jr84'300zx

Hey guys,
First off I am new to this site and not very car savvy. I know the basic ins and outs, change my own oil, ect but that is basically it. I have the Haynes Manuel and I have searched the already posted threads for hours to try and figure out what is wrong but got extremely lost and haven't quite found one with my issue either.
I just bought a 1984 300zx 50th AE model with the manual transmission, And yes it is the anniversary edition I checked the vin and it has the fully loaded features and I even have the gold key. When I went to see the car the previous owner started her right up and told me that the slaeve cylinder needed bled so it wouldn't shift. The guy also told me the clutch was newer only had about 500miles on it and it also had a new turbo. The guy has 09' tags on it and he said it had sat in his driveway for the last few years. I paid the guy and trailered the car to my friends shop. He replaced the slaeve cylinder, replaced the master cylinder and it still would not bleed. Only then did we notice that the throw out bearing lever was stuck fast and would not budge. My mechanic buddy said he believes the clutch was not installed correctly and that the transmission will need to be dropped to try and figure out what was wrong. He also said his that he is not very knowledgable with transmissions and told me to take it to another shop. In my despair of buying my dream car and still not even being able to drive her around I sat in it and started it. The car shifts smoothly with it off. The car starts in 1st gear with the clutch pushed in and moves forward a bit but will not disengage from first even with the clutch pushed in. I don't understand why it starts if it is in first and the clutch is pushed in but doesn't let me shift. The clutch feels good... Not exactly sure how it should actually feel but to my limited manual experiences it feels normal.
I am trying to find a shop that will drop the transmission and fix whatever it is but I'm worried that it may be very costly and being around the holidays I'm sure I will be unable to get a garage to do it for a week or longer. I wanted to post this to see if anyone here has any suggestions or has any idea what my issue will lead to. Thank you for anyone's time to responded and I will try my best to understand instructions but like I said my knowledge with cars is limited. I used to have a 1986 300zx N/A and automatic and loved that car until a bad accident totaled it. This will be my first manual vehicle and while I know how to drive it I have never worked on one. I'm dying to drive this car but am trying to be patient. There are a lot of other minor things I need to do maintenance wise before she will be driven a lot but the other threads are perfect to help with those. Thanks again guys and I'm excited to learn more about these awesome vehicles.

rogerz

your buddy ain't much of a mechanic if he can't drop a tranny. You can do it yourself with four jackstands and good wrench set. rent a tranny jack. You could have a number of things wrong. If the owner wasn't lying too badly it might be as simple as a shattered clutch fork fulcrum pin. Regardless tranny needs to be dropped to find out anything. If you can't bleed the system your friend doesn't know much but if you use a front brake hose off a 280zx to bypass that stupid gizmo that nissan put in the circuit makes things much easier. You need some long extensions to reach the bolts holding the tranny to the engine. Only four five bolts. disconnect drive shaft at the diffy. once you get under there pretty easy to see what needs to come off. If you don't have that mechanical ability you have a car that will eat you up in repairs. They last good but take a lot of repair and replace to be reliable. I'm still working on my 86 just had to replace a torn boot on the steering ram and repair the oil lines to the oil cooler plus a new alternator. following is some stuff you need to do might save you grief in the long run

Get your battery load tested. Be sure you have clean, tight corrosion free terminals on both ends of your battery cables. Be sure the ground (negative) cable goes to a bolt into the frame before going to the starter. grounding through the starter is not a reliable connection. Z's don't like low voltage. causes the electronics to act funny. it is possible to have enough amps to crank but not enough voltage to run the electronics. If you have one size fit all cheapo clamp on terminals they are a problem waiting to happen.

Clean the connectors for the maf or afm, ecu and tps. Deoxit by CAIG is probably the best connector cleaner on the market. spray with CorrosionX after cleaning and before putting together this will help prevent any further corrosion.

Replace outer tie rod ends, and ball joints. replace the bushings with poly (don't forget to lube them as directed unless you like squeaky things). New shocks. all those things will make you think you are driving a different car. doing them piece meal is a waste you won't see a great improvement until you do the complete job. Rear bushings nice too but more work and you won't notice as great an improvement. Rear shocks also because if the fronts are gone so are the rears. if car squats when you jump on the gas the rears are gone. If you have the electro adjustable shocks they are DEFINITELY GONE.

If you are doing a turbo car shocks (electro adjust I think may be only on the turbos) then you need the adapter plates to fit modern shocks to the car. Easiest way is find an n/a at the junkyard and take the mounting plates. They may be available thru NAPA (listed) but I had the n/a plates.

jr84'300zx

Thanks for the reply rogerz. I'm looking forward to doing my own work on this car and had to do a number of things on my 86'. I just have no experience with a standard transmission. I have confidence that I can drop the tranny myself I just have no idea what to look for after that. That was the reason I wanted to take it somewhere to get a transmission guy to tell me what it is. Taking it to the shop is not what I would make a habit of doing. Guess my main question is what are the possible reasons why the throw out bearing isn't budging so I can at least rule out a few things that a mechanic could try and tell me it might be. I plan on learning as much as I can and be able to do this myself but working a new job 65 hrs a week makes it hard for much hands on learning at the moment.

ol55

I could be the clutch was installed incorrectly. Did the owner say that he had trouble before the car was parked or was it working ok? I wonder if the clutch disc is stuck to the pressure plate from sitting. Is there an inspection plate at the bottom of the bell housing that you could remove to check the clutch before you dropped the trans? Safety first with jack stands ,etc.

Review basic clutch operation but the disc should be free between the flywheel and pressure plate. I would tap it (with a hammer and large flat screwdriver?) on the outside edges if it was not free and stuck.

Did you try gravity bleeding your slave by opening the bleed screw and letting the fluid flow down from the reservoir?

I'm no pro,
Larry

rogerz

if it is the clutch fork fulcrum pin (happened to my 85 on a dark and stormy night). Nothing you can test you just have to drop the tranny. If you dropped your auto tranny then the manual is the same. Once you get it off looking at things should tell you what is wrong. you could try putting in the brake hose as I suggested first - then bleed the system and make sure hydraulics are working. when you bleed the hydraulics i have found you want to do it with your hand rapidly. run a hose from bleed screw to a container with some fluid in it so it doesn't suck back air. don't let reservoir run dry. using your hand you can push down and pull up so it works better. if you have someone to work the bleed screw while someone pushes it is even better but the hose in fluid will work.

jr84'300zx

rogerz I went with your advice and bleed the system again myself instead of letting the mechanic do it. You were correct with your statement that he was not much of one since after I bled the system it shifted magnificently. Thank you guys for your responses and I will learn some patience next time.