Dave WM

there are 3 videos by the same guy. The second one starts about where you are now. If nothing else it gives you an idea of where force is needed and how much (he really whacks that main shaft to get it free from the bearing). On mine I only had to replace the rear most counter shaft bearing. I heated it up some with a 100 watt light bulb (5 min maybe sitting right on it) and it just slipped right on. heating and cooling are effective means for installing bearing if you lack presses.

may be helpful, he has more on his youtube channel taking it all the way down and rebuilding.

he has your oil gutter in there!

oops and I was completely off on that mystery part (not enough coffee) that was the part used to spring load the shifter out of the 5/rev position. Zed head is right I was all over that in my ZX trans thread. the anti balk thing was on the same side. the mystery part should have a spring and resides under a large hollow nut right near the shifter.

the snap on the reverse gear is a MAJOR pita, don't think that one has to come off for the countershaft bearing replacement. Get a decent dial caliper (not digital), a good tool to have. You will need the Nissan shaft and counter shaft nuts that need to be staked. I can see there are a little keys and such from videos of disassembly, did not do that much on mine so cant help there. on seals there is often an open side of the seal where you can see the spring that goes around the inside, it look like a U shaped channel. You want the open side of the U to be facing what ever you are trying to seal in. On the front face plate for instance you need to drive the seal in from the open side not the back closed side (the open side faces the oil, the closed side faces the front cover). This means getting a tool like a large socket that fits the outside edge of the seal I used a very large socket and made sure it was pressing the outer edge of the seal. Also used my drill press like a regular press to push it in smoothly, rather than banging on it with a mallet. You want that seal seated evenly into the face plate. Now on the tail shaft you press the back side in since the oil is inside the tail case. Just Play close attention to how the seal are installed, they tend to pop out when pulling and then you may lose the orig orientation. Better still take a pic of the seal before removing.

popped for the low profile high lift 2 ton jack from HF, Seems like decent build quality, works well, easy to get under the diff and gets it up there high in a hurry. Next up will look at the 6 and 12 ton jack stands. Have the 3 but really kinda small base and max lift IMHO. The 12's look massive and have a fairly high min height, but with the high lift jack that's not a problem. They have a VERY wide base that makes me feel a lot better about getting under the car.

the unknown part to help prevent shifting from 5th to reverse on the down shift, part of the rear case. I mentioned that in my trans when I was wondering if the hole should be on the top or the bottom. should be as spring somewhere as well, hopefully still on the bolt. This mounts the side of the case, has a kind of diamond shaped housing held on with two nuts. The oil gutter is missing completely on yours so you will need. I will dig around and get that part number for you, you can order from courtesy Nissan. Check the rear housing see if there is a long trough that lead all the way back to the tail, it matches up with a hole in the plate that in you pic has nothing installed. start at about 4:30 for the talk on the oil gutter. I used some sealant that was advertised as for use in diff and transmissions. Tried not to use too much as it mostly will squeeze out anyway. You will of course want to get new seals all the way around, there are several, o rings too. Mine was leaking a lot at the shifter (inside) which prob is not a big deal as there is no real pressure and its not like its going to start dripping out, but still its easy to get at if you remove the striker rod and use it to knock out the steel plate on the back of the shifter. All this is covered in the video. Also you want to get a new front cover gasket of course. On thing I noticed what while tapping on the counter shaft nut its easy to slightly shift the entire counter shaft forward. I you do this just look at the alignment of the gears they should be fully meshed. even a tiny bit of movement you will see. look at them closely before any work gets started. To be sure I also measured the distance of the front counter shaft bear to front housing to confirm that the shim that was in there was still correct (this is covered in the FSM regarding what shim to use based on the measurement, use a caliper with the depth gauge). Oh Don't lose that shim (its prob stuck with oil to the front housing but will come loose). Looks like a large flat ring. BTW, I am a newb to this stuff as well, don't let it intimidate you, take your time, there are a lot of good folks here with good info that were very helpful to me that have done this before. The main thing I have found about working on any old tech (I do electronics as well) is to take your time, take pictures, document with notes, don't excessively force, and ask lot of questions if you get in a jam. Pay attention to how seals are installed, but generally speaking the seal lip (the open side of the seal) should go TOWARDS the media that your are trying to seal (oil/grease), at least that is what I have gotten after researching it. I know it prob obvious to mechanics but to a newb like me I was not sure.

oh one more thing, the oil gutter is very easy to damage when removing or installing that front housing to the metal plate. It just so heavy and there is very little room for the gutter, its very easy to come into contact and bend it. I highly recommend you order one from Nissan just in case yours is broken damaged or gets mucked up during the install (get bent, not easy to tell, you have to be VERY careful on the install, and then see if you can look from the back side and make sure its still in the right place, its hard to describe, I heard mine rubbing on the gear AFTER the intall, and to separate, straighten out and do again). One thing I noticed is the steel of the new one (gutter) seems softer than the orig. The oil gutter catches flung off oil from the gear cluster and sends it down a trough that feed the bushing that the drive shaft end (smooth part) rides in. The bushing is right behind the rear oils seal, look it oveand see if its in good shape. Mine was bit scored (I presume from lack of oil due to the broken gutter found stuck to the magnet) but not bad I was able to clean it up with some fine oil soaked sand paper.

after getting that front cover off and the ring on the front bearing I had to beat on the front housing with a rubber mallet going all around it before it let go. The gasket seal that is used is like glue.

magnetic test negative (virtually no attraction to a rare earth magnet), so stainless they are (I sound like yoda).

got the nuts in today from Nissan 20602-S0600. Looks stainless. Side note, wanting to get some highway miles on the Z today took a cross town trip at 65-75 mph. at the 1/2 way point (30 miles or so) while in traffic the brake booster went AWOL. Besides no power assist, everytime I applied the brakes it developed a massive vacuum leak (at least it only happened with brakes on). Ordered the booster from autozone should be here Tomorrow. Got the old one out ready to install the new.

I guess if I bust the nut, I will need to drill out and thru bolt it?

more researching on the topic of stuck hardware, massive sustained torque leads to shearing off the bolts. Heat, seems to be popular as does impact tools. I have a hand held manual impact tool (whack with hammer on back) which seems the safest for starters if I go that approach. Also have electric impact driver, seems like I could go overboard with that. looking into nut splitter, challenge will be to find one that will fit. May end up getting the oxy/ace torch as I would like to have one of those anyway.

digging around I find nuts for sale at MSA 7$ each, while zcardepot has nuts and studs all 3 for 13$. Looking closely it looks like the 13$ uses much shorter nuts, that is if the pics are accurate. Need to source these if I go the nut splitter route. Found a local nissan dealr for 4$ each on those nuts so went that route.

so I am guessing my little propane torch used for soldering copper plumbing is not man enough for the job? oxy/acetylene is the only way to go?

here are some pics, maybe not too rusted after all?

I went out and looked at it again, will get some pic to show rust and nut status. I sure seems like there is good access all the way around for a nut splitter. I will go to some stores ands shop around to see what is out there.

I decided to go a head at get the black pinion gear for the speedo, I was going to swap with the old 4 speed but that seemed like more work than needed, as I would like be ready to go when I get it out. Next snag, removing the bolts at the bottom of the exhaust manifold so I can swing the exhaust pipe out of the way. I have been hitting them for days with PB blaster, tried a box wrench, not even a budge, that was just from the top to see if anything would be easy. I have been researching how to get them off. I think the best solution IF I can get it to fit would be a nut splitter. After that a oxy/ace torch and heat would be next (some show wax being used like flux on the hot parts). I do have an electric impact wrench. I can get a torch setup for around 200$ seems like a handy thing to have anyway.

I was wondering about the use of the odd shape to fit the pinch weld?. Googling jack stands images gives a lot of interesting solutions. hmm maybe not, seems like its too wide. does not look at all like whats on the scissor jack or other pinch weld adaptors.

Not to cover the jack support locations but just what is being used and any new stuff. right now I have 4 HF 3 ton jack stands and the HF 3 ton floor lift. The work ok but I don't get a good feeling about getting enough lift for my trans swap. I have some HF ramps, no cross bracing scares me a little, plus too steep an angle for the low profile z. I generally support at the front cross member and the diff front cross member jacking at the front cross member and the diff to get access. I like to remove the tires and put them at the corners as well just in case something lets go, maybe they will save me. I would like to get about 24" min so I can get easy access. I did see some lifts that lifted by the wheel with a floor jack, one wheel at a time with built in stops as you go up.

I have seen a couple type that you drive up a small ramp, then put a floor jack under that to lift up the wheels. Pros, good lift, don't have to worry about trying to drive up on it. Cons, unless you have a helper you jack up one wheel at a time torqueing the body. I have some 3 ton jack stands, but don't like the low lift (I am planning a trans swap). So for now I am thinking 6 ton for a 24" max lift, and a better floor jack to get me there with out a lot of messing around. I have drive up ramps, but they are not low profile so at best I can get just the front or the back.

I got it on last night, the slightly enlarged 3/8 fit on the tank well, did not require any herculean efforts to get on. Of course doing this at night without getting the jacks out, turned out to be a less than ideal setup (full tank of gas of course). Garage still smell of fumes, but its done so one more check on the to do list. I did notice a lot of air trapped in the filter, I guess all I have to do is tilt it pump side up to purge the air that is trapped.

Got it thanks guys.

thanks EuroDat. I was looking at ebay and saw an add for clutch fork and bearing sleeve. There were two images and reference to a difference in the "bearing sleeve". this got me to thinking I may have an issue. I will just use the one that is currently in the car. I was thinking about getting ahead and having the new trans all setup so all I would do is bolt on the clutch slave. here is the link http://www.ebay.com/itm/1978-Datsun-280z-clutch-fork-Datsun-280z-clutch-lever-throwout-bearing-sleeve-/282018536128?hash=item41a99d5ac0:g:UHUAAOSw~oFXIEOK&vxp=mtr