phi22b@ck

I do love my race car... No really, I ended up covered in oil when we did the pull, gear oil came streamin out of the trans on the way up. Plus that shirt has some other transmission jobs in its short history If your not dirty, your not having any fun! I even had gear oil in my hair... Hey does the parts car in the woods have a shifter bar? Mine got fubarred...

Thanks for the advice! I fixed the pictures.. I had the case wrong on the extensions... Sorry about that! You can see them now!

So --> I got up bright and early this morning (yeah ok, so it was 8am) to do all of teh prep work on the engine and trans removal from my parts car for insertion into my race car. I have to say, Nissan/Datsun engineers made this as easy as a small block in a 69 chevelle. I had room to work, the only stubborn bolts were on the exhaust (no shock there).. I cut the down tube off, I will just re-weld it later... I was ready to pull the engine at 12:30 -- so I ran off to pick up my friend and the hoist... Now -- the fun really started -- we had the hoist hooked up, and the engine and trans were coming out and it was about 3 oclock! What an efficient morning I was thinking! All went well hoisting it up, but I have to say -- if you try this, watch your hooks, the rear hook popped out on mine at full extension DOH! Luckily it was resting on the upper radiator support! So I walked around the garage for about an hour trying to figure out what I would do to fix this problem -- I did not want to try to swing the engine and trans into the race car without the rear hook for support -- my good buddy Doug had the plan -- I was going to weld a rectangle of 5/16" steel together and drill a hole in it as a replacement for the other hook -- had to bolt it to the bell housing instead of the exhaust though, the stud snapped off! So Doug's solution was just to weld a piece of heavy chain to a 1.25"x 3" piece of 5/16" steel and sling that on the hook... That was the deal!!! The engine slid into the race car -- no problems at all!!! You can see how happy I am below! But we did one fatal thing wrong... We did not try to bolt up the rear engine support (more like the trans crossmember from other makes)... Now I think my car may have had a problem of sagging, spent a long time on jack stands with no trans crossmember. I am going to jack the car way up and try to coax that support back into alignment. But I still have to say that it was an overall easier process than I thought it would be. If anyone has seen this kind of thing with the trans crossmember and has some advice, please let me know how you solved it -- I would say I am about 1/4" to 1/8" too short horizontally to make the holes in the bushings align.

Anyone have an extra set of gland nuts for a pair of KYB front struts for a 280? Seems like they sent me a pair of 240 and a pair of 280 in one set I have. I have sectioned my strut tubes so the gland nuts that came with the shorter struts dont fit. I think some of you 240 guys may have gotten an extra larger pair of gland nuts with your struts.. THANKS!

Ok -- so I have cleaned and re-packed a pair of ball joints and they move pretty freely now. The question is this -- in the FSM, it states that the turning torque of the ball stud with the nut on it should be >50kg -- so if this thing spins freely in my hand its shot. I would think we WANT them to be nice and free turning and moving. I mean no up and down play, but freely moving in the ball socket. Kind of confusing how it reads in my manual. Thanks for your help! These will be a set of spares in my rig so if they are shot, they are shot, just dont want to bolt them on at the track and have them sheer off like D-76's! p

I just sent one of mine to a friends machine shop to be pressed out and we are still not having any luck even on the press... I am beginning to think this corner may actually be shot.... Hope you have better luck then I did...

but see -- that would imply that I would have had the forethought to plan... See planning and I are not friends...

Sometimes being a pack-rat has its advantages and you find the papers that you needed... OK so GC says for the spring perch: (Use 12" springs) 8" Rear and 5" front between the top of the spindle base and the base of the spring perch. I am using 10" springs and a shortened strut so I am following the 240 instructions at 7" rear and 5" fronts... They are adjustable after all, so I should still be able to move the collars if I need more clearance...

I can vouch for that -- I thought my ITS car was a 76 280 (thats what the guy told me it was) It is actually manufactured in 11/77. and I have a 76 parts car, the latches are different. No go, although I am going to investigate moving the whole latch mechanism off the 76 onto the 77... Ill post my findings, once my parts car thaws out from under the 5 foot of snow that is on it now...

no real hurry, not like I am trying to make the spring school -- I am shooting for the fall. Heck -- I dont even have springs to put on them yet, I still have 2 more struts to section. Hey -- I got the GR2s, and the gland nuts are too small. Perhaps me ordered the wrong parts? I am hoping its just a part of shortening your struts... I also noticed a bit more play than the originals had....

Ok -- I have sectioned my struts, welded them back together (1.5" shorter than before!) and I am all set to weld on my coil over spring collar perch on to the tube, only I am not sure what I should set the distance to. 2Many, you mentioned that the GC distance *(note: I lost that sheet) was not where I wanted it for the 280. My threaded sleeves are 4" long. Where should I weld on the perch? Thanks!

I am going electric also. Has to be good for at least a fractional HP gain... Right?

SCCA Mandates that GMAW be used for fabricating the cage... I dont know why it wouldnt be strong enough for a cage or rotiserrie, but then again, I learned to weld in my garage about 6 months ago... I have not finished the cage, but the cage I have was built using MIG process. Anyone else have thoughts?

You know I thought I had heard some good stories of extractors, and while in the home depot I thought I had a stroke of genius -- The Plan: Thread a nut on to the spindle pin (weld it if necessary) Weld a length of 3/4" square tubing to the nut attached to the spindle pin Weld a 1/2" coarse thread grade 8 nut to the top of the 3/4" tube Slide a longer length of 1" square tubing over this assembly Slap a washer on the top and thread a 1/2" bolt into the nut that is welded to the 3/4" tube (also welded to the spindle pin). I thought this would yank that sucker right on out of there but nope... after my welds snapped a few times and I re-welded them on with a bit more voltage, the spindle pin actually sheared off at the weld Had about enough of that for the night.... Thought about just throwing this unit away and yanking another set off my parts car.

Think it will help get the &*&^(*^(*&% rear spindle pin I have stuck (sheared off on one side, and mushroomed on the other) out of tthe control arm? :classic:

do you recommend ordering it in aerosol or liquid?

What I was thinking was cutting the rear struts to use the GR2s that would normally be used in the fronts.

I got a great deal on a pair of illuminas for the front (shortened) so thats where I'm headed on the fronts. Now I need reaers -- any big deal if I use a different kind? GR2s are relatively inexpensive and can be revalved after they soften right? Cant seem to find the billsteens... Oh well... maybe next time

I am installing shortened struts so the gland nut I got with the strut is not the right size... I will spray it with WD40 and let it sit overnight -- then do it all over again tomorrow with heat... Guess I should see if WD40 is flammable before torching it eh?

Ok -- I think the parts I have from underneath my ITS car were put on there only to test my patience... It would appear that the front gland nuts are really on there good or siezed (like the *&*^%%$ rear spindle pins!). What do you guys use to get these out? I was thinking of taking it up to Sears to figure out how big it was and get a socket to fit it. -- I tried channel locks, vice grips -- I even tried to use an 18" pipe wrench... BUt I didnt want to strip it...

The license plate certainly says it all -- in a literal sense "1NASTYZ"... Thats horrible, makes me feel like my frankenstein aint so bad...