I have a 71 Z that I have restored , painted etc. The problem is in getting the adjustable rod slave cylinder bled. The rod on the slave moves the fork on the tranny and the pedal feel is firm until I put the spring on the slave. The pedal feel then is way easy to push in. I have a Phoenix Reverse flow bleeder that worked great on doing this same job on my 77 Z. I had gotten frustrated before trying to get the adjustable rod slave to work and ended up putting a slave for the 77 on the 71. I used the rod from the adjustable slave , but my only concern was how far out to set the rod against the tranny fork. The car shifted fine, but in neutral I could hear a little noise. I want to put the original type slave on the car, but this is getting to be a pain. I have also had my wife pump the clutch pedal and I loosened the line going from the clutch master cyl to bleed air. Any suggestions? I have searched and gotten information from the site. One thing I wondered is if the spring on the side of the slave should be left on or off the slave when bleeding using the pump pedal method.

If the return spring is keeping the rod from extending, I thing you have a bad slave cylinder. When bleeding the system, if you are getting fluid without air, you have a well-bled system.

Had a similar issue when I replaced my slave cylinder.

No amount of bleeding at the slave would return the feel at the pedal. Bled with spring in place.

With mine, had to go back and re-bleed the master. When swapping the slave, must have re-introduced some air into the master.

Same process you used by loosening the line at the master. Have your assistant use long slow strokes of the pedal and hold, not a quick pumping action. You can apparently agitate the bubble enough to aerate the fluid making it a pain to expel completely.

Apparently the design of the master can trap a good sized air bubble. Even have seen suggestions to raise the rear of the car to pitch it forward to get the bubble in a good position to expel it.

After master, went back and re-bled the slave and it took only a few pumps to get the proper feel and operation back, no more grinding shifts.

I've bled the master, wife pumped the pedal several times , held to floor and opened line on master. Pump bled the slave and also used my reverse bleeding Phoenix bleeder on the slave. Still not working. Fork rod does move, but pedal is still to easy to push down. This is new Nissan master cylinder and Nissan slave from Courtesy Nissan. As I mentioned above I put the non-adjustable slave on the car by swaping the slave rod from the adjustable slave so I wouldn't have to change the fork. The car drove and shifted fine, but had some noise in with the engine running and in neutral . I can't imagine that their is still air in the lines, but it could be. Has anyone put the later model slave on the early model Z like I've mentioned? Black Dragon shows the same slave cylinder for 1970 to 1978, which is the one I used. I have two of the adjustable slaves that I have tried with no luck.

The car drove and shifted fine, but had some noise in with the engine running and in neutral . I can't imagine that their is still air in the lines, but it could be.

Do you have a new problem now? "Car driving and shifting fine" sounds like clutch is working fine. How does the noise while running and in neutral relate to the clutch?

Maybe there's a word or two missing after "noise in" above...

I'm having some of the same clutch issues on my 71 Z, but I'm such a novice that I can't even find the master and slave cyl. Are they behind the firewall or can they be accessed from underneath? If anyone has a diagram that helps out in these areas it would be great. Thanks for any help.

Reddie 73 , jumping in here to give some info. to Skyrit

(....I'm having some of the same clutch issues on my 71 Z, .. I can't even find the master and slave cyl. If anyone has a diagram ...)

Skyrit, here is a link to the FSM for the 72 Z ,at Xenons great site. It will show you the location of the master ( firewall) and slave cylinder (trans).

Do a search at this site, EVERYTHING basic has been asked and answered many times over. The slaves are around $20 locally. Check the slave at the trans, if its leaking even slightly,change it out. It takes a half hour. What is the issue you are having?

Edited November 6, 201014 yr by Rick Q.

Rick Q:

can't shift into any gear. Reverse grinds when I try, the others just won't go at all. This is recent, though it was kind of rough before. I just bought the car and trying to figure out where things are. My plan was to bleed the master and go from there.

Is the link you sent Xenons? I didn't see an actual link on your post. I sure appreciate your help.

Rick Q:

can't shift into any gear. Reverse grinds when I try, the others just won't go at all. This is recent, though it was kind of rough before.

Check the slave cylinder to see if its blown out, or lines are leaking. If the reservoir is empty and slave is leaking , change the slave, fill the reservoir and bleed the air out. The slave could have been slowly leaking and now is blown.

I had the same issue, my clutch was acting up and 2 days later no gears would go in. The slave was leaking fluid and letting air in. Some people reccomend switching out the master and slave at the same time. I did not and no issues so far.

Download the fsm ,print it and it will answer the majority of your questions.

Sorry about the link ,I just finished 13 hours on my last night shift.

LINK:

http://www.xenons30.com/reference.html

Edited November 7, 201014 yr by Rick Q.

Clutch and slave cylinders are good novice projects. Your master cylinder and reservoir are in front of the clutch pedal on the other side of the firewall. Picture with arrow attached. Your slave cylinder is bolted to the side of the transmission on the passenger side. If you look down between the battery and the starter (second picture), and back to the transmission you can see it from above. There is a flexible hose attached to it which holds the hydraulic fluid. Brake fluid is the hydraulic fluid used to fill the reservoir.

This is an EFI engine so will look different than yours but the parts are in the same general spot on all Zs.

Careful with the brake fluid, it will eat your paint if you spill any.

Rick Q and Zed Head: thank you guys so much, the link and pictures are just what I need. I've been beating my head against the hood trying to figure this out. Big, Big help.

Rick Q and Zed Head: thank you guys so much, the link and pictures are just what I need. I've been beating my head against the hood trying to figure this out. Big, Big help.

The guys here and at Zcar.com walked me thru the same thing and many more issues. Three years ago I was lost, now 2 months ago I swapped a trans! Still lost when its an electrical problem. First the FSM, search tool, then ask away.