clutch fluid leak abd vibs

[z.Leinbach]

So I have noticed that my clutch fluid is disappearing. The master cylinder is not leaking visibly just the diminished level every couple weeks. I've noticed there is some goldish clear fluid dripped around the bottom of the bell and gear box but the slave isn't leaky either. Any ideas on where it could be?? I also don't have any difficulties shifting and the pedal doesn't stay on the floor when depressed.

I have also had the annoyance of when driving at Washington highway and freeway speeds there is a annoying vibration from the rear to middle of the car. Anyone else experience this?? Is it normal?

[nissanfreak12]

If the clutch fluid is disappearing, its leaking. Check all the lines, but if its wet in the bell housing, probably the slave. It could be so small that it really only leaks at higher temps and just enough. If you re not sure, just replace both master and slave, cause if one goes, the other is not far behind. Besides, its cheaper to replace them both than getting a tow from the middle of nowhere when one goes out.

The vibration is more than likely the center carrier bearing. Jack the car up and try and move the driveshaft up and down. If it moves at all, the bearing needs to be replaced. Sounds like it is time for a one piece driveshaft.

[z.Leinbach]

Any idea how expensive time and labor wise it would be to replace the drive shaft??

[NolimitZ32]

If you have a lift or tall enough jack stands, some spray penetrant and a good breaker bar replacing the DS shouldn't take you no more than 4 hours and that's taking into consideration every rusty bolt on the exhaust and DS to Diff joint.

[z.Leinbach]

Oh ok well I just got it checked out and the whole drive train is solid no movement but I did notice that there are some exhaust mounts not hooked to the pipes.

[MrFeesLaw]

As previously stated, if your clutch fluid is making its way into the transmission, you may not visibly see a leak, but the fluid will slowly work its way into your transmission (which usually doesn't hurt anything unless it magically appears in your trans fluid), I would check to see if you have a leak between the trans and engine, if so, (also previously stated) you may need to replace your slave cylinder. Whether to replace slave and master together is up to you, but both are extremely easy to get at (even without a hoist), and extremely cheap. If you are not looking for performance clutch parts I would recommend RockAuto.com for master and slave. I got my slave for $7, and my master for like $20. They are partnered with several car manufacturers and they are the first to get parts when a warehouse goes out of business (which makes parts super cheap. A Nissan warehouse went down about 2 months ago, any stock part you can find on rockauto is dirt cheap for the 300zx!!!).

As far as vibration goes, if your exhaust mounts are not properly supporting your exhaust it could be catching the wind, which could cause a vibration. It also can directly cause vibrations by transferring the movement of the exhaust gases into the pipe and up into the chassis instead of into the rubber hangers which help to soften the vibrations.

I know we are already past this point, but if you have a friend with a hoist you could do that driveshaft in 20 minutes lol. 4 bolts on one side, zero bolts on the other side. If you have aftermarket exhaust you may not even have to remove it. My exhaust doesn't have to be removed to pull the driveshaft or the diff (just if I need to get the transmission out). If you have stock exhaust you will have to remove at least the resonated portion and everything behind it to get your d/s out (unless your mufflers/muffler are attached separately from the resonator and midpipe).

Either way, good luck with the project! Hopefully you figure out the vibration soon!

[z.Leinbach]

I understand that. The leak is around the the slave so I'll replace it when I replace the clutch and rear main, probably gonna go xzeddy, and Tbelt an all that wonderfulness that gets done there.

Advice for injector replacement? Other then phase 2?

[nissanfreak12]

Phase 2 and don't look back. Period. Made idle smoother, and actually got better mileage.

Another thing I thought about the vibration, if it is around 40mph, good chance a ujoint is bad. I had a horrible vibration at 35-40 then again at about 55+. I had a u joint that had a "dead spot", which in turn caused a vibration. I honestly took a chance on a new driveshaft, ended up fixing the problem. Just a thought.

Also, replace the master cylinder when you do the clutch slave. If one is leaking the other is not far behind. No point in bleeding the clutch twice.

[z.Leinbach]

What brand? And what's a decent price?

What gives away a bad u joint on these cars??

[nissanfreak12]

Injectors, go stock brand JECS, if stock size. Look on Twinturbo.net and look for bernie bilski, he has sets for sale at a decent price. I think it includes the conversion kit. If I remember correctly, they are around 400-500 for all of them.

As for a bad ujoint, vibration, sloppy driveshaft, ujoint to tight or loose. It hard to tell without taking out the driveshaft.

[z.Leinbach]

Alright good to know. If bi rebuilt my NA block for TT what size injectors would give it good street ability while being able to put out anywhere from stock psi to 20lbs. Or to make a respectable 450ish on the ground

[nissanfreak12]

740cc injectors are a good reliable size injector. Just an FYI, these cars are not like normal turbo cars, 20psi is a LOT with these cars. You can make 450 whp on about 15-16 psi, all dependent on the turbos and add ons.

[z.Leinbach]

Oh ok. Can that be done on stock sized turbos?? Cause other that nickle and dime to death effect of a NA-TT rebuilt as far as electronics goes what is different?? Because personally that is not my forté.

And mechanically other then bottom end what would be needed to ensure a reliable and successful rebuild

[nissanfreak12]

Yes, that has been done on stock turbos. The stockers I think lose their efficiency at about 16-17 psi. But running that high all the time will diminish the life dramatically. 13-14 is a safe number for stockers, which could net 350 whp with nice mods. 500+ rwhp has been hit on stocks, but will not last long.

Reliable, and high HP do not mix unless you have a lot of money, plan on fixing it all the time, or driving it conservatively. Dont just rebuild the lower end, do the upper end as well, use quality parts and have someone that knows what they are doing. When done, break in properly will dictate how reliable it will/could be.

[z.Leinbach]

Ok that's why I was asking I do drive conservative 16 rated isn't the greatest as a daily so I want to stay in that area and still be able to get some nice power.

As far as top end what would be some good support mods?

Or how would the engine itself be built to handle the excess boost if I wanted bigger turbos?

[nissanfreak12]

I think the engine can handle 600-700 whp stock. Bigger turbos will get you more power without higher boost, just an FYI. These engines don't need 20psi to have have huge numbers, again not a 4 cylinder engine which some do.

Good supporting mods;
Larger side mount intercoolers
2.5" piping
Selin dual intake
Electronic boost controller
A good tune(dyno tune not off the shelf tune)
Larger throttle bodies(rob'z throttle bodies)
740cc injectors


This is a good start, you can always look into e85 for even bigger numbers, mainly because you can run higher boost without detonation, but it requires a lot more work. I would suggest you start doing a lot of research and be prepared to open your wallet. This WILL get expensive! If you don't know how to do it yourself, double or triple the cost due to labor. There is a lot of info out there, just start looking. Don't forget to upgrade brakes, tires, and random stuff like that to handle the extra power. When you start getting to 500 number, you need to stop. These brakes are decent, but way under sized for the potential of the car.

[z.Leinbach]

I have seen one Z claiming 900wrhp with stock bottom end. Bane was twin turbo and supercharged, but that would not be financially responsible for me. Think I'm going to adjust my goal numbers down so I don't go for broke. More realistically I want a car that can throw down and still be able to drive in the snow haha. Would love to turbo my stock NA block but 10.5:1 is way to high for boost at least close to stock boost number

So could anything close to 400 on the be done with stock TT engine? As far as support mods and tunes.

As far as swapping in a TT engine all I really find are the JDM blocks, which as I've seen are riddled with horror stories.

[nissanfreak12]

I had a 400 hp z, and anyway you look at it, it sucks driving on the snow, actually all rear wheel drive vehicles suck driving on the snow.

Realistically, 400 hp, is a good number. Mine was reliable, but most of the time I kept at 9psi when city driving. But I could jump it to 14 psi with the EBC I had. The ECU was tuned to accept the change in the PSI, I rarely had problems, but I also took insane care of the car. You can boost an NA block, you just need to change the wrist pins, they are the weak point, but at that point, just ad some TT pistons in it, which would be easy if someone is selling them because they upgraded. 400 is also respectable because it will have the power to make it fun, but keep it streetable. It will also put the hurt down on most cars out there, especially with 4.09 gearing, just get wider tires to compensate you will need it.

JDM engines are honestly a crap shoot. I had one, but also changed the pan, pump, flushed the hell out of it(both coolant and oil), resealed it, used a new knock sensor and harness. Never had an issue. but I also did a lot of work as stated. Before I sold it I had the following;

Stock turbos
Split downpipes
2.5" test and catback with hi flow cats
740cc injectors(new style)
Lightweight pulleys
Single pop charger
Electronic boost controller Highest to run was 15psi
Egr, AIv delete
One piece driveshaft Z! platinum
Single Pop charger
Dyno tune

I know Im missing a few things, but with the dyno tune I got 374 whp/387 rwtq at peak 15psi, but only for tuning or dyno. I never kept it up there because I wanted it to last, but at 9psi, I got around 304 rwhp, which was plenty fine for me. If I added a selin dual intake, easily would have gotten over 400 rwhp. Stock engine, but it was a very healthy engine.

[z.Leinbach]

I agree at with that although I didn't face trouble the other day unless I wanted it.

So shopping list and correct me if I'm missing something..
Phase two injector replacement kit 740cc
Upgraded forged pistons, rods, wrist pins, bearing sets(just in case they are needed)
Turbos, intercooler (front mount) all piping,
Ebc, BoV, full exhaust.
TT rad.

[nissanfreak12]

Get the bearing set and rings set, might as well change them since you will be in there.
Side mounts are good enough to handle the power your looking for.
Turbo manifolds, NA ones will not work
Jdm Down pipes unless you want to change the exhaust(just a thought, bolts right up to NA exhaust)
Full gasket set, heads have to come off
TT/na radiator conversion bracket(unless you cut and weld.
Stick with Stock recirculating valves
TT oil squiters, unless you get aftermarket pistons then NA oil squiters( read up on this one)
TT exhaust valves, these are different to handle the temp
TT oil pan
TT oil tree
OIl cooler
ECU tune.

TT swaps are a good size project, if you think the amount you hav is enough, double it. You will always spend more than budgeted. This will easily get expensive cause more things always comes up. If you are actually going this far, might as well completely rebuild your engine, no point having it all apart and this not happen. Make sure you are prepared to have the Z down for months, cause it will take this long at least.

[z.Leinbach]

I've heard of a air recirc/ bov but can't remember who makes it.
Basically get a TT rebuild kit and the extra parts as mentioned?
Plan is to get all the major building done before the car goes down under the wrench. As I've seen the experienced techs at work pull rebuild and install in a 11 hour work day.

[z.Leinbach]

Well just to update. I have replaced the clutch master cylinder and slave cylinder. It was actually the master that was leaking IN the car But oh well shifts and pulls alot steadier now Also replaced the hoses off of the power steering reservoir no more leaks there, also went around and checked the power steering hardtogetto lines and made sure they weren't leaking (luckily not). So cleaned her all up, fresh oil change and all. So my fairlady is one happy lady. Other then the slight rear main leak. But that's gonna be done when I have the clutch done.