seattlejester's 1971 240Z

[seattlejester]

Starter died twice in two weeks in my daily...if this one dies again I might throw it through their window.

 

Well, I was browsing through craigslist and decided to search for sand blasting on a whim, my interest was peaked when this guy had pictures of datsun parts blasted and polished. I reached out to him and he wanted to get the parts to blast right away, so that kind of forced me off my butt to get to working a bit. 

 

Spent some time with the bearing press pulling the bearings off of the stub axles. Almost grabbed one of the 240z ones, the difference the two splines make is that a 27 spline flange with spin freely over the 25 spline 240z stub. Cut the front strut tubes down a bit, will have to measure the height to get them perfect, but enough to have him clean it up.

 

Met up with the guy dropped off the parts and within an hour I had pictures of his progress:

 

 

 

Couple of hours later he had it done. We met up the next morning, and boy they almost sparkle compared to all the crap that was on it before hand. Crazy fast turn around. That is the type of one man operation I like . Planning on having him do a couple of small things as well.

 

Also sprang for the 280zx CV adapters. If the internet is correct in what I am reading for the driver side I can just run a regular 280zx turbo axle, so that is taken care of, hopefully out of the joints and axles I ordered I can cobble together a solution for the passenger side. 

 

Rang up a powder coating company to coat my control arms, going to clean them up a bit more before hand, but I think I'm getting close to finishing them off. I figure I might as well have them coat the adapters and some other small pieces pending price. 

 

Burning a hole in my wallet, but I think I'll be ordering some TTT parts for my birthday. I do have a set of the 280z struts. Maybe I'll see how much shipping is to see if I can get a bit of a core value for them.

[V-Fib]

Could you share the contact information for the blaster? That would be cool.

 

Also as always your build is an inspiration to keep going - although I'm nowhere near done. lol 

[seattlejester]

You get there eventually .

 

Ordered a couple axles, the WD21 pathfinder axles look short enough that they might just work, have to order one more turbo axle to steal the joint off of that one. I wish they would just sell the bloody joints by themselves.

[seattlejester]

Figuring out the axles has led to a realization. (Thanks Newzed)

 

I think I installed the mustache bar backwards. The R200 bar has a little kink in it. When I installed it into my car, I referenced the 240z diagram for the R180, I figured the small kink was there to accommodate for the bigger differential. Turns out that instead the engineers decided to flip the mustache bar and add a little kink in it so it doesn't space it too far back.

 

So along with the suspension overhaul I'll be correcting that issue as well. That unfortunately means I won't be able to measure my axle length until I get the differential correctly installed. I will most likely need to get my drive shaft extended at the same time, and it would be foolish of me not to install the shifter relocator while that is out, which also puts me dangerously close to just pulling the transmission and installing an uprated clutch while everything is out.

 

I still want to keep this relatively feasible so I'll plan on the power upgrade and engine inspection at a later warmer date, so the immediate plan will be...

 

Flip the car around and start on the front suspension:

 

The GTX2 front control arm and tension arm kit arrived so I should be able to have the front ready to put together minus the brake hardware and the hubs I will need to pull from the setup already in the car.

 

I have a feeling I may have to deal with having the steering knuckle hogged out to accommodate the ball joint on the new control arm.

 

Other then that I have to weld the coilover onto the front which should be a very straight forward process and polish up the spindles. Then swap over parts I will be reusing and bolt it all back together.

 

I also suspect I need to replace the control arm that had a torn boot at this time.

 

Once the front is done I can hopefully begin to attack the rear:

 

Drain transmission

Remove drive shaft

Pull out tail of transmission to get to shifter arm

Install shifter relocator (moves it 1 inch back)

Send off old shifter housing and arm to have it lengthened an appropriate amount to have it comfortable for future install

Pull out diff and half shafts

Re-orient mustache bar and reinstall

Take measurements

Have drive shaft lengthened (really hope they can do this instead of having to make a new one)

Order up axle for passenger side

Uninstall diff and half shafts

Finish up control arm and send off to powder coat

Reassemble stub axle with new bearings

Weld coilovers uprights hubs

Paint uprights

Pull suspension

Transfer rear disk brake kit

Consider solution for rear brake line rubbing

Install stub axle

Install new VLSD diff and driver side axle along with adapter and coilover

Assemble passenger axle and assemble passenger side axle with adapters and coilover

 

Alternatively I could skip a few steps and just measure how much further back flipping the mustache bar puts the diff and order the extension and estimate on the passenger side axle since I have quite a bit of room to play with with the double plunge nature of the axle setup.

 

With that done I can focus on installing the door alignment helpers the valve covers and the quick latches I bought. I imagine it will be getting close to spring. 

 

Looks like I have quite the winter project setup for me. I can't imagine I'll have any clunking after this and in fact I should be able to dial in my suspension settings and maybe get some real driving and autocross action in.

[seattlejester]

I assembled the hybrid axle (1995 WD21 housing, WD21 spider gear, WD21 shaft, Febest G35 spider gear, Herra 280zx turbo housing) then had  to take it all apart and reassemble it as I realized I forgot to install the inner clamps. Axles have been greased backup with the clamps in the proper place with the boots, just waiting to be tightened up and wiped down waiting for install.

 

Next I finally decided to weld on the coil-overs.

 

I cut down the uprights to 45mm as the instructions stated indicated with a scribe mark using a micrometer.

 

The rear went in easy enough, the BC coilover adapter was a tight fit and after wiping down both the hub and the adapter I slipped it on and made sure it was seated and put a bead all the way around. 

I'm tempted to run a double or triple pass over it, but I can't imagine it breaking in any way since the only way to break it would be to pull away from the hub and I can't imagine any force that would accomplish that. I suppose it could lean and pull at the weld, but it is also lined up with the tube so that would still probably not happen. Still need to wire brush it and look for any weak points before painting so I'll have another chance to review.

A note is that it can get quite tight with a mig setup as you near the stub axle housing. I tend to run a little extra gas anyways so the additional sickout needed to weld it was not too problematic. Just make sure you hit the hub before you hit the adapter or you are going to have to build from the adapter back to the hub which will make a much larger weld.

The fronts are a little more problematic.

The front hubs have a little hump that prevents a cylinder from sitting flat, so other manufacturers machine a little clearance so make it easier to seat,  BC does not do us the favor. I already came into this knowing this would have to be done and I'll credit this to BC still being relatively new to our chassis, still would have been a nice touch though. I'll have to set aside some time to attack it with a grinding wheel and test fitting, but I expect it will go on similarly quickly.

Plan is after finishing to just primer and paint the uprights, or else I would have to strip the adapters for powder coat and I'm not quite willing at the moment. Further plan given how I have seen these types of coilovers rust is to run anti seize where relevant and to spray some chassis wax in side the strut housing to prevent any moisture from pooling between the adapter and the upright. Once these guys are sitting pretty it will be time for the big install.

 

Will have to clean up my space a bit add more lighting and I'm actually planning on getting some carpet to lay on. Some scrap carpet for a couple bucks at a warehouse place can make it actually quite nice to lie on concrete, and if it gets dirty you are out a few bucks so not the end of the world.

[seattlejester]

In retrospect, I should have seen where the coilovers bottom out in the adapter and see if I am missing out on any space. Hopefully the purchase of the extreme low version will allow give me the range I desire. Will have to check for the fronts.

[seattlejester]

After much searching, it seems like the extreme lows will go indeed quite low (bottom out the frame rails if desired) so I don't think I'll mess with maximizing the minimum height adjustment.

 

Also after spending some time with a grinder I can kind of see why a notch could be difficult. It really isn't just a notch, more like a parabola, the sides need to be ground down quite a bit in addition to the main hump in order to assure a real close fit.

 

Having learned how to weld it from the rear, I turned up my gas a bit and was pretty easily able to weld the adapter with just additional stickout on the welder. I welded a nice wide pattern so I don't have reservations about having to revisit the fronts.

 

Pretty much done welding for the time being. Had to stop to go and install some rotors and brake pads in the daily. Need to cleanup still along with flip the car around, but pretty much all good to go in the front, need to stop by the powdercoaters sometime next week to see about getting some of the rear end pieces coated up. 

[seattlejester]

Happy new year everybody!

 

Started cleaning up a bit. Also bought a label maker so I can label what exactly is in each bin so I don't go around opening every bin every single time I can't find something. Freed up two more shelves and planning on getting rid of three more large boxes to replace with 6 smaller boxes. Should be able to get most everything off the floor at that point as well as free up a couple square feet on each side to make the suspension overhaul much more pleasant. 

 

1 light bulb in the corner and a small task light really wasn't going to cut it for me, so I decided to step up the light game. 

Much much much more light, and the wattage is actually about the same as the 1 incandescent bulb, I imagine the electrical usage is much less as well. Advertised as lifetime products and for 40$ each, really hard to complain. Planning on messing around with some additional lighting options for underneath the car that I'm pretty excited about. 

 

Didn't get much done due to the random snow that started falling. Probably one more day of good cleaning and organizing and a dump run and we should be getting close to the full overhaul. I plan to stop by the powder coaters this week as well so hopefully some pretty parts soon to come.

 

Also spent quite a bit on getting some more capture gear so I can get more picture and video. A couple tripods, a gimbal, finding some more cameras etc etc. So hopefully some better quality progress tracking to come. 

[Austin.LiveFun]

Where abouts in seattle are you? I'm just across the water from you with my 73. Haven't been able to do much with her yet though with my new found lack of proper space.

 

I gave this whole thread a quick read over, and gotta say nice work sir! Found some good useful stuff in there.

[seattlejester]

Eastside, I work near downtown though.

 

Thanks for the kind words.

 

Dropped off parts at powder coaters, was hit with a bit of sticker shock of $270 for my bin of parts. Turns out they blast everything that comes in the door unless it is squeaky clean, so factoring that into it, plus the masking after blasting, it really isn't too bad now that I think about it. Really hard to justify though when you have it blasted pretty clean and can just throw a coat of paint on it for the cost of a can. Still a lot of these parts are going underneath the car and will be difficult to access, nice to know they will be coated real well. Note to self and others, if you don't plan on working with the part in question before powder coating, do not get it blasted, a good coater will most likely have a blasting setup in house.

 

Most parts will just be whatever black they plan on running, control arms will be gold. Guy was pretty good at his job, asked which parts were sealing or machined surfaces that needed to stay powder free and such. They should be ready for pickup next week. 

 

Plan to get the front end work started tomorrow. Got additional lighting for underneath the car and cleaned up the work space for really good access and have all the parts needed. Pretty sure I can get everything off, not sure how far I will get into the install though. Hope to get it done and start the rear end tear down, I can then go and drop off the drive shaft to get lengthened and hopefully pick up all the parts by next weekend to finish that up.

[seattlejester]

Decided to try filming a bit on top of working on the car. Definitely gained a new found appreciation, really hard to remember the right words and remember to keep the items clear and in view of the work area. Also it takes a lot longer to film as you work. Spent about 2 hours, only managed to remove the hub and the strut housing from one side. Still nice to work on the car again, our cars really are simple compared to modern cars. 

 

The one tool that made it really nice to work on the car was a ball joint separator for the tie rod. I forgot to get mine out, but once I got there it was real easy. I have several impact guns, but just working with ratchets was nice. 

 

Finally got around to really looking at the TTT GTX2 arms. I went to my specialty hardware supplier, but it seems like they closed down. I'd like to replace the threaded bolt for the tension arm with a shouldered bolt, but I may have to install it if I don't find time to replace it before I get there. The bummer was that I realized all the nuts and bolts are really large SAE. I've pretty much maintained a full metric tool kit, so this meant having to go out and buy a set of sockets and wrenches in SAE, the sizes are also large and not a typical size so that meant I couldn't just grab the 8$ wrench set or a single socket or two. Total ended up at $68. 

 

Going to try and get more work done. I really think I can get the front end finished up in another couple hours. Then I can look at wherever the oil leak is coming from, maybe remount my oil relocator and button up some wiring before dropping it down and flipping it around.

[seattlejester]

Front suspension is off. Had to run off for some anti seize for the coilovers. Those should be going in this weekend on both sides. 

 

I measured the ES bushing for the FLCA to be 62mm.

 

The TTT arm rod end was about 50mm with the hole sizer.

 

The included 6 washers were about 2.5mm each.

 

So with 4 shims there was enough gap that an audible thunk was apparent. 5 shims required some very precise chiseling to get the shim into position.

 

Honestly wish they would have included one or two thinner shims. 

 

The arms look really good, just wish there was some instruction. It is pretty self explanatory, but some instructions off the bat would have been nice for locating which pin to start with for the sway bar and which one to start with for the tension arm.

 

The passenger side tie rod boot tore a perfect circle. Replaced it with an energy suspension cap. Highly suggest purchasing a set if you replace your outer tie rod with the one piece setup, the boots aren't replaceable so having the replacement boots to just slip over after cutting out the old boot is a nice piece of mind. I've got both of mine using the ES caps now so hopefully no more problems there.

 

The G-machine tension arm ball/socket setup really is good. I remember when I took my original rubber tension arm off, the moment I loosened the bolts on the LCA it popped up violently even with deteriorated bushings. I did the same this time around and found no spring tension, just a nice pivoting motion. Unfortunately found that the ball had cracked in several places. I fear the plastic they use is not quality enough for the task at hand. My car had less then 1200 miles on it since they were installed and I think the ball could be pried apart into 5 pieces now. I think it is a case of good idea, executed poorly. Maybe if someone remakes it in a much harder delrin or something it would be nice, but I'm happy I'm going with a rod end now.

[seattlejester]

GTX-2 kit findings:

 

The control arm to front cross member rod end with the spacers is roughly 50mm

 

Each washer provided is roughly 2.5mm

 

In a stock layout, the closest will be with 5 of the washers rearward of the LCA

 

The bolts supplied have to have the allen heads pointing away, i.e. sway bar allen head has to point towards the front of the car, the tension arm allen head has to point towards the bottom of the car.

 

Upon comparison to the stock setup, the second sway bar hole from outboard is comparable to stock

 

Upon comparison to the stock setup, the first tension arm hole from outboard is comparable to stock, however you cannot use this hole as the tension arm nut will bind on the bracket at droop preventing installation. 

 

Installing both bolts in the second hole will prevent one from engaging the allen head on the sway bar, thus it must be oriented with the allen head towards the front of the car as previously mentioned.

 

The tension arm to control arm end has ~23 threads

 

The tension arm to chassis rod end has ~20 threads

 

The tension arm bracket must be installed prior to installing the tension arm

 

The tension arm bracket must be clocked to allow the bolt to slide in around the cup, or the cup will need to be bent/trimmed to accommodate

 

The tension arm allen head is 1/2 inch

 

Most of the other hardware is 15/16 inch

 

The sway bar end link has 14mm threads and I think a 6mm allen head.

[seattlejester]

I hate myself.

 

I bought a full gasket set and I didn't use it since I was told the engine was leak free and sitting on a stand it didn't drip any oil. In retrospect that makes sense as long as all the oil is in the pan, it won't leak.

 

I'm finding a lot of oil underneath the car with it jacked up. Currently I probably have a bit more oil then the pan can hold since I'm running a remote oil filter relocator which said to put in oil until it registered on the dip stick while running to compensate for the extra capacity needed to fill the lines with oil.

 

Oil pan is definitely wet, oil dripping from the bolts and the plug. I wiped all of it and found the plug still wet so it is coming from somewhere above, plug is tight.

 

Found the oil pan bolts on the loose side, tightened them all up. Found oil dripping from the flywheel cover on the transmission, pulled that off and see a mist on the fly wheel. So RMS or further up.

 

Found a trail on the driver side, goes to a block off plate that I think is just a cover, like the portion of the block it blocks off actually doesn't have a hole in it. I think I'll take it off and take a look. Unfortunately it is completely unaccessible from above because of the very tight fitting intake manifold.

 

I can't find it and it is bothering me. And I jammed the engine so close to the firewall that I can't check the two covers on the back of the head. Going to have to do a lot of dabbing and drying, maybe a UV kit to trace the source.

 

I absolutely hate tracing oil leaks...

 

In other good/bad news, found that the engine was only being held in on one side. The nut on the mount sitting in the cross member on the driver side was gone along with the washers. The passenger side was very loose. Might explain the vibrating on down hill/decel. Put on new washers and nuts along with locktite. I think the factory setup used two nuts? I don't quite recall. Going to have to go to a specialty fastener seller to find some locknuts in m10x1.25 thread pitch. Can't remember if I ever pulled them when I did the 7m swap. They were new mounts when I put the L28 in, and it had a new nut on the side that still had the nut. If I had the room I think this would be the point where I pull the motor and replace all the fasteners and locktite the poop out of everything. For now I'll just have to do what I can. 

 

If I can nip this leak in the bud, then I might have a few things planned for this iteration of the motor.

[seattlejester]

Can't find the leak. It is coming out pretty steady, but I can't actually find it. I've checked from up top, but the only real leak I see is the oil cap seal seeming to leak a bit, but that is only under running conditions. Maybe it is the block off plate will have to revisit. Just want to finish this part out.

 

 

Torqued everything and put the car down. I made sure to keep the height pretty high so I could slide the jack out. Pulling it out I was quickly reminded why I was doing all this as the rear end chattered and chirped and clunked as I made a 3 point turn to put it in head first. Spent a 1/2 hour trying to get the bloody front end up the car up on ramps. Seems like the rubber on the ramps either pooped out or decided to stop gripping. Had to jam a piece of pipe against the wall to keep it from slipping so the car could get up. 

 

Raised the car and found something interesting. I had routed my exhaust to be a semi side exit, exiting right in front of the rear wheel. This in turn caused everything on the passenger side to be much rustier then on the driver side. 

 

Planning on pulling the rear end and all the suspension components tomorrow. I'm a little iffy on the differential. Part of me says to just put it together, and the other part says to get it rebuilt by a professional and have them set the backlash and such. I'll give a shop a call next week and see what they can do.

 

Called the drive shaft shop and they said they would re-tube the drive shaft for ~200. That is a very expensive mistake on my part. I know I should fix it, but staring at it, kind of makes me wonder if I should. Bah just probably the fumes.

 

The temptation is also there to take out the tail shaft and install my shifter relocator and perhaps even pull the transmission to inspect the rear main seal. Granted I will have to do that when it is time for a clutch so I'm not sure if it is worth the effort.

 

Lots of parts look rusty, I'm tempted to just buy the aluminum uprights and such and just not have to deal with it. That's a good 600$ just for pretty so I'm not sure I can justify it given my recent secret little purchase.

 

Started to work on some of the pieces I need for the rear end.

 

I put my control arm together an to my dismay, I had ordered a standard length bolt, as in a bolt that would work for a car running factory control arms.

Another thing to address and another silly and fairly expensive mistake.

 

Coated the rear hubs in some chassis black. I'm kind of regretting not having these powder coated given how quickly my factory set seems to have rusted.

I'm going to have to think about something else on top perhaps any recommendations? I'm using VHT chassis black, I had heard good things, but seems like it doesn't hold up all that well.

 

Also managed to get the stub axles started.

Having a press makes this really really really easy. Didn't have to pull the studs, didn't have to freeze the stubs and boil the bearings, everything went on with minimal resistance.

 

Found out the driver side axle needed a deeper groove which I finished a couple days ago, the passenger side axle still needs the clamp ends hammered down.  

 

Getting ever so closer!

[seattlejester]

Took out all the studs and added the backing plate...yea remember to do that.

 

Mustache bar was indeed flipped. ~2.5 inches too short on the drive shaft. Called the shop, they said they would re-tube it for $200. Bummer, but better for the long run I suppose.

 

Moving things around it also seems the front diff mount bolt holes don't line up exactly. Maybe this is what the seller was referring to regarding the early chassis. Going to have to lengthen the bolt slot to accommodate.

 

Entire rear end is out, had to remove even the hangers to be able to hang the mustache bar for measurements and test fitting.

 

There is a local transmission shop that looks at differentials. Tempted to see how much they would charge. Would be nice not having to drop it again if the back spacing or the torque on the front pinion isn't spot on.

 

Planning on dropping off the drive shaft on Monday and picking up the proper bolts for the lower control arms.

 

Calipers need to be repainted, and one of the lines look a little crimped. Tempted to cut it down and re-flare it while moving it to keep it from being bent again, but that could turn into a project itself and I would have to find my flaring tool.

 

Also giving me a great chance to touch up some spots I missed with sealant and rust prevention.

 

Oil is still leaking a good bit from the front, a small puddle of really dark oil after a few days. Oil in the engine seems pretty clean according to the dip stick. Beginning to worry that it might be the oil pan. That would be a blessing and a disappointment. 

[seattlejester]

Driveshaft dropped off, having it lengthened 2.25 inches. I measure it at 2.5 inches for the dust shield to be fully submerged, that gives me about 1/2 an inch in either direction as far as the dust shields are concerned and I'm pretty sure my shaft engagement was quite adequate the first time I measured it around.

 

Also went to my local bolt supplier. Spent about $90 getting new hardware. 

 

Called the differential shop, the guy wanted $600-1000 to do a full rebuild. I think given that price I'll just run my home brew setup until something happens and either update it accordingly or put a aftermarket differential in my housing and swap out to regular zx axles.

 

Doing a round of anti bind upgrades on the rear sway bar, throwing a rod link in for the sway bar and spacing the rear sway bar back 1/2 an inch with some aluminum spacers.

Edited February 16, 2016 by seattlejester

[seattlejester]

Someone hit my daily driver earlier in the week while I was at my local hardware store. They left without leaving a note. It was enough to pry off the bumper and leave some mean scratch marks and even shift the car. I parked way in the open right in front of the store, open spots on either side. Would have loved to report the guy, but the camera was pointed incorrectly in the store and the outside one was pointed 4 cars away and the store had two entry points into the lot. 

 

 

Pretty pissed. To top it all off and potentially related, the car started skipping on turns. You would turn the wheel and nothing, until eventually the car would grab and shift directions. I thought it might be the suspension top hat binding and I was proud of my self for managing to get it home and to the dealership safely while the car continually tried to pull and pop, turns out if I had just let it go into the wall like it wanted to I would have saved myself a lot of hassle. What I thought was a simple suspension bind turns out to be the teeth apparently eating itself and stripping splines off in the transmission.

 

Since I had spent a good amount on the Z overhauling the suspension, my options were limited for what I could buy for straight out cash. The dealership offered me quite a few incentives as well as a good trade in value, so I signed myself into a lease. It will give me a little more time to save and I get to have some nice features in the meantime. 

 

New car, means payments, means less money available for the Z. Luckily I have a shelf full of parts just waiting to go in, so that just means any new things are going to take longer to save up for or justify.

 

Mustache bar and differential housing was cleaned up and painted.

 

 

Ordered some adjustable end links two or three weeks ago, for the rear in similar style as the front, rod end with a bushing on one side. MSA says that they should be inbound any day now. 

 

Still have to button up my center housing. Need to find a way to hold the differential while I torque the ring gear bolts to 120+. I'm tempted to just impact it and call it good. My 3/8 impact gun seems to max out at a little above 120ft-lbs so I think that will be fine with blue locktite. 

 

Once the differential is ready it should be pretty quick to reassemble. Still need diff fluid, but other then that I have all the pieces. I will have to decide if I want to remake one of the brake lines that seem a little bent, possibly crimped. Hoping to find my cu-ni-fer roll to save me some money. Might have to re-assemble the car, and pull it out before being able to find it. 

Edited March 16, 2016 by seattlejester

[seattlejester]

I'm pretty pissed, so a bit of a rant I apologize.

 

I'm having very annoyed feelings with the endlinks. MSA was only responsible for setting up a store for vendors to sell so they don't have much fault in this other then the fact I got my endlinks in about 34 days? I had to contact them 2 weeks in to find out where they were and only then they told me it was out of stock, and that they thought it would ship out the next week. I got a call on day 30 after I ordered as they were required to confirm I still wanted the part since it had been so long. I really could have ordered and made these, but my lazyness got the better of me.

 

Quality is pretty poor. TTT setup is miles ahead, I wish they sold a larger version of theirs for use in the rear, combined with aluminum spacers to correct the incorrect offset of the ST sway bar that would be absolutely golden for your average joe.

 

The poly bushing is the super hard kind that has tons of casting marks, means that traditionally that is where cracks like to start. The bracket is just a bent piece of metal. They didn't even have the decency to make it a sharp bend to capture the bolt head nor did they leave enough room to get a socket on it. That means you have to hold it with an adjustable wrench held in line with the bolt. The bent metal was not even coated, there are scratches and I would say machining marks, but since it was just bent I guess vice marks that show un-coated metal which means it is a start point for rusting. The washers are thick, but don't seem to be hardened versions, which means I imagine them bending out after use. The washer that engages the sway bar doesn't even look big enough to keep from sliding through the hole. The spacers for the rod end are not even the same on either side and are not the same size on both pieces and additionally they are quite thin which means to capture it you have to crank the bent piece of metal either together or add more washers to use as shims at which point what is the bloody point of having the spacers if you have to make your own. The spacers in and of themselves are just a cut piece of tubing, one side even has a large chunk of burr hanging off of it. Bolts are all grade 5 except for the bolt that bolts to the actual sway bar which is a grade 8. 

 

Look, I'm glad they exist, and someone even did some research as there is an option to adjust the offset with two holes which despite what they wrote it for should probably be used front to aft not side to side, but just disappointing, I think I'm going to rebuild it with better parts because this one feels almost unsafe to put it on as is. 

 

/rant

 

After reading about all the trouble that can happen from an improperly torqued pinion flange and nut, I decided to order everything to install it correctly, yoke holding tool, 25-250lb torque wrench, and a 0-60 in/lb torque wrench to measure pre-load. I even ordered an axle holder so I can torque the stub axle correctly, my plan was to just zip it on with an impact gun with the studs in a loose wheel, but might as well be reasonable about it.

 

Center section is assembled waiting to go in along with redline 75-90 gear oil. 

 

Pretty excited to put the car back together. After the rear end is in place the glaring problem will be the oil leak which I ordered a UV kit for and the driver door and window not closing properly. I bought new guides and strikers to fix it, but I think this may be a golden opportunity to just swap one of the spare doors onto the car. I figure I'll get the car running and then paint the spare door and go out for a long drive then come back and install it.

[Stock Car Mafia]

Very nice work sir!  I've enjoyed reading all of this but you are making good progress!  Can't wait to hear about more to come.