Zed Head

Duralast and Powertorque appear to be the same company or use the same pictures - http://www.autozone.com/drivetrain/clutch-set/duralast-clutch-set/42731_121859_4121/

That kit shows that it came with the collar/carrier that should have matched the pressure plate. Did you use an old collar or did the kit only come with a bearing? The collar that came with the lit should have made everything work fine. IT's the collar and pressure plate that have to match, nothing else, not year, or transmission. http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/PTQ5/KF53601/01351.oap?year=1971&make=Nissan&model=240Z&vi=5142639&ck=Search_clutch+set_5142639_-1&keyword=clutch+set Someone else just had this same problem (drawing a blank on the name) and ordered the complete kit with collar from OReilly. Measure from the surface of the flywheel to the surface of the collar that the fork rides on. It should be ~92mm.

I found this - http://perrinperformance.com/i-13324281-gasket-for-subaru-diff-cover-r180.html when I searched this in Google - nismo differential gasket R180

Pretty sure that I've seen johnc mention them. I think it might be a performance part. Maybe in a Nismo catalog somewhere.

Probably not the problem then. The fact that it only short circuits on Start is a giant clue though. I would focus on that. There's a only a couple of circuits that are different between Start and Run. If you can leave it on Run with no problems, but the wire burns on Start, those changes are the source of the short. Maybe the solenoid wire is shorting to the wire that burns. When you hit Start, there's enough juice to power the solenoid and burn the wire. I'd follow that solenoid power wire out and see what it's touching. I have old charred insulation in one of my wire bundles, ugly but no shorts. Someone's past mistake. Maybe you have one of those, but yours went too far.

It's not common but have you confirmed that the CSV is closed and not leaking while the engine is running? It's fairly easy to remove, pull it out and run the fuel pump and see what it does. Or block the hole and start the engine. I had a similar problem diagnosing my bad FPR and I've seen others with the same. The pressure will read correct, but the diaphragm leak allows fuel to pass through and in to the vacuum hose, on to the intake manifold. In my case, the FPR was only malfunctioning when it got hot. I never did figure out what, exactly, was causing it. But when mpg dropped to 15, in one day, I swapped FPR's and fixed it. Do you have a performance cam in that head? Head work, plus cam, plus no vacuum advance = low mpg, poor low RPM performance.

Measure resistance from the starter body (where the negative cable would normally attach) to the negative cable. That will tell you something about the quality of that ground path. You want a tiny number. If you want to take a chance you could run a jumper cable (the big wire kind, used to jump dead batteries) from the end of the negative cable to the starter bolt and see if the wire gets hot again.

I see now. That strap's purpose is to give a good path to ground for anything electrical attached to the body. Body, engine, negative battery cable to battery or alternator. Where is the negative cable attached? It would normally be attached to that bolt and to the negative post. That is the main path to ground for the engine block, but more importantly, the starter motor. The starter motor draws a lot of current, that's the only reason the battery cables are so big. If the negative cable doesn't have a good connection the current will flow through whatever path it can find. Maybe the burning wire is providing that high current path for the starter motor.

I don't know if it 's possible but maybe the fork just pulled off of its clips on the throwout bearing. If so, it would be extended out of the transmission and the slave rod would be at an odd angle. Might be worth a try to wiggle it around and see if you can push it back on.

If you're positive that this is the case, then it's a clue. It would be odd though. You're not looking for a shorted circuit in the ground system. You're looking for a short circuit to ground on a wire that should have resistance on it. "Short circuit" just means that current is following a path back to the battery or alternator ground that it wasn't meant to follow. A short cut. Test all of the wires, they should all have some resistance on them, in the tens of ohms at least. The shorted wire will have close to zero ohms resistance. I'm not sure what that last sentence since the starter grounds through the mounting bolts.

Did you check at the ECU connector? Or just the CTS itself? You could have a perfect CTS, that's worthless if it's not connected to the ECU. Make a list of all of the parts, and all of the test results, and post it. Something will show. The right parts, with the right numbers, and it has to run right.

I left an assumption in my method, that the master rod was sitting on its piston seat, when the pedal is on its stop. Which leaves essentially no free play. The fact that you have all of that free play makes me think that you pulled the rod out of the master cylinder to get it connected. That won't work. I would pull the clevis pin and push the rod in to the master cylinder by hand to see how much distance is there. The clutch hydraulic system is essentially self-adjusting. The only hydraulic play is the distance it takes to cover the hole to the fluid reservoir, which is not very far at all. The slave cylinder is the same, except that it is filled when you press the pedal, then it only retracts as far as the clutch fork pushes it. No play at that end at all.

Take a meter and find out which way is shorted - through the alternator's T plug or through the meter. Then find out how the battery current is getting to the short circuit. It's either shorted all the time, or when the key is On, or when the key is at Start. Hopefully you were able to stop it before the wire was destroyed.

I'm not familiar with any AFM measurements in the FSM or the Guidebook except resistance of the carbon trace. And that's not affected by the "calibration". Do you mean your resistance numbers are off by 12%? What are the numbers?

Here's the way I adjusted the rod in my car. It's not the factory way, but I think it works, just based on simple principles. I took out the clevis pin that connects the pedal to the rod end. (Tense change here). Let the pedal rest on its upper stop. Adjust it to the factory number if you like or to where it feels comfortable. Then turn the rod end (yoke, I guess it would be called), until the holes are lined up. Tighten the lock nut. Then slip the pin back in (it's easy now), and it's cotter pin. There's enough play in the hole and the pin that everything is about where it needs to be and you get maximum travel from the pedal stroke. The main reason I do it this way is because it makes the clevis pin easy to insert. There's no room up there. Here's another trick - run a thread through the clevis pin hole, then run the thread end through the pedal and yoke holes. Use the thread to pull the pin up and to the holes. Then you can hold it up with the thread while you do the final maneuvering with your finger tips. Forgot to say, re your problem, if you can't get the holes to line up, with the pedal on its upper stop, then the rod is too short. I think that my adjustment is way out at the very end of the rod. It's barely long enough.

Plus, the beer can method on the atlanticz site would be "calibrating". Turning the wheel to make it leaner would be "screwing it up".

You didn't mention the most important component, the coolant temperature sensor. And 32 psi is kind of high at idle, have you checked the FPR for leakage? See if there's fuel in the vacuum hose. With that gas mileage, the first tow things I would check are the coolant temp. sensor and the FPR. I had a similar problem, it was a bad FPR. And check your coolant sensor readings at the ECU connection. Then you'll see what the ECU sees. Get real resistance values and know what temperature the sensor is at. Also, vacuum advance helps gas mileage. Disconnecting it is a mistake.

It's been mentioned before, by guys with lots of experience, that the tires have a big affect on ride. If you're using low profile tires you're more likely to get a harsh ride with polyurethane bushings. Actually with any bushing. I have polyurethane everywhere but the small bushings at the ends of the control arms (aka transverse links), with KYB shocks (shocks are also a big factor since they are what actually damp the bump energy, not the springs) and Tokico springs in the back with cut stock springs up front. But I have almost stock-size 205-70-14 tires. I like the ride and don't really feel any signs of harshness. I've seen comments about Tokico shocks alone being harsh also, and people going back to KYB. It's the combination of parts that matter, as jfa's post implies, and one bad one can probably overpower the others. And, besides ride harshness, polyurethane diff mount bushings apparently can transmit diff noise in to the cabin. Not a harshness issue, but worth considering. Plus, one's person's harshness is another person's road noise. Bump size matters. It can get complicated. Besides... Therefore... With that being said...

Interesting topic. It begs the question (I've always wanted to say that), should all rebuilt engines be rebalanced, if they use new pistons, or rods?

What are these places? It seems sensible, since putting things back the way they came apart is generally a good idea. But you could also rationalize that moving them to other bores, as long as the piston specs. match the bore specs., is a good idea. The wear spots would probably be slightly different, extending the life of the engine. Just saying, if you were starting from scratch with used pistons, you'd take the measurements, including weight if that's spec.'ed, and fit the pistons to the bore they match best. If you're rebuilding, then all of the pistons are probably out of spec. after honing anyway. Whatever you do, you still have to take the measurements and hit the specs.

Hairs are splittin' here. He said the motor was locked up initally, He took it all the way apart because he was looking for internal damage. He didn't find any. So the remaining question is - what, exactly, stopped the engine from turning, and, my point, is there more damage to be found? A starter can pump out a lot of torque (I moved my car up a driveway incline that was too steep for me to push it, using the starter in first gear), and it has a lot of leverage on something with the radius of the throwout collar. That's all I'm saying - if it's not the engine internals that caused the lockup, what did? Is there something being overlooked, that still needs fixing?

You're right I was trying to reason out why Diseazd thought the throwout bearing was locking the engine. Still doesn't add up. He says everything is fine. Now if the throwout bearing was jammed or cocked on to the nose of the transmission,and "welded" to the pressure plate fingers, that would lock the engine. That's downstream though... Yours works too, if the "ears" jam on the clutch fork. It all sounds scary though. Better check the transmission case around the fork and the nose that the collar rides on. The noses have been known to break, especially the aluminum ones.

They never got back to me.

If it was just a clutch welded to the transmission it should still turn when the trans is in neutral. The facts aren't adding up. Just sayin'. On oil pressure, you might consider pushing some oil through the passages with the pan off to see how much flow you get. Pressure is a secondary number. The pressure relief springs are described in both books, Rebuild and Modify. The spring(s) and valve can be removed with the pump on the engine. The Modify book covers it in great detail on page 96. Says 70 - 100 psi is desirable for performance engines.

You can move the left and right sides independently as long as they both move the same amount when you're done. In other words, if one wheel gets ahead of another, you can turn them independently until they match up again. Because it's all gears and rotating stuff. I put marks on all three parts and just move the two and watch the center one. And, because it's all gears and stuff, the propeller shaft moves 1/2 as far when you lock one wheel. 3.36 becomes 1.68, etc. Just like when driving, and the outside wheel moves twice as far as the inner for the same number of propeller shaft revolutions. And I did confirm this on one of my garage diffs just because the whole spider gear rotating carrier thing is hard to visualize.