proline

Good enough for me - thanks for your help guys.

Exactly what the workshop manual says 🙂 I don't doubt your advice is correct but I'm interested to know how if you've never done this before you are 100% sure it won't leak - do you know others that have successfully used this approach?

That sounds good. I was told by a skyline "expert" that it would leak at the corners but they've been wrong before. Have you actually done this yourself? Do you have any tips for removing the plate?

That was my original intention. Do you think on re-istall of the retainer plate it will seal ok to the sump (there is no gasket) because at the corners (indicated by blue arrows in photo above) new RTV will be sealing over RTV?

That sounds encouraging. Would the age of the RTV have any bearing on this - I think it may be the original Nissan sealant but as I said above it still feels soft and pliant? What would be your preferred method for removing the seal with engine still in car and retainer plate not removed?

Thanks for that. "It will still seal but not as well, it can start seeping oil as oil works its way through the crevices." If it starts to seep oil is it likely to be enough to cause any problems - will it be noticeable i.e drips on the garage floor? What's your preferred method for pulling the seal. I'm torn between screws into the seal and the seal puller in the attached photo. I don't find inserting of the puller through the lip between the seal and the crankshaft a particularly appealing prospect.

"If you haven't broken the seal on the RTV" Would loosening the bolts have broken the seal given the 4 oil pan bolts were not touched and no attempt was made to lever the plate off? Fwiw the existing RTV does not appear to have hardened and is soft and pliant. I don't know what the original torque was so would have to assume it was as per the workshop manual so 6.3-8.3 nm. Would the safer option be to just remove the retainer plate and re-RTV. My concerns here are: a) removing the plate because of the dowels and non-existent level points b) sealing the plate to the oil pan because the seal will be dependent on new RTV sealing to old RTV in the corners (see blue arrows). I've seen videos of people doing this but obviously I don't know how long it lasted.

I'm attempting to change the RMS whilst the gearbox is out. There seems to be two approaches i.e remove the retainer plate or not. I intended to remove the plate and have already loosened the 6 bolts indicated by the red crosses in the photo but NOT the 4 oil pan bolts shown by the green crosses – therefore no attempt has been made to remove the plate. If I re-torque the 6 bolts can I now proceed to remove the RMS using a seal puller or is the RTV sealing the retainer plate now compromised and therefore likely to leak?

Isn't that the centre bearing marked with the green arrow? As I said in my post it is the CV joint marked ith the red arrow that is the issue. In the end I tapped the propshaft at the location and direction of the yellow arrow and the CV joint basically split in 2 at the dust cover join leaving half of it still welded to the rear part of the propshaft (see photos). Although not ideal it suits my purposes (gearbox removal) so will do for now. I would still like to remove the remainder of the CV joint from the rest of the propshaft for reassembly before re-install but is seems like it’s welded in place. Other than keep bashing it with a large hammer I’m not sure what to do next.

I am trying to remove the front part of the rear propshaft on a GTR R33 I've removed the 4 flange bolts where the propshaft connects to the transfer box (blue arrow in diagram) and all 6 cap head bolts in the CV joint (red arrow in diagram). I can not get the CV joint to separate from the rear part of the propshaft. My understanding was that if I pulled down on the disconnected flange of the propshaft (blue arrow in diagram) then the CV joint should just fall away. Unfortunately all that happend was the CV dust cover popped off and a bloody great big ball bearing fell out - the CV joint however stays attached to the rear part of the propshaft. I've also tried tapping it with a hammer and levering it off with a screw driver - unfortunately there is no gap for the screw driver to obtain any leverage. I've tried searching the forum but it seems that after removal of the 6 cap head bolts the CV joint normally pulls away with ease. Help please!

Thanks for the suggestion Joshuaho96. That gasket sealant has temperature range of a max of 260 deg centigrade - would this be high enough for a turbo oil return flange?

Thanks Duncan. Based on my experience of removing the OEM turbo I think it may be possible to remove the rubber hose - I'm just not sure if I will be able to either remove the metal oil return pipe or drop it enough to replace the gasket. I guess I might as well try this first if I have to remove the turbo anyway. It would just be nice to know it is possible before I try 🙂

Thanks Duncan. I did re-use the factory line and it seemed to fit fine - the heat wrap was butted up against the compressor housing (as with the OEM turbo) but I did not have to force anything. The rear turbo oil return pipe is not leaking maybe because it is a different shape? I've resigned my self to checking the gasket and mating surfaces as you suggest. Is it possible to do this without removing the turbo? I seem to remember having to fit the return pipe before the oil & water feed pipes so I don't know whether I will be able to drop return pipe enough to either slide in a new gasket or view the mating surfaces.

I've just swapped the OEM turbos for GT2859s. I used new gaskets and torqued the bolts to the correct spec but the front turbo appears to be leaking from the oil return pipe flange. Has anyone else has this problem? Any help would be really appreciated. Thanks Lee

"Seems to be pretty cheap." Not where I'm based it's not especially when postage is thrown in. The M12 x 18 x 1mm spec washers are pretty rare here - they all tend to be 1.5mm or rubbish quality. Its seems though that that spec is used by some of the motorcycle manufacturers as OEM equipment and I have found a supplier so it looks like that's how I will proceed.