grey pearl

Hi There mate, All comments posted on here are only opinions gathered in real life experiences with our own cars,or collated information gathered on forums in order to learn from others mistakes or successes,and include our opinions based on that info collected and processed,so theres no need in flaming people for putting their views in response to others problems and questions.Ultimately the person requiring answers will do what they like with the info posted for their benefit and really we giving the answers are only giving them info to process and decide what sounds right for them to do as we have done when we ask questions. I have given what I believe is good advice on not using smurfs blood in gtr boxes,especially new, recoed,or synchroed,you probably being a racer use some type of after market dog box with or without synchros and that oil probably does the job in that application as I have stated in my other post on this oil,race teams are prepared to pull engines and boxes diffs etc down to repair and modify as regularly as necessary as opposed to street users like myself who have to deal with synchro issues, slower changes and not wanting noisy boxes in order to minimise downtime and save expense,so for me it's horses for courses and of course all of my statements are only my opinion,and these forums do allow for that but are opposed to non constructive flaming and arguing. I have a peacemaking attitude and only wish to help other people on this forum to enjoy our common interest and learn,therefore I accept your opinion as I hope you will accept mine whether we agree or not, I'm not trying to force my point of view on anyone only air it for others to consider,fair enough.Grey Pearl.

Short answer yes, but remember the tolerance check.Grey Pearl.

So are you in favour of one piece in gtr's without dogboxes,just curious??Cheers Grey Pearl.

Hi There mate,There's a few things you need to know about flywheels when replacing a clutch,first point of concern and probably the hardest to know unless you asked a lot of questions of the previous owner,or you are the first owner, is,how many clutches has it had,everytime a clutch is replaced the flywheel should be machined even if it is only a skim to make sure the mating surfaces have full contact of the whole surface,so if it's been done before, and chances are it has, then you will need to ascertain how much meat is left and what is acceptable tolerance before replacing the flywheel as well,For these tolerances I would ring the guru,Jim Berry in queensland 0738479999 to be sure of your info.Most places who are prepared to do the job will know what to do but to be safe, know yourself and stipulate.The other thing is whether it's a stock cast flywheel or after market and how much oil has been on it as this creates hard spots and can make it brittle and could make it dangerous,and believe me they can be dangerous especially on fast cars like Skylines,usually these hard spots come out with the machining though so don't worry too much, the tolerances are more important. After market ones are often thinner as light weight was the objective of their design and the materials they are made of is denser and less porous than cast, so they will have different tolerances and brittle factors.Two of the problem areas that can cause disaster are firstly young guys trying to avoid extra expense because of fund shortages,therefore where they should have replaced a borderline flywheel they don't and accept the risk,and secondly the dowell pins must be replaced with new ones to ensure that centrifugal forces are locked up tight, some people forget to put them back in at all after machining and others use the old slightly butchered ones,not acceptable in my book,or Jim Berry's. My last bit of advice is replace both engine rear main seal and gearbox seal even if they don't appear to be leaking, as they often start leaking after being disturbed and everything is back together,grease and oil are a clutches worst enemy, more expense for you not long after the work is done,also spend some time making sure your clutch pivot bolt is in good nick and if unsure replace it preferrably with an aftermarket nismo or equivalent as everything has to come out again if that breaks and they often do especially if your clutch is stronger than stock,and lubricate the ball area with a lithium based grease or o-ring motorcycle chain lube foam grease,again sparingly, as the noises these can make unlubed will drive you nuts. Lastly make sure you replace the clutch spigot bush that slides onto the crankshaft of the engine and lube very sparingly with lithium grease, so none can get on your flywheel or clutch as these make noises also, lots of gearbox places recommend bearing raced spigot bushes as an improvement over brass solid ones also. Sorry about the long post but there is a lot to know about clutches etc and these tips might save you a lot of headaches down the track, and remember, spend a little extra now and save a lot later on,prevention always costs less than cure.Cheers Grey Pearl.

Thanks for all of your replies and info,handy for everyone to know,No slip joint for one piece,I think that swings it for me,I will stay stock as aussie roads will kill gearboxes and diffs without some movement available to the driveshaft,and besides I like a bit of insurance ie tailshaft loops at 250 kph. Hey Baron, I would still be interested in Tets opinion as I'm sure others would be so we'll wait for a reply from you ok.Cheers Grey Pearl.

Thanx Mate,Replies seem to be very few and far between on this forum,appreciate it! Anyone else have any tech info on gtr34 boxes and whether you can put them into gtr33's, hope I never have to go there but would like to know anyway??Cheers Grey Pearl.

Great mate, Let us know exactly what brand it is and the material type,as I've read bad things about metal ones,which have no give in them, and virtually nothing about carbon fibre ones which apparantly do have some give but I suspect are made as an alternative strictly with strength in mind.The two things we all need to consider with these mods are vibration and shock loading to the diff and probably the gearbox as increased directness of torque application comes into play with less moving parts or drive interference between drive points happens. It is with this in mind that I have delayed my decision on doing it pending a reply from Beer Baron regarding whether he will talk to Prime Garage on our behalf to clarify the reality of this mod to street applications.Looking forward to his reply to this request one way or the other.Cheers Grey Pearl.

Thanx for the reply 4door,do you know anything about the gtr34 box and what was done to improve on the 33, and whether you can put a 34 box in the 33 if they are in fact any better?? Cheers Grey Pearl.

No objections to my findings on r33gtr boxes,I'm surprised I was expecting a deluge of posts defending them,I still would like to know more about the strengths /weaknesses of the series 3 gtr box and what improvements if any Nissan made to the gtr34 one.Cheers Grey Pearl.

Thanx for that mate, what do you think about these carbon fibre shafts.??Cheers Grey Pearl.

Hey Baron cheers for the pics man so awesome, I and I suspect many others had no idea how connected you are and for that reason I'm going to ask you to do those of us who are interested a big favour, returning to the original flavour of this thread, and that is to ask your friend at Prime Garage what he thinks about 1 piece carbon fibre driveshafts as he would know for sure and probably knows why nissan didn't use them on anything but their race cars,would that be asking too much, if so no worries ,just an inspired thought I had. Also looking at the comparison pics, the one piece doesn't look much longer than the two piece so I don't reckon the spin factor will come into it as carbon fibre is so tough and I'm sure it is moulded around the steel fittings in such a way that it's unbreakable,after all they rate the weakest one at 1000h/p and the tough one at 2000h/p,also excuse my ignorance but does nhv stand for non harmonic vibrations or something else?? Cheers Grey Pearl.

Cheers mate, I went back and had another look after posting and then realised it was a comparison photo,my only fear with changing to carbon fibre is that a lot of people believe that one piece vibrate and load up the rear diff, I'm only really concerned with the vibration aspect as loading up the diff will happen only when abusing in my opinion,what do you think Baron??

Thanx for the reply mate,Can't commit at this stage still doing my homework on whether it's a good upgrade for the street,also noticed the pics on the link showed two shafts not one as I would have expected??.Cheers Grey Pearl.

Does anyone know if carbon fibre one piece tail shafts come made up with all uni joints and the correct length for 33GTR'S??

I'm with godzilla67 my moneys on the dowell pins in the flywheel not being replaced,I spoke to Jim Berry at length about flywheels and clutches and he told me that he's seen some really stupid butchery done on them to get them out but laziness,time constraints and the wrong tools adds up to some mechanics or flywheel grinders just grinding them down so they can machine the flywheel in the assumption that the mechanic will get the stubs out after machining and replace them with new ones but some just refit everything and forget or don't know any better. Jims solution was to get the dowell pins out and drill a tiny hole maybe 2mm right through the dowell holes so next time it's just a matter of punching them out from the other side,he also said replacing pins that have been taken out the butchers way should be mandatory and owing to my concern put dowells in the package with my clutch.Cheers Grey Pearl.

Hi There mate, Can I ask what you did to your engine to get that power.Cheers Grey Pearl.

Can anyone tell me about or direct me to discussion on, one piece tailshaft conversions on GTR33'S.To me centre bearings are just another annoying part that can let you down, I assume they are designed for ground clearance but not sure on that.Cheers Grey Pearl.

Hi Intercool, I would be very careful pumping a mobile substance like grease especially under pressure into the bellhousing area as the enemy to clutches is grease or oil as anyone who has had to fix a clutch will tell you,Jim Berry told me that 95 percent of clutches he sees have oil or grease contamination factors as the main contributor of slip or eventual failure. Some guys on this forum have explained that the best way to fix this lubrication problem for the pivot ball is to buy a can of the o-ring chain motorcycle lube which is a foamy substance and carefully peel back the boot rubber on the bell housing and with the straw provided with the can spray directly on to the cluch pivot ball to keep the lube localised and not on your clutch which will make your clutch slip and create hot spots and hardness areas on your flywheel,not good,hope this helps.Cheers Grey Pearl.

Hi There , Most of these noises and funny pedal feel come from the clutch pedal bracket which is obviously under engineered in thickness of material or the welder on the assembly line had many off days and didn't weld them enough, some people never had this trouble with the bracket but many others do,Subarus are notorious for it, and it's the kind of fault that will end up stranding you out on the road somewhere where you can't select gears and in order not to leave your car on the road while you get help you will destroy your synchro's or worse trying to get home,you may also have to fix any elongation in the clutch pedal hole itself and get a new pin to connect pedal to rod as these can get grooved. The solution is fix it before this happens to you, for this reason I am buying a Nismo upgraded item which they claim to be 1.75 times stronger than stock and installing this while my box is out to replace the clutch,if you don't want to pay the $130.00 landed for the nismo bracket can I suggest you go to the search tab of this forum and type in "weld the bitch" which will show you posts that tell you how to remove your bracket and re-inforce it to re-use and while it's out properly lube the pin etc to avoid squeaks when you re-install it then you can have piece of mind.Cheers Grey Pearl.

Thanks for your reply and explaination, I am purchasing a Nismo clutch pedal bracket, which Nismo claim is 1.75 times stronger than stock GTR one anyway as a precaution to install at the same time as my upgraded gearbox and clutch and a stronger better designed clutch fork pivot as well.Cheers and thanks for your advise on the phone Grey Pearl.

Thanks for the reply mate and the re-assurance, as I hadn't read too many people running 4000lb clamp on this forum, and a reputable garage in melbourne bagged the crap out of using Jim Berry clutches saying they require too much travel to engage gears properly,I guess only time will tell how suitable my choice has been, will let you all know.Grey Pearl.

Guess I have to reply to my own post,but for the benefit of all I will tell you where to find the rare bit of info on this common but annoying problem.I just went to the search tag on the tool bar and typed in [Weld the bitch]and believe it or not a discussion came up,so problem solved,thank goodness it's easy to fix especially in a 33.Cheers Grey Pearl.

Hi, I'm surprised to hear you guys singing the praises of the r33 box or was that only because it was the easiest no fuss fit-up.?? I have read 115 pages of forum on drivetrain and found a woeful track record for 33 boxes,they do bearings regularly from slightly more clamp pressure clutches, are notchy and slow to change if you don't want graunch,they spit 3rd gears because of the clip arrangements that hold them in, and 5th also who knows why and do seals into the bell-housing area also. My GTR has done most of these things already,with only 70000 on the clock so I have been looking for solutions to avoid multiple problems and have decided on advice from the forum and a gearbox expert to upgrade mine to series 3 which has a bigger input shaft and a different holding in mechanism for third gear,in the hope of avoiding future expense while I'm replacing the clutch anyway. I must say that I was very disappointed with the info from the forum and the hard evidence I have seen on my own car,that shows that these boxes are far from the indestructible things I thought them to be before I bought my car and it hasn't been abused either, I chose the series 3 upgrade, as the only alternatives to that are either synchro or non synchro dog boxes which are very expensive and noisy Will let you all know how it goes once it's done,and by the way what are r34 boxes supposed to be like for strength ,not as good as a 33 judging by the comments in your posts.Cheers Grey Pearl.

anyone??

Hi All, I have searched everywhere to find info on how to remove a gtr clutch pedal bracket and re-fit a nismo one, without butchery, to no avail,can anyone post me a link to already posted info on this subject or give me the info,it would obviously make a useful addition to the tutorial section of the forum as well as it is a common fault with skylines that many of us have and will face at sometime in our skyline ownership.Cheers Grey Pearl.