Aaron 75280z 1975 280zt

[75280z]

I will try and upload the video of my exhaust before and after the catalytic converter install. It definitely smells better. It is still too loud, so I will be adding a rear muffler. The whole rear part of my exhaust needs to be reworked it just doesn't fit quite right so I will be fixing it in the next couple months.

 

My suspension parts came in I will probably start that project in the next few weeks.

 

 

Videos of exhaust

Edited January 27, 2012 by 75280z

[75280z]

Quick update my brights haven't been working for a few years so I decided to take all of the switches off of the steering column. I greased everything as well as clean the electrical contacts. I also found an electrical break in my main 12V line going into all the switches in the column. I have to get a new bullet connector for that but after I cleaned and reassembled my brights work now! My wipers might even work a bit better. I took quite a few pictures of the process. I also found that the little springy tab that connects my horn the plastic piece it connects to is broken so I fixed it with JB weld just need to let it set up and then drill a hole in it so I can mount it, so I can have a working horn as well!

 

This was my exhaust before I but out the extra piece that I had to because I added in the catalytic converter it helped with the smell, but not with the sound.

 

Here are the pictures I took when I took apart the switches on my column it is very scary to do just remember to work slow take pictures from all angles BEFORE you take pieces off.

 

 

This piece is what wasn't working properly and that is why my High-Beams weren't working. I sprayed in a bunch of WD-40 and worked it around in the switch until it was clicking much better.

The top of the switch for the brights

Turn signal return parts this was very gunked up with old dried up grease and nasty crap.

 

The piece that was broken with the horn I repaired with JB weld I will snap a picture when I put it back on.

 

Inside of the wiper/light control on the 280Z

 

Wiper Control Stuff

 

My 12V feed that was broken

Edited February 1, 2012 by 75280z

[75280z]

Holy Cow the suspension is not fun it is hard. I will have to say I do feel very accomplished though.

 

A buddy of mine came over to help. Let me tell you now if you are changing the suspension on a 35 year old car it is always good to have a friend to help. We started and we got as far as the tie rod end (Read not far at all), and we were unable to get it off (that is an understatement. I sprayed that thing down with a TON of PB Blaster and was still unable to get the part off). It wasn't in the best of shape to begin with but after we got done with it it was pretty bad. We still couldn't get it even after heating and tapping because I forgot to by a tie rod separator rod so we made a run to harbor freight. We got back with that and it came right off with a few good whacks. The other side was a different story I sprayed it then started with the tie rod separator. It promptly split the separator. We then sprayed it with PB and let it sit for a while. Then heated it and beat it with the 3lb sledge until it finally gave. This took us a couple hours of the time. I won't lie it should not have taken us that long but that is what happens when you don't plan ahead or quality tools.

 

Then we got to the control arm bushing. It was also a nightmare Atlantic Z suggests getting the bushing pressed out but being stubborn I carefully cut out a strip with a hack saw this was also no fun and took a very long time. I 100% agree with the going to a shop with both control arms and having the bushings pressed out. This was honestly the hardest part for both sides it was just so time consuming and the parts just didn't want to come off. Proper tools I am sure would help with this.

 

The Springs and struts were a piece of cake. The harbor freight spring compressor worked like a charm and I was pleasantly surprised to see that at sometime in my cars past someone installed Tokico HPs but kept the stock springs. The struts were however getting old and you could tell were on their way out. The best part is now I have extra gland nuts. So I installed the new struts as well as the new springs. The Eibachs are quite a bit shorter for the front. The don't even need the spring compressor to get them on the strut. SO I repacked the bearing with grease and changed struts and springs out very easily.

 

Putting the parts back on was not hard at all. The control arms went in with relative ease. I put the brass sleeve in the freezer then pressed it into the bushing with my vise and had no trouble getting it into its slot under the car. The strut housing/springs went in great too. That is one of the main parts that having someone to help really pays off. If you read this thank you man it helped so much. I haven't rolled the car around but it is already sitting about 0.75" lower, and feels much stiffer in the front.

 

I have the tie rods on order. I also picked up some new steering rack boots today and will be putting them on in the next couple days when I get the tie rod ends in.

 

I am very excited to finish this and get it out of the garage and drive. My goal this year is at least 2 track days.

 

Some Pictures

 

Rear Before height below

Front before height below

 

Old and new strut for passengers front

Yes that bench vise is on the floor I just got it yesterday and haven't mounted it yet

[75280z]

Alright so I got my tie rods I went the cheap route and got them from Autozone we will see how long they last I will make sure to keep an eye on them. My thought process is if something goes wrong I can call teh shop down the street and have them in free shipping within a couple days. The crazy thing is one is clearly a Moog tie rod end while the other is the crappy Duralast. The Moog came pre-greased with a nice boot attached. The Duralast did not come pre-greased, and they had a crappy boot with it. One they had to order in from out of state the other was in a local warehouse. So you might get lucky and get the nicer one if they have to order them in. I took comparison photos you can see that the quality difference easy enough. I also picked up some steering rack boots. I also got them from Autozone. They usually have them on hand if you go in with a part number they will gladly get them for you. This means that besides checking alignment when I get this all finished and bleeding the brakes, which I will also do after I get the rear done I am done with the front.

 

I didn't get a picture but I dropped 1.8" in the front. It might settle a bit more as all I did was pulled it out of the garage turn it around and back it back in. Either way almost 2 inches I am very happy with that. I didn't want the car slammed just a bit lower and better handling. Enough talking here are some pictures.

 

Below you can see the difference

[75280z]

I have a couple updates at once so here goes.

 

Well after taking off the rear suspension (Pictures will be coming) I checked the brakes and I think I have ignored them for long enough. I need to get new pads and shoes. Anyone have any advice I don't want racing pads just good quality pads for spirited driving every now and then and somewhat reasonably priced. I have stock brakes just FYI. I have been searching and it looks like EBC green stuff or Hawk HPS are some decent pads. Does any one have any advice on brake shoes?

 

Darrel came over tonight we got 1 spindle pin pulled it came out very easily. The second pin was not easy and in fact it sucked and is stuck. I will be using the saw method on AtlanticZ's site where I cut in between the two separate them and either get it pressed out or I smash it with a sledge hammer until it gives way to my amazing physical prowess. Thank you Darrel for coming over and helping. It was great talking to him I always love having a fellow car enthusiast over to hang out especially when they are nice enough to bring a tool that is very helpful. He also gave me some great advice about tackling the rest of the bushing swaps. I don't know whether I will get to the pin again this weekend as I have a shift and 2 papers to write for school I don't know if they will allow much time for car work.

 

Just a thought I know there had been talks before about making spindle pin patches. I am in the military and have several contacts for getting patches made. I would love to know from everyone whether through posting or PMs if people would actually buy these if I had a patch made. I would obviously show off the design before submitting the order let me know what you guys think.

 

I also found out that I might be here at this Air Force Base for another tour so that means at least 6 years in one location I have yet to decide whether I am happy or not with this prospective news. I was going to try and make it back out to California for a few years. The bad news is that means I will probably buy a house here and most of my money will be tied up in that for the next while so I need to get this maintenance done in the next few months before I find out. There is absolutely very little chance the Z will ever be sold, but I don't want to have to tarp it in the back of my garage I want to use a set of tires up this year driving it. There are some beautiful mountain roads here that I will be hopefully driving this year. Thanks for reading have a great day.

[240z72]

Great write up bud..I really enjoy hearing about it. Im currently on the path to the l28et swap in my 240. I want to go ms but still just scratching the surface on how to go about it. Hope to see more on your 280mind soon! Good luck

[75280z]

Spindle pin still isn't out I am going to look for a replacement strut housing. I talked to Jeff Winter who builds race Datsuns. He suggested not replacing that bushing around the spindle pin. Just leave those alone he said. He suggested replacing the inner bushings not the outer. I wish I would have talked to him a week ago and just left these spindle pins alone. This car would already be back on the road.

 

Let's be honest though I wanted to update the suspension. I subjected myself to this because I wanted to.

Edited February 26, 2012 by 75280z

[75280z]

I got the dome light working the other day. I need to get the door buttons working now.

 

I know I have been slacking. I did get some work done today.

 

I cleaned off some of the built up crud off of my diff as well as put the one side that has the spindle pin out back together and put it back on the car. I did it mainly so I could work on the exhaust it was way to loud for my liking. It is nice to see her just waiting really on the spindle pin removal once that is done an afternoon of putting everything back together and bleeding the brakes and I will be back on the road.

 

I got the new exhaust built. I still need to add the hangers, and an exhaust tip to make it look nicer. You know what I have noticed there are not a ton of great spots to add hangers to these exhausts. The resonator sounds really good just a bit quieter. Nice deep tone. I might try and work out something with the hangers tomorrow. I should have some pictures of all of the work I have been doing lately pretty soon I might take a few tonight.

 

OK I snapped a few pictures real quick.

The Crud I cleaned off of the diff.

The evil Spindle that won't budge!

Edited February 26, 2012 by 75280z

[75280z]

Still no movement, I am going to try and complete my exhaust while I am working out other options.

[75280z]

Finished my exhaust I went ahead and just used piping I already have rather than mess around with some sort of chrome tip I fired it up and it is pretty quiet at idle. I didn't really rev it up that much as it is past 10:00pm and I try to be nice to the neighbors. I am very excited. I am going to add another hanger in the middle section somewhere but the exhaust is in there pretty sturdy right now. I will take video when I get this darn car back on the ground.

[75280z]

Well no luck on the spindle pin, so I have ordered a "new" used housing I am going to have to transfer over my hub so I went ahead and ordered the rear wheel bearing sets. I was going to replace those at some time so I guess now is as good as later. This part of the project has really gone WAY over the very small budget I gave it. The good news is I have purchased some more tools and my car should be really nice when I get done.

[BluDestiny]

Keep it up. Like the build.

[billseph]

+1 on liking the build, and I'm glad I was able to help out getting the strut housing for you DAMN SPINDLE PINS!!

[75280z]

Thanks for the encouragement. I was just beginning to think this was a blog all for me and me alone. I guess I needed to order the wheel bearings anyway

[75280z]

Well I decided to strip everything I would need for the new hub. That means I needed the axle as well as the spacer in the middle. So I rented the slide hammer and this whole little project it actually went better than I thought it would for once. I started by cutting the peen ring (If that is what it is called) off of the old nut. I then tried to break it loose with a breaker with no dice. So I went at it with my harbor freight air wrench still nothing. I heated the nut with my little torch for a couple minutes and hit it again with my harbor freight impact wrench and it came loose like there was no real problem in the first place. Needless to say I was very happy.

 

I then attached the slide hammer and put the housing in my vice facing down so I could use gravity and these guns I call arms to break the axle loose. No go I tried for a couple minutes and decided if heat worked for the nut, and since Blues Tech Tips mentioned heating that back flange, I would try. I heated for about 5 minutes and went to town with the slide hammer it took around 25 hits to finish it. Seeing that axle move that first centimeter is a great feeling. Now it is all apart.

 

I have already ordered everything I have the bearings already, just need the "new" housing to get here and the axle nuts. So question to everyone do I have to press the bearing onto the shaft before pressing it into the housing? Or can I have them both pressed into the housing then use the axle bolt to pull the axle into the outer bearing? I see blues shows it going onto the shaft first, but I don't see why one way matters over the other. Well I hope you enjoy the photos. Also do you think it is possible to get them all pressed in with minimal tools or am I better off going to a shop and have them do it?

 

This is where I heated the flange I rotated it around a couple times.

Edited March 8, 2012 by 75280z

[75280z]

I got the bearings in now just waiting on the ZX lock nut, when I get that I will take off the old one, and bolt this stuff up into the car. I will do the other side after I already took the drive shaft loose and cut off the peen ring.

 

The bearings weren't super hard to get back on there I was just real careful and real forceful . I took some pictures along the way. I will upload them in a few days.

[75280z]

I took plenty of pictures I think I got the car put back together today. I went ahead and changed both sides rear wheel bearings. Everything went really well today. If any one is wanting to replace the rear wheel bearings on their Z here is what I suggest you do. First you should go to atlanticz.ca and use Blues Tech tips I did however find some things I liked that I did differently than Blue.

1. Take the housings out of the car (Springs, struts, the control arm all of it).

2. Cut the old peen ring off.

3a. Use an air wrench and take it off (I found heating the nut worked on one side, not the other).

3b. (If 3a doesn't work because you have a crappy harbor freight air wrench like I do.) Take it to the closest tire store and have them remove the nut.

4. Put housing in vice with lugs facing down.

5. Attach the slide hammer going down

6. Using a little torch and heat the back part that attaches to the half shafts (I showed a picture in my post above)

7. Smack the crud out of it with the slide hammer. On the first housing it took about 25 hits on the second it only took about 7 or 8. I heated the part for a bit longer on the second one.

8. Use some device to knock the bearings out of the housing.

9. If the bearing is stuck on the hub axle like my second one was and you can't press it off (Because like me you don't have a press). I used a dremel and cut off wheel to cut the outer metal, then took out the actual ball bearings then very carefully cut the inner metal almost through on 2 different spots, then drove a screw driver into the channel I cut and split the ring once the ring splits just a little twisting pressure from the screw driver in the channel and it will slide right off.

10. I did not freeze or heat anything like blue it might have gone better if I did. I did antiseize everything. Using my vise set just wide enough to let the shaft pass through I hammered on the middle of the outside of the hub using a impact socket to sit in between those fins. Make sure your vice is set just wide enough to let the shaft go through, but still have the inner part of the bearing resting on the metal surface. Every few hits I turn the shaft to make sure I wasn't just beating on one place.

11. Once that is on pack the bearings (that one on the shaft and the other just by itself) and the other as well as grease the shaft and the spacer that goes inside the housing.

12. Drive the new bearing into the back of the housing I found the old bearings good at this, you might want to set them in a baggy or something to make sure it doesn't contaminate your new bearing.

13. Put the new seal it I greased the inside liberally (I greased everything liberally)

14. Put the axle back in and bolt it all together I used the old nut to draw them together (since it wasn't a lock nut) then took that off and replaced it with the lock nut and tightened it back down to the 186 to 220 ftlbs. I did this by using my vice to lock the housing and using a long 2x4 between the lugs I propped it up against me and pulled with the torque wrench to tell me how tight it was.

15. Put it all back in and enjoy.

 

I was getting so frustrated by all the little things I had to do to finish this. I am glad it went so smoothly today. I took it around the block and it needs the brakes bled again they have to be pumped in order to work properly and the parking brake seems like it needs adjusted now because it isn't really working. She seems so much firmer and I still need to tuck the exhaust up a little higher in one spot, but she is back on the ground. I didn't take any rear ride height measurements tonight I will try and update with pictures sometime later this week. The exhaust sounds so much better it is a lot quieter and still sound pretty mean. No video tonight just wanted to come in shower and write this.

**Edited for photo dump**

 

I know that some of the things were explained in other posts but sometimes it is nice to see the pictures with text as well so there is some duplicate information.

 

The first few pictures are the grade 8 spindle pin with nylock nut replacing the spindle pin. I got all that hardware from Fastenal cost about 28 dollars total.

 

ZX Lock nut rather than the older peen style I used the old nut to bring the whole housing together then tightened up the ZX nut to finish tightening it the rest of the way.

 

Pressing on the new bearing to the shaft I used blues advice and added antiseize it was mostly cleaned up when I got the pictures.

DONE!

 

How I removed the axle after liberal heating of the rear flange.

Apart! I ended up having to carefully cut this bearing off because I could not press it off myself.

Just drive that old bearing out. Make sure and take off the rear flange and seal first.

The spacer that does in the middle. I have read that these need to be matched to the housing both the housing and this part were stamped with B so I think I am ok. I cleaned and regreased it before putting it back in.

Rear Flange no axle!

 

On the side that was already done I added the ZX nut then tightened by using a 6ft long 2x4 and a torque wrench.

Edited March 13, 2012 by 75280z

[75280z]

Alright went back out and bled the brakes today MUCH better. There was some air in there I thought I caught the reservoir right at empty, clearly I did not. I lost the exhaust coming back into my driveway after taking her around the block I must have only lightly tightened the exhaust clamp. Luckily I didn't run it over I only went about 3 feet when it fell off because I was going so slow. So I tightened that back up. I then decided it was time to fix my starter I don't know how many people have ignition switch problems in these Z's you should just wire in a relay to run off the key and it should fix it. I started it today with the key for the first time in years (I have been using a push button).

[75280z]

I took the car to work today and parked by a co-workers 370Z. Yes I crowded him on purpose. Also I believe that is my neighbors vette in the background, I didn't realize that when I was taking the picture. Nothing fell of today. I remembered when I got home several bolts I forgot to tighten up so I tightened them up, I have a very short commute to work so nothing loosened itself up. I still have to repair the dome light switch and put the column cover back on but other than that she is looking good. Also she could really use a bath.

[75280z]

I added pictures to my post above.

 

Tonight I took off a rear wheel and looked at the drum brakes again trying to see if I could figure out why the emergency brake wasn't really working. Here is a pro-tip. Don't have your wife press the brake pedal with the car running to see what the rear wheel cylinder does without the drum on, and definitely don't have her press it twice because then you end up with a brake cylinder pushed out of its housing. Good news I got to clean all the 30 year old rust from it then pressed it back into place. We will see how she does tomorrow. The wife and I are supposed to take it on our fancy date on Wednesday and I want to work out all the bugs first.