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JLarson · 07-03-2018, 07:12 AM

I hate posting this because it wounds my pride, but I'll take that if it means some other guy does this right the first time! This entire process was a very valuable learning experience, but not one I'd willingly go through again. As mentioned in episode 14, our intrepid hero attempted his own clutch replacement for the first time with limited success (and hidden failure, which we shall now reveal! But do not be discouraged good viewer - in the end, our hero is triumphant!)

As previously noted, I got a decent recommendation on a local VQ guy. Turns out his day job is working for Infiniti, and he's also spent time with Ferrari, which is pretty cool. He also has a pretty neat 06 g35 with a 2jz swap putting down around 1200 whp. So it's not his first rodeo.

All of the pieces for my new clutch kit arrived by Thursday of last week, and I dropped them off at his shop Thursday evening. 10 pm, I get a message from him, complete with video - my flywheel had been loose. The awful noise I had assumed was chatter was the flywheel vibrating against the crank.

On the plus side, other than being started and reversed into my driveway, the car had not been driven in this condition. I'm pretty sure eventually the flywheel would have vibrated the bolts out with catastrophic results.

Joey (shop owner) was a pretty good teacher, and walked me through his process. His opinion was when I seated the flywheel, it actually had not slid all the way into place over the center spindle. His recommendation for seating is to 1) Loosely install the flywheel; 2) insert a couple of the bolts opposite each other and finger tighten only; 3) use a rubber mallet to tap the flywheel into place. It should cause a visible gap between the flywheel bolts and the flywheel. At that point, install all the bolts finger tight, and follow the FSM torque pattern.

Complications this caused: Thanks to my error, I stripped the ends of the flywheel bolts. This ended up being a mixed blessing. Because the bolts stripped, they only damaged the first thread in the crank (cleaned up with a tap, and new flywheel bolts held torque @ spec).
It is very possible that I could've damaged my crank to the point where I'd have had to either rig some way of entirely re-tapping oversize holes into it, using a screw thread insert, or actually rendering it unusable. So let that be a warning to you, dear reader! This is the real down side of only knowing what I'm doing through DIY's - you miss really important things like this.

Eventually my ego should stop bleeding and I'll be able to move on.

07-03-2018, 07:12 AM	#113 (permalink)
JLarson A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Media, PA Posts: 4,074 Drives: 14 Nissan 370z MR M6 Rep Power: 2684370	How not to install a flywheel I hate posting this because it wounds my pride, but I'll take that if it means some other guy does this right the first time! This entire process was a very valuable learning experience, but not one I'd willingly go through again. As mentioned in episode 14, our intrepid hero attempted his own clutch replacement for the first time with limited success (and hidden failure, which we shall now reveal! But do not be discouraged good viewer - in the end, our hero is triumphant!) As previously noted, I got a decent recommendation on a local VQ guy. Turns out his day job is working for Infiniti, and he's also spent time with Ferrari, which is pretty cool. He also has a pretty neat 06 g35 with a 2jz swap putting down around 1200 whp. So it's not his first rodeo. All of the pieces for my new clutch kit arrived by Thursday of last week, and I dropped them off at his shop Thursday evening. 10 pm, I get a message from him, complete with video - my flywheel had been loose. The awful noise I had assumed was chatter was the flywheel vibrating against the crank. On the plus side, other than being started and reversed into my driveway, the car had not been driven in this condition. I'm pretty sure eventually the flywheel would have vibrated the bolts out with catastrophic results. Joey (shop owner) was a pretty good teacher, and walked me through his process. His opinion was when I seated the flywheel, it actually had not slid all the way into place over the center spindle. His recommendation for seating is to 1) Loosely install the flywheel; 2) insert a couple of the bolts opposite each other and finger tighten only; 3) use a rubber mallet to tap the flywheel into place. It should cause a visible gap between the flywheel bolts and the flywheel. At that point, install all the bolts finger tight, and follow the FSM torque pattern. Complications this caused: Thanks to my error, I stripped the ends of the flywheel bolts. This ended up being a mixed blessing. Because the bolts stripped, they only damaged the first thread in the crank (cleaned up with a tap, and new flywheel bolts held torque @ spec). It is very possible that I could've damaged my crank to the point where I'd have had to either rig some way of entirely re-tapping oversize holes into it, using a screw thread insert, or actually rendering it unusable. So let that be a warning to you, dear reader! This is the real down side of only knowing what I'm doing through DIY's - you miss really important things like this. Eventually my ego should stop bleeding and I'll be able to move on. __________________ 2014 370z Touring Sport Magma Red MT // BP Single Turbo 6467 // 63mm TB's // Z1 Ported Upper Mani // RJM Pedal // Zspeed Stage 3 Clutch // 526 WHP, 451 WTQ 2006 350z (Sold) // 1990 300zx (Sold) // 1985 300zx 2+2 (Sold)