Guest thinkmonkey Posted September 13, 2003 Share Posted September 13, 2003 So I've got my front suspension all torn down and scattered across my 20 foot workbench. Everything is dissasembled and 'in the process' of being prepped for sandblasting, paint, or reassembly. Except for the rack and pinion housing and the steering arms, for some reason I haven't touched it. The reason I think is because I have no idean how to attack it (read, open it up). So how do I rebuild this sucker? "How to Restore Your Datsun Z-Car" says that it probably won't need it, but why give myself a break on ONE part of the car when I can just spend those extra hours I always have on the weekends. Anybody done this? Thanks. -David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest thinkmonkey Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 come on man, it's just sittin there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueovalz Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 There is not much to clean. It's basically a tube with bronze bushings in each end (which should be replaced if you've not since you've gone this far). You definitely do not want sand or grit inside this area, so if you choose to sandblast it, seal up any holes very well, or at least know that you will be able to clean it out thoroughly later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zcarnut Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 The bronze bushings in the rack ends were never available separately from Nissan. You can inspect and replace the pinion ball bearing and pinion bushing on the 240Z rack. The ball bearings for the 260/280Z steering racks are special and are NLA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueovalz Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 I'm quite sure the bronze bushings that I replaced in my rack were from Nissan (I even remember the Nissan plastic bag that they came in, but this was the early '90s). I can't remember the details, but it appears some bushings have a smaller I.D. for one rack verses the other (240 vs 280). I replaced the bushings on my 280 (the old ones became elongated from rack gear wear), and I definitely remember having to take a brake hone to slightly enlarge the I.D. so that the rack gear would slide in and out. With this said, I believe that the only bushing Nissan offered was a 240 (which I believe uses a smaller diameter rack gear) which will fit into the 280 rack tube, but will need to be honed a small amount for the 280 rack gear to slide into them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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