Ok, i got an 85, 200,000 miles on it and it still runs pretty good, but i was wondering how much of a difference a tranny flush would make?? also, do any of you have trouble with your steering moving from side to side slightly? it happens regardless of wether im turning or not, it doesent really vibrate so i dont know if its the balance. oh, and do any of you have problems with the stock alloys, they dont look too good, know of any good cleaners to get rid of oxidation and years old brake dust?? thanks for any input. late

 

get ur self a nice bottle of simple green and a take it to a car wash where u wash it urself with the power washer scrub the easy spots a lil and drench the rest with simple green, this i kno with my old max i used to do drifting with it so i replaced the brakes at least 3 times on it in a yr, i had the stock alloys with the wierd design on it, but simple green has worked for me, im sure u can get it at pep boys or a hardware store cause its a good all around heavy duty cleaner..

~mike

 

thanks for the advice bro,...so drifting just for the hell of it or did you do contests or somthin??...oh for everyone else, still need ta know about the other stuff...thanks!

 

When you say it moves side-to-side, what are you refering to? The entire car while driving, play in the wheel, what?

The parts that could effect all of these are :

struts and mounts, ball-joints, outer tie-rod ends, inner tie-rod ends, the entire rack and pinion assembly, or simply low on fluid sometimes.

I have already replaced everything in mine except for the mounts, and the rack & pinion. I've currently got the car in the air, workig at pulling the old, leaking rack off. Already have a rebuilt unit in the garage. It is possible to rebuild the rack yourself, but when you factor in the costs of new inner tie-rods, boots, and the reseal kit, a rebuilt rack isn't much more, and most of them come with a life-time waranty. Then, instead of having to buy an all new one again, if it goes out on you again, you're only out the labor, if you pay to have it done.

 

yea i love drifting, its mainly why i wanna get a 240sx, i used to race, kinda like rally racing..takes more sk ill and a whole lot more ***** then plain drag racing, cause any one can go fast...but can u control it when ur goin sideways at 45+ mph now thats a rush

~mike

 

Wow my rack steering boots are ripped. I was thinking of replacing mine and having gf's stepdad help but I dont trust him and he wont listen to you when you have suggestions, he thinks hes always right. When you get done tell me more about it. I would like to do it myself one day because I know labor would suck. Yeah the life time warranties are great. I was quoted from Autozone I think like 184( I could be wrong) but I would get a discount since my gf's stepdad works there.

 

I paid about that for mine at Autozone, but that included the $60 refundable core charge.

Whenever you replace the rack, it's a good thing to replace the mounting bushings also. I searched high and low, and found only two places that carry them locally...you could have better luck. One was, of course, the dealer, at about $40 each. The other was Advance Auto parts (check them out at www.partsamerica.com), which is loosly linked with Checker, Schucks, Kragen, etc...I got both there for $10 each, from TRW, and when I opened them, they are Nissan OEM...had the Nissan label on the bag, the Nissan P/N, etc...

Even though I replaced my outer rod ends about a year ago, I'm replacing them again, with the new rack...when I bought the first set, I got the cheapest I could find (they happened to be the only ones available for immediate pickup in town on the day I needed them), and one of them was already leaking grease...

Now all I need to complete my entire front-end rebuild is the strut mounts and boots (I didn't replace mine when I did my struts, and now they're gone! ARGH!)

 

Yeah mine was with the core charge at what they told me. Isnt the rack blue. I remember seeing it. I know I need to check my right side bearings because I think they might have gotten slightly damaged when I was ran off the road and slid and hit the curb. I hear a small sound coming from that side ever since then. I wouldve prolly already had that done but my gf hates me workin on or even talking about my car. She says I talk about it too much, . Plus for now its our primary car.

 

You need to be careful with the tranny flush from what I read in various posts. If the trans hasn't had regular fluid changes after 60K, a tranny flush could cause problems by disturbing all the stuck gunk and plug the valve body. You might be better off with a fluid drain and replace.

 

The original rack, I think, has a slightly blueist tint to it. To do it, you will need to drop the flex-section of the exhaust, and maybe pull the center section down some, to get to it. Since I'm also replacing the oil-pan gasket at the same time, and need to pull the cross member for that, it'll make it even easier to work with, although the easiest would be with the engine pulled from the chassis. There are two brackets holding the rack to the firewall, a pitch bolt holding the steering shaft to the rack's input shaft, two fluid lines - the pressure and the return - and the outer rod ends holding it in. pop the rod ends, drop the exhaust, loosen the pitch bolt, and then remove the lines for the rack. Lastly, remove the four bolts holding the rack backets in, and drop the rack right out. Now, to quote Chilton, installation is reverse of the removal...

Saying it in a nutshell makes it sound so damn easy...

While i've got the cross member out, and with the milage on my car, I'll likely fill my motor mounts with poly, as that'd be a hella va lot cheaper than new ones...prolly still need to replace the hydro mount...

When done, the car will no longer wander all over the dam place, and it should track like it's supposed to. Hasn't done that in over a year...since I slip it into a curb - it just scrubbed the tires...drifting on dry pavement in an actual emergency situation, when you're not thinking, isn't an easy thing to do...

 

Don't power flush the automatic transaxle, you'll kill it. The valving is too weak to stand the pressure.