n0smoke

iTrader: (1)

Sooo...

I bought my car in early December. It's a 2008 HR Base, immaculate condition inside and out, 39k miles (36k when I bought it) Private party, no warranty (obviously)... and today I experienced the dreaded clutch slip in high gear. Uggghhhhghghgh...

The car showed no symptoms of a slipping clutch in the four months I've owned it. In fact, it seemed to grab really well.

I occasionally have a spirited jaunt- but I don't ride, burn, or unnecessarily wear the clutch. I'm even so **** as to leave it in high gear when slowing down and press the clutch in before coming to a stop, rev matched downshifts, etc. I've been driving only manual cars since I was able to drive and have never had an issue. 160k miles on my last cars original clutch and still going when I sold it.

So, cruising in 6th, (or 5th, or 4th for that matter, hill or no hill) go to accelerate and, slip, slip, slip. Ugh. Such a nasty feeling, especially on a low mileage car.

Have any of you had any premature wearing of the clutch? (I know these cars had bad CSC's but pedal feel and return is perfect) And any insight on why it would come on so all of the sudden? No mahd crazy Corvette clutch burnouts to speak of.

And finally, which is the best clutch/flywheel setup to go with? I was going to see if Nissan would consider taking this on as defective/warranty work but I know that's a longshot. I have the ZSpeed Southbend Stage 2 kit (with the steel single mass flywheel and upgraded CSC/CMS) bookmarked....

Fun40zx

iTrader: (1)

I have the Southbend stage 3 and flywheel and it's been good. Just make sure you get the whole kit and save some money. I bought the csc and the master took a **** after so I had to change it.

oldschool350z

iTrader: (1)

Damn that sucks. . I've had clutches on my previous cars last forever but from used cars I bought I noticed clutch issues similar to yours not long after buying.

sounds like the previous owner beat the clutch, or didn't know how to drive

Bama J

^^Yep, same thing happened to me. I bought my pristine, 1 owner garage queen with 67k on it. At 68k, the clutch began slipping. It's just part of buying a used car, no matter how great of condition it's in, ya just don't know.

TuckerE36

iTrader: (3)

OP buy a clutch and flywheel that is practical and meets your needs. Are you going to boost your Z in the future? Do you really need a stage 2 or 3 clutch for regular street driving?

I bought the JWT clutch and flywheel kit and it grabs well. Flywheel is loud at idol but the Z has a noisy tranny anyway. Install was easy but I had air tools and a lift.

travlee

iTrader: (8)

and an awesome person that helped you (cough cough)

Syner

I highly doubt Nissan will help you, OP.

The clutch is a wear item, and they have no way of knowing if you (or the previous owner) didn't know how to drive.

TuckerE36

iTrader: (3)

This is true...Thank you Travis. Must give credit when credit is due!

n0smoke

iTrader: (1)

No, I don't plan on going boost, but don't mind spending a little extra for something that is a little overkill. From what I hear, most aftermarket stage 1 clutches function similar to the OE one, which is a bit soft in my opinion. So I figured the stage 2 would be a happy medium without being an ON/OFF switch like the puck clutches.

The JWT is all aluminum right? I was thinking about going with the 19lbs steel one to cut down on the noise/chatter.

Yeah, I don't think so either. My friend suggested it and I figured it was worth a try. He got his transmission replaced out of warranty on a low mileage HR G35S. Basically just found a service manager who thought it was outrageous to be having such problems at such a low mileage.

The clutch though? That's a different story. I really didn't wanna have to throw another $2k at it a few months after buying. Ugh.

To those of you who replaced your clutch/flywheel...what're you guys running?

Syner

I got used to the chatter. My daily feels too quiet when I put the Z away in the fall.


Definitely worth a shot, you could get lucky and the worst they can say is "no."

Bama J

Like you I wasn't prepared to shell out bookoodles of $$ that soon after buying either. I just went back with the OEM clutch/pp made by Exedy, got it from Amazon. They smoked everybody's prices on it. My flywheel was still fine (due to the low mileage I guess, dunno). Can't remember if they resurfaced it or not but I ended up spending about $200-250 for the clutch and $450 for install, so it wasn't too bad.

Also, my car is my daily driver when the weather prohibits riding my motorcycle to work, and I don't plan any significant performance upgrades anytime soon, so the stock setup is fine for me.

Toneloc

You had a precious owner that was an idiot... Who knows what else is damaged

n0smoke

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, someone didn't know how to drive a stick.

I don't necessarily think the car was abused as that's something you can feel and see. Whoever had the car seemed to take care of it, just seriously rode the clutch...

All of the services were kept up with, oil looks fresh, interior nearly mint, suspension all looks and feels barely used, and it pulls HARD. So (I hope) it should be a good, well taken care of low mileage car once the new clutch is in.

I was looking for an exhaust, but that's been put on the backburner. This will probably be a more worthwhile, peace of mind/feel good "mod" in the long run anyway.

As much as this whole situation sucks, I can't wait to feel the HR spin up that light flywheel.

Jennifer 2

N0smoke, before you rip your car apart to examine the clutch disk, take a minute to check that the master cylinder pushrod has the required amount of free play. Some people, in order to change the clutch pedal height, will over-adjust the rod in so far that it is pushing the master cylinder piston. This will not allow the clutch to fully disengage causing some slippage. Also when the hydraulic fluid heats up and expands it will make this condition worse, as the return port to the reservoir can be closed off by a misadjusted pushrod.

Get down in the foot well and feel for play in the pushrod. If there is no free play hopefully if you are catching this in time, a correct adjustment will stop the clutch from slipping.

Zmandriving

I had this same thing happen. Changed clutch and flywheel to jwt combo and didn't do master and slave. So had to have mechanic go back in there a second time. If you are just doing stock clutch might be able to get away with oem slave and master, but if you go for stronger clutch/flywheel combo better be getting the aftermarket parts.

Toneloc

Op I did jwt clutch with light weight flywheel combo with wilwood master slave.... I would do your slave... My clutch operated fine at 110000 miles then the matter slave was sticking and making engagement slip slightly when releasing clutch... Chatter you will not hear unless you are in neutral with clutch released.

n0smoke

iTrader: (1)

Thanks a bunch for this! Unfortunately, I wasn't lucky enough to have this be the culprit. Everything looks and feels correct. Also had a friend who has a heck of a lot more experience than me check it out. He confirmed it was just a slipping clutch


Thanks for the replies. I'm the type of guy that would rather do it right the first time if I'm gonna be in there. Lord knows I don't wanna have to go back in the bell 20k miles down the road.

I went ahead and ordered the South Bend Clutch Stage 2 Endurance kit from ZSpeed Performance which includes:

-South Bend DXD Clutch Stage 2 Endurance Clutch Kit
-South Bend DXD Clutch 19lb Billet Steel Flywheel
-ZSpeed Heavy Duty Concentric Slave CSC Kit with Stainless Fluid Lines
-ZSpeed Wilwood HD Clutch Master Cylinder Kit
-Motul Gear 300 Trans Fluid 4 liters
-1 Motul 5.1 Clutch/Brake Fluid
-Pilot Bushing
-Clutch Alignment Tool

I gotta grab a rear main seal from Nissan.

Can anyone think of anything else I/the mechanic will need during the install? Like I said. I want this to be once, and done.



OUCH......

travlee

iTrader: (8)

you should be done, i was looking at the southbend setup before i sold the car. glad you got the z speed slave, you will never need another one

drvqz33

iTrader: (10)

You did good buying something good from the beginning and dropping the bank at one time. Instead of buying cheap parts then something happens, and you end up spending more money. You'll be set for a long time with that setup for sure.

theshrink1

I have an appointment set up for a clutch replacement. I am on a budget so I went with Exedy OEM replacement kit. Bone stock. I don't suspect any other problems but perhaps a flywheel resurface. However, I've read that there could a few other things to do since the shop will have the tranny out. At bare minimum what else should I pick up to have them do?

Thanks.