1977 280z Light Restoration Project

[Zed Head]

You might have a brake fluid leak.  

[Muzez]

14 hours ago, grannyknot said:

Those transmissions are pretty tough, just run good quality oil in it.

I had seen on one of the chats that pennzoil synchromesh or redline were good choices. Is that still conventional wisdom? Have a few bottles of the pennzoil sitting on the bench for flushing the current 4 speed. 

13 hours ago, Zed Head said:

You might have a brake fluid leak.  

Yeah, when we picked it up, all the seals were blown on the brake master cylinder (made roading it home terrifying and slow for the friend who helped). Replaced it and 2 of the brake lines that had taken up permanent residence the master cylinder (picture shown is half way through the process). Cleaned up the area after and sprayed it with the locktight rust converter. Will never use that stuff again. Converted the rust okay, but it seeped under the tape a little bit and converted the painted surface to rust. Very impressive how fast it worked. ?

[grannyknot]

9 hours ago, dmuzial said:

I had seen on one of the chats that pennzoil synchromesh or redline were good choices. Is that still conventional wisdom? Have a few bottles of the pennzoil sitting on the bench for flushing the current 4 speed. 

Personally, I wouldn't use quality oil to flush with unless I was feeling rich, I just use inexpensive ATF, it has lots of detergents in it.

[Zed Head]

What is being flushed?  The moving parts are self-cleaning and the non-moving parts aren't affected by "stuff" on them.

[Muzez]

 

1 hour ago, Zed Head said:

What is being flushed?  The moving parts are self-cleaning and the non-moving parts aren't affected by "stuff" on them.

Sorry, flush was wrong word. Just draining and replacing the fluid. 

[Zed Head]

Redline and Pennzoil Synchromesh are both good for the old Nissan transmissions.  Not much better that I've seen written about or tried.  There's a lot of buzz about the "Friction-Modified Synchromesh", but if you already have the regular stuff, not really worth spending extra.  Use the Synchromesh, I'd say.

[S30Driver]

Many have used this to improve shift feel & performance with excellent results, especially when cold.

Highly recommended ....

 

[DannDZ]

1 hour ago, S30Driver said:

Many have used this to improve shift feel & performance with excellent results, especially when cold.

Highly recommended ....

 

This is what I am using. Note the "Friction Modified" line on the label. Very important.

[Zed Head]

58 minutes ago, DannDZ said:

Note the "Friction Modified" line on the label. Very important.

Why?

[Muzez]

On 12/3/2019 at 8:21 PM, Zed Head said:

Use the Synchromesh, I'd say.

Was surprised to see synchromesh listed on the approved list as I thought it was GL3. Will switch to the friction modified at next change. Napa was doing a deal; 4 bottles for $15. Couldn’t pass that up haha. 

 

Update: cleaned off the oil pan yesterday and covered it in paper towel. Came back today to find this new oil next to the transmission (Shiny line, middle left of photo). Guessing this means the rear main is shot?

Also, saw some fluid (assuming transmission) coming from the sensor in the center of the photo. Is there a seal there? Or do these come lose over time?

[grannyknot]

Main seal most likely,  that is the reverse or back up light switch, it might just need tightening but sometimes old units weep where the wire exits the housing, otherwise they continue to work perfectly.

[Muzez]

31 minutes ago, grannyknot said:

Main seal most likely

*Long sigh* welp, going to get a lot of garage time this winter. ?

30 minutes ago, grannyknot said:

It might just need tightening but sometimes old units weep where the wire exits the housing.

Glad to hear that its nothing to worry about. When I pull the trans for the main seal, will clean up the transmission and dab some silicone for the weeping. 

Was reading last night about the nightmares associated with rear spindle removal. Is this pretty consistent across all S30s? Or prevalent with earlier years and higher miles? Praying that the lower mileage and lifetime garage storage will have helped this slightly, but maybe that is wishful thinking haha.