Mr. Tyler

What do you mean by less sensitve? Yep, I have a set of T3 TC rods on my car, put them on before the shadetree alignment. I also have roll center adjusters on my car (aka bump steer spacers) from I don't know, MSA. This thread, or rather a link off of it to another or two, is making me re-think buying these. The T3 rods move the pivot point (on the frame) closer to the wheel as compared to the stock configuration. I'm not sure what, if any, the consequences of that are, more research needed. Also, later on, if I move the control arm pivot up on the front crossmember then I might also want to move the rod pivot up on the chassis to keep it in-line with the control arm pivot. I believe this effects hard braking nose dive.

This has been the best forum thread thing I've ever seen for 280zx suspension mods....awesome! Dang-it tho, now I gotta think about roll-center, sweep angle vs. camber and toe angle, T/C rod mount/pivot relocation binding……it never ends. Coincidentally I visited with Jeff Winter (Rallye/Sport Auto, Westminster, CO) last Friday to get under one of his cars....to see his solution. Jeff has been building successful race cars out of S30’s and 510's with over 30 years of experience, his most notable win was the ’01 SCCA G Production National Championship in a 510 he built. He recently built up a 280ZX track car. Unfortunately the 280zx wasn’t there when I visited last, but he said the 510’s rear I looked at was set up the same way. The outside swing arm brackets on the rear crossmember are either unchanged or moved down (up/down?). The inside swing arm brackets are removed and new adjustable brackets take their place. It is similar to the DAMB penultimate crossmember inner bracket except he uses two bolts instead of one for adjusting toe…..pic1. http://datsun510.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=8005&cat=views&limit=views For camber adjustment he vertically slots the inside bracket “bushing bolt holesâ€. To keep the bushing from sliding in the slot and to make adjustments easier he does something similar to this…. Pic2. Except instead of having a custom “bushing bolt†machined with a weird head, he just welds a nut to the head of the bushing bolt. He did say that before he used this “welded nut thing†that the bushing bolt would slide and come out of alignment. Here is a sketch of that design….pic3 He takes care of the outside bushing misalignment by removing the outside bushing from the swing arm and pressing in a spherical bearing. Jeff builds his 510’s (and that 280zx) with super stiff rear springs and no rear swaybars. I did my first shadetree front-end alignment not too long ago using a tape measure and string with pretty good results. Hopefully I’ll never have to go to an alignment shop again. Eventually I’d like to invest in one of those caster/camber gauges. Jeff mentioned that you have to get under the car to make adjustments. I don’t have an alignment rack or pit so that sounds like a pain. What do you track guys think? I would like to come up with a variation that allows adjustment without raising the car off the ground….maybe some holes in the floor to start, but it could get tricky. Sorry about the pdf attachment instead of pics, if it matters.... there was a picture on a post of this thread (terminology?)that showed a custom bolt that was used to keep the camber adjustment/inner swing arm bushings in place, but I can't find it now! Was that a thread that got deleted?-why?...it was good stuff. I had all these 3 pics copied into a word doc, but couldn't figure out how to get them back out in jpg form....pdf worked and would attach. Many pics on threads wont come up for me at all. I see the icon and file name, but when I click on it, nothing. What gives? Also.... I bought a set a long time ago, It's been so long since I got under my '79 that I'm not sure if I put them in or if they are sitting on the to-do shelf. On my car, with lowered tokico springs and Eibach swaybars, the swaybar links don't land center on the pad of the lower control arm. I hope these correct for that and I didn't throw money away. I don't think these would adjust the stiffness of the swaybar. You would have to adjust wear the links connect to the swaybar, maybe they kinda do that...I gotta look at it again. I don't think MSA sells adjustable T/C rods for 280zx's. Pic1-3.pdf

Woldson, I saw in your profile that you have an '83. Is that with power or manual R&P?

I have a 1979 280zx with the power reciprocating ball steering box. Also, I have tokico lowered springs, tokico shocks (adjustable on front), eibach swaybars, bump steer spacers, adjustable eccentric front control arm busings, and techno toy tuning adjustable tension compression rods. Here's a little info.... S30? manual rack and pinion is 2.7 turns lock to lock 79-81 power reciprocating ball steering box is 2.7 turns (16.3:1) 82-83 power rack and pinion steering is 3.2 turns (17.8:1) 79-83 manual rack and pinion steering is 3.5 turns (19.6:1) Rack and pinion is the preferred choice for performance cars and racing, mainly because it offers better feedback when compared to steering boxes. Also, I believe that it is a little lighter and simpler and the unit is mounted lower on the chassis. I've read here and/or on zdriver that people think that the power rack and pinion units Nissan offered for the 280zx are junk and/or are too loose and/or sloppy. First I want to distinguish between slop and lower ratio steering. Slop can come from any steering joints, couplers, bushings, rod ends, worn rack/box teeth/gears, etc. while a car with a lower steering ratio may just feel sloppy because it takes more turning of the steering wheel to get the tires to turn the same amount as a car with a higher steering ratio. I'm not exactly sure what the posts I read were referring to. The slop I'm talking about is like the extra play you feel in the wheel, ie. go drive an old truck....if you just made a lane change you'll have to move the wheel 15 degrees back before the wheels even start to straighten back out. That being said, what are you guys with power r+p experiencing?- please give details; what year car, tie-rods good and tight, steering shaft coupler good and tight, good alignment, etc. Jeff Winter with Rallye/Sport has done some work for me and has been a great resource throughout the years, so I gave him a call. If you don't know him, he has been building successful race cars out of older Z's and 510's with over 30 years of experience and recently built up a 280ZX racer. I'm going to post about 280ZX rear suspension mods with his take on them and some links to his bragging rights. Anyway, he hadn't heard or at least couldn't comment on the 280ZX power racks being junk. The 280ZX he built had a power rack and pinion with the power removed. He said that steering ratio and power assistance is really all about driver preference. He also recommended I get a used unit from the junkyard or wherever and not to spend the money on a remanufactured unit....just flush it out good with p/s fluid. For me, I like harder steering effort and higher ratio's on the track (I have a really small Grant steering wheel), but I don't want to sacrifice drivability on the street, so unless my mind gets changed from replies to this post, I'll be going to Nissan's 17.8:1 280ZX power rack unit. If you have something to add please be detailed with your reply.

I have a 1979 280zx with the power reciprocating ball steering box. Also, I have tokico lowered springs, tokico shocks (adjustable on front), eibach swaybars, bump steer spacers, adjustable eccentric front control arm busings, and techno toy tuning adjustable tension compression rods. I was doing a "garage alignment" last weekend and looking for loose steering joints. I found the idler arm bushings need replacing.-done. I also found that the the steering box flexes the uni-body frame rail considerably. This is pretty scary. Is anyone else experiencing this?- have someone turn the wheel back and forth with the car sitting on the ground and watch for steering box movement and chassis flex. If you post, please list the year of your vehicle- I wonder if Nissan corrected this before going to power rack and pinion in 1982. I decided to reinforce this area with some 3/16" plate. I cut one piece that will fit between the steering box and the chassis (I'll have to align again). A portion of it is bent 90 degrees to follow under the frame rail. A second piece will fit to the outside of the chassis (inside the fender well).- I'm not sure if I'll use this second piece, I need to see what the first peice does. I still need to fit them up and drill the steering box holes. I don't think I'll weld them in place, but instead use some bolts. If there is interest in this mod I'll post pics.

I bought my 1979 280ZX about 13 years ago with a bit over 100k miles on her. Shortly thereafter I got the front wheel death wobble. The front wheels would violently shake back and forth, only when driving about 40-55mph. First fix was to re-balance front wheels, this helped but I found slop in the idler arm. I replaced the entire idler arm (auto parts chain store) and the problem was fixed. Recently, about 30k miles later, the wobble came back. I re-balanced the wheels and again found slop in the idler arm. First I added a small diameter washer (smaller diameter so it wouldn't bottom out on the "bushing carrier") and put the nut on real tight. This helped, but the problem remained. I was surprised that the bushings were worn out already. I called around, trying to find out what material the re-manufactured bushings were made of and who was the re-manufacturer.....I didn't get too far. When I called MSA, they said theirs were NOS, so I bought them. I compared them to the re-man bushing I was replacing and found that the NOS bushing were much softer. Something to think about when you get the death wobble.