Got it all mated together today, transmission is reinstalled, i need to drop the fuel tank and replace the fill hose before putting it all back together.....

I got the gearbox to slip into place, it went by really smooth, took 30 min,.

girlfriend wants to go wine tasting tomorrow.... so i guess it’s going to have to get done in the morning 🙂 

@S30Driver I’ll have to remember those for the next time I drop the gearbox 😛

 

Oh ya. I’d thought I’d share how the car looks on stands.... >.>

I drove the car around the block to see how it feels... Oh boy the shifter feels way better.

@EuroDat I think your onto something about not using brass bushings in the shifter. When experimenting with an extra shifter that I had I noticed that the brass bushings that I made are not an interference fit to the striker rod ears like the new OEM ones are, I think this also accounted for some of the rattle that i heard. I do want to install the brass one back in at some point to see how it compares to new bushings. But I am pretty happy with the setup so far.

I'm not sure if the leaky seal was also contributing to rattle, it feels like in theory it could because the striker-rod was just floating around the seal in the housing, if anything it might have tightened up the shifter feeling, it no longer feels like there is a "one-two-click in gear" its more of a solid throw.

7 hours ago, heyitsrama said:

When experimenting with an extra shifter that I had I noticed that the brass bushings that I made are not an interference fit to the striker rod ears like the new OEM ones are, I think this also accounted for some of the rattle that i heard

I’m getting ready to install these. I wonder if some loctite  would address any looseness in the fit of these bushings.

Edited April 18, 20213 yr by Trimpe.bob@gmail.com

13 hours ago, Trimpe.bob@gmail.com said:

I’m getting ready to install these. I wonder if some loctite  would address any looseness in the fit of these bushings.

Are you using the OEM style bushings? If so I don’t think you need them. 

Using the bronze ones from Zstore.

Another year and the Z is on stands with the gearbox out...

The car drove good for a while, then recently started to make noises when the car was idling in neutral (and in gear, with little load), depressing the clutch caused it to go away. I looked around and it seems like the counter-shaft bearing is the common culprit of this issue. I was able to remove the snap ring off the input shaft but am not able to get the bellhousing separated, is there a trick to this? I'm reluctant to beat on the casing too hard, i dont want to break anything. There is a ring that goes around the OD of the bearing that can be seen in the second image, is this to be removed as well?

8 hours ago, heyitsrama said:

There is a ring that goes around the OD of the bearing that can be seen in the second image, is this to be removed as well?

23 hours ago, heyitsrama said:

There is a ring that goes around the OD of the bearing that can be seen in the second image, is this to be removed as well?

Yes, you MUST remove the circlip. The input shaft will not come off with the bellhousing because the input shaft spur gear (gear teeth for the 3rd/4th hub) is larger than the gear and hits the front cluster shaft gear.

Once you remove the bellhousing, you can remove the front cluster shaft bearing and gear with a puller and some heat and then the input shaft will come free.

Edited May 20, 20222 yr by EuroDat
Typo

On 3/26/2021 at 5:33 PM, Dave WM said:

you may want to take a hard look at the tail housing bushing while you are in there. Check for side to side  play in the drive shaft where it goes into the trans.

I failed to take this advise last time and now I'm doing all this work over again...

On 3/26/2021 at 11:19 PM, EuroDat said:

Like Dave said, check the play in the rear bush before you do anything with the transmission. Nissan don't sell them, but you can order a replacement through Omega Machine & Tool p/n:71411.

Thanks for the part number to reference @EuroDat This bushing certainly looks beat up, I'll order a replacement.

 

I got the gearbox on a vise this morning, whats weird is that the bearings visually look (and from spinning the input shaft) fine, i don't notice much play in any of the bearings, all the retainers are still present between the ball bearings.

Before I pulled the gearbox out, the same shifter rattle was getting louder in 3rd gear... I noticed one of the nuts was loose on the backside (still staked down though).

what shift knob are you using?

@Dave WM it’s a custom one that @Captain Obvious turned for me. A little larger than OEM. I have an OEM wood one as well, should I switch back?