Snailed

It's a custom car. You need a custom length driveshaft. Get your parts and a tape measure and go to town (literally if you have a driveshaft shop near you)

Rock the wheel and see if the bearing is loose. Might be a free fix.

Like these.

I don't have struts on mine so P30s are not really applicable. Is that level of quality found in all their dampers, rebuildable or not? Sorry for the thread jack.

hmm, I have free access to a shock dyno, we stock various shock oils at work and the Bilstein linear valving kits are about $275 my cost. What are the chances I could put together something that would work better than slamming in some non-rebuildable coilover shocks? I am pretty good (everyone thinks that I bet) at picking up on handling traits and changes, I used to do a bit of autocross setup and driving so I think I could dial in some shocks as long as I had time to test each change. Am I dreaming or would this be a good route for a 90% street car?

Agreed, I have one and it is a very high quality part and the service was excellent. They advertise them as 7lbs but mine is around 4.5 and is more than strong enough.

That seems to be true of most of the Japanese coilovers I have installed. A few had pretty soft compression damping, but they were not the shiny anodized super, ultra low ones everyone gets. I'm cheap; What about taking a rebuildable racing shock like a Bilstein or Koni and valving it to match the specific application. Like these for $150? http://www.shockwarehouse.com/site/product.cfm?id=14103. Ones like these are dirt cheap and readily available on the used market.

I bet your right about the Megan stuff. I have little experience with dampers on a technical level but this seems like a guy that has some fairly educated recommendations on dampers or at least what to test for. http://farnorthracing.com/autocross_secrets6.html

Very cool project. Can't wait to see how early you can get that thing boiling!

The razor blade technique is a good suggestion to get the bulk of the paint and primer off. Cheap, fast, easy clean up and no chemicals to neutralize.

Apart from what the marketing and pop culture tells you, isn't TEIN stuff pretty much a joke in the damper world? Does the green anodizing and paint represent the money in their massive profit margins

^ That's a pretty neat business model for auto repair. Too bad that's not the standard.

Jeez, yeah that's getting into rickshaw territory. I can't imagine you would need much of a hitch to handle that safely.

The end result is similar but I'm pretty sure the increased weld hardness is because it's a different form of carbon steel once it has solidified. There is a difference between work hardening and the structure of the crystals changing during the recrystallization (heating and cooling) process. One you can do with a hammer, the other could be done with a torch. A re-solidified piece of filler wire (imagine you just melted some on it's own, no parent metal) is a harder metal than some cold rolled 1008 steel, right? Both processes result in a harder, less ductile steel. If the Lincoln school didn't get into the atomic structure; face centered cubic, body centered cubic, close packed hex etc.. then the explanation given to you might be an easy way of understanding the resulting change without the welders needing an understanding of the crystalline structures of steel. I'm not a metallurgist so don't take my word for it, but I'm pretty sure this is whats going on in the weld.

How much trailer weight are you guys towing? People (truck owners I guess) always seem to freak out about towing with unibody cars. I tow a ~1500 lb boat & trailer with my is300 and it does fine with the hitch just bolted to the sides of the spare tire well.

The weld does become harder but I don't believe there is any work hardening in the weld. Work hardening comes from employing the slip systems in the crystals, compressive forces like hammering work harden the metal, strain from tension also work harden metal. A steel weld becomes harder/more brittle because the rapid heating and cooling of the crystals turns it into harder forms like martensite, a much less ductile material than the base metal (think of bending a drill bit vs. bending a paperclip). This is essentially to how heat treating works and is not desirable in a welded structure like a tube chassis/ cage.

Glad you found it! I find it hard to understand why you did not include that you had the rotors turned right before this problem started though. I bet your problem would have been called out in the first couple posts instead of in a list of wild guesses on the 2nd page...oh well, your brakes work now.

More ideas. If the wheel bearings are too loose the rotor will push the pistons back in when the wheel/rotor rocks. If the seals in the calipers are in backwards I have heard this can let the piston retract, but I don't know this 1st hand.

I didn't realize it was only on the fist application... Anything that can push or pull the pistons back in the front calipers is suspect...warped rotors, calipers not square to the rotor, the mentioned shims, dust boots etc. Does anyone know if the OE prop valve has residual valve(s) in it? Generally you wouldn't have a residual valve in the front unless the master was lower than the calipers, but I really don't know any specifics on the 70's datsun stuff (mine has been at the metal recyclers for a while now)

Pretty much. Stainless bolts on cars are a cosmetic change and often a degradation in function and serviceability in my opinion. That said, I use them where they will look nice and still do the job. It's nice to be able to chuck one in the drill and polish it to a near chrome finish quickly. It's all compromises. Caroll Smith has a nice book about fasteners if you want to understand them in more detail.

My guess is this^ (didn't know Datsuns have these) or the rear shoes could be contaminated with grease, oil or brake fluid. Even if you "clean" them with brake clean they can still be extremely grabby and the self energizing nature of drums makes locking the rears very easy. Try new shoes if they were are any time wet with any fluid.

Take these http://www.harborfreight.com/9-1-2-half-inch-wire-crimping-tool-36411.html and cut the jaws off, leaving just the crimper for bare terminals closest to the pivot point. You can then work them around the end of a tube and make a pretty nice bead in a few minutes, even on stainless steel tube. If you want a really nice surface finish you can dress the jaws a little with a file so they fit the radius of the tube a little better. For $7 it's a pretty good setup.

Yup, I have Paul's Chrome in PA do a lot of chrome for my work and they also do chrome on plastic. I saw some examples (dash and grill parts) when I visited their shop and it looks just like chrome over steel. This particular shop is extremely picky about making the part straight first also. I would have no doubt that you could not tell fiberglass vs metal if they did it. I'm pretty sure it would be more money than just having some good OE ones rechromed though...

Just picked up a new Miller Digital Elite in solid black for $253 shipped. Two things make me like this one more than the old Elites or my Speedglas. One, the headgear has all kinds of adjustment and is very comfortable. Two, the X Mode is awesome. It senses the electrical field rather than relying on optical sensors. I am always having to weld with my hood up against something or with tubes running between my eyes and the weld. The X mode solves this perfectly and the outside of it being a solid color helps you not look like a clown while welding.

Are spilled drinks why these things rust out so badly?