Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Ive got another gearbox waiting to be installed, I bought it from a workshop up the coast, they said it was recently completely rebuilt with all new syncros etc... and yep it has new sealant so it has been rebuilt but Im taking his word for it that it is basically brand new... soon find out I guess..

I'll be getting a new exedy clutch kit, NSK-7056HHHDB

Ive done everything else on this car myself, but knowing (from moving the rb25 gearbox around) how heavy the geabox is and also the fact I dont have a hoist (I wish) in my garage should I be installing the new gearbox and clutch by myself or pay for a professional to do it...

I get a bit nervous taking my car to a workshop for anything (its rare I get others to do anything on my cars), Ive had bad experiences and Im always worried they just take it for a hoon...

Also I hate to pay to have it changed and then findout the gearbox aint what it was sold as and needs to come back out, I doubt this to be the case but you just never know... the sealant looks new and all...

Is it worth taking the risk and getting a workshop to install the new gearbox?

opinions wanted...

and should I re-use the shockproof lightweight oil I have in my current box or just get new oil too?... I dont usually re-use fluids.

I don't enjoy manhandling any gearbox, but RB25 boxes are particularly heavy, which makes it 10x worse. If you have a solid place to get the car up high on stands, good enough stands that you know it (the car) won't fall off as you jiggle the box around trying to get the clutch to line up, enough (trustworthy) friends to provide you with the muscle and smarts to help you get it in place and the gearbox cross member bolted in and so on, then go right ahead. Especially if you have done a gearbox on another RWD car that way before and know what you're in for.

Me....I have a brother-in-law with workshop, gearbox support and hoist. No brainer. But even without that, I'd still prefer to have the job done on a workshop's hoist than try to do it at home. For a start, when shit breaks or doesn't work right, it is easier to make it good at a workshop where spare bolts/gearbox mounts/clutch alignment tools etc are more available.

Oh, and god no. Do not re-use the oil. It isn't worth the $180 it was when you put it in. It is now worth $0.

Edited by GTSBoy

ahhh yeah I have no extra persons to call on for this so it be just myself doing this, probably with the girlfriend watching while she enjoys a beer...

Ive been quoted $500 for labour and flywheel machining by a reputable clutch place...

almost the same cost as the clutch and other parts... but atleast it would be done right I guess and the only sweating I'll do is while the skylines not in my possession.

wish I had a hoist and gearbox stand....

what about oils?? re-use and get new stuff, any recommendations, on supposedly newish box?

What car is it? If its a 33 its a walk in the park on the ground. Put car on stands and have two trolly jacks on stand by. You can remove box and overall it with the use if two jacks. No lifting required. Use a small ratchet strap to secure to one if the jacks. I use a long pole between the dump pipe and chassis rail to lever it and angle the motor down a much as you can.

If its a 32 with 25 box its harder

hmmm, the plan was with one trolley jack under the box with rachet straps, car up on blocks back and front...

just goto find the balance point for the box to strap onto the trolley jack nicely, could be just asking for the box to fall on me though...

If you usually do all your own work, are confident doing so, and know your own capabilities, I think you answer your own question by having to ask if you should do it.....

I put my own clutch in, but have been a mechanic for ~6 years, and it's only a RB20 box so alot easier.

I think even with the lighter box, I wouldn't have wanted to do it on the ground (had a hoist at work) as it can be tricky to get out and in on your own even with a gearbox jack.

Based on the above, get a workshop to fit it. There will be some kind of warranty on their work (ie clutch or gearbox s**** itself due to shoddy workmanship) and they shouldn't be thrashing the car on a brand new clutch anyway.

Doesn't the PFC have an adjustment for the rev limiter? Put it below the boost threshold until you get the car back.

Don't re-use the old oil, new bearings syncros etc won't like swimming in the old gearboxes shavings.

Have a crack at it. Download a how to from the DIY. I've done my 33 GTR (so heavier again) by myself on the floor of my shed a few times. And I'm no mechanic. Just get the car up as high as poss and I made a basic cradle for the box to sit on with a few pieces of wood and a couple of tech screws and bolted that to the jack.

The DIY's explain the rest thumbsup.gif

Have a crack at it. Download a how to from the DIY. I've done my 33 GTR (so heavier again) by myself on the floor of my shed a few times. And I'm no mechanic. Just get the car up as high as poss and I made a basic cradle for the box to sit on with a few pieces of wood and a couple of tech screws and bolted that to the jack.

The DIY's explain the rest thumbsup.gif

+1. Its only a GTST box, GTR is bigger and heavier and can be done single handed on the garage floor... Was getting lazy and thinking of just paying to have it done last time and someone here said you become more of a man every time you do a gearbox, so I grunted a few times and peer pressure did the rest. Also did a write up - check siggy.

give it a shot i did my 34 by myself on the ground without ever having done one and didnt have any real trouble. i used the spare wheel in place of a second jack to help when aligning it. i wouldnt have any hesistation doing it again by myself either :)

definately worth doing yourself. I did my 32 gtr on the ground. used 1 trolley jack to remove the box and 2 to put back in. Hardest part of the job was removing and re-installing top starter motor bolt. Dont forget to replace the thrust bearing and rear main seal while the box is out.

supposedly fresh box so rear seal not needed right, I can see fresh blue sealant in the joins...

But is a new front seal necessary?

thnx for all the guidance guys, Im gonna do it, I cant come to terms with paying someone to do something I could do myself...

Although the girlfriend did offered to help, just not sure how I can utilise her yet, well with the new box install anyways...

Ha ha didn't take long for some dodginess to appear in this thread!!! :laugh:

Do it yourself for sure, make sure you still get the flywheel machine done etc... Its not too bad to do! :thumbsup: As long as you line the clutch up properly when installed you wont have any drama getting it back in...

cheers, well Im pretty good at alining shaft to entry point, even after a few beers, so it should all be pretty easy...thumbsup.gif

just gotta remember to grease up the shaft to make re-entry painless...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Update 3: Hi all It's been a while. Quite a lot of things happened in the meantime, among other things the car is (almost) back together and ready to be started again. Things that I fixed or changed: Full turbo removal, fitting back the OEM turbo oil hardlines. Had to do quite a bit of research and parts shopping to get every last piece that I need and make it work with the GT2860 turbos, but it does work and is not hard to do. Proves that the previous owner(s) just did not want to. While I was there I set the preload for the wastegates to 0,9bar to hopefully make it easier for the tuner to hit the 370hp I need for the legal inspections that will follow later on. Boost can always go up if necessary. Fitted a AN10 line from the catch can to the intake hose to make the catchcan and hopefully the cam covers a slight vacuum to have less restrictive oil returns from the head and not have mud build up as harshly in the lines and catch can. Removed the entire front interior just shy of the dashboard itself to clean up some of the absolutely horrendous wiring, (hopefully) fix the bumpy tacho and put in LED bulbs while I was there. Also put in bulbs where there was none before, like the airbag one. I also used that chance to remove the LED rpm gauge on the steering column, which was also wired in absolute horror show fashion. Moved the 4in1 Prosport gauge from sitting in front of the OEM oil pressure gauge to the center console vents, I used a 3D printed vent piece to hold that gauge there. The HKB steering wheel boss was likely on incorrectly as I sometimes noticed the indicator reset being uneven for left vs. right. In the meantime also installed an airbag delete resistor, as one should. Installed Cube Speed premium short shifter. Feels pretty nice, hope it'll work great too when I actually get to drive. Also put on a fancy Dragon Ball shift knob, cause why not. My buddy was kind enough to weld the rust hole in the back, it was basically rusted through in the lowermost corner of the passenger side trunk area where the wheel arch, trunk panel and rear quarter all meet. Obviously there is still a lot of crustiness in various areas but as long as it's not rusted out I'll just treat and isolate the corrosion and pretend it's not there. Also had to put down a new ground wire for the rear subframe as the original one was BARELY there. Probably a bit controversial depending on who you ask about this... but I ended up just covering the crack in the side of the engine block, the one above the oil feed, with JB Weld. I used a generous amount and roughed up the whole area with a Dremel before, so I hope this will hold the coolant where it should be for the foreseeable future. Did a cam cover gasket job as the half moons were a bit leaky, and there too one could see the people who worked on this car before me were absolute tools. The same half moons were probably used like 3 times without even cleaning the old RTV off. Dremeled out the inside of the flange where the turbine housing mates onto the exhaust manifolds so the diameter matches, as the OEM exhaust manifolds are even narrower than the turbine housings as we all know. Even if this doesn't do much, I had them out anyways, so can't harm. Ideally one would port-match both the turbo and the manifold to the gasket size but I really didn't feel up to disassembling the turbine housings. Wrapped turbo outlet dumps in heat wrap band. Will do the frontpipe again as well as now the oil leak which promted me to tear apart half the engine in the first place is hopefully fixed. Fitted an ATI super damper to get rid of the worn old harmonic balancer. Surely one of the easiest and most worth to do mods. But torquing that ARP bolt to spec was a bitch without being able to lock the flywheel. Did some minor adjustments in the ECU tables to change some things I didn't like, like the launch control that was ALWAYS active. Treated rusty spots and surface corrosion on places I could get to and on many spots under the car, not pretty or ideal but good enough for now. Removed the N1 rear spats and the carbon surrounding for the tailpipe to put them back on with new adhesive as the old one was lifting in many spots, not pretty. Took out the passenger rear lamp housing... what do you know. Amateur work screwed me again here as they were glued in hard and removing it took a lot of force, so I broke one of the housing bolts off. And when removing the adhesive from the chassis the paint came right off too. Thankfully all the damaged area won't be visible later, but whoever did the very limited bodywork on this car needs to have their limbs chopped off piece by piece.   Quite a list if I do say so myself, but a lot of time was spent just discovering new shit that is wrong with the car and finding a solution or parts to fix it. My last problem that I now have the headache of dealing with is that the exhaust studs on the turbo outlets are M10x1.25 threaded, but the previous owner already put on regular M10 nuts so the threads are... weird. I only found this out the hard way. So now I will just try if I can in any way fit the front pipe regardless, if not I'll have to redo the studs with the turbos installed. Lesson learned for the future: Redo ALL studs you put your hands on, especially if they are old and the previous owners were inept maniacs. Thanks for reading if you did, will update when the engine runs again. Hope nothing breaks or leaks and I can do a test drive.
    • No those pads are DBA too  but they have colors too. I look at the and imo the green "street" are the best.
    • I’m not sure what happened I told them about sonic tunes free OTS tune and the next the I know .. I was booted..   To funny 
    • Yea - I mean I've seen my fuel pump which is decades old and uh, while I'm not saying this with real knowledge... but I sure get the ick at using anything in the fuel system that produced the state of that pump. Many years ago I went through multiple pumps (and strainers) before I dropped the tank to clean it out with extreme violence. I'm talking the car would do maybe 50km before coming to a halt, which resulted in me cleaning out the filter with some brake cleaner and going on my way. None of my stuff ever looked like what came out of your fuel tank. I don't think I'd be happy with it unless every single component was replaced (or at least checked/cleaned/confirmed to be clean here).
×
×
  • Create New...