TomoHawk

The most common thing I've seen with the end pieces is that they crack in the 'bellows' part. If there was a way to rejoin them, then I could fix my one rear end which is starting to crack. Otherwise, you can find them on eBay, and occasionally they are affordable, but otherwise pricey for good ones. BTW, it's not really really rubber, like a rubber bushing or window gasket, but a flexible plastic or PVC thing. Otherwise it would sag in the heat and fall apart after so many years.

The entire rear suspension has been &R'd with new bushings, spindle pins, and paint. Only the bearings weren't replaced.

Mr. humble tells you to just get in there and drill out the drain holes a bit bigger, if at least to get the paint out from blocking the holes. Water doesn't cause rust; It's the dirt and other stuff that starts the chemical action, so if you can just get the water to drain, you should be alright.

FYI, there another new car show on SPEED TV Tonight (Wednesday) at 9pm ET, called My Ride Rules. http://www.speedtv.com/programs/my-ride-rules/ To me, the previews looked something like Bullrun meets NOPI, but I'll give it a look for as long as I can stand it. Maybe the Goodwood Revival or the Monterey classics will be on soon so we can get some decent car action, now that the ZCON is over. We need something like My Classic Car with S30s, or a Victory By Design series on the Z.

Yeah, they lave a Lemons race at a track near me, so I thought that might be on. Instead they had the one out west. IIRC, the 300ZX was doing very well with the good driver, and fell to last with the bad driver. In the end, they were so disappointed that they blew up the car. I think they would've blown it up anyway, because it was only a $500 car, and of the nature of the show. At least they didn't pronounce the 300ZX as "the world's best race car," like they did with the cheap truck competition into Alaska from the previous season.

The tyres are a week old. Since there was no wobbling before the new tyres went on. I think there might be a rock or something stuck in-between there. I will get the wheel off myself and see what the wire wheel can do to the hub. Otherwise, it goes to the restoration shop Monday morning. thxZ

The comments are from people that were following. I don't feel anything inside the car, and from what wee saw, the wobble is very small. I will look into replacing the bearing as it was supposed to be done with the other side.

When I got my steering rack replaced, the guy removed the oil pan and put a board across the bottom of the block, and lifted the engine with a jack. I don't trust hydraulic jacks because they usually leak slowly, so you could probably stuff a frame support under the engine for a day or two, unless you have an overhead beam you can borrow.

Wow, an 11-year snooze on this one. It might be a record Don't forget to support the differential when you remove the mustache bar. Maybe some new diff oil and a little cleanup & paint would be a good idea too. Is there a difference between the bushing lube and dielectric grease? It looks like the same stuff.

People are yelling at me in the last week or two that the one rear wheel (left rear) is loose/wo, and it wasn't. I just got two rear tyres on, so I had the tyre guy check the tyre & wheel for true-ness. He tells me the wheel & tyre are right on, so we even tried turning the brake drum 1/4 turn twice to see if the drum was funny. Apparently, that was not the reason for wheel "wobble." Is it common for the wheel hub to be bent? The drive shafts were recently R&R'd, so could that throw the wheel off if it wasn't installed right? The other side is just fine, and it got a new stub axle & bearing. The only thing left would be to replace the one bearing (which wasn't replaced over the winter) or to true up the hub/axle. thxZ

I think my rear suspension R & R was successful After a few short (30 mile) trips on the highway at up to about 80 MPH, there isn't any of the vibrations from before (what was probably chewing up the rear tyres.) And all without a rear-end alignment (why bother if there's nothing to adjust?) FYI, I used Energy Suspension poly bushings, but the front will get rubber.

I found these on the McMaster-Cart website. They are called "Expanding Shank rivets" and is about 10 bux for a bag of 50 http://www.mcmaster.com/#expanding-shank-rivets/=dezzwi

Great. Order 87,000 and get rich selling them at $2.31 each in packs of 12

I just can't imagine why those things should cost $2 EACH. Instead, maybe we could find a plastics company to run off a large number, to offer them in bags of 50 (less pins, which you can make from 1/8 inch wood dowels.

Mine (125,000 miles) is knocking lightly for a few seconds when you start it, so I think that the main bearings might be a little worn, right? Other than that, I change the oil every 1000 miles (or every spring) and keep everything clean, and the EFI/electrical connections cleaned with DeOxit, so the engine runs just fine. I will probably refresh the engine over the winter in the next few years.

There was a report by some NasTcar teams that by simply covering the grille with duct tape, they had a noticeable improvement in handling and speed, but at the cost of less cooling. I agree with Leon, that the air dams don't add to downforce, but only block air from going under the car, reducing lift, and that the spook spoiler is more of a way to direct air to the radiator than to make any down force.

It looks like one of the covers on the seat belt retractor on the rear shock tower got soft and sagged enough for me to notice. Do you think I could soften it again with a heat gun and straighten it out? thxZ

Triples!

I think they write in 280ZX just to get more people to look at the auction or ad, hoping someone wil but something anyway.

A couple weeks ago, I had a guy talk to me about his Z, and told me that his was a 1981 280Z. I tried to explain nicely that the last year for 280Z was 1978, and after it was the 280ZX, but that guy was definitely convinced about his 280Z being an '81. He may get a surprise when he needs to get parts.....

Most people will look at the Speedometer and "figure it out for themselves." But I usually say that "it goes 65 MPH."

Well, I missed the TV airing of The Car Show, but Speed has a link to the Hulu version, so I watched that. The show is a little like Top Gear (US) with a few hosts that sit on bar stools on a big stage, and chat about things, but this time the show was actually more about "Car talk" and not about the dumb stuff they did on Top Gear. the show had some brief 60-second discussions on various news or interesting thoughts (like will the new Corvette be a mid-engine design?) then a segment about a car competition (the 24 hours of Lemons) and then one about a specific car (the new Rolls Royce) and a little trip to somewhere in that car, then a wrap-up of the show. there were some notable people hosting the show. One was a magazine writer, an NBA player, and Matt Farah. But is wasn't the same stuff you see on Top Gear, where they have some fantastic car competition where any normal person could do better than the show's hosts. It was more of the down-to-earth car-enthusiast's show, which most any person could get involved in, except for the Rolls-Royce. I'll give the next show a look, and see if it gets better, the same, or "Top Gear."

Many bosses think a sportscar IS a corvette- they have that Corvette kind of mind...

There is a new car-oriented TV show coming soon on SpeedVision. The Car Show is supposed to be by car-guys for car guys. Top Gear will also be in rerun soon: The Car Show 7/13 10:00pm ET (SpedVision) Top Gear 7/23 2:00-3:00pm (History Channel)

I switched to using wood dowel pins instead of the plastic. They don't bend when you push them in, and one piece gives you dozens of pins.