1981 280zx 5 speed

[Dave WM]

I have some I bought decades ago, think they were made by KD tools, one ratchets open one ratchets closed. Hard part will be to find the little hardened part that was bolted to the tip of the tool, I am missing one.

[Captain Obvious]

You guys are all wearing safety glasses, right?

Right? 

[Dave WM]

I will Capt, thanks for the reminder. I found the counter shaft nut and will get a new front seal as well. could not find a Nissan OE front, so hope the aftermarket will be good.

[Dave WM]

I have been cleaning up the inside and the outside of the tail housing, will be getting a new vent piece since the old one is looking fragile.

made a copy of the front cover housing gasket just in case I have to make a new one from scratch some day, Started scraping off the old one (I got a new one, check to make sure it was the same fitment before I started scrapping of the old).

Question, is the Nissan OE gasket supposed to go on dry? or do I use a high tack gasket sealant (not the RTV stuff but the kind used to hold gaskets in place while buttoning up parts). the reason I ask is I seem to recall reading about how some gaskets are designed to swell in the presence of oil, and sealants can hinder that.

It seemed pretty well stuck to the housing side and not at all to the front cover, leading me to think it was stuck on with something, but not coated on both sides.

Edited April 12, 2016 by Dave WM

[Zed Head]

I've used Hylomar Blue on the recommendation of others.  It's non-setting so you can take several tries to fix your errors during reassembly.  Like assembling the cases with the shift rods in neutral.

http://www.hylomarsealant.com/

Forgot to say, it works well on the adapter to case seams also.  That's where the errors happen.

I think that I would use a Nissan gasket for the front cover.  The gasket is actually part of the clearance stack for the countershaft bearing, which has a shim underneath.  It seems that Nissan got their manufacturing act together and everybody ends up with the same clearance.  but if you use a different gasket, your stock parts might be off.  The 71C uses the same gasket and was around for much longer, so Nissan has them in stock, I'm sure.

Edited April 12, 2016 by Zed Head

[Dave WM]

got the Nissan gasket 32112-08U01. Counter shaft Nut will be on the way soon.

[Dave WM]

ordered the counter shaft nut from MSA for an 81 ZX from their website, they will ship in a couple days.

I presume the procedure is to engage two gears at the same time to lock up the trans, the use a punch to straighten up the peened in part of the old gear, then remove by turning TBD direction. Use new nut to reinstall, tight to 75-90 ftlbs re peen over gear to lock in. Sounds easy but never having done it I suspect its not.

[Zed Head]

Seems like you're forging ahead and making good progress.  But you might pause and digest what you've learned, while reading through the thread below, and the links inside it.  You're at the pint where you can decide to just throw it together and hope or get into some very fine details to ensure it works well.

Lots of good stuff and some good branches out to more - 

 

[Dave WM]

here are some pic. I agree I am at a point where the reverse gear is the only thing that I can SEE has issues, and not sure how bad they are. I am not too far into it right now. I included some pic of the reverse idler as well showing some of the good and some of the bad teeth.

[Zed Head]

Looking back over your thread, I would really recommend that you run through the inspection procedure in the factory FSM.  You started out as just replacing a broken oil gutter, but now you're sinking money and time in to what looks like an abused transmission.  I suggested the the chipped reverse idler was the result of an angry driver with a bad clutch but on second look somebody really had to pull hard to do that kind of damage.  They didn't care.  Looks more like they were banging gears and missed the 5-4 downshift, repeatedly.

I stole a decent picture from duragg's thread showing new synchros and good dog teeth.  You need to look at them straight on.  Look for symmetry and sharp peaks.  There are clearances you can measure to see if the synchros are worn.  Described in the FSM.

Also, from what I've seen, the broken gutter happens when people disassemble the transmission.  Looks like somebody's already been in there.

Still looks like a good time to pause and ask what you're really expecting.  I get a queasy feeling looking at what you're seeing.  What's the history on the transmission?

You can see the end of the thread on that shaft.  Follow it in and see which way it turns.

 

[Dave WM]

No history, got local from a young guy, was already pulled. I don't even know if he had used it. I am not into it very much, I can see about checking closer with FSM for clearances. I would have no prob just doing that and if not too bad putting back together and trying it out to see how it goes before doing any more work.

[Mark Maras]

 Yup. What Zed Head said. That is an abused trans. It looks like someone tried to repeatedly stuff it into reverse with a bad clutch cyl. Even if I left the gears in it, I'd break it down (it's not difficult) and replace the synchro assys. and all new bearings. The chips and pcs. from the gear can do damage before they settle to the bottom. Also, the teeth on the synchros don't tell the whole story. The inside surface of the brass rings is a friction surface. It can show wear even when the teeth look OK.