A to Z

9-6-2021.....Started work on my front end today. It takes me a long time, as I don't do just the basics and call it good. I want to clean everything up, go over everything and check things out. I think it's part of the experience of doing all of this. I kind of like the way they put the car together, with the exception of the the metal clips they put in there to hold the brake lines on there. I can tell you they sure don't like going back in!!! Today I managed to get the driver's front strut out, and changed out the strut insert.....it was a "Mullholland by Interpart"....and it was STUCK in there! Cool 1970's stuff....how did it get in there? Why was the rear not changed?? Questions of the past with no answers...... where the rears were originals in their factory oil, this was bone dry. I got it out and dropped in my new KYB. Torqued in at 75 ft. lbs just like the rear. Finally figured out how to get my cheap spring compressors to work, and I finally got that darn Eibach front spring in. I debated whether I should cut a coil off...a lot of guys say they did it, but I have seen some that didn't cut and it worked well. So, If I cut it, and it is too low, you can't put it back on....so I left it be. While apart, a lot of things got changed out. The strut bearing is a moog, pre-greased .....new ball joint, made my "ISG"....got it in....new rack end link (ISG made)....having issues getting that bolt to loosen at 49 years in place. I will add some pics....but it has been a learning issue. Why hire it out when I can learn?? I have the strut back in, things are mostly back together, still need to swap out the TC bushings, and do some painting. Let me get some pics. This is good stuff to go with coffee.

Jeez, I sure hope not. I love these OHC straight sixes!

thanks.

240Z SU's. The instructions on how to tune them make ZERO sense. First of all the mixture "screw*". It isn't a screw* at all, it is a wheel with 5 to 6 detents in it. So telling me to turn it 2 full turns out is impossible. Next, the Carburetor Balancing Adjustment Screws*. They tell you to turn both out then back into 1.5 turns. You CAN'T. You only have ONE Balancing screw*. The screw on the front carb is an Emissions Control Adjusting Screw. It has NO adjustability at all! The remaining 2 screws*, which are near the flange where the carbs bolt to the manifold are called "Idle R.P.M. Adjusting Screws*".....can't use those for sync'ing the carbs. So, if all the information out there asks you to make adjustments you can't.....then what??

Wondering and asking questions about bleeding the brakes myself, I was pointed towards "Speed Bleeders". I love the way you can do it yourself! The check valve allows me to open them up a half turn, and then pump and add fluid, and when that wheel is bled, close the vavle and go to the next one. Can also bleed the new Master Cylinder this way! Well, I ordered them last night. #SB1010 for the front discs, 2 each....#SB7100 for the rear drums, 2 each.....#SB7100S for the master cylinder, 2 each. Also got their dust covers, and their kit, which comes with the tubing and a RE-USABLE bag. Now I can do it myself. www.speedbleeder.com

The wheels will need some work. The black paint in between the mesh needs to be redone, and the surface and lip will be polished with one of those Mother's "Ball" polishers

got offset?

I went ahead and got some wheel ramps. A bit safer than what I was doing. They don't make them out of steel anymore...but Nylon.

Had a little time in the garage today after swapping out the rotors on my daily driver. When the wear surface is thinner than the edge, leaving a ridge around the edge....it's time to swap them out. Used the die grinder to take the ridge off and I was able to get the calipers off. My ceramic pads still have 1/8" of wear left. So anyway, after that I finished my rear strut job by painting out the passenger rear wheel well, so now I just need to bleed the brakes and the rear is good to go! Anyone done the gravity bleed before? I also went ahead and put a wheel on. Granted the car is still up in the air but it gives an idea what I have. Last pic has the vintage Datsun center badges. 14X7 wheels with some negative offset. Vintage Appliance "Wire mag" wheels, with custom center caps and Cooper 185/70R14 tires. They had to custom stretch to get the tires on! Here are a couple pics to go with coffee gents.

put a little silver on the drum to make it look at least a bit prettier. Man, the passenger side rear drum does NOT want to come off! Anyway, just thought I'd share my day.

painted the place up a bit. more to do later. Popped the drum off and the previous owner told the truth! New brake shoes and the surface looked great!

17 dollar spring compressors in eBay. I really want to tell you they work great, but they don't. Yeah, I got the job done, but they are a pain to keep on the coils. They like to fall off. When I took the spring off and laid it on the ground one time....before I could loosen them, they came off and the spring shot them across the floor! That will wake you up! Very dangerous, I made darn sure I stayed out of the path of travel while using them. I guess you get what you pay for.

So, here are a couple pics of install, KYB struts, Eibach Pro Kit springs. Nice to have the Gland nut wrench. I was able to torque them correctly. KYB says not to put oil in the strut housing. Well for many years everybody said to......I left the oil in, and put the new struts in. Oil isn't going to hurt anything, and will help maintain heat levels. The struts I took out were the originals, and when I put the new struts in oil came out! So, be ready with a towel or 2 and some brake cleaner to clean it up !

Today I went ahead and tackled my rear suspension. In doing so I learned some things that are important to pass along. MSA/The Z Store is able to get Eibach Pro-Kit springs for S30 Z cars. Eibach makes them exclusively for MSA. BUT, they come without instructions, so I had to search and read, etc. to learn what I want to tell you now. Eibach springs are meant to be installed so that you can read the name. The springs come with 2 that have their item number that ends in "002" and 2 that end in "001". The "001" are longer than the "002". So which goes where? "002" go in the REAR. "001" go in the FRONT. Many have put them in the wrong side, and end up with almost no drop in the rear and high in the front. I think many of those who complain about these springs put the rear in the front, and vice versa!! When you install them such that you can read the name, in the rear the tight coils are on TOP, the wide spaced ones are on the bottom! They are progressive rate springs, and operate correctly when installed correctly. Now, this is important! Pass along as needed to let everyone know please!

After work today I went out and tightened up a fuel leak, and went ahead and put the air cleaner on. Decided to take a few pics....might as well share. I hope everyone is a having a good weekend. Cheers.

should I go back to original style headlights? Not sure if these are too modern. Thanks.

8-24-2021 progress. Got out to the garage and took the exhaust system about 1/2 way apart and readjusted things, fine tuned it and got it exactly where it is supposed to be now. The mufflers oval is hidden up in the well, per the MSA instructions. VERY clean way to do it. The MSA exhaust kits are pretty nice. The bends are mandrel bent, meaning no crimp in the corners. 2.5 inch. Mine was misaligned a tad when they made it which made it harder to install, but I finally got it right. Then I went ahead and got ready to mount my BRE Spook front spoiler. I noticed it actually has markings to prove it's from BRE. Also surprised it came in white gel coat....I was expecting black. After that I spent some time starting on the hood with the 2000 grit color sanding and buffing....it's about half way there. Before calling it a day I took my wheels and sanded out the center holes so my center caps would fit. That took about 2-3 minutes per wheel. Anyway, here are some pics.

Here are a couple of quick videos I made tonight. My clear coat....I have been kind of bummed, as it came out looking like primer....dull and very rough. Well, I took the advice of the paint store online and gave it over a week to harden....then color sanded a couple spots with 2000 grit and some water, then put some Turtle Wax medium polishing compound on it, and then took a soft towel and put it down and ran my orbital sander on top of the towel. It jumped to life!!! 8-21-2021 video 1.MOV 8-21-2021 video 2.MOV

When I bought my wheels, they came wrapped in them. When the car is done, I will probably go Over to uhaul and give them back. 🙂

finished pic of coil area. I wired it such that you can see the color of each wire and where it terminates. After this the phone died. I will get some more pics tomorrow, God willing.

more wire routing from distributor.

The Mallory Distributor has 2 wires coming out of it to go to the coil. I went ahead and ran them over to the radiator and down to try and give a little better appearance:

I saw some pics where the spark plug wires coming out the distributor were even cleaner than I had done, so I addressed that: