sleepermaxima

iTrader: (2)

I have a fidanza flywheel, clutchnet 6-puck clutch kit, stock 5spd tranny on the floor of my garage.

Everything was going fine with the swap until I was finally able to put the Crank Position Sensor ring gear on the Fidanza. One hole does not line up. The other 8 are fine.

A friend at a local shop that ordered the flywheel (we figured just specifying "4th gen" would suffice) talked to the rep at fidanza (also a maxima guy) and said that they do not make one for the 1995 Maxima because it is unique to all other years. And they will not make them in the future. I have never heard of this

So, I need to know if anyone else has come across this issue. If you have, what did you do? Did you drill a new hole in the gear? I have to assume that would throw the balance of the assembly off, correct? Were there any vibration issues?

thanks in advance!

D

95stillenmax

iTrader: (11)

hmmm......jay put a fadanza flywheel in my car and a stage 2 spec clutch and we had to take it out the next day because it wouldnt go into gear could this be true

ABK

well if you will drill a hole you will have vibration issues

Nismo

iTrader: (18)

wonder if a 96-99 ring gear will work

dss42

iTrader: (1)

hmm.. thats odd I thought it was 95-01

sleepermaxima

iTrader: (2)

That is def one of the ideas on the table. The next question is: why did Nissan move one bolt 1/2 an inch when they were evenly spaced on the 95? Because other than that, this flywheel would bolt right up to the crank and the clutch would bolt right up to it. I have test fitted everything.

The other idea is to drill and tap another hole in the correct location on the flywheel. Then fill the other hole with aluminum.

This has to have happened to other people... but I can't find anything using the search. Weird. Or Fidanza made a one-off just to screw with me

Maybe we can get this little tidbit incorprated into the modification FAQ sticky? There is a post in there from 'wong about flywheels... but nothing about this.

D

Nismo

iTrader: (18)

maybe the ammount of teeth on the gear is different on 95 but something went wrong and they corrected it when they made the 96+ so they changed the hole pattern so the shops that dont know about it, wont install the wrong gear. Just a guess.

mAxPwEr4Us

iTrader: (1)

i have a 1995 and 1996 maxima's both 5sp

i added at fidanza n my 1995 like almost a year ago.... i did it my this "mechanic" out side my house. and i have no idea why, but we didnt have that problem. when everything was done. the car would shake really bad everytime i shifted, but i took it to this asian guy and he said that i didnt tight the flywheel all the way. he did it and fixed my problem. i love the new flywheel. im pretty sure makes my rpm go up alot faster. well at least alot faster then my 1996 one. i just thought i would share this with you

95stillenmax

iTrader: (11)

maybe the later 95s are differant than the earlier ones

JAY25

iTrader: (38)

Weird. I did my swap, I put a stock 5 speed flywheel into my car. You should have just bought a different gear ring with the extra hole. Lucky I have two spare flywheels, lets see if the one I have in my 95 is the same as my spare. I do have a fidenza but I have not installed it. Not planning ot install it anytime soon.

sleepermaxima

iTrader: (2)

I'm guessing that it is a subset of the 95's that are like this. So, not all 95's would have this bolt pattern for the ring gear. Maybe a mid-year update?

After some long-hard thinking about why this happened, I developed a hypothesis that states that Nissan wanted to balance the flywheel better by moving this one bolt. who knows, I wish I could have been a fly on the wall at Nissan when those engineers did their thing.

Jaime, do you know of a place to get used ring gears? I've been calling around and they are not willing to pull the tranny/flywheel just so I can get a ring gear... not without paying a rediculous sum of money.

The local Nissan dealership can't locate the ring gear nor it's bolts in the parts DB. I've gotten some really obscure parts from them before so this one has me stumped.

95BLKMAX

iTrader: (10)

Can anybody please take a picture of this mystery-hole on the ring gear? PLEASE! I have a Fidanza that I'll be putting in by the end of the summer and I'd like to compare w/e you guys are talking about to my Fidanza.
OK, I see all the 9 holes for the bolts, with one being smack bet'n 2 others (the other 8 are evenly spaced except that one, but that one is evenly spaced bet'n two other holes). There are also 3 iddy bitty holes around that same perimeter. Pictures, please pictures, lol.

sleepermaxima

iTrader: (2)

I dropped the flywheel, ring gear, pressure plate and fasteners off at a machine shop to have it assembled and balanced. I can def take some pics when I get it back.

But it sounds like you have what I have. I think the three little holes are for the guide pins that align the ring gear to the flywheel. You should have a little bag of pins that came with the wheel.

The real question is: does the stock flywheel on your car have evenly spaced bolts or this pattern that Fidanza makes? Obviously, you can't answer that q until you pull the transmission though.

If I have not gotten back to this thread in a week make sure you ping me so i remember to give you a final synopsis.

D

Linkage23

iTrader: (2)

Last year I purchased and installed a new Fidanza Flywheel. This year it went out with my ACT Stage II clutch setup so I had to buy a new one with a almost swtock clutch to make my Max more reliable. Anyways, I had to ge the flywheel remachined to fit my 95 and that sucked! I spent an extra $230 to have 15 holes redrilled. I wasn't too impressed with Fidanza's customer service either so be careful. If you have the money and your mind set on the Fidanza flywheel than do it. I still lov ethe way this flywheel feels over stock. Wish they still made them though, don't feel like shellingout another $250 to have a custom flywheel.

sleepermaxima

iTrader: (2)

Well, I got the flywheel back from the machinist. Even though I told him to double check the balance of it with the drilled ring gear he didn't.. He said that he weighed the shavings from the hole drilled out of the ring gear and it didn't even amount to .5 grams. So he believed that I would not feel anything due to that.

So I installed the flywheel and clutch. It went on fine. I have put about 50-60 miles on it now and I have not felt any vibration due to flywheel imbalance. Idles smooth and is smooth all through the RPMs. The 6-puck clutch is a completely different story... moaning, chattering and abrupt contact has fulfilled every one of my expectations I hope this gets more friendly after the break-in.

Anyway, my experience is, go ahead and get the fidanza... drill the ring gear yourself (carefully!) and you should be fine. This is my experience... others may not agree. (Those that don't, please speak up)

D

Larry H

my car is apart at the shop right now because they put in my new spec stage 1 with a fidanza and it wouldn't start. I thought I wouldn't have a problem because I have a 96.

is it a matter of drilling a hole or two to attach the old ring gear onto the new flywheel, or do you need to redrill the whole flywheel? Anyone who has done this please give me some detailed instructions, because I need to tell the mechanic over the phone this morning how to do this.

sleepermaxima

iTrader: (2)

Does it not start because they did not reinstall the ring gear? Did they forget to reconnect a harness?

Assuming they did not install the ring gear and tried to restart it, the flywheel should have one misaligned hole on it in relation to the ring gear holes. I thought this problem only pertains to 95's though... let me know if this is what the mechanics are seeing.

Anyway, if there is only one misaligned hole, just drill a hole in the RING GEAR (not the flywheel). Everything else should bolt on without issues.

D

Larry H

I think he didn't put the ring gear back on b/c it wouldn't fit. I just got off the phone with the mechanic again, and he said he's just looking at it now...and said there shouldn't be any issues with drilling the ring gear and putting it all back together. says he's gonna call me later with the good news (fingers crossed).

thanks for your help.

sleepermaxima

iTrader: (2)

Cool. Please report your findings after you get it back and drive it around for a bit. I would have to keep giving advice based on one experience.

Thanks,
D

Larry H

so I told the mechanic to drill out the gear ring...and he did. picked up the car a few hours ago.

the good: the car revs a little more freely and feels "peppier." rev matching is easier, like everyone said.

the bad: the car vibrates a little more at idle. if you put your hand on the steering wheel and shifter you can feel it. at idle the engine now pulses enough that you can hear it in the exhaust.

it revs nice and smooth in every gear, but in the lower gears at just the right throttle, the car surges ever so slightly in rhythm. not sure if this is normal.

speaking of the clutch, the spec stage 1 is lighter than stock, about as light as a civic clutch. engagement is not that smooth but easier to modulate than before. I'm hoping the pedal gets heavier and the engagement gets smoother as I break it in.

nismo2020

iTrader: (1)

where did you guys buy your fidanza flywheels from? everywhere i have looked on the net has only given a model year of 99-00.

sleepermaxima

iTrader: (2)

I think that is the same flywheel. You can always give Fidanza a call as well. I worked through a local shop so I didn't get to ask about any details.

D

sleepermaxima

iTrader: (2)

Really? I'm sorry to hear that... do you have the stock motor mounts? I'm running on stock (super mushy) mounts so that may account for why I don't feel a difference. Idle is exacly the same as before. It never was perfectly smooth though.

D