Zed Head

I think that you can use a piece of appropriately sized pipe, diameter and length, to install the bearing. On pullers - I've had to use a clamp to hold the jaws of a two-jaw puller closed, on the CS bearing, when they kept slipping. Accidentally turned it into a bearing splitter. Just an anecdote.

If you have the fabrication skills, you could probably extend the jaws on a regular small bearing puller using steel strap or rod. Three long pieces of steel. Get some tension on it, then heat it, then tap it. Combine all of the tips and techniques.

Try running through the gears under acceleration keeping your hand firmly on the lever. See if all of the gears feel the same or if 2nd feels different.

I'm not trying to make you look bad, but are you saying that there is no power to the switch? Or just no power to the starter and Crane box? You keep saying the same things but you're not really communicating anything. If you have no power to any of the wires that go to the switch then forget about the Crane box, and the starter. They get their power through the ignition switch. No power to the switch = no power from the switch. And there's nothing special about the Crane system. It doesn't get "energized". It just needs a power source, as does the coil. You should be measuring power at the coil terminals, with the key On, not the Crane system.

Here's a though, and a question - when the shift lever is moving in to second gear does it move up or down? could be that the internals of the transmission are moving, causing the shift lever to move. In other words, the coupling sleeve is moving back and forth on the synchroniser hub for some reason. If only second gear does it, and none of the others, then it's not likely to have anything to do with the mounts. It would do it in all gears if that was the case. Could be that you're seeing the first signs of a future failure. Along the same lines as post #15 - can you stop the movement with your hand? If you can hold it where it should be then it could just be a detent problem. But if you can't then it's probably something significant forcing the coupling sleeve to move. The shift forks sit in a groove in the coupling sleeve. The sleeve would move the fork, which would move the rod and lever.

Take voltage measurements, or use your test light, at the plug to the ignition switch until you find at least one wire with battery power. If you don't have any power at the switch it won't help to run any extra wires from the switch. A methodical approach is best, especially when you're not sure of what you're doing.

Doesn't look like you're really understanding how the power flows through the wires and various parts. You said that there's no power to the switch, but you replaced the switch three times anyway, even though it was receiving no power. How can it do its job if there's no power there? The problem apparently happened after working on the wiring, the kill switch and external starter. Go back to that area and figure out what you did. The Crane ignition has little to do with anything. Tying off wires doesn't really make any sense. Some of those wires might need to be connected. Did you do the interlock at the same time as the kill switch and starter? Not sure what all the stuff at the end is supposed to mean. You should be measuring voltage at various points along a circuit to see when it's there and when it's not. A meter or test light is needed.

Wasn't trying to offend you. People get lost on these kinds of projects all the time though. You don't seem to be reading the stuff we're referring you to. No biggy, it's more fun to tear stuff down and see what's in there, I get it. On the loose metal comment I was just talking about your driving experience, before and after. You didn't know you had a problem until you saw the bearing cage on the magnet. We see people "upgrading" things on the forum all the time and ending up with downgrades in driving experience. That's all I'm saying. You could end up with a new bearing and a poor driving experience because you lost a piece. Carry on and good luck.

Seems like you might get to a point where you think that you're moving too fast. If you do, I'd say you were right to think that. You've already found a mystery part, and probably came close to throwing away a very important shim. Dave WM spent a few posts, with pictures, talking about that mystery piece in his detailed thread. And the shim is described in the MT chapter. Just saying, you're on the edge. You had a transmission that worked well, just had some loose metal in it. You might end up with no loose metal and one that's noisy and difficult.

We're all agreeing on the principles. The rest is a matter of degree. I don't remember what the eight possible contact surfaces looked like when I took mine apart. The nature of the driving before disassembly would play a part also. Might start searching images to see what's been captured unintentionally. Maybe somebody has some parts apart right now?

People have said that you can remove the clutch fork pivot pin and run a longer bolt in the hole to push the cover off. Sounds sensible. The front cover has the same problem as the front housing, it's essentially glued on. EuroDat/Chas has compiled a parts list out there somewhere, I believe. Worth a search. The bearing part number will be there.

I sent a message to Greg@TheZStore with a link to this message. They can't help if they don't know. Gonna try oe of those @ things - @Joseph@TheZStore @Joseph@TheZStore siteunseen likes this Like t

That's a good point. Some PB blaster or solvent might soak in and loosen it up. Don't stick anything between the pieces and try to pry though. That will damage the sealing surface.

Here's an example. The 1978 5 speed instructions will work. Maxima manuals are hard to find. Look in the forums Download area. I'd post a link but the site is turtle slow today.

You really need to get a good set of instructions and keep track of what you're doing or you'll end up with a pile of parts, or extra parts when you're done, or break something. For example, there's a snap ring on the main shaft bearing that has to be removed in order to get the front case (aka bellhousing, not cover, the snap ring is under the cover) off. Doesn't look like you removed it (you didn't mention it, and you mentioned the Torx bolts instead). The instructions will also identify the shafts. The guys here are saying it's easy, but it's not "remove 5 bolts and replace a bearing" easy. It's a "long series of simple steps" easy. The MT chapter of the Factory Service Manual is your best starting place. That looks like the bearing that commonly falls apart. Good luck.

I believe that you're correct, in should never be. But there must be something stopping the control arm from moving back and forth around the hub, or the hub moving inside the arm,because there's rubber there, and rubber compresses. The other piece stopping movement is the locking pin in the hub. Probably why it and the metal around it gets deformed. The locking pin locks the spindle pin in place and the washers and nuts on the spindle pins compress the inner sleeves against the shoulder of the spindle pin. You can draw a line of force through the washers, the sleeves, and the spindle pin, to the locking pin and hub. Easier to imagine without the control arm in place. There must be some metal to metal contact somewhere, at times, either at one of the two inner gaps, or at one of the two spindle pin washers on the outside against the outer edges of the control arm bushing holes. In static conditions the hub and spindle pin become one solid assembly floating/isolated in two pieces of rubber. But loads can compress and elongate the rubber in any direction. Nissan designed a lot of their Z parts to be hanging in rubber space. There are people on Hybridz replacing the spindle pin with 5/8" bolts. I think that I went through this whole thought process before but forgot the details. They get metal to metal contact for sure, easily, if they don't grind a locking slot in the bolt. Then it's just a time-consuming way to make a spindle pin. Anyway, there's just two examples of how to look at these aftermarket parts. What are they supposed to be doing and what will they really do?

I'm only pondering the outer bushing. Actually, you may not even need or want a washer. If you look at how the stock bushing works, the hub casting must rub on the control arm surfaces occasionally,like when you hit the brakes or accelerate. So those two gaps are actually pretty precisely fitted, I would think. Metal on metal, a bearing surface, whenever a forward or backward force is applied. The casting rubs on the arm. Otherwise the rubber centers it. Nissan didn't put anything between the two. Not sure why the aftermarket guys did, except that their design allows sliding back and forth.

The thing about those outer bushings is that they designed those two thin flanges of urethane to take side loads, apparently. Not huge, but still not the best way to do it. In the stock configuration, the rubber bonded to two tubes of metal controls the centering of the arm. It's more than just a material change, the way they work changes also. You could probably cut that outer material completely away and stick a couple of thin washers in there, in its place. You could just look at how it's supposed to work and make it work the way you want it to.

Not positive but I think that Maxima's or trucks had the fill plugs on the driver side. How long is it? Truck boxes are shorter. Nobody's ever confirmed that the various numbers and letters have any meaning. you have to measure and look; ratios, length, speedo bolt position, exhaust hangers, etc. You have two hangers which would be Z, not ZX. Not sure about Maxima or truck though.

Some of the bushings that companies sell are only being sold becuase they can be sold. Is there an advantage to putting hard urethane in the bushing closest to the road? A harder material in a big bushing can stop a lot of deflection but how much does that narrow bushing really buy? Probably transmits a lot of road noise. Just a thought. Nothing wrong with mixing materials.

Forgot to say, the splines of the clutch disc and mainshaft can get gummed up with clutch dust. Vigorous wiggling while pulling will probably make same progress. The sticky and gummed up parts will cause problems during instillation also.

Did you remove the shift lever? And the two little bolts on the bottom that attach to the dust cover? There are two dowels that can get sticky. And the nose of the of the mainshaft can be sticky in the pilot bushing.

Yeah, the block that's in there is accomplishing its intended purpose. And Eiji has what he needs to solve the puzzle. Maybe he has records on 641027. Could be he just worked on it, but didn't build it. Still, very odd that Kelvin either got paperwork for the wrong engine or his engine got swapped. Maybe even at Datsun Spirit, by accident. Someone out there must have the real block. Where's the Crazy Swede (somebody do that @ thing, I don't know how)? You probably could have sold a 6000 mile Datsun Spirit engine for a bit to help fund the RB.

I agree. I sent a message to Datsun Spirit, from that other thread. Just to give the opportunity to respond. I'm sure that zmano would provided the engine number. Somebody from Datsun Spirit needs to answer these questions though. The whole thing puts a damper on future recommendations. If they don't keep those kind of records then we may never know. The engine did have the blocked PCV port, which is a Datsun Spirit thing. Who knows, they might have bought their "ITM"s from the internet and got TIK's instead. California Datsun sells "ITM"s.

Glad you're here but you might have missed the key point we're trying to figure out - Eiji said ITM but the marks on the pistons say TIK. So, if attention to detail is extreme, is there something more to this whole story? How did those TIK's get in there? That might be the key to everything.