Who was it that said "age is but a number"? You guys need to stick around for a lot longer. Who's going to blow this 19 year old's mind away with all that Z knowledge??

On a side note, you'll have to introduce me to your daughter Frank

(I'm totally joking here)

So, back to tech talk, ehh?

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1970 240Z

I'm joking Frank.

Eagle Scout's promise.

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1970 240Z

Quick update on my 71 Z tranny...

I pulled apart the old A type tranny, replaced bearings, seals and balk rings. Since I had the tranny out I decided to replace the clutch release bearing which I bought from Autozone. Big mistake.

The one I got from Autozone looked like the right one but in my haste I didn't check the dimension of the pressed on collar against the original. I got the tranny bolted back on, replaced the header and intake manifold gasket at the same time since I had a small exhaust leak near the No. 6 cylinder. Then I noticed that the clutch slave cylinder wouldn't mount correctly. As it turns out the new bearing had the wrong collar on it which was about 1/2 inch longer than the original. I had to remove the tranny again to replace the release bearing with the right one that I finally ordered from Motorsport.

And since I have a Motorsport exhaust header on the car, I had to cut the exhaust system at the 2" pipe just after the Y pipe so I could remove the tranny without removing the header again. Geez!

I hope to have the job completed tomorrow and road test it when the snow is gone.

Lesson Learned! ......Check all replacement parts THOUROUGLY against original spec parts.

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John Kish
1971 240Z - original owner

Oh, NO!! I'm very sorry to hear all that John ~ I think that might actually be the very first bad thing I've heard about Rock Auto. Lucky You, right?

I suppose any parts warehouse is capable of sending out the wrong part, but what a costly mistake! If you still have your original order available you could scrutiniZe it to zee who made the error. In this case I would hope to learn I had ordered the wrong part instead of them sending me something other than what I asked for ~ that way it would be easier to kick myself in the behind than to travel all the way to Madison WI to kick theirs.

But I salute you for the common sense idea of changing out the bearing while it was staring you in the face.

Q; Did you find any 'bend' in the transmission shafts? And how did your original gear teeth look? Any pics?

Very proud of you for tackling this. Failure of the old 71A gearbox was the final Coup de Grace which caused me to let my all-original 1970 Z go, back in the 1980s ~ the gearbox locked in gear and refused to budge, regardless how many gorillas tried to move it. Without the tools time or facility to repair it, and packing to move to CT, I had to let the car go to someone who had been begging me to sell it to him for years. (sniff!)

Frank

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1970 240Z

Frank, I believe Johnny's post states he purchased the incorrect bearing from Autozone, not Rock Auto! Let's keep Rock AUto's streak of good Z saervice alive!!

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Phil
1981 280zxt - Now in the care my son!
2014 370Z Sports Touring Roadster

Whoooah! You're right, Phil~ thanks. That restores my faith in RA.

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1970 240Z

Yes, Phil is correct. I bought the part from Autozone, not Rock Auto.

I do have some pics of the tranny gears, shaft etc. All gears, shafts and splines were fine. The balk rings were worn a bit, and the front main shaft bearing was a little "rough" so I hope that was the culprit. I needed some help removing the large nut on the main shaft and pressing off a few parts so I had a buddy at a nearby mahine shop (Mike's Automotive Machine in Beacon Falls) actually dissassmble the gears and install the bearings and balk rings. I reassembled the rest. So far I'm into this for about $375. I'm anxious to see if this was worth the effort or I just should have swapped the tranny for a 5 speed.

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John Kish
1971 240Z - original owner

You didn't happen to weigh the whole unit, with all 3 sections together, did you John?

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1970 240Z

Frank,

No I did not wiegh it. Curious, why do you ask?

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John Kish
1971 240Z - original owner

Because I've heard the total weight of the engine and gearbox together quoted as 636 lbs, and wondered how much the gearbox contributed to that. I've never weighed them either, so I don't know whether to believe it or not. Reliable sources, tho.

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1970 240Z

Quick update.

The rebuilt A model tranny is back in, a new clutch slave cylinder was installed, bled and adjusted, all gears seem to work well, at least on my driveway. The roads are a bit too sloppy for a good test run. I hope I don't have to wait unitl spring.

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John Kish
1971 240Z - original owner

Trailer it to a Dynomometer. You can test the gearbox and check the numbers at the same time.

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1970 240Z