blueovalz

If I am not misunderstanding your post, I'm assuming that you are trying to pull the strut pin (one long single pin) out from both sides? Aside from this, the strut must be removed at the top of the tower, the brake line disconnected, the half-shaft unbolted from the companion flange (strut side of shaft), and if you do not (or cannot remove the spindle pin) unbolt the swaybar, and then unbolt the lower control arm bushing retainers. Then you have removed the entire strut and lower control arm assembly.

The issue of the mounting eyes under the crossmember bothered me too (when I had to do it with mine too), but it was the only way I could clear the headers with the steering shaft. I veiw it as a protection for the oil pan though, because these tabs lie just a bit below the bottom of the pan.

The vacuum canister that Datsun used can be doubled or tripled up to add more volume, which allows the vaccum to hold up longer with each cycle of use. The second alternative I can suggest is a slightly smaller master cylinder, or larger caliper pistons (or larger total piston area if you go with multi-piston calipers) which entails a brake upgrade. If you have already installed a larger master cylinder (like many of us already have), you may want to return to the smaller OEM version. Decreasing the MC/brake piston ratio will improve the pressure or leverage against the rotor, but will proportionally increase the pedal travel to do so (which will make your pedal less "rock hard").

Make sure the left and right sides are in their correct sides. If not, I believe the clip on one will not engage, and the other shaft will protrude too far out of the case. Visually compare the two when they are fully inserted. They should look symetrical.

Thanks jt1. Your experience mirrors mine to a Tee as far as getting the carrier and shims in and out of the case.

Someone was thinking on that one. Would you say that a typical roller assembly, given typically higher spring rates, would be less suseptable to lobe wear problems?

Very nice, clean, and apparently well done. I have a comment to add to your post. After installing this rack on my car, I found that high speed driving dictated the use of a longer steering arm vs the shortened ones I was using. I found the steering to be too light and too quick for the higher speeds with the short arms, making the car feel "darty". This was extremely helpful for the lower speed slaloms, but un-nerving at high speeds. The use of the OEM longer arm slowed things down a bit, making the turn-in much smoother.

Unless I overlooked this in the manual, I never saw what the preload of the carrier bearings should be. Did you measure this when you installed the shims, or make a good guess? I know from removing the carrier that it's pretty tight from the factory. The two I removed had to be forced out and then forced back into the case.

Before I get flamed, I wanted to redress that with the fact that yes, I drive an SUV, and yes, I destroyed about 1/4 of an acre of forest to build a new house where none existed, and drive a HybridZ occasionally. So urban sprawl and pollution is partially my fault too. But none the less, as a species, I am very disapointed in our actions in relation to our place amoung nature and other humans. We pushed the indian off his land, the cougar of it's. In only less than 300 years (a blink of an eye in history), we've scared the face of this country in an amazing way. What damage will we do in the next 300. Will I give up my creature comforts to change this? Perhaps not, but that's no reason to continue the current practice of never ending expansion, because that's what a virus or a cancer does.

I love animals, and think that we as humans can learn a lot from them. But as stated, we are just as responsible for this as the cougar is. We come in like a virus, destroy all that is in our path, and then shake our heads wondering why there are consequences to our actions (as a whole).

Here's a picture for Dan, of the tool he sent me. It also has a smaller main tube not shown in this photo.

Recieved Dan's tool today, and within 15 minutes, I had a strut pin removed, and still usable for a rebuild. By the time I do the second pin, this tool will have paid for itself. Dan highly recommended that I soak the pin in penetrating oil for a few days first, BUT, being a guy, I never read the directions. Anyway, 10 minutes after getting it in the mail, I grabbed a strut assembly off the wall, attached said tool, and carefull started the pull. Immediately I noticed the pin was beginning to come out and, well, I'm soooo happy. It was hell getting the last 3 pins that I removed without this device.

Well I was going to say "I'll be back", but John's time and effort in the previous post has swayed my opinion. I had forgotten how great that classic was. I remember the first time I saw it in the back seat of our '68 Galaxie 500 (with my brother and sister), a big grocery bag of greasy popcorn that we shared amoungst us, watching it at a drive-in. Man, that was a while back.

Personally, I was criticizing the politics of NASCAR, and not the spectators. Like I said, you couldn't pull me loose from a NASCAR race years ago, but now I personally feel that I was let down by NASCAR (as a big fan) because I didn't play into their new stategy of commercial manipulation. Back in the days when the track name or location was the name of the race, and not the sponsor's name instead. But that was when NASCAR still somewhat resembled stock car racing. Now it's spec car racing, and it's based on the lowest common denominator, again for commercial interests only. I get off on high tech design and parts, and that's where the governing body of NASCAR has chosen to be left on the side of the road. But still, the one thing left that truely amazes me about NASCAR is that they get that much horsepower out of a pushrod V8, and, in a distorted way, I envy the France empire for becoming the Bernie Eccelstone of America. BTW Long, I still watch the non-restrictor plate races, and I very much enjoy them because the passing was not predicated on a draft, and that the field didn't look like a swarm of bees for 95% of the race, and regardless of how much I dislike what NASCAR is turning into, it WILL be here for a while.

Excellent description of what you did. What's to ask?

Basically, yes. On my rear window, I pulled it back off a year after pop-riveting it in place, and it's retained the convex shape. A real eye opener I saw was a guy I knew replaced his entire hatch with Lexan. Put the bottom 3/4" of the Lexan in a sheet metal brake, and bent it over by about 80 degrees to copy the normal lip at the bottom of the hatch. I hazed a bit where the bend was, and it was a straight bend, but all the same, a bit astounding for this young tenderfoot. Anyway, to finish the job he masked off a square window, and then painted every other part of the Lexan the same color as his car! Up close it looked like a hermaphrodite hatch, but from afar it looked like the real thing. Too wierd.

The defroster bars will never get the plastic hot enough to allow a permanent change. When I've molded Plexiglass and Lexan, I've realized the temperature needed to be pretty high (I used an IR temp gauge to check this when I did it, but I can't remember what the threshold temperature was when the plastic would finally bend permanently). It should be an electric heat source too. Gas sources exhaust biproduces can and will ruin the plastic (it caused a bunch of small bubbles on a piece it worked one time). My experience with Lexan is much better than Plexiglass. I used a different method of installation than you will use, but the point I'm wanting to make is that it conforms to the compound curves of the hatch very well, and with no heat used at all. This was only 1/8" Lexan, but with a convex compound curve, even this thin of material will hold up well for the broad area of the hatch window. Lastly, get ahold of ScottieGNZ. He is in the process of making a Plexiglass or Lexan window himself using a steel OEM hatch. I'm sure two heads are better than one in this project.

I'm no expert, I just found out stuff that works for me in my little ol' garage. I'd use the newer current adhesives that you have experience with. Glass will bond to steel, but (IMHO) it is only temporary. Heat (expansion coeficient differences), vibration, and imperfect bonding, all contribute to the bonds demise sooner or later. My current phylosophy in making parts is to design the part to be bolted in place. If this includes a fender, then so be it, I'll create a fender to get the flare I want (or buy a fiberglass fender and then modify it). BUT, with that said, I'm getting old, and unwilling to change my old habits. The current generation of adhesives should be very good, and one day I will try them. Preparation of the steel is everything.

Paragod: that IMSA forum was great. Very well spoken by many of the contributors. Thanks. I guess what really irks me most about NASCAR is that I was it's biggest fan prior to the late 80's. Now I can't hardly watch a race anymore as I wonder which rule was changed to alter the outcome of the currently running race.

One thing I have also enjoyed is the emerging discontent with the new "speed channel". "Created by racing enthusiasts, killed by NASCAR". I remember in the good old "speedvision" days when you could randomly find a wide variety of motorsports at any time of day. Now days, 75% of the time that I randomly check this channel to see whats on, it's american stock car racing of some sort. It's no longer on my list of alternative choices that I could count on. At least I still have the History/Discovery/TLC group to fall back on.

I'm (at least I feel) smack dab in NASCAR country (well, not really). And I could deal with it. On restrictor plate race days, I could instead watch Tiger sink a putt, and feel good that someone didn't mandate that his grip be 2mm longer, or his balls have 30% fewer dimples, than his competition to even the odds. Yeah, sometimes F1 gets to be a snoozer, but there are very few events in my life that motivate me to get out of bed at midnight to watch qualifing in Malaysia. I read in AW the other day where the France empire tried (unsuccessfully) to outlaw street racing (CART) at one of the events in FL by sueing the city (Daytona I think). Shame Shame.

This read is almost as good as John's (?) toilet story (tears in my eyes).

And the flip side is the larger the MC is in relation to the brake cylinder, the less pedal travel you have. So a balance point must be found between just the right travel, and just the right pressure. This is where the booster comes in. It allows us to use a larger MC, and still maintain the required foot pressure without taking the Charles Atlas leg building course.

The way I see it is that it is charging something(but at what voltage). If the ammeter is truely working correctly, you must have a circuit for current flow, so where is the current going?. What indications do you have that the battery is not taking a charge? How many amps is indicated on the ammeter, and are they in the correct direction? Perhaps the ammeter is only showing that the engine is running off the alternator, and not off the battery. Too many questions.

Are rev kits basically only a race item, or do their bennefits extend down to even the street machines. I assume the purpose is to maintain high spring pressures without isolating these pressures to only the spring retainers, thus distributing some of the stresses. Anybody got any opinions? Grumpy?