@lynchburgnissan.com
-And who is doing the work? Ask them... They can save the shims and races from the old differential or just use new races with new bearings... Either or... I've done it both ways
Ficksed.
If schmelly still has access to machining equipment... He could easily make a spacer ring for you to make the multi-piece RWD flywheels literally bolt on easier for you, or just take a drill and a steady hand like me and make all RWD flywheels bolt on easily.
Last edited by aackshun; Aug 11, 2020 at 11:48 AM.
If schmelly still has access to machining equipment... He could easily make a spacer ring for you to make the multi-piece RWD flywheels literally bolt on easier for you, or just take a drill and a steady hand like me and make all RWD flywheels bolt on easily.
This is what JWT/Fidanza (Mecleod and Z1 can use this spacer as well even though they do not catalog a FWD flywheel... I think Cusco is the true manufacturer of this flywheel, I forget, some race shop in Cali makes them for everyone, I ordered one direct before for like $380 shipped almost 10 years ago) flywheels use to make FWD versions. This literally bolts in between the trigger ring and the flywheel body to achieve..... I want to say it's 7.5mm spacing closer to the motor...The exact specs are in a doc from JWT somewhere.
This spacing.
I have no idea why nissan spaced them out differently, but oh whale (F is the stock position of the crank sensor, R is moved over to accomodate the lack of RWD flywheels having the spacer... slash.... having a different offset of the trigger teeth)... Having the measurement is only important if the motor is on an engine stand, if it's off the stand you can just eyeball it to the flywheel and be good.
On top of that the flywheel is clocked one bolt over (not important to the OP).
Last edited by aackshun; Aug 11, 2020 at 05:43 PM.
The Enkei RPM2 wheels I've had on my car since about 2004 (when I bought them used from another org member) have seen better days. Things got really bad after I did a track day back in like 2012 with some Carbotech XP-8 (?) track pads, and I didn't immediately go home and clean my wheels off. That brake dust was something serious, and by the time I tried to clean it off, it was too late. No amount of different super-powerful wheel cleaners would touch the buildup they left. Getting desperate, at one point I tried using some sand paper or something stupid and went through the paint in some spots. On top of that, the paint had started to come off around the edge of the wheels, and corrosion had started to form around the center caps on two, causing the paint to peel off in large chunks. I was also overdue for new tires, so I decided it would be smart to take care of both things at once. I went back and forth between getting the wheels painted or powder coated, worried about the effects of the heat from the powder coating process. But as I showed my wheels to more shops to get quotes, many told me I would have to blast them down to the bare metal if I wanted the paint to actually stick due to the corrosion. I ended up pressing the easy button and going with a shop that does powder coating for all sorts of stuff, mostly because they were a lot cheaper than other places that only did wheels. They've been around for like 40 years and get great reviews, so I figured I would give them a try. I knew going in that there were fewer colors and finishes available for powder coating than there are for paint, but they had something that looked close enough, so I went for it.
When I showed up to pick up the wheels, I must say I was pretty disappointed. The shop did a great job with them, but the finish was far from what I was hoping for. They weren't very shiny, and there was significant orange peel in the finish. I knew about the orange peel going in, but actually seeing it on my wheels really made it hit home. What I should have done was to pay the shop to blast them to bare metal, and then take them to a different place to get painted. But I was in a rush and made a mistake that I'll have to live with for a long time. Now, keep in mind that I'm super picky about my wheels, and about paint finishes, so I'm probably making them sound worse than they are. To be clear, they're 1000% better than they were when I dropped them off, they're just not 100% what I wanted. Total cost was about $500.
I've always tried to avoid posting pictures of the worst two of my wheels, but now that they're fixed, I can finally show you the truth of what my wheels have been looking like for a while now.
Here's some of that nasty buildup and the top layer of silver paint having worn off:
Here's the top layer coming off around the edge:
Here's the horrid mess I made when I tried to sand the damn things:
Here's what a good one looked like:
Corrosion and chipping:
And now, the moment you've all been waiting for....
Paying to have the shop smooth out every imperfection would have doubled or tripled the cost, so I obviously didn't do that. But the blasting and coating did round off some of the worst edges. This is my worst curb rash:
Orange peel and finish:
It doesn't come through well in this picture at all, but the finish on the wheels on the right are what I really wanted. I bet you couldn't even tell these were two different sets of wheels! Those are the wheels for the M3. Can you tell that I have a thing for this type of wheel?
This gives a better idea of the difference, but due to lighting, the difference is now a little exaggerated.
Up close
I waxed/sealed the wheels with Finish Kare high-temp paste wax to facilitate cleaning, because multi-spoke wheels are a real pain to keep clean when you have aggressive brake pads. I also finally tried out the "permanent" tire shine product I've had lying around for like a decade. It actually seems pretty cool, once it dries you can wipe the tire with your finger and nothing transfers. Let's see how long it lasts.
So for tires, I went with the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, this time in the more proper 235/45/17 size for these 17x8 wheels. The last set was 245/45/17, and they sure did fill in the wheel wells a lot better than these 235s do. But from what I've learned since I put the last set on, wider tires may give you more grip for braking and acceleration, but may make handling more sloppy, due to the bulge of the tire and it not being directly in line with/supported by the edge of the wheel. There was some Grassroots Motorsports comparison test about this like 10 years ago, but I can't locate it now. Annnyways, I'm back to a 235/45/17. Due to quarantine/working from home, I've only put a few miles on the tires so far so I can't tell much of a difference in handling, except to say that they have way more grip than my old Pilot Super Sports. That's probably mostly due to those tires being like 8 years old and having spent a few winters still mounted to the car and being stuck in the cold. That, and they were starting to dry rot a bit.
Anyways, so now that I have new and safe tires, I can finally get back out and run a track day, if I so choose. I'll just be sure to clean my wheels off when I get home
Last edited by 95maxrider; Aug 19, 2020 at 01:47 PM.
Big things come later.
Well then, I guess I'll be looking forward to driving this car without the delay in place. I can't help but wonder if this is the thing that has (occasionally) caused me so much grief when I try to shift gears quickly, especially when going from 2-3 or 3-4, where the car would shudder for a few seconds as I would engage the next gear. It's happened with every clutch/flywheel combo, and every transmission I've ever had in this car, and it's really frustrating and confusing. It's made me question my ability to drive stick shift, and has never happened on any other car I've driven.
