Xnke

As far as I can find, the 1997-1998 trucks with the VG30E or VG33ER have the same transmission, but the -ER has a different third gear ratio.

Mine is from a 1997 Frontier pickup with the VG33ER engine, 3.3L M62- supercharged SOHC.

Got the head back on the car, took a little vacation and hoping this saturday/sunday I'll have enough time between painting a motorcycle and racking some homemade wine to get the oil and filter changed, and get the new head/cam run in and the lash settled out. After about a month, I'll get the super back on and we'll go see how the cool September air treats this dogged out transmission before I swap in the beefed up FS5W71E still sitting in my garage floor.

I have a 308* cam with opening/closing numbers close to yours, duration at fifty is slightly less at 242*, lift is 0.588" The cam was cut on a Japan hex-lug core a long time back, and I don't have a manufacturer, nor any kind of marking on the cam at all. it shows very little wear on it, but I don't have the brass ones to chuck it in the Z and drive it in traffic. I've REALLY thought about it, though, but for now it's greased and wrapped up in the box my Isky custom cut came in, till I figure out what to do with it. I have thought about sending it in and getting it profiled just in case, but haven't done it yet.

The '71A gearbox can not handle much more than stock power levels and synchronizer assemblies have been harder to find for a while now. It's essentially a modified and strengthened roadster gearbox. I would set it aside for someone who needs it for vintage racing, and go for a later model gearbox from a ZX or a ZX turbo. There are plenty of ZX turbo models out that part of the world, and they'll work well with the rear gears in your Z. He's got an early 3-piece 5 speed, gentlemen, with the 3.90 ratio R180 rear end, gentlemen, it's not a common box in the US, and we don't see many of them here. You all might see more of them in the Southlands; but that's the extent of my knowledge on them.

I see. Being as 5th is trapped between the steel centerplate and the tailshaft/countershaft rear bearings, I see no reason for it to fail once we have the actual gear strength up high enough to prevent the gear splitting. There is a local shop that can cut me a helical gearset (stronger, quieter) and I will be calling them up to see what they'd have to have to do the job.

AH, so now I understand. I thought you were breaking the 18mm gears! So what makes the FJ box so desirable over any of the other standard, probably more common FS5W71C/E/G transmissions? Is it just the gear ratios plus the undrilled 18mm 5th?

Yes, you'll smash 5th gear in ANY of those transmissions, including the FJ turbo box, at the power levels you're looking at. They're only 16mm wide in most of the boxes and 18mm wide in any of the rest I've ever seen...Just get a pair of 5th gears machined to fit the later box, if you can work around the ratios. I don't drive 7500RPM in 5th gear, because I know the C-box stock 5th gears won't handle it. They just don't look very strong compared to the rest of the gears. I have a metal shaper setup for cutting gears and internal splines on, but it's not working just yet and I haven't had time to futz about with it. I'd like to machine a 22mm wide 5th gear set for these boxes from 4140-prehard or 9130 and deep-case them. I bet that'd fix 5th at PI, Peter! The 1995+ transmissions run a strong roller bearing on the rear countershaft plus the tailshaft ball bearing up top, and the later boxes have much stronger-looking support in the case for both of those rear bearings. If I hadn't just sealed up the one in the shop floor I'd take some comparison shots for you. I am still trying to find a 24mm wide countershaft gear instead of the 22mm wide one I have, to match the input shaft gear in the box I've got built for my car; but so far, no luck. That would leave me with a 24mm input set, 1st gear set, 22mm 2nd gear, 3rd gear, and an 18mm fine-mesh 5th gear. There is plenty of room to machine a 22mm wide 5th gear set in any ratio you want, and not have to buy the whole countershaft assembly. Gear damage on 1-4 is almost always bearing failure first, and I've heard of shift-fork breakage causing it to get locked into two gears at once, too, but haven't seen it. Usually broken forks just lock up the trans in one gear, but if you try hard enough... Might want to look into just machining a replacement the 5th gear set, might be a more accessable option. Not sure if you can deal with the ratios you all got in the Southlands compared to what came here; most of the heavy-duty 95+ -C and -E type boxes here are from heavier box trucks and SUV's, and have close-ish ratio sets and 4.08 and 4.375 rear end gears, with a VG30e or KA24DE in front of them. The VG33ER-equipped SUV's and pickups had 3.321, 1.912, 1.517, 1.00, and 0.745 gearing, the VG30E boxes have 3.321, 1.902, 1.308, 1.00, 0.745 gearing. Those SUV's aren't real common with those drivelines though, they usually have the FS5R30A and a VG30DE or VQ series engines nowadays. The box in my floor actually came from a 1998 2WD Frontier SE, VG33ER engine and a 4.08 C233 solid rear axle. I'm hoping the odd ratio for 3rd gear was chosen for supercharger service, since that's what I'll be using it for. EDIT: You guys are hitting 165++ on PI? (7000RPM, 0.833 5th gear, 245-45-17's on a 3.90 rear end)

Look for a later C-box...little more work to get together, but much stronger. 1995+ FS5W71C gearboxes are much improved strengthwise versus the older FS5W71B units. They are still just a front case swap away...and don't use the small countershaft bearing if you are concerned with strength. Of the fifteen damaged boxes I've had apart in my shop in the last two years, I have never found a box with severe gear tooth damage, without finding either the front countershaft bearing failed, or the pilot shaft bearing failed. The later boxes have a bigger pilot shaft bearing, as well as the 62mm countershaft bearing, 20+mm wide gears (the box in my garage is 22mm wide, except the input shaft and the 1st gear set being 24mm wide.)

That's a finished intake port, The flow at 37mm was good enough that I blended the roof and sides into the 38mm intake manifold and called it done. The head goes to the machine shop for a proper valve job, S3S, and a second pressure test to make sure this one isn't cracked or ported badly...It happens.

And that level of performance vs durability is a good thing for me. I have a largeish cooler installed in a low point on the car...it will need to be a little more durable. It's not exactly going in a damage prone area but it's not shielded much either. Going to be ducting it in behind the brake-cooling-duct on the air dam, exhausting air to the wheel well. Will be mounted below the right-side headlight bucket.

Had a bit of mixed luck this afternoon! I missed a buy of a 1976 Toyota RA22 Celica by fifteen minutes...the car sold for scrap metal to a dealer. I have called said dealer trying to throw money at him to get it before he crushes it. BUT! I found a local flowbench and slapped the currently-37mm-ish ports on it, and did a little flow work! This is with what's left of the old valve job, on used, but clean, stock-sized valves. I lapped the valves in to get them to seal up closed, but that's about it. The top angle of the 3 angle job is still there, but a lot of the bottom angle isn't or is modified from the die grinder. Lift - Intake Flow .1 - 62.4 .2 - 117.1 .3 - 157.8 .4 - 199.1 (FIGJAM!) .5 - 214.1 Lift - Exhaust flow .1 -- 51.4 .2 -- 80.3 .3 -- 102.1 .4 -- 128.8 .5 -- 134.1 Not too bad! I have no idea how this compares to a stock port; as I don't have any heads with stock ports except a Maxima N47. I also have no idea if this bench is padded/accurate/garbage...it's an old garge-built unit that seemed pretty consistant, though. I was getting very close to the limits of the bench, I had the air valve wide open to get the full 28"WC for the upper end of the intake flow. A guy in the back of the neighborhood has it, but he's moving out this week. I saw it in his garage and asked if I could borrow it for a few minutes. An hour later, I was done and helped him load it into his moving truck. I asked...he didn't want to sell. I have a very good idea of how to copy it though...

Valves that are bent just enough to say they're bent, may "pull closed" against the force of the valve spring...but this will fatigue the valve stem and eventually break off the head! Doesn't take too long to happen, either. Only had one case where that might have happened that I've seen, but it was hard to tell after the carnage.

Check the cam timing is close...you should be able to get it started. Double check your ignition timing, you may need to advance it some to get the car started, or you may be 180* out. If the car is carburated, it sounds like you are flooding out...the cam can't handle that much fuel on cranking. Check the chokes to be sure they're shut. Rule this out by pumping the throttle...if it gets better and starts, it was too lean. If it gets worse and floods, it was already too rich and the problem got worse.

Yep...that's why the FAA requires such strict cleaning procedures every 300 hours of running the engine. It's almost two days on four different flushing machines...and they DO get clean inside. Nothing bigger than 10 microns is allowed to be found at ALL after a flushing, when they inspect the filter. That's any particle 1/3 the size of the smallest particle most normal oil filters will filter out...so that's three times cleaner than it will be after 3000 miles of use in the car. If the engine has a blowup...the cooler is automatically dead. No amount of flushing will make it airworthy again. I inspect every cooler I pull for any kind of metal in the oil, and then they go to the FAA approved reman center to get cleaned and checked out. It's a good idea to pull your oil cooler every few years or once a season anyway and have it cleaned by one of these places, you'd be amazed at the crap that comes out of one on a good running engine! If it's good enough to fly, it's good enough for my car...That said, the Earls coolers are the same as what ford installs on the trucks OEM, but the ford coolers usually are set up for 5/16" lines instead of the larger lines that the Earls units are. The big stacked plate cooler is rated by Long (the manufacturer) at being able to dissapate 30,000BTU's of heat...that should be plenty. I am still trying to figure out how to mount the bar-and-plate core...those things are dead simple to get clean inside once you cut the tanks off the ends. It's just a little too long to mount the way I want, but I can't cut the endplates off, have to keep those so I have something to weld tanks on.