[BigJim]

Finally got the engine ready to go back in. There have been all kind of things that made this build hard as the dickens. Then I am really slow and can't work on it long at a time so it really drags on. I have another problem, I am at the point of putting the 6 speed stick transmission on the engine so I can drop it in the car. As usual there is nothing standard on this car at all.

I can not find a clutch aligning tool so I can get the clutch plate lined up perfect. I have looked everywhere and can't find one. I may have to make one, I sure hope not. There is no tip on the end of this pilot shaft as there is no bearing or bushing in the crank. The whole shaft goes into the crank and it has a round flat end about the size of a quarter.

The pilot shaft is 23 mm in dia and has 21 teeth. I found one that is 25 mm and 23 teeth but that is as close as it gets. I don't know if this is a SE R Spec V transmission or a blame Altima transmission. I guess I need to find that out some way. I would sure like to tell that fellow a thing or two that I bought this dern car from. Any one have any suggestions short of making an alignment tool myself.

 

[Nealtw]

@BigJim
You don't have a lathe , wood or metal by chance do you?

 

[Nealtw]

So if the pilot shaft and the small of the spline are the same size can you just find a deep socket that fits inside both.

 

[BigJim]

So if the pilot shaft and the small of the spline are the same size can you just find a deep socket that fits inside both.

Neal, I do have a lathe and am eyeballin a stick of bass wood. It is pretty soft so I may be able to drive it through the clutch plate and make an alignment tool.

The socket wouldn't work, the outside diameter of the shaft and the socket being the same size and there would be no way to get it in. I do appreciate you helping to think this problem out.

I even thought about drilling a pretty good size hole in the bell housing, put the clutch plate and pressure plate in as loose as I could. Stick the transmission in the plate and work it on in, then tighten the pressure plate up after I got it all in place. What bothers me there is that hole would let trash in and mess things up big time. I may go ahead and try to make one, if I can't find one.

 

[Nealtw]

Neal, I do have a lathe and am eyeballin a stick of bass wood. It is pretty soft so I may be able to drive it through the clutch plate and make an alignment tool.

The socket wouldn't work, the outside diameter of the shaft and the socket being the same size and there would be no way to get it in. I do appreciate you helping to think this problem out.

I even thought about drilling a pretty good size hole in the bell housing, put the clutch plate and pressure plate in as loose as I could. Stick the transmission in the plate and work it on in, then tighten the pressure plate up after I got it all in place. What bothers me there is that hole would let trash in and mess things up big time. I may go ahead and try to make one, if I can't find one.

The part that goes in the engine has to be the same as or smaller than the smaller measurement of the clutch or the trans shaft would not go thru the clutch
Once you have the clutch in just tight enough you can rotate the engine and measure in to the side of the plate from the outer edge of the flywheel.

 

[Bondo]

It is pretty soft so I may be able to drive it through the clutch plate and make an alignment tool.

Ayuh,.... You shouldn't need the splines on the alignment bar,......

Just the small diameter of the spline hole,.....

 

[huesmann]

Problem is that the hole for the pilot bearing is smaller than the hole for the clutch disc.

 

[BigJim]

Here is a photo of the pilot shaft. I dreamed about this last night, I may be able to turn a tool for aligning out of oak or hickory and make it work. See the shaft in the photo, the hole in the crank is the same size as the outside diameter of the teeth or the splines.

 

[BigJim]

Problem is that the hole for the pilot bearing is smaller than the hole for the clutch disc.

There is no bearing or bushing in this crank, there wasn't one in the old crank. Here is a photo of the old crank:

See the hole, it is the same size as the outside diameter of the outer splines on the shaft. If you look close there is an indention in the very bottom of the crank about the size of a quarter and it is indented the same depth as the little tip is on the pilot shaft.

That first hole is for a bushing for an automatic transmission, that was a real bear to get out also, I had to cut it out.

 

[Nealtw]

 

[huesmann]

Huh. Looking at clutch kits for those cars, they don't have PBs. Weird. How do they keep the nose of the Tx input shaft centered on the crank?

 

[Nealtw]

Jim, you need a bushing.

 

[Nealtw]

Is it the same engine in an Altima This kit come with a bushing.



https://www.carid.com/2008-nissan-a...et-clutch-kits-2508141610.html?parentsubmodel[]=TRANSMISSION|Standard+%28Manual%29

 

[Nealtw]

This kit for a sentra comes with a bushing

https://www.buyautoparts.com/buynow/52-40669_EY

 

[BigJim]

Neal, it does for a fact show a bushing. Now I am confused, I need to do some more checking to see if one will even fit in there. As rigged up as this engine has been, there is no telling what the dude did who put all of this together. There is for a fact no bushing in the old crank, I need to look in the new crank now and do some measuring to see if one will work or not. I am like my wife now, I really hate this car. lol I really walked into it on this one for sure.

I also have to put new ball joints in after the engine is in, so much fun. I did tell my wife a year or so ago I would really like to rebuild one more engine. I sure wish I hadn't said that now. This car has broke me from suckin eggs. lol

Just had another thought, I don't have a clue what year this engine is. I do know for a fact that no Nissian engine below a 2007 will fit this car. The only one that will fit is the 2.5, the 2.0 will not fit.

 

[Nealtw]

Neal, it does for a fact show a bushing. Now I am confused, I need to do some more checking to see if one will even fit in there. As rigged up as this engine has been, there is no telling what the dude did who put all of this together. There is for a fact no bushing in the old crank, I need to look in the new crank now and do some measuring to see if one will work or not. I am like my wife now, I really hate this car. lol I really walked into it on this one for sure.

I also have to put new ball joints in after the engine is in, so much fun. I did tell my wife a year or so ago I would really like to rebuild one more engine. I sure wish I hadn't said that now. This car has broke me from suckin eggs. lol

You can't trust what you see after the last hack worked on it.

I have had to have a machine shop make one for an engine and transmission that GM never intended to go together.

 

[BigJim]

Is it the same engine in an Altima This kit come with a bushing.



https://www.carid.com/2008-nissan-a...et-clutch-kits-2508141610.html?parentsubmodel[]=TRANSMISSION|Standard+%28Manual%29

Neal, this is an Altima engine, he took the SE R Spec V engine out. At this point, I am really glad he did, Spec V parts are so rare it is unreal.

 

[BigJim]

I have had to have a machine shop make one for an engine and transmission that GM never intended to go together.

LOL you sound a lot like me, and come to think of it, my son also. My son put a Porche engine in a VW bug and it worked, ugly but it worked. lol

 

[Nealtw]

LOL you sound a lot like me, and come to think of it, my son also. My son put a Porche engine in a VW bug and it worked, ugly but it worked. lol

https://www.bronzebushings.com/bushing_finder/?___store=default


Out side diameter.

Press fit

or shrink ​

fit bushing

design and installation is a common method of retaining bearings by use of ​

interference

between the ​

bushing

and the ​

bushing

hole. ... Typically, ​

bushings

are designed and manufactured 0.002 to 0.003 inch over nominal on outside diameter sizes for sizes 3 inches or less.​

 

[de-nagorg]

Your engine will have a serial # on the casting somewhere, that will tell you what year it was made, the same for the transmission.

That said, you then get an input shaft from a broken transmission of the same year as the transmission you are using.

There are many in salvage yards all over.

You will have to disassemble your donor transmission to pull the shaft, but you are capable of that.

Without a pilot bushing, it will run and operate, but the clutch will be SLOPPY, and burn out early, so do check for and install that bushing.

I too have " shoehorned" engines into where they were not made to go, mated different makes , models of transmissions, transfer cases, to different brands of engines, just to prove that it could be done.

Once you figure out what year, model of components you have, it is a task of maybe going to the manufacturers website to see what those # correspong to, but they know what they put where.

ED