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Subject Tranny fun - Epilogue
     
Posted by shirow on January 01, 2006 at 12:16 AM
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Message After 2 years of procrastination, 1 month of working on it here and there a few hours at a time, it is finished!

Here's a link to my previous "Tranny fun" post

I took the Z out for a test drive and everything just felt awesome. The 1-piece driveshaft from nyxmotorsports was perfect. I was surprised by how much the cabin noise was reduced, since I thought I had driveshaft vibration from only 40-45 mph. Seems I had vibration at all speeds, but it was worst at 40-45. Furqan had warned there could be cabin noise from the 1-piece such as buzzing, but I didn't hear anything of that sort. Definitely much better than I had expected.

The RPS Sport NA clutch felt great, with pedal pressure surprisingly a bit lighter than OEM. The clutch is a perfect match with the OEM clutch, since the pedal had the right amount of free play and same engagement height off the floor as before without any adjustment required.

Here's a shot of the RPS clutch:

The Fidanza flywheel had a noticeably lighter feel evidenced by how quickly the throttle could be "blipped". However, it wasn't as dramatic as I had expected based on what others have complained about in the past. I didn't have any problems stalling with the new flywheel at all. The butt dyno did tell me I freed up some HP, for what that's worth.

Here's a shot of all the miscellaneous parts I replaced during the project, which includes clutch slave cylinder and hose, pivot ball, throwout bearing, fork and boot, tranny mount, and O2 sensors:

Some misc. notes regarding my installation that may help those of you contemplating the same project:

1. Air tools, 20" long 1/2" drive extensions, and swivel socket adapters are gold.

2. The tranny jack was a hero. I was able to do this install completely solo, and stabbing the tranny only took 10-15 minutes. By delicately adjusting the vertical position of the tranny, I was able to get it stabbed easily. Also, I made sure the alignment tool slid out like butter and set the tranny in neutral.

3. Bleeding the clutch was a total pain. I couldn't get all the air out by bleeding at both the slave and under hood nipples with traditional techniques. Thanks to Guapo (and others) for recommending I use the circulating fluid method. I attached a long clear flexible aquarium hose to the nipple and routed it all the way to the master cylinder so that I could pump away and get all the air out. Worked like a champ (turns out I still had air in the line going to the under hood nipple). Make sure you add enough fluid to the reservoir to fill up the hose if you do this.

4. Flare nuts are the suck! I had to use to vise grips to finally get the flare nut loose when replacing the clutch line. (Try soaking in PB blaster first, even though it didn't help me)

Look what it did to my flare nut wrench. (Maybe you do get what you pay for with Harbor Freight tools?)

Here's a summary of vendors for my parts:

1. www.drivenauthority.com

Kip provided all my miscellaneous OEM parts at great prices, much lower than dealer. Talk about excellent service: I talked to him once morning when I decided to replace the slave cylinder and he had the part dropped off to me later that night!

2. www.specialtyz.com - RPS Sport Street NA clutch

Greg gave me a great deal and excellent service when I ordered my RPS clutch.

3. www.nyxmotorsports.com - 1 piece driveshaft

Furqan is a pleasure to work with, very professional and provides great service.

4. Guapo - Fidanza Flywheel from his NA no longer needed after his TT swap.

The Guap Rocks! - Thanks for all the advice and help.

Finally a shot from my test drive today:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!


     
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