Me vs the Z

[Guest thepenguin99]

Nathan vs 72 240z

 

Round 1:

My wheel is sitting out about 1" at the bottom and I finally figure out my spindle/strut tube is bent. Replace strut tube/spindle with one from an early 260z. Think most of my wheel alignment problems are solved but now it makes sense to buy new springs/struts.

 

Round 2:

After waiting about a month for my suspension from shox.com (illuminas + tokico springs + bushings) I am ready to tackle the front 2 wheels. I start with the 260z strut tube and notice once it is together that the spring is VERY loose. Installed complete strut assembly into car thinking this was normal.

 

Round 3:

Now its time for the passenger side. I get this strut out and disassemble it. Then I proceed to chase down the parts because I neglected to get a spring compressor this time. After assembling this strut I notice my spring is no where near as loose as the other side. The spring fits just slightly loose so I have to look at the other side again.

 

Round 4:

Take measurements from the bottom of the tube to the perch on both strut assemblies. Turns out the 260z perch is about a half inch lower than my 240z for some reason. I dont have have another parts car so its a KO and the 240z wins. =(

[j260z]

when i was reading my haynes manual i noticed that the free lengths (i'm guessing this means the unsprung length of the spring ) for the front springs are LH - 14.1" and RH - 15.1" for the 240z. the free lengths for the 260z fronts were both 15.5". seeing as i have an early 260z i didn't pay much attention to it but that may be where you've run into trouble. i would think that if you picked up another 260z front spring you would solve your problem. BTW the rear springs are all the same lengths at 15.0".