Dat73z

I recently did the full T3 coilover setup and I would recommend purchasing a 20ton Harbor Freight press or similar if you have the space to do so. Here's what I pressed which is fairly universal and not just T3: 1) Front hub Inner Wheel Bearing Races 2) Rear Hub Wheel Bearings After that it's all a bolt-on affair. I paid something like 100-150 for the press after tax during a Harbor Freight sale which happens frequently and the entire process took me about 2 hours drinking beers with friends. In those 2 hours we were also cleaning things, generally messing around, and installed Nismo studs on all 4 corners so you could probably get this done in an hour if you're really on-point. You can take the parts to any shop with a press and does suspension work, really. the 100-150 and 2 hours of labor and beers/some BYOB should give you a ballpark comparison of what it would cost you versus a local shop quote. I'm in CA so shop prices here are pretty high unless you're friends with the owner. Edit: As RebekahsZ mentioned, you can (and I have) used the press for a lot more than just wheel bearings. I've actually used the press for every vehicle I've owned including my motorcycles and others. It all comes down to if you have the time, space, etc. As with most tools, It'll save you a lot in labor for the long run if you actually use it.

I finally got around to knocking out the old "D" type half-shaft studs from the Datsun R180 to install onto the Wolf Creek Racing R180 Axle Adapters and ran across an issue. Basically the OEM 240z "D" type studs which I was under the impression should be a press fit (based on tapping out from the OEM diff) dropped right in with no effort into the Wolf Creek Racing R180 Axle adapters- I've attached some pictures with measurements for reference to show what I'm describing. Can anyone confirm that the half-shaft studs should be a press fit? Here is the part I am referencing: http://www.wolfcreekracing.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22&Itemid=31 I did a bit of searching as well and found this post: http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/78123-subaru-wrx-sti-r180-side-axles/page-13?do=findComment&comment=864749 It looks like the OEM studs should be a tight press fit but just wanted to be sure before contacting Wolf Creek Racing to see what my options are here (I'm assuming either return the parts or tack weld each stud). Thanks! Edit: By press fit I mean interference fit

Just went through this not too long ago- pulled everything off thinking it was clutch, starter, trans, oil pump, etc. Even checked motor with a bore scope to ensure no obstructions. Note that I knew the motor was running/freely turning over a couple of months prior so that ruled out a lot for me already. What solved this for me when I could find no obstructions was: (1) Penetrating fluid to soak cylinder walls, (2) dunk oil all over top of motor/cam gears, (3) rock motor back and forth from crank pulley bolt until broken free. (2) Made the biggest difference since the motor was sitting dry for a couple of months (indoors, conditioned garage)

I'd look for the obvious first such as proper adjustment and missing parts. When I picked up my current Z from the 2nd owner who had the car for 30+ years and took great care of it, but everything suspension-wise was absolutely shot and the steering effort was heavier than I remembered. Not to mention front end play. Checked the rack adjustments per FSM and everything looked fine without excessive play, looked like the rack had never been opened up or messed with. Greased up the rack with my grease gun and things got better. Put on new ball joints, caster bushings, tie rod ends and things got even better. Finally tore it all apart to powdercoat and replace everything. Turns out one front strut was missing a steering bearing, probably from when the car was lowered back in the early 80's. Hoping when I get the front back together everything will feel just right. 43 years is a long time. Also, if you're not pulling the rack apart- when you grease the rack pull the boots back and wipe off the dirty/old excess grease. I was surprised how bad the grease that came out looked.

Sounds great and thanks for the advice regarding the adjusters, did not think of that.

Hi all, I am currently running the full T3 coilover setup with the Koni Shocks and Ground Control Coilovers. For both the front and rears I am running the stock tophats with enlarged centerhole to slip over the larger piston diameter with the Koni's. Everything bolts together great, but I had a Q on the fronts which I couldn't find detailed in my FSM. With the strut steering bearings installed should the piston shaft be able to turn independently of the tophat with no load (e.g. coil turned down without preload on the shock)? Given that I had to enlarge the centerhole to clear the Koni's there is no locating indent on the tophap anymore so my options to apply torque on the tophat nuts are as follows: 1) Load suspension and torque by hand 2) Quick rap with the impact gun With the tophat nuts torqued down just handtight and absolutely no load on the shock the entire assembly feels fused. I'm thinking I need to torque the tophats on tighter than hand tight and this may change when there is load on the assembly (e.g. weight of the vehicle on the suspension). Edit- Also, anyone who is running coilovers or the same/similar setup, what sort of torque do you recommend for the tophats? Front/Rear? Thanks!

Thank you takayuki, it was indeed 1/8 BSPT.

Thanks Tony, attempted measuring against NPT tables earlier in the week with no result so that makes sense. Any idea of the JIS/Metric size? Otherwise will attempt once I wrap up the work week here and report back with a size.

Does anyone have any idea what size threads the tapered fittings on the factory mechanical fuel pump are? Is this a common fitting that can be purchased off the shelf? I've attached a picture of the fitting in question. Thanks!

Mission accomplished. I guess it was corrosion after all. Rocked the motor back and forth CW and CCW until it broke free. Will check timing now and ensure all is good. Thanks again all, I guess sometimes it's just the simple things. Kept second guessing everything since so many parts went into this refresh that everything was questionable.

OK, so the motor will rotate by hand 1/2 turn either way freely now (CW or CCW) then it locks up solid. There was definitely some sort of corrosion issue going on, but the penetrant and oil resolved that. Given the condition of the valvetrain and cylinders this leads me to believe something else is locking up. Time to investigate further. Thoughts?

HOLY SH)(*&)*&!! I just got the engine to turn 1/2 turn then it stopped. Soaked cylinders with penetrant and valvetrain in penetrant then glopped in a quart of 10W40. Let it sit for 10mins then hit it with a torque wrench at 100ft-lb on the crank pulley. I guess it really did seize up hard over the last couple of weeks. Going to keep soaking it until I can rotate to TDC freely. Borescope revealed that crank counterweights and pan were clear of obstructions. I locked the flywheel with a prybar and bolt as my friend torqued the crank pulley bolt to ~100ft-lb. Thanks again to all who have commented on this thread. I've built motors that sat outside for months that still turned over freely by hand when installed. I guess that's what 43 years will do. Probably need a rebuild eventually but until then this motor is getting run hard. Not out of the woods yet but getting close. Will update shortly.

Yep, just checked the cylinders, valves, and timing chain area with a borescope - everything looks fine without obstruction. Cylinder walls looks great with the crosshatching still present. Would share some pictures but apparently I need a micro SD card to do that. Going to take a quick look around the mains next then start dumping oil all over the engine! Also oil pump is new and I haven't even primed the motor yet. I should probably do that next.

Any advice on oiling the mains without dropping the pan? I was just planning on dumping a bunch of oil onto the cylinder head and timing chain area with the valve cover off. Also I just picked up a high resolution borescope. Figured I need to get smarter about this and I've always wanted one for auto/bike work. Am going to peek into each cylinder, valves, into the oilpan/crank counterweights, etc. Should be able to report back with some interesting pictures and figure out what's causing this without tearing the entire engine down.

Double post.

From my understanding from the posts above (and this may be incorrect as there is a lot of misinformation out there on the internets and even by local Z people word of mouth)...the Harada / Kameari gasket should be mounted with the metal backing facing inwards towards the head. My original mounting in post 1 was incorrect. I suck at describing things so just ran out to the garage and snapped a couple of pictures. Correct and incorrect orientations. Good timing as I've been tearing my entire motor apart due to not turning by hand.

Gah, pulled the crank pulley off which was nice and easy since I lubed it all up and threaded the bolt and washer back on then hit it with the torque wrench at 100 ft-lb. No dice. Woodruff key looks as I left it - great. Gotta start pulling more things off later in the week but need to be up early to conduct business. Thanks again to all who have contributed their thoughts. Really hoping I don't need to rebuild the motor here, just want to get it running again and go racing!

Alright, going to really zip off the crank pulley now. Probably pull the timing cover too and catch a movie inbetween while I'm at it. Will report back soon.

Someone commented on this thread earlier that lubrication goes a long way. Any comments on that? Maybe I just need to oil the heck out of the motor/head and try turning again? Still trying to avoid tearing everything back down. Probably the beer talking but I guess on the upshot if I need to drop the pan again I can take the opportunity to pull the crank, hone the cylinders, and throw on a ported head.

Alright so I pulled the transmission earlier and everything looks great. Motor is still absolutely stuck. Torque wrench set at 100 ft-lb on the crank snout will not turn it. Going to throw on the new OEM trans mount and powdercoated bracket then start tearing back into the motor.

So just inspected the timing cover again and it's definitely not jammed. Also I do recall turning the motor over by hand after the crank pulley torque/install. Attached a pic from inspection just now. Going to start pulling the transmission. Not an ideal scenario, but usually it's spend an hour in the garage listening to music while drinking beer and 20-30 mins to actually pull a trans. Will report back soon.

Going to go zip off the crank pulley now and take a look. I do recall inspecting the woodruff key and channel when I did the front timing cover, everything looked great. Pulley went on smoothly as well. I turned it in by hand first before applying torque.

I should also note that prior to replacing the front timing chain cover I checked the chain stretch per FSM by rotating the engine by hand to the marks on the cam gear. Everything was in spec. This was like a month or so ago. Am going to start pulling everything apart here after this beer. I am completely stumped! Only things I can think of are: 1) Engine massively seized after sitting for a couple of weeks (maybe unlikely?) 2) Something binding somewhere (more likely, but what?!)

Just dropped the oil pump to check the timing chain tensioner, hard to make out in the photo but it looks tight on the alternator side of the motor to me. Slack side of the chain has some slack as well. Not sure about keeping the chain tight, was just careful to not bump anything out of place with the front timing cover off. Here is how I went about replacing the seals at the front of the motor: 1) Drop oil pan 2) Impact gun + thread on pulley puller to remove crank pulley bolt + washer 3) Remove front timing cover 4) Replace crank snout seal 5) Bolt front timing cover back in place with new gaskets 6) Bolt in AZC oil pan with new gasket 7) Lock flywheel and torque crank pulley bolt + washer back to ~100 ft-lb with loctite blue Also checked if the motor would turn CCW. Set torque wrench to 50ish ft-lb and attempted but no dice. Yeah, I drained all of the fluids from the motor due to realizing my water pump was vomiting out of the weep hole something furious. No overheating, caught it right at failure. In the process I realized that the block freeze plugs were starting to go along with everything else. This was maybe a couple of months ago (I'm a slacker), but now on the tail end of the refresh process so probably not completely bone dry but not lubricated as in I ran the car yesterday.

Thanks, just took a quick peek at the Tstat housing and bolt looks to be the correct length. Picture attached. Only running alternator belt, but it's on there finger tight (e.g. no tension) at the moment.