Zed Head

We all missed the funniest part...

There are punch marks. It's described in the Steering chapter.

All I can do is repeat the above. I don't think you can get back to "zero" without going back to 1978 and using 1978 fuel formulations with a new 1978 AFM. One without 40 years of age. I bought a new MSA AFM and it does run richer than any of the old AFM's I tried. So, that might be a "back to zero" option, if you want to spend the money. But the AFM tweak will tell you more about if it's going to work. Think of the AFM tweak as a diagnostic tool. Adjusting your AFM would be considered a band-aid by many members. It was glued to where the factory set it, wasn't it? Did you break the glue blobs? You can get your fuel pressure by just running the fuel pump without the engine running. Generally, though, your popping symptoms are signs of a lean mixture. So fuel pressure, AFM, and vacuum leaks are where you want to look. Good luck.

Wow, that is some diagnostic work. Did you mark the starting points on your AFM "calibration". I love the atlanticz site but some of the things on there are not actual factory procedures, but things extrapolated from educated guesses. The calibration procedure was developed by examining a "known good" AFM and assuming that all AFM's should be like that one. It might not be right. I don't see fuel pressure readings although you do have a gauge. Your symptoms, the popping through the AFM, have been solved by many of us by adding the "AFM tweak", or potentiometer, to the coolant temperature sensor circuit. It's described n the atlanticz site also. I would set your AFM back to the starting point and try the potentiometer. Something about today's fuel or a general degradation of the AFM circuitry causes much popping and backfiring with 280Z's. Welcome to the forum. I see that siteunseen has replied, He mighht be suggesting the smae.

It's on page EF-53 of the 1976 FSM. Probably close in the others.

That's why we have the big bumpers.

Light spring steel sounds right. I replaced my broken pieces with a used one. But I think I've seen NOS parts out on the interweb. Maybe some place like ZCarDepot even.

Put the shock in and see how it all fits with the gland nut clamped down. You might have been able to make one small cut and had it all correct once it was clamped together. Didn't realize you were going with big cuts like that. You're kind of at the point where only your opinion matters. If somebody can point out a safety issue they should, otherwise it's aesthetics. A thought popped in to my head before - if the part was easily replaceable, this conversation probably wouldn't be happening. But I'll bet your car could be down quite a while if you wait for a front strut to show up somewhere. Beside the cost. Good luck.

It's just the outer case of a shock absorber. The loads are small, relatively speaking. The rest of the parts take up the extreme loads. We are in the "what to do about it" part. If you can make a case for how it might fail after a fix attempt that would be informative. I think it will be about like it was before after bending back, probably stiffer. Barring another curb shot, it will be fine.

You... Are... Missing... The... Point... CO Really surprising since you're the guy that likes to fix broken things. Replacing things without understanding how they work makes me cringe. If you understand it and you can make it do what it's supposed to do, then fixing it is fine. Replacing without understanding is kind of lazy, if you have the time to learn. Surprised at your comment, and the way you made it. It has the period!, game-set-match! tone. Eewww...

A wooden wedge here, perhaps with a circular cutout to avoid kinking the tube, might push it outward. Put the flat base back on your brick and pound the wedge in. Looks like about 2x4 size.

The way that tube is used with today's shock inserts is different from how Nissan designed it to be used. I've had the thought a person could drill that tube pretty severely for weight reduction, because it's role with a shock insert is changed to providing compression on the shock insert. When you have the insert in and the gland nut tight, the assembly is a double wall tube, with the inner wall compressed and the outer wall under tension. If you can figure out where it bent or if the casting is deformed at the base you'd have a better idea of if it can be fixed. Replace it if you can find one but don't rule out fixing what you have. Look at some of the "coilover" setups out there and you'll see that people do all kinds of things to these strut tubes, from no basis in education or experience. And they seem to survive. Not referring to you and Sakura Garage cg, just saying that the problem is not as complex as it seems. It's just a metal tube that needs to be perpendicular to the casting base. The loads it sees are not enormous and the shock insert adds strength. If the straightening effort doesn't work you won't have lost anything.

Looks like fun. I like the big chunks of wood. Looks redneck. Any way to get the forces acting on the outer edges, where the contact points are? Those studs are not meant for that type of twisting force, I think. You could torque/bend those surfaces, or the studs. The clamping points are way out at the perimeter at those dimples.

Some people have had to either ground or power the other connection because, apparently, its transistor state will "float" (edit 2 - maybe it's not float, just a timing delay) and cause timing problems. It's been written about. So for some it's not a straight wire up and go option. edit - here's one - https://ratsun.net/topic/56630-e12-92-retard-or-no-retard/

Is that the flattest surface you can find? Your level is sitting on a plant. The ground looks gravelly. Looks like a fair idea but execution is iffy. A carpenter's square would get you closer.

Doesn't stay or isn't? Doesn't stay implies that it's loose.

The outside of the casting is rough and might not be parallel with the bored hole. Were it mine I'd put the wheel back on, then stand on the wheel, flat on the gorund, and work the end of the strut around by hand. See if it's loose like you thought and see if you can see where it's moving.

Do you have a part number? Maybe MSA already gave you a hose from another car. Why would Earl's make an 11/16" for a 19 mm application? You could call MSA also and ask them why the loose fit.

I have 205's on all four corners on mine and I've exceeded their grip a few times in the typical country road corner. It's the most neutral car I've ever exceeded tire traction in. Just four wheels slip/sliding sideways until the grip comes back. On all four at the same time. I started abusing tires in old American muscle cars where you either get the front end pushing towards the ditch or the back end trying to get past the front. I wouldn't' mess the Z car's setup too much, it can't get much more balanced.

As your problem has stewed in my brain I've remembered past conversations abut side loads and stuff, and how the front suspension works. The basics of it are the the wheel is controlled by the transverse link, the TC rod and the strut. The side loads on the strut, which you're working with, are basically from the wheel trying to tilt in or out as you corner, due to side forces on the tire tread, from the road. But the steering linkage also ties the two wheel together, so if one wheel tilts in the other should tilt out. So my first thought that the strut and spindle alone should be a rigid assembly is probably off. There might be some flex. One way to get the strut tube to flex inward, as suggested by others, is if the top of the shaft is loose, the isolator, as cgsheen said. But another way might be if the shock shaft is bent. One more area to check. I think that all of the various connections have to be tight otherwise the looseness translates to other parts of the system. You'd be surprised at how far the wheel will move when a TC rod breaks. I have rub marks on my inner fender well. cgsheen builds suspension parts. He would know best. I'm just on the "something's not right, it should be found and fixed" boat.

As most of us have before... So far, that's at least two people saying just buy them from Nissan. No need to go elsewhere and they're as inexpensive as they'll be anywhere else. Besides eBay, maybe.

jalex wasn't clear on which picture zcardepot sent him. Apparently zcardepot thinks he needs the inner bushings, 55555-E4100, but he's really looking for the outer bushings, 55541-E4100. His #57's have already been replaced with polyurethane, and he's going back to the original bushings. So, part number 55541-E4100 is the part he's looking for. NOT 55555-E4100. Get them directly from Courtesy Nissan. $11.68 each. https://www.courtesyparts.com/oem-parts/nissan-bushing-link-55541e4100

Whatever is going on, he said, in essence, that the issue allows 1/4" of wheel movement, at the spring perch level. That's more than 1/4" at the tire tread. That's a lot of camber wobble to live with, let alone whatever loose parts allow it. That's the problem boiled down. If the wheel is moving, which the OP says is the case, something might be broke. Or it's just a cocked wheel bearing, as Patcon kind of implied. Which should come loose while driving. Maybe he should get it driving and take it for a beating.

I didn't see anything. I was just pointing out where to look closely. If it was mine, I'd have the hub off and would have used a straightedge on the spindle flange surface, then measured across to the tube under the spring perch. On both sides. That's an indirect comparison of the angles. If you can't get the hub and rotor off, use the rotor surface. Verified that the spindle is perpendicular to the surface. Then looked for the reasons they're not the same if they're not. When you have two parts that are supposed to be identical you don't even really need any numbers. That problem would bug the hell out of me. It bugs me just reading about it.

You can watch the slave cylinder rod move if you have somebody push the pedal. From below or looking past the starter. It's possible for the MC seal to fail and still not leak. There are two seals, one for pressure, one for containment. If the pedal moves but nothing happens, that's likely. You can also peel the rubber dust cover from the slave cylinder to see if it's leaking fluid. It should be dry.