MAINTENANCE

Be sure to also visit Jim Wright's SE-R Maintenance Page

Jim Wright (w...@mail.apple.com)

...check my maintenance page for more info.

I've got a classic ('91-'94) SE-R and my fogs have been cracked by stray rocks. Can I replace just the glass part? Where do people get their replacements?

Ronald S. Chong (r...@umich.edu)

You can remove the lens; note that "lens" doesn't mean just the glass part; it the glass and the back casing. But this saves you from having to buy the black frame that the lens mounts into.

In any case, I've gotten replacement lenses for ~$22/lens from my local imports parts shop. They typically have had to special order them for me, but there was no extra charge and they arrived within 14 days. The Bosch part number is

1 305 354 945

Fender well cleaning...

Anonymous

After seeing some members here talking about premature rust through, I decided to take a really close look at my 93 classic. Rust through is a common problem here in Minnesota since they use allot of salt on the roads during the winter months to keep them clear of ice.

Both doors are fine, but the inner sill section of the front fenders (the section that is visible when the doors are open and you look between the door and the frame) were filled with dirt and leaves. One side was completely plugged (the dirt was visible, but the other (driver's) side looked clean and even flowed water through the bottom drain hole, but was almost completely filled with dirt when I took it apart. Fortunately, no rust was apparent on either side.

The procedure took me about 30 minutes:

Remove the mud flaps (if so equipped) with an 8 mm wrench. Without mudflaps, remove move the lower 3 fasteners holding the inner fender well liner in place.
Open the door and carefully remove the lower fender bolt with a 10mm socket on a 3 inch extension.
Move the fender liner away from the seam beneath the sill and remove the 2 fender bolts with a 10mm socket.
Gently loosen the lower section of fender. It takes a little effort to pop it free, but be careful - it is probably possible to bend the fender, and the mounting tab can scratch the door. Once loose the lower section of the fender will hang away from the sill.
Spray out the lower sill area with a garden hose. Make sure to spray from both the front and the back. The object here is to remove any debris that is stuck so spray it out well.
Dry the area out. I used compressed air to blow it dry, but with some effort (and contortions) you could probably dry it by hand. I also sprayed the area with LPS (a WD-40 type spray), but next spring I'll use BoeShield T-9 instead. I wouldn't use undercoating here since it does drain the cowl area beneath the windshield and undercoating could plug the drain hole.
Re-install the fender bolts. It is easier to install the upper bolt first and carefully line up the bolt shadow on the tab with the bolt to preserve the bodywork alignment.
Re-install the inner fender liner or the mudflap.

I'm think I'm going to do this every spring.

Speedometer cable replacement...

Lawrence Weeks (d...@deskmedia.com)

See my instructions on Jim Wright's Maintenance Page.

How in the hell do you guys change this oil filter of ours? I can't get any leverage on my filter wrench to even try to get it off.

Lawrence Weeks (d...@deskmedia.com)

I use a filter cap with a 3/8" T-handle (handle with drive on end which swivels 180 degrees). I work the filter cap on, get the T-handle attached, press against the cap with one hand, and turn the handle with the other. Once it loosens up enough, I spin it off by hand. I tried a U-joint with extension to a rachet, but that was too awkward. Maybe a slim flex head rachet would work better.

Julian (h...@ardc.ENET.dec.com)

I've had good luck with one of those little sheets of rubber that you use to unscrew jam jars with. The filter is tightened hand tight and the filter has never leaked.

Robert Bonner (n...@unicomp.net)

n I have bought the wrench and the cap and never could get them to work. I used a hammer and a long, flat-head screwdriver. Works ever time. I whack at it off-center to the left. Obviously, you do NOT strike in the middle or you would hit the shaft in the center of the filter. I hit it at in angle which will loosen it and then, when the driver begins to penetrate, I twist from right to left and then the oil filter's grip is "broken". I then remove it by hand. It's messier because now you have a hole in the filter, but it works and I hate fumbling with those tools that don't work...

Replace the power steering fluid...

Dave Shoenberger (d...@kodak.com)

Mike Piera (A...@aol.com)

See our instructions on Jim Wright's Maintenance Page.

The shop manual says that Nissan doesn't sell individual ball joints (the joint between the control arm and the knuckle). So, when the ball joints go bad, you have to buy new control arms since they come with new ball joint. Has anyone found a way around this?

Robert Bonner (n...@unicomp.net)

I ran into this problem and heard Nissan's solution. I basically said "to hell with that!" I went to Pep Boys (a local auto place..somewhat large chain) and we went over the various parts available. It appears that the ball joint IS available for a 1990 Nissan Sentra. I knew the part might not be the same but I took the chance anyway. I ordered it, about 30 something dollars.

Well, it pretty much looks the same as the one that was remove. Well, and that is another issue: removing the old and replacing with the new. I tried and failed so I took the mess to a Texaco gass station and paid FIVE WHOLE DOLLARS to have someone else do this for me. I watched and learned. The guy took the arm, put it in a vice, then found a ratchet socket that fit on top of the old ball joint and proceeded to hammer with a hand-sledge. He got it out. The new one took a little more time and he was more precise with his impacts. I thought he worked on it a few times even after it looked flush. Then you put the cod ring? back in. That ring you have to push out to get it off...you'll see it. Anyways, that was how I got out of spend a hundred or so flipping dollars on more metal than what I needed!

I've tried replacing the drive belts. The alternator/AC belt is easy. The power steering belt is impossible. Anyone suceed in doing this?

Shahjehan Baber (c...@hc281.mdc.com)

I checked w/ the nearby dealer & the charge for installation was outrageous. So I decided to do it myself. I finally completed the job w/ pain (great pain). This is how I did:

Remove the front passenger-side wheel.
Remove the side panel (plastic close out panel located in the wheel well, attached w/ 4 screws ; 1 nylon & 3 metal...)..
Remove the reservoir from radiator (plastic bottle that holds the coolant). This should just come off.
Loosen the alternator adjustment bolts. (2 bolts, need 12mm wrench).
Alternator would need a push to turn such that it loosens the belts & for that a non metal ham mer is OK. Or back side of a hammer (wooden side) to move from jammed position.. It may be requ ired to hit it several times. This must be done at a heavier flanged section to prevent any dam age on the component.
Remove the belt as required.
Now the belt that drives the p/s is smaller in size & is hard to reach from one angle. Follow ing are some suggestions:
This belt is secured also w/ same procedure (2 bolts 12mm heads) for tightening & loosening. Loosen the bolt from the top (this is not the adjustment bolt).
Loosen the other bolt (adjustment bolt) from underneath the car (this requires some effort but don't loose heart. Lay underneath the car & use left hand).
Pull on the belt to loosen the jammed position of the components.
Remove the belt as convenient from above or below.
Reinstall the belts the same way starting from the p/s first & make necessary adjustments in the manner the bolts are accessed.

Where can I find technical service bulletins (TSBs) for the SE-R, NX, etc?

Don Dale (d...@princeton.edu)

Try http://www.alldata.tsb.com/.

When changing your coolant, how do you know when all the bubbles are out?

Douglas Tunney (t...@huey.met.fsu.edu)

Near the thermostat housing, there is an extra bolt for just this purpose. To help drain your cooling system and flush it, remove this bolt (it goes directly into a coolant passage in the head) and the bolt on the block. After you've back flushed, close the petcock on the radiator and reinstall the bolt on the block, but leave the bolt OUT near the thermostat. As you refill with coolant, it will eventually flow out of that bolt hole, meaning the block/head is full.

This will eliminate bubbles/air pockets in the cooling system and prevent overheating/warping etc. Check your owner's manual; mine had a nice picture of the location of the bolt near the thermostat.

Merlin Johnson (d...@connectnet.com)

Burp your system. You can jack up the front of the car, turn it on, get it a little hot and watch the water...watch for bubbles.

Has anyone change the hinges on the doors? Mine are sagging pretty badly.

Shahed Hussain (m...@ix.netcom.com)

You can get the hinges replaced at the dealer. The hinges eventually sag from the weight of the door and need to be replaced. The parts are less than $50 I think. I had the work done for a total of about $100.

Dave Grutter (S...@aol.com)

The cause of this problem is a worn out bottom door hinge. The bushings or whatever in the hinge are shot. We're lucky that Nissan designed bolted-on hinges rather than welded-on. A hinge cost me $34 and change, inc tax, at the dealer. [Editorial note: They cost me $25/per from Brown & Brown Nissan. Their number is near the top of this page].

My brother-in-law is ex-GM auto body tech, so he and his tools came in handy. First, we unscrewed and unclipped enough fasteners from the wheel-well liner to peel it back over the tire. Then unscrewed three fasteners from the bottom of the fender panel (one you have to get at w/door open).This way we could hold the fender out of our way a few inches w/a block of wood. Make sure door is closed now. Old hinge comes out pretty easily. Chisel off as much as you can of the seam seal stuff. After we mounted the new hinge we screwed the fender back, but it took a few small adjustments of screws to line it up. The hardest work about this part is scraping away the seam-seal stuff.

This is where it becomes useful to have an auto body guy around. There's a 'tweaking' tool they have that's like a steel bar with cutouts on one end and a sliding gadget w/plastic blocks for padding. The cutout end hooks onto the 'catch' on the door frame, and the sliding gadget hooks into the 'latch' opening in the door. They pull up on the bar and it realigns the door. It makes a hell of a creaking, twisting noise, but after three good adjustments the door is good as new. I won't be reapplying seam seal but I probably will spray the hinge and around it w/some black primer.

The beauty of the 'tweaking tool' is that it does all the work. It provides all the force and leverage. You can tighten all the bolts right up, then align the door. No need to quickly tighten the bolts after aligning. Without the tool, by trial and error, youll be aligning the door then final-tightening the bolts. You would want to make sure the door-side bolts are tight before alignment, leaving the 'play' in the frame-side bolts.

I think the best 'trial and error' method would be to positon the car so that a floor-jack could be used to align the door. You wouldn't want the jack to be exerting force directly to the bottom 'edge' of the door sheet metal, though.

I would recommend the tool, even if you had to mount and tighten the new hinge yourself, then stop by a local neighborhood bodyshop afterward, and offer them a few bux for the use of theirs!

Ronald S. Chong (r...@umich.edu)

I just tried the floor jack method that Dave Grutter (above) suggested as a possible alternative to using that special alignment tool. It worked flawlessly. Here's what I did:

installed the new hinge with the bolts loosely screwed in
opened the door and rested the b-pillar end of the door on a floor jack (of course, use some cardboard or a piece of wood to protect the door). I left it ajar just enough so that I could eyeball the alignment of the latch on the b-pillar to the lock on the door.
jacked the door up so that I was a touch (1/8" to 1/4") higher than the latch.
tighten down all the bolts on the hinge
lower the door

Voila! Perfectly aligned.

Cleaning the throttle body.

Allen Chan (c...@world.std.com)

I talked to my mechanic friend about the trick of cleaning the throttle body for better engine performance. He gave me an education about this topic.

The throttle body gets dirty from the engine gas recirculation. There is a small hose that sends post combustion gases into the intake, I think for emmission reason. This post combustion gas dirtys the throttle body and the rest of the intake manifold. So when you clean only the throttle body, you solve only part of the problem. He said the old fashion carburator cleaners also cleans the throttle body, and the rest of the deposits on the intake manifold.

So we pumped most of a can of gumout carb cleaner into the intake manifold. I also filled the tank with 89 octane gas. I was cheap so I always used the 87 octane gas. The combination of the two did wonders. The car got 200 miles for half a tank of 89 octane gas. Previously, I would get 160-ish mile on half a tank. I can't say how much either contributed to this drastic increase in milage.

I did not lead foot the car much with this tank. I was interested in finding how thing effected the milage. The next tankful, I will lead foot things.

Moral of the story: a bottle of gumout carb cleaner cost $2.00, and it might save you the work of removing and cleaning the throttle body. When you send the carb cleaner into the air intake, maker certain the little red straw is firmly attached. Mine shot into the intake. luckily, it was caught by throttle body.

Pat Griffith (g...@pinn.net)

Has anyone ever used an old toothbrush for cleaning their throttle bodies? I spray the TB with cleaner, let it soak, spray the toothbrush bristles with the cleander then start scrubbing. A toothbrush with a really long handle is ideal.

I've gotta pull my driveaxles. Anyone know the size of the hub nut?

Jim Wright (w...@apple.com)

32mm or 1 1/4" is what you need. If you don't have the socket yet, go straight to Home Depot. You need a deep socket, and the one that Sears has isn't deep enough, it only grabs about 1/4" of the nut, the one from Home Depot (Husky brand) works great. A 1/2" breaker should be just fine, just stand on the end and bounce a bit, just like removing the wheel lug nuts.:)

Finding cracks in spark plug wires.

Filippo Morelli (no address yet)

Spark plug wires can develop some cracks that weren't readily visible, would give a good jolt if you touched the right spot. So an easy way to check the wires without being shocked would be nice. Take a spritzer bottle and fill it with water. Spray liberally on all the wires and cap and rotor. Start the car and let it idle. The water will seep into any cracks and up the conductivity. If you have any cracks, you will see spark from the crack to the next closest conductive location.

Changing a CV Boot.

Wayne Cox (w...@erinet.com)

Remove big axle bolt on wheel hub. Way tight (over 150 ft lbs). I needed an impact wrench (rented an electric for $9) and propane torch to get one of them. Also a 32mm socket.
Separate ball-joints. Nissan manual shows special puller. Don't use a regular "pickle fork" wedge splitter. I did and trashed a ball-joint boot.
Separate tie rod ends. You'll need a puller/splitter here too, but they come off easily. Detatch sway bar ends.
Push down on the control arm, and pull out the hub/brake and you can extract the axle. The hub/brake/strut will dangle from the top of the strut. Loosening the 3 top strut bolts will give a little more play to work with.
Drain the transaxle oil.
The driver side axle takes a lot of prying to get out, there's a snap ring retainer in the transaxle.
Other side has a bearing (attached to engine block) in the axle center. 3 bolts and it's out. The axle will pull out easily on this side.
You should also replace the axle seals on the transaxle. They are prone to leaking, esp after having the axles out. Don't drive the new ones in too far - they won't bottom out until you have gone way too far. Just go till they are flush with the outside of the housing.
Careful not to scrape the seals on reassembly - put some grease on the splines and contact surfaces. Grease up the retaining ring on the L side to keep it centered in its slot.
This is also a perfect time to remove your control arms, brackets, motor mounts, and anything else to sandblast, prime, and paint :) Also polish and clear-coat your transaxle. Course this is why it takes me 3 weeks for a dumb weekend clutch job.

A cautionary note about buying inner CV boots...

Lawrence Weeks (d...@dm2.deskmedia.com)

A couple months ago, I found that I had a rip in my inside left CV boot. I went and ordered the boot kit, but didn't have time to replace it until just last Sunday. After a couple hours, I got the shaft out. After I put it in the vise, and began to remove the boot straps, I noticed that it WAS NOT the same as the new boot. Argh! I also discovered that my left driveshaft was not the one the service manual showed as being installed. Rather, I appeared to have the driveshaft which was shown for the GA16DE model vehicles.

So, I put the shaft back together, put the front end back together, and visited Nissan on Monday. The parts guy verified that he had given me the correct boot. According to the parts catalog, a '91 SR20DE vehicle has the same boot for both left and right transaxle joints. Upon further digging, though, he discovered that in the older microfiche, there were two different part numbers for the left and right transaxle joints. He ordered the part shown there. That turns out to appear be the correct part, # 39741-64Y25. I'll find out for sure when I go to install it again next weekend.

Background: according to the 1991 service manual (and current parts listings), both left and right driveshafts have identical joints/housings. That driveshaft has a smooth, round housing for the transaxle side joint. However, my left driveshaft has a transaxle joint housing with "flutes," three rounded grooves. The CV boot must have "dimples" to fill these flutes, which the boot I originally got did not have. The latest boot has those dimples.

So, if you are planning on changing your CV boots, keep this in mind, and make sure you have the right part BEFORE you take the entire front end apart. :-) BTW, I wound up taking those Nissan boot kits back and getting boot kits from a driveshaft shop. Perfect fit, and only $14.00 each. Probably the same boots Nissan sells.

Changing an instrument cluster lightbulb.

Dave Scampoli (d...@iconn.net)

After disconnecting the battery....
Remove all the driver's side dashboard panels and loosen the center panel.
Take off the steering wheel column plastic shroud (you have to pry it apart after you take out the screws thanks to some plastic locking tabs).
Put the tilt steering wheel in the lowest position.
Now here's the part that took 3 hours (and a frustrating read through almost every page in the 4 inch thick factory-issue service manual)--and you may still have to take out the driver's side seat to do this. If you reach up under and behind the dashboard past the driver's side air duct (and there isn't much room to do this) you can just about get your fingers on the speedometer cable where it connects to the instrument cluster (forget trying to reach the bulbs--you can't get sufficient leverage on them to turn them). There are 2 small buttons on either side of the speedometer cable about 1/2 inch back from the panel to disconnect the speedometer cable. If you press these while gently pulling the instrument panel back, the cable will disconnect. You can then access the bulbs by tilting the panel back. The hardest part is doing all this blind, as you have to feel your way around behind the dashboard up to the speedometer cable.
The best place to put you hand up the dashboard is next to the steering column right between the clutch & brake pedals. There's an air duct that runs longitudinal on the driver's side that you have to go around, and a pretty big wiring harness that you need to push back to make room. You can also just feel around the firewall for the speedometer cable (it is about 3/8" in diameter and is stiff like coaxial cable) and just follow it up to the instrument cluster. Anyone with big hands may have problems with this because there is not a lot of room around that duct.

After spending an entire Saturday flat on my back on the floor of my SE-R, I decided I was never going through this again and replaced all the bulbs in the instrument panel while I had it apart. I was very surprised to find there was no reference to changing instrument panel bulbs anywhere in the service manual.

Tip for fixing the sunroof switch...

Shahed Ameer (Shahed_Ameer@ccm.fm.intel.com)

The sun-roof switch on my '91 SE-R finally died on me the other day. Luckily all it needed was to have the contacts cleaned and it's working like new again. Tip: be careful when taking apart the switch -- there's a tiny bushing that's used to prop up the switch. I dropped mine when I was taking it apart and never could find it. I found a Q-tip tip to be a good substitute although the switch doesn't have the same feel to it anymore.

Fuel injector cleaning.

Wayne Cox (w...@erinet.com)

Have R.C. Engineering clean your fuel injectors! It's only a lousy 108 bucks! No, I'm not on their payroll. I can't make any guarantees, but my timeslips from the drag stip immediately went from 16.2 to 15.31, and 7.05 on the trusty VC200 (w. winter traction). No one else here with a non-blown car has been able to show numbers this good. I don't have any explanation for what was "wrong" with my injectors, but my "before" performance and some other probs seem about identical to what everyone else is reporting.

Merlin Johnson (d...@connectnet.com)

R.C. Engineering
1728 Border Ave.
Torrence CA
1.310.320.2277

M-F: 9-5

$24 each injector, clean ultrasonically. You can drive their can get same day turnaround.

Fred Miceli (F...@aol.com)

The cleaning at R.C. cost $28.50/injector, totalling $114.00. Then you must pay for shipping both ways (price depends on method of course) and must buy some small bolts (don't use screws), O-rings and insulators. Here is my total bill:

Injector Cleaning $114

O-rings & insulators $39

Bolts/washers $ 7

TOTAL $160

What does advancing the timing accomplish? How is it done? Why do i have to disconnect the TPS (throttle position sensor) when I advance the timing? I find that when I do this the car always dies.

John Todd (j...@eig485.af.mil)

By having the spark plug fire a couple of degrees sooner, you give the mixture more time to burn, thus burning more completely, thus releasing more energy, thus creating more power. One of the limiting factors in how much advance you can use is knock. This is one of the places octane comes into play. Lower octane fuels burn more quickly and limit the amount of advance you can dial in. But our motors are designed to run regular 87 octane, and since 17 degrees is within spec for the motor, you shouldn't need to go to higher octane, unless you've done something else to the motor like running higher compression.

Wayne Cox (w...@erinet.com)

Here's the instructions from the factory manual on adjusting ignition timing. My (Wayne's) comments are in [square brackets], the rest is pretty much verbatim from the book.

Warm up engine to regular operating temp, and ensure idle speed stays below 1000 rpm.
Run engine at 2000 rpm for 2 minutes under no-load [in neutral, no accessories on]. Race engine 2 or 3 times under no-load, then run engine at idle speed. [this heats up the oxygen sensor so it is working]
Turn off engine and disconnect throttle position sensor (TPS) harness connector. [It's on the side of the throttle body facing the firewall - driver side of the engine, down low and past the brake master-cylinder]
Start engine. Race engine (2 - 3000 rpm) under no-load, the run at idle speed. [You may have trouble keeping it running with the throttle sensor disconnected. Depending on where your timing is set, it may stall. If so have someone sit in the car and press the gas *very slightly* to keep it running. Don't rev it up or you will not get an accurate timing reading/adjustment. Keep it at idle speed, about 800 rpm]
Check ignition timing with a timing light. It should be 15 degrees plus or minus 2 degrees Before Top Dead Center. [The timing mark at the extreme left (counter-clockwise) is zero degrees. There are lines at 5, 10 and 20 degrees to the right of it. There is a wide paint mark from 13 to 15 degrees, which the factory probably set yours to. Eyeball 17 degrees between the marks and that's what you want.]
```
	0    5    10 1315   20
	|    |    |  ###    |
			 ^

			 17

   
```
If not, slightly loosen two bolts holding the distributor, and twist it to obtain the desired timing. [Recheck the setting after tightening the bolts!]
Shut off engine and reconnect throttle sensor.

That's it. The trick is to set it to the extreme limit of the specification - 17 degrees. You'll get noticably better throttle response there. Advanced timing helps power, but can cause knocking or pinging. The EFI computer *should* "hear" this and back off the timing to prevent engine damage, at which point it may run worse than if you had kept the timing conservative. Mine didn't benefit from going beyond 17. I always run 91 octane or better gas too, which lets you push the timing farther without trouble.

Jim Wright (w...@mail.apple.com)

Also see my instructions on my Maintenance Page.

Merlin Johnson (d...@connectnet.com)

The TPS is there to basically give you better throttle response (it reacts faster to your flooring the pedal and the ECU can act accordingly rather than wait for the air flow/vacuum to change) and as another sensor for the ECU to see what your doing, hence giving you better throttle response. If you advance the timing the idle wants to go up, so the TPS sees this and brings it back down and vice versa. You end up having to make very big changes to the timing to get an response on your timing light, so you disconnect the TPS to adjust the timing. Nothing will be hurt by fiddling with the timing with the TPS connected, you just wont be able to accurately read your changes, unless you want to guess ;)

Erik Olson (e...@mail.berksys.com)

If you're having problem with keeping the car running with the TPS disconnected, the Nissan Manual says that you have to rev the engine to 3000 rpm and keep it there for 2 minutes. That should keep the engine going.

David Schmidt (d...@rain.org)

...it sounds to me like your base idle RPM is set too low. Try unscrewing the idle adjustment a full turn and give it a try again. Afterwards, be sure to turn in the idle screw until it matches what the book says it should be. This 'too low' base idle RPM can be caused by accumulation of dirt in the AAV valve or idle bypass passages. This is just a rough suggestion of what to do about the idle. Be sure to use the idle setting procedure detailed in the service manual.

Has anyone changed the clutch themselves?

Frank Schmid (Frank_Schmid@torbloor.xc.xerox.com)

I have a 91 NX-2000, and at 187,000 Km I changed my clutch in the garage where I live, not air tools, no lift. When I did mine, I did not need to pull the motor. The whole thing was quite easy, and the only time I needed another person was to hold the tranny up while I was under it to position it onto the locating pins. All you need it good (tall!) jack stands for the front, and a good set of tools!

Now it took me about 10 hours, but this way my first clutch and I took my time. Now I have 210,000 Km on the clutch, and it is great.

Clutch cable replacement...

Lawrence Weeks (d...@deskmedia.com)

See my instructions on Jim Wright's Maintenance Page.

The lug nut covers on my stock wheels are beginning to fade and flake, revealing the yellow plastic underneath. Any solutions other than buying new covers?

Mike Hill (m...@usatpoc.gannett.com)

I repainted them with some spray paint. If you want to refinish them, here are some tips I found helpful:

Use denatured alcohol or some spirit to remove the top clear coat
Using very fine grade steel wool, buff the plastic to smooth out any noticeable edges, or rough spots

Two thin coats will make them look good as new. Avoid any clear finishes, they look milky. The brand of paint was Duplicolor. The color code is:

DS CC 338 Radnt Silver MC
upc code: 26916 11338 2

Scott Reid (s...@uccc.com)

I repainted them also. I used Rustoleum Aluminum spray paint. It only comes in one color as far as I know; just called aluminum. It was a perfect match.

Shell (B...@aol.com)

With the heavy chemicals in wheel detailing sprays I found that my covers would turn yellowish. I just spruce them up with some Krylon Silver Metallic spray paint a couple of time a year (off the mags of course!). In minutes they will look new.

Adjusting the clutch.

Chris Scarpulla (c...@popd.ix.netcom.com)

Your clutch gets out of adjustment from the clutch material wearing away and the clutch cable can stretch as it ages. I just adjusted my clutch yesterday (91 SE-r 130K), so it's pretty fresh in my mind, here goes:

Remove the small relay box to the left of the battery.
Remove airbox. I've had a Pop-Charger for a few years so you're on your own with this part. li> You can now see the clutch lever and cable.
There is a small resonator box bolted to a bracket behind the battery. Get your needle nose pliers through the access hole of that bracket to grab the square portion of the cable end.
Loosen the 10mm locknut at the end of the cable.

Holding the square part of the cable with the pliers, turn the thumbwheel which will shorten or lengthen the cable. My clutch was engaging as way down low, about 1/2" from the floor. I shortened the cable to get the engagement point up higher.

		 _________
		/         |
	       /        {}|[]       
	      |o  ======{}|[]======#####-----------
	       \        {}|[]   ^    ^     ^
		\ ________| ^   |    |     |
		  ^     ^   |   |    |    -Clutch Cable
		  |     |   |   |   #Square part
		  |     |   |  =Threaded
	    Bracket     |   |   cable end
	     {}Thumbwheel   |
			  []Locknut

How difficult a job is it to change the wheel bearings on a '91 SE-R? Is this something that I can do myself or is it better to have a shop do it? Also, are these wheel bearings or hub bearings and what would be the approximate cost of each? Thanks for any info you can give me.

Raymond J. Colbert (R...@alcoa.com)

I have replaced the rear wheel bearings on my 91 SER and found the job to be simple and straight forward requiring no special tools. They are solid race bearings but Nissan sells only the entire hub the job costs about $100.00 per side (cost of the hub and bearing and the axle nut if you want). The hub and bearing come as an assembly. Nissan recommends replacing the entire assembly as a unit. Be sure to tell them where the car was mfg. as USA units are different from Japanese built units. Now, fronts are another story. I have not even looked yet.

The SE-R FAQ
Maintained by Ronald S. Chong (r...@umich.edu)