gamellott

I'm pulling the manual transmission in order to seal up the leaking 30yo seals between the rear main and the front transmission... among other things. Judging from the marred up Phillips head bolts, It's not the first time this has been done... 30 years and 300K miles... Clutches don't last that long. No surprise there. Bonus!! the carpet did not tear!! As a part of prepping to pull, I pulled up the carpet and boot for the shifter. Under that, on the firewall, it appears as though there was a plastic shell in the well of where your feet go. That has fallen completely apart, and I had to resort to using a vacuum to clean it up. I don't recall anything being like that on my D21 when I last did something like this 15 years ago. Under the sound dampening material, there was a small piece of aluminum foil covered heat dissipating material. I know Nissan put it in there for a reason, but I didn't see any evidence of that actually getting hot. Does anyone know exactly how important that is? Tomorrow... the work from underneath... mostly.... Oh fun... I hate working on exhaust!!!

Update: I got it all apart!! There are 2 lights in the AC head unit. One measures out bad, the other measures out good. Without taking the head unit apart, my guess is that the one good one is just too dim to illuminate it fully. Just a guess. I'm going to try my luck at Amayama to see if I can order some. The clock, as mentioned by @adamzan appears to be a 74, and is bad. The same bulbs are throughout all of the idiot light indications and turn signals, so I might see if I can find an LED that will last being illuminated all of the time. One bad part of this whole tear down is that my Hazards switch exploded when I popped it out of the dash... Gonna have to find a new one... Woe is me....

That's the information I'm going to need to see what's what in the circuit. IIRC, There are 2 lights in it, contrary to the parts illustration, and they both go out at the same time when they do work, so I'm sure it's some kind of wiring issue unlike the instrument cluster where one light goes out and comes back on similar to a Christmas tree with blinking lights that travel around the dash. OTOH, if my memory is faulty and there is only one light, it could be a flaky filament that's intermittently making contact. I'll be taking it apart this weekend, or at least starting to pull part of the interior in order to pull the transmission.... that's going to be a load of fun!!! But... some of the last few things to seal up the remaining oil leaks...

The light for the HVAC head is not a standard bulb. I did a little search trying to find one by size, and there are a couple of sizes at the T-1.75 or 1.5 size that might squeeze into the socket. Cheap enough, might try it. There wasn't an LED option in that size... or at least from that website. Time permitting, I'll probably start tearing everything down this weekend and update. As far as them not lighting up, I really think there is a loose ground somewhere, because they will light up one day, and not the next. There isn't any consistency and I haven't located the ground for it. Probably just need better lighting for when I take it all apart...

Thanks @adamzan. It's been a hot minute since I had the instrument cluster off and I don't want to risk breaking any more plastic repeatedly taking it off. Would like to be one and done, hence the question... Years ago when I replaced all of the lights in the dash because they were burned out, I didn't observe a standard bulb there, otherwise, I would have replaced it... but then... it's been a hot minute... I'll check it out again when I'm ready to tear down other things that take it out of service for a while. The Light for the AC control is similar to a 74 (2723) (Fits a 95 D21 High Center Brake Light) bulb. Might be even smaller. Not sure on where I could even find bulbs by size/dimensions... Whenever I pull it, I'll mic it out...

Can't get to the pictures.... If it's lopsided wear you're experiencing, you should inspect the guide pins. They bolt in, and are greased with a boot that keeps the grease in and will easily slide the caliper left to right or vice versa. Also, as I have discussed, check the pistons that they push back in freely. If you get significant resistance, or you see rust around the dust boot, they could probably need some loving.

It works, but the backlighting does not work. Occasionally, the lights will illuminate, and I think it's simply a loose ground. The lights are probably original. Last time I looked at them, they're silver in color, and probably ready to give up. OE PN 2754553E00, aren't available in the US and I might be able to import them through Amayama. Has anyone come up with a dimmable replacement LED that could be made to fit? Also... What about the lights on the LCD Clock? Anyone have a replacement for that light?

You could also try Amayama. They seem to have some things that you can't get anywhere else... some...

@ryan6351I did replace both rear disks when I did this years ago. The one rotor was excessively ground asymmetrically on one side. It NEEDED to be replaced. I got the slotted/drilled rotors and I really don't think it was worth the money, but they look cool when the wheel is off!! When you pull the rear rotors, you can inspect the parking brakes to see if there is any leakage from the rear axle seal.... That's a whole different rabbit hole!! The fronts, in order to get the rotors off and replace them, there is really no way around pulling the bearings and hub. It's not a difficult job. There are specs and torques in the procedure that I have never really done and I've never had a problem with them as a result of my negligence to the procedure. Hope this helps!! Good Luck!!!!

I don't really know what that stuff is. I have not had any significant issues with corrosion on anything short of surface corrosion on aluminum. I imagine I'll find out more on the aluminum whenever I get the engine and transmission finally sealed up. Right now, they look pretty clean, probably because it's getting a constant slow flush of oil on the bottom of the transmission... That will be one of the final projects to seal this baby up!! The heads were cleaned a couple of years ago, and they still look immaculate as the day I re-installed them. My Polaris Slingshot, OTOH, Looks like SH!T under the hood.

I did take a trip to a salvage yard and one donor was completely covered in rust on the frame and chassis. I think the body was ok.... I have a feeling it was a transplant from somewhere else. Mine, that I believe has been here the entire time, has some rust, but nothing catastrophic. They used to just throw down sand. Now they throw down some liquid stuff that appears to be vile on aluminum.

I have some limited experience with these on a D21. You will probably have a harsher ride due to the increased spring rate on the rear. It also depends on how much less travel you have. Like all other shocks, there is a maximum extension. I was probably very close to that on my D21 giving it a rougher ride. Cranking on the Torsion bars will give you some added lift if that's the desired effect. The front end on these have a bump stop on the top and bottom. The factory ride height is probably ideal for your daily driver. If you have it too high, you'll lose the potential on your extension, similarly, you'll lose compression if it's too low. All in all, adjusting the ride height will give it a harsher ride than the factory ride height. Part of the reason why I'm sticking with the factory ride height since I do little to ZERO offroading on this. I'm not saying that's good, bad or indifferent. It's all what you want to do with the ride. Just keep in mind that adjusting the height on the front also could buy you into getting the front end aligned, adjusting your tow and camber.

Sooo... we have planned obsolescence from the car manufacturer's and forced obsolescence from the govt in many places. Fortunately we don't have much salt put down here in western Washington. This is the place is where old vehicles go to survive the salt and corrosion... most of the time...

Yea, it's a gamble, and probably hard to justify if you're paying a mechanic to do the work. The timing belt kit, itself, is not that expensive. However, it is super labor intensive. Considering the age, and likely salt on the roads, you'll probably run into cost over runs with breaking fasteners and trying to repair those as well.

When I bought my 92', it had many issues. One of which was one of the rear disk rotors was ground down, for whatever reason, halfway through the rotor material on one side. I didn't think much of it until the calipers seized. I rebuilt them using brake fluid as the lubricant to reassemble them. That's what I was taught years ago, and I have been doing it ever since. Every 2 years or so, for the past 10 years, I have been tearing apart the rear calipers, unseizing the piston, cleaning the rust out and reassembling using the same process of using brake fluid to lubricate the assembly process.... When the calipers were seizing, the symptoms were pretty obvious sometimes. A smoking rotor is one of them.... One of the things that threw me off a couple of times that I didn't really put 2 and 2 together on for years, was that the ABS light would occasionally light up and stay lit when the calipers were starting to seize, and would go away for a while after the rebuild. I was making an assumption that it's old electronics and mechanical gizmos that are starting to fail. The last time I tore apart the calipers, I reassembled them around the dust boot with a one-time-use packet of synthetic brake caliper grease as recommended by one of my co-workers. I'm not entirely positive that is it's the intended use for it, but it's what I used. Ever since then, the calipers have been working flawlessly and the ABS light no longer lights past the initial POST (Power on Self Test). What I think was happening is that the Mechanical gizmo on the frame was throwing a fault when it couldn't push fluid. So... With this observation, maybe that ABS light you have on your dash being lit isn't a symptom of your module or gizmo starting to fail. Maybe it's a symptom to something else.... in my case at least. Just thought I would share one of my experiences that I learned over more than a hot minute....

When I did the heads on mine, it was around $500 just in parts alone because I replaced the water pump and timing belt as well. All of that is interference (Not the water pump) to pulling the heads. From what all I know about this, you've probably got some bent valves. The pistons may be ok though. At this point, it's more of a labor of love vs being economically justified, or whatever your reason, especially if you're paying a shop to do it. If you're paying a shop to do it, you're probably looking at a couple thousand dollars just in Labor alone. OTOH, if you have the time and inclination, it could be a valuable learning experience.

4x4parts.com has a good selection of shocks with and without lifts.

I was under the impression that almost all computer controlled engines had the 195 degree thermostat. But... I have been wrong before. I think I replaced that when I did the heads, but I cannot remember which one I got... I probably defaulted to 195 if there was even an option...

I've never really had a problem with that specific plug. It's the vacuum line that seems to give me the biggest problem... But I have small hands compared to most adult men

I haven't read much into this at all, but based on your description, I would look at the battery cables, grounds, and fusible links coming off of the battery. Those conductors often get corroded and could be a source of experiencing low current to the starter and low voltage to everything else. I had a bad starter years ago with similar symptoms. That happens after 300Kmiles on it. The brushes were completely worn out and no one sells brushes alone anymore, so I bought a rebuilt one from the local auto parts store. That's my 2 cents... I don't know about the alarm system at all, so I cannot elaborate.

Thanks @peejay More for when I might ever swap over to a VG33 block. If I ever make the time to do such an upgrade. All of this stuff is becoming unobtanium as time goes by.

Idle curiosity... get it??? Is there a difference aside from the connector between the VG30 and 33 injectors? Sorry if this was covered in previous conversations, TLDR.

Those cushions come in a seal kit. When I rebuilt the top end, I bought injector seal kits and only replaced that part of the fuel system. I do NOT know what/if they're interchangeable with the VG33 though.

As far as timing goes, here's my lesson learned.... One time in band camp... I disassembled the front pulley from the harmonic balancer thinking I would clean it up, paint it, whatever the reason... without properly match marking it. When I reassembled it, it was off by one bolt hole... silly me... still ran, but ran like crap. Didn't get the timing set properly until I properly clocked the front pulley. Don't do what I did...

OOOOooooooof... This is a Novel!! And a bit above my head on the technical aspects of it. As far as the injectors go, sourcing, I had to replace 2 of them on my VG30 not tooooo long ago. Maybe it's been a couple of years now... maybe... I replaced them with the Beck-Arnley version of them. Found them on Rock Auto. I don't recall how many they had, but I only got the 2 that I needed at the time. I looked not too long ago to get the remaining 4 done, but finding NEW was becoming unobtainium. I wound up getting 2 Standard Motor, and 2 Rebuilt ones that I haven't found the need to install yet. The 2 good "New" brands that I would stick with are Standard Motor Products and Beck-Arnley. Beck usually re-boxes OE stuff, or that's what they did in the past. For imports, they're pretty solid. Standard is usually pretty solid as well. If you punch the part numbers into Amazon, you might be able to find them there as well and not get gigged for shipping like Rock Auto. I would always buy new if you can avoid the rebuilt ones. I have no real experience with rebuilt ones aside from 2 that I got off of Rock that have not been installed. With the age of these, you get what you can get I suppose. BTW, the 2 injectors that I replaced made a world of difference in the idle and perceived power. I have some steep hills that I don't lose power on anymore that I used to before the swap. Upgrading the injectors might not be a bad idea, but if the rest of the engine is stock, you're probably better off keeping it stock.... but don't go the cheapest route. That doesn't always work out in your favor.