Stock Car Mafia

What you did is probably roughly what I'll end up doing. Man I reread some of my posts and I don't know why I don't proofread. The spellcheck on this site is terrible I swear I don't talk or type like that. Lol

Keith, I make a great tour guide. I will say I have not been out in that area, but if you cover airfare, lodging, and food, I would be more than happy to assist you in your planning and daily itinerary while out there. All jokes aside, have fun on the trip!

I looked at yours quite a few times before I lowered mine. I like the ride height you have. I'd like to keep the gap between the tire and fender roughly the same all the way around. This isn't possible in the rear. I think keeping the flares lip close to the stock height will look the best.

I did some rough math today and I think I am going to scrap the stock caliper rebuild and return what I have. I will be picking up some S12W calipers from O'Reilly tomorrow. I just placed an order with Edan at Silvermine for Centric drilled, slotted, vented rotors, bolts and the spacers needed for the swap. I was going to go with Porterfield for pads but decided to give the EBC Yellowstuff pads another shot. I have them on the Mustang and I really like how well they grab on the street.

I've seen your car on so many google searches, I'm glad I finally found your thread! I don't mean to dig it up from the past but I just read your whole build. Man your car is one sweet machine!

I spent a little time yesterday installing new stainless brake lines and getting the parking brake hooked back up. I am still admiring the new suspension paint. I'm sure it won't be long before it has some road rash character. The Russell brake lines looks great. One complaint about them is the vendor stated the hex heads were the same size as stock and should hold in place when you tighten the brake line. False. They spin inside the bracket and I think I had to use a 18 mm wrench to hold them where I wanted the lines to flow and then tighten them. The retaining brackets then help everything nice and snug. I haven't heard from Joe yet on if the parts shipped. I really would like to get the drivetrain done. It was an action packed weekend with lots of company and places to go, but it was nice to have the girlfriend there to take some pictures in action.

Since you've autocrossed your car, I really would like to hear what you think about these brakes once they are installed. I emailed Edan about some brake options back a few weeks ago, but decided to rebuild the stock ones for now.

Yesterday I took 10 minutes to thread the rears up another 1/2". I truly believe Ground Control has the correct measurements and I am glad I stuck with it. Now keep in mind the ride height will be dialed in when I have full weight on the car, i.e. motor, trans, and drivetrain, driver. I am so excited to have the car rolling again! It is really motivating now to get the remainder of the car done.

I am several days behind in posting so I won't include too much detail as bolting most of this stuff up was pretty straight forward. I wanted to bolt up my shit to a clean car, so I spent a bit cleaning the front and rear wheel wells. I thought they woud be black underneath, but man I am shocked at how clean this shell is. I couldn't be happier with this car as a candidate. I had my brother sandlbast the tow hooks too. Lubed up the bushings for the steering rack and bolted it to the crossmember. The new tierods went on and antiseized the crap out of those. I don't have the toe out adjusted yet. This is where I ended up putting the steering rack brace. Bolted the damn thing up and put on the tension rods and LCA's with new bushings. They went on really easily. That bushing lube that is provided is SUPER sticky and doesn't come off bare hands very easily. I have to say I am getting pretty good at working by myself for bolting stuff up. It can be rather difficult at times. I still need to get a fish scale and test the torque resistance on the front hubs, but that will be easy to do on the car. The motor mounts got bolted in too. I forgot that I can't get the LCA bolt in with the steering rack bolted down. I had to loosen that to get them in. Here is the car after that night of work. The next day I went about pressing in the new inner bearings and grease seals for the rear. I cleaned up the brake components and reinstalled everything. Good lord I hate trying to line up brake shoes and get the springs to lock. I had sore hands after that. I pressed in the new studs and went about repacking the rear bearings. I put the stubs in and used the stock flanges for now until my order from Joe comes in for the Z31T axles. Shocks and coilovers went on as well. Next I hung the rear suspension with new bearings. I spent some time either cleaning the bolts or wire brushing to clean up any corrosion. We bolted eveything in and put the wheels on the car. This is how the car sat with zero preload on the springs with the spring seat resting against the spring to hold them in place. The car body sat on the rear wheels so I had to thread them up 1 inch.

ehren, my rear struts were really simple. My brother and sister in law were up here so I didn't get to take too many pictures putting it together. It consisted of the billet hat that sits on the spring. I took the isolator bearing from the front and put it on the rear, then the isolator went on top. The isolator is notched in the rear and only fits on the shock rod one way. This made it easy to tighten down too.

ehren can you provide these measurements so we can compare? Rear Shock Manufacturer and part number: Mine is Tokiko BZ3012 Length of rear strut from top of spindle casting to top of gland nut: I think mine was 15" Length of spring and spring rate for rear: Mine is 8" spring with 250 lb. weight. Spring perch/weld ring: length from where it's welded to the top of the spindle casting. I welded mine at 8" Tire and Wheels sizes? Mine is 17 inch wheels with 275/40/17 profile tires. I will have pictures hopefully within a week.

I should be able to get to it here hopefully tomorrow or Friday. I will be gone most of the weekend. I'll post the pictures when I get there.

The rest of the suspension parts (rear struts, axle stubs, hook/tow plates, brake drums) all got painted while I was sick on Saturday. Since I don't think I will be painting much more I wanted to take care of the front damper, water pump pulley, and battery tray area. I was getting sick of staring at that rusty crap.

I will say that cutting up your front towers is quite the chore and isn't the easiest thing. I didn't use the general template the is highly downloaded here as GC provided some detailed instructions on how to make the cuts. The first step is to drill 10 pilot holes per tower. Four for the camber plate bolts and for the hole saw and four for the edges of the camber plate hole. These holes are drilled for the camber plate "guide" that goes under the tower. The 1.5" hole saw was a pain in the ass. The ridge from the old shock made it damn tough to get a clean cut. The holes definitely needed to be massaged for the final product. The bolt brackets for the camber plate guides also needed to be ground down for both sides. These obviously bolt from the bottom but it gives you perspective on the edges that needed assistance. If I can find a pic of the before I'll post it. This is the hole after I cut away room for everything. I bolted it all up several times to check how close I was. I think the shape on the bottom is ugly and might just go straight across before I am done. The guides were bolted in. And the camber plate was put in for final mock up. There's a lot more detail to this, but anyone cam PM me if they have questions and I can send over the directions. I'm a little dehydrated at the moment making this quite tough.

I will be hopefully fully assembling the rears tonight. Still not feeling the best but I can't just not work. ehren, I can take some pictures tonight for you and add them. What exactly are you struggling with on the rear? Are you saying that even with the spring compressed, you can't get the nut on the strut rod with the spring hat, bearing, and isolator on it? I know the isolator is notched and can only go on one way. Maybe this is your hold up?

Keith and I have been comparing our cars, but also taking in to consideration the differences between the 240 and 280. Jay from Ground Control is assuring me that I removed the right amount from my rear tubes as I am using the stock isolator. Even though 3 inches are removed, you still need to weld the ring on at 8 inches for a 280z. I have all the parts painted now and can start assembling the car after I finish cutting my towers up for the camber plates. I've been sick for almost 3 days and haven't gotten out in the garage yet.

Hawk's HPS Brake Pads were returned based on some advice of their performance. The Porterfield R4-S pads just arrived last week. I spent a little time last night cutting up the top of the strut towers. Man there is a trick to using a 1 1/2" hole saw. Just called Joe again and he confirmed parts are being shipping in the next few days to him. I was able to place my order finally for the Z31T 27 spline companion flanges and shortened axles. I do believe I should be able to reuse 3 of the 4 CV Boots on the axles I have. I have a rusty passenger side axle I might steal a boot from. More to come tonight. I might wrap up the last of the parts that need to be painted.

Second fuel pump? Do I hear notions of a turbo? Those lifts look great. If you do the Ohio mile is there chances of getting to 200 mph?

Thank Keith. I haven't measured my front yet, but I would assume it would be close to yours with the exception of the Koni's. That is quite the time difference between the two. I'm glad to hear your Z if one of the fastest in the group I am really glad I am completing the suspension overhaul before I drive the damn thing. All the bushings were shot, the shocks were leaking, and the car was just extremely soft. I knew it wouldn't be that fun with all the power and I figure I can still get this thing going here soon even with taking a side step. I am in Green Bay, WI for meetings part of this week. I am taking whatever time I can get to completing the car. I am still crossing my fingers that the flanges and axles don't drag on weeks and weeks Still there is plenty to do before I get these.

Thanks man, I should be able to figure it out when I get to that point.

Thanks for the advice on the torque. I'll pick up one of those and get that taken care of. I'd hate to smoke my new bearings. I won't start my flares until I have the suspension put back on and have the car at full weight. My z fenders are above the garage and I can't get to them until the car is able to move. Let me know how the welding goes tomorrow! Could you show me how to know which flare goes on the driver and passenger? I want to say the wider portion goes in front of the tire. I guess it is hard to explain but when I put them up to the body they all fit so good I couldn't tell.

Spent most of the night going through the vidmar and reorganizing my organized parts. I've collected so many Mustang, GTO, CBR1000, and now Datsun over the years that it needed to be gone through with all the bolt bags I have. I mocked up the rear strut to compare with Keith. My strut from the top of the isolator to the base of the strut tube (on top of the casting) is 23". His is 24" so that is telling me I am quite short for a 280z. I will have to reweld at least 1.75" back in. Front shocks were greased up and slide in. I am a little confused on how you are supposed to tighen the top shock nut. The top of the shaft is notched for what looks like a wrench to hold it but you can't fit one in there. The camber plate that bolts to the shock doesn't hold the rod still as you tighten down. Can someone tell me how retarded I am so I can get these tight? lol Besides a loose nut, they are ready to rock and roll. I have been trying to get some feedback on a few things with Ground Control but they seem kind of spacey. I have a feeling the car is going to sit way too low, so I am going to look at ordering in some 12" springs to try out first. I have my front collars threaded damn near all the way up to where I am starting to load up the front spring.

I had a buddy stop over yesterday to help me weld up some holes in the engine bay. I just needed someone to hold a brass hammer so I didn't burn through As we all know he was enthralled to help, lol. I didn't snap any pictures as the welds are quite damn ugly! I also started putting the front hubs back together. New races were pressed in both hubs. Next I pressed the new studs in. I got these from ZCar Depot (Item #800-535) as I wanted the stock thread pitch M12 x 1.25 mm. They are 2 inches in length. I packed the rear bearings with Redline CV-2 synthetic grease. I loaded the hub up really well also. Next I loaded up the bearing seal with grease and pressed those in as well. I added some anti seize to the back of the hub to prevent the rotor from sticking when it is disassembled down the road. I really wish I would have taped off the back portion of the hub and the inside portion where rotor sits before painting. I took all the rotor bolts and soaked them in some degreaser. The threads were in good shape and not rusty so I just coated them in anti seize and threaded them in. They were tightened to 38 ft-lb. The dust shield was added and the bolts were anti seized as well and tightened snug. The spindle and rotor surface were cleaned with brake cleaner prior to going on. The outer bearing was packed and slid on the spindle followed by the washer. The new lock nut was added and torqued to 20 ft-lb. I rotated the hub several times in both directions and then retorqued to 20 ft-lb. The manual says to back the nut off 60 degrees and add the adjusting cap and cotter pin it. You are then supposed to check the rotational starting torque, but it felt nice and smooth to me with little resistance like it was prior to taking apart. Hopes for tonight are to mock up the rear spring and shock assembly and do some measurements to compare with Keith. I will spend some time grinding down my welds from yesterday and cutting my strut towers apart.

The finished parts pile is really starting to add up. I was going to reassemble the hubs and front uprights last night however I needed to paint the brake rotors. I put the front LCA's together since those were ready. The new ball joints bolted to 18 ft-lb. and the grease zerks were added. The service manual says have these on only for greasing the ball joint and then to plug them again with the supplied bolt. Is this critical or can I leave them in? I then added the steering knuckle arms back on too. The castle nut was torqued to 55 lf-lb. and then turned an additional few degrees so the cotter pin could be added. I'll grease the ball joint up really good before I put a load on the car, And right before bed, I pulled off the tape of the rotors so I could see the end result. I used extreme high temp (2,000 deg.) VHT primer and flat black paint. Tonight, I will either cut the strut towers up or weld up all my engine bay holes.

I forgot to post this stuff up earlier after I removed the suspension. I used the ole burn 'em out method for the old bushings. It was quite nice to set the torch down and let it do the work I was going to try to press out the outer steel collars but I was going to risk bending the lower control arms. I ended up cutting four slits in the collar and hammering it out. I did nick several spots on the LCA's but I don't think that will matter much. I will just remove the burrs and call it good. The main reason for doing all of this work is the bushings, tie rod ends, and ball joints were SHOT. I should get to assemble some of the front end tonight. I might even start chopping up the strut towers to get my camber plates set in.