KenFirch

Here are my "two passengers" loaded per the FSM while tightening a few of the suspension bolts. Not sure what size passengers they had in mind, a Sumo wrestler, or a petite lady. 180 and 120 lbs should do. I bounced the springs several times before tightening. I guess I'll make up something to get the toe-in adjusted close enough to get it to an alignment shop. The normal flat rate alignment charge is ridiculous for 240Z's, not much to adjust really! But I'll bite the bullet and get it done, at least I'll know where it's at. Once I get a few miles on the Eibach springs, I'll let you know how much the drop was.

Got the rear brakes put back together. Next step is to get my wife out there to help me bleed the brakes. The new MSA wheel cylinders had a different angle on the inlet so ordered to new set of hard lines to fit.

AK, I measured the distance on my 240Z between the steel washer and the mustache bar, top and bottom, and it's about 10mm. So, are you running a small 1mm gap? Just curious. My worn serrated washers have about a 5mm gap between rubber nubs and mustache bar.

Rear suspension is back together. Not sure how loose others leave the inner bushing brackets so they can be tightened with wheels on the ground, but I left about an 1/8" gap between brackets and frame. Spindle nuts are loose too. I guess I should start looking for an exhaust system, pretty rusty, saw a few small holes in the pipe. It has Nichira mufflers, looks like they're date coded Dec-84. Now onto the rear brakes.

I modified an old screwdriver to help remove the broken off breather vent. Basically catch the top of the sideway holes and pull up. New 38352-78600 is $7 from dealer. Here's a pic of the TC mount clearance. Hard to believe the factory used a belt instead of something like this.

I'm back from a trip to Wyoming, need to get moving on this. Got everything cleaned up, ready to bolt in. Mounted the differential so I could measure and cut the TC mount bushing. I tried a few sockets to stick between the mount and diff housing to get a measurement with about an 1/8" gap. Using new front lower mount. Then I busted that little plastic breather vent 😠, so I'm ordering another one of those from the dealer. New Koni's, Eibach springs, and axle bearings installed.

Cleaned up the rear wheel wells with soap and a scrub brush, turned out pretty good. Dealing with the mustache bar now, to get the differential in place so I can adjust the bushing on the new TC front mount I bought. I've read a few mustache bar links here, pro's and cons of replacing the bushings, the nonexistent serrated rubber washers, etc. The bushings in mine seem good, not too hardened, so I don't want to replace with poly for now. The washers on the other hand, not so fortunate. While cleaning in my solvent tank some of the rubber nubs fell off, and a few were already missing. I know these are no longer available, but was wondering if anything has changed in the last couple years since those last posts? It seems to me that these washers only come into play as the differential attempts to twist, and there's an 1/8" gap between them, IMHO they're just added insurance in case of complete bushing failure. I suppose with a healthy engine there would be occasional contact, especially with new soft rubber bushings. I could be wrong. Anyway, just wondering what others are doing for the washers for the stock rubber bushing setup. Fabricate your own? Motor mount washer substitution of some sort? Use as is and forget about it? On another note, I wish the TC mounting bracket had a little more clearance next to the brake/fuel line bracket! I did ground out a little notch for added room, but just another 1/8" more in that dogleg bend would have been really helpful. I had to use a bottle jack to wedge it into place. [emoji53] And, got most of the fasteners decently plated using my home Caswell system, not perfect. About 4 hours work here for cleaning and plating.

Okay, after checking the u-joints in the half shafts, I didn't feel any sloppiness, so I'm going to just leave them. They're marked NSK/Torrington/83 (year?)/Koyo/KC1819D, and they're probably better quality than what's available out there now. I think new kits have different thickness c-clips to get joints centered precisely, which I'm not setup to do (balancing). I ordered new Timken bearings (NSK) for my rear axles and was kind of disappointed in how they felt out the box. They just didn't feel as smooth as I expected, and after cleaning up the old Nachi bearings, the new ones didn't feel that much better, but I installed the new ones anyway. I talked to a friend of mine who vintage races a 240Z, I he's had bad luck with new bearings also, and says he usually tries to use old ones. So, I'll be replacing the inner and out arm bushings with new rubber ones, and pivot pins. Mustache bar bushings look great, so I don't want go through the hassle of replacing them, and the new ones are poly anyway. Installing a TechnoVersions differential mount also. Might take the differential to my go to my diff guy and see what he thinks of how it "feels," maybe replace the side seals. Clean everything up and put back together.

https://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/classic20j/23-4190 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I was thinking of just changing the u-joints and boots. Hopefully the shafts will still be balanced afterwards. I did stamp the flanges to get it back in the same orientation. CV axles would be great, but pricey. Open to $uggestions….[emoji848] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

After seeing that rubber tension rod bushing split, even before driving the car, I ordered and installed the plastic/aluminum bearing kit and rubber bushings. Seems to be be a lot better design, and hopefully firm up the suspension and steering response. Finally got ahold of a decent stub axle and finished assembly of the new bearings and Koni struts. Now onto the other rear pieces… Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well, I’m kinda sure the axle would be okay, as suggested. The only stress would be an occasional 270° freeway onramp at a brisk speed. But I did buy another for $50 from a local club member anyway. At least I won’t be worried about seeing my tire and wheel rolling past me on the highway. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So, use the newer self locking nuts, maybe some blue (or red) thread locker, and torque to 150 Ft/Lbs to start, and see how it "feels?" Ken

After a closer look at my right axle, it looks like the threads are squared off, damaged. I guess I need to round up another axle.

Well, decided to change the rear hub bearings since I've got it tore down this far. Had a 6 foot piece of 1.5" x 3" tubing that I drilled a couple 3/8" holes and notched for the 27mm socket. Probably overkill. I think a 2 x 6 piece of wood with four 3/8" hanger bolts and a hole for the socket would have worked too. First, got the Dremel and removed the lip at each flat, and chiseled the lip away from the threads. This should hold it down. Ready to break them loose. Lug nuts on the studs to protect the threads. Then used the press to remove the bearings. Nut easily spins onto the hub shaft threads, I was a bit worried about that. I'll be using the newer 43262-W1200 nuts. Bearings are Nachi, maybe original, not sure. I'll be ordering new Timkens, don't want to do this again for awhile!

Brake drums were froze onto the stub axle. Luckily I had an old drum puller from an old stubborn Mustang. Soaked hub concentric with Kroil, tightened the puller a bit, then rapped on the drum center with a mallet to break loose. Now Im debating whether or not to replace the real axle bearings. Off the car I'm worried I might not be able to get the axle nuts loose. Bearings aren't bad, but they do make a tiny bit of noise on the bench. Probably the original bearings, and likely pretty dry. Looks like I also have a shorter wheel stud I need to replace. I test fit the rear struts and the Koni gland nuts will work fine.

Got the front done today. Bearings checked out okay, just repacked them and new seals on the rotors. Rotors look bad in picture, but they're not grooved. I did notice the forward right tension rod rubber bushing had a split in it, and I hadn't even torqued it down yet! Supplier is going to send me a new one. Hopefully it was just a bad one and not a sign of near future issues. Going to wait to tighten a few bolts after car is settled on the ground, LCA bolts, tension rod nuts. Then adjust the toe-in so I can at least drive it to the alignment shop. Now onto the rear...

Ha! Good idea! And the other side was an easy 20 minute job! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Waiting for some front brake parts to come in, moved to funnest part on the rear, the spindle pins. Spent about an hour to remove just one pin using what I had laying around. Started with a 13/16" wrench around the pin OD and some washers to break it loose and start moving the pin in the right direction. Definitely use thread anti seize on the threads. Scrounged whatever I had, washers, old throwout bearings, wrenches, to build the spacing needed to pull the pin about an 1/8" at a time. Even used an old Mustang pitman arm as a spacer. Eventually the pin started spinning after travelled about 1.25", then I used a drift to pound in out the rest of the way. I've got one more to go, hopefully as easy as this one. From what I've read about these, I think I got lucky.

I found this post: https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/48862-bump-steer-spacers-needed-for-1-drop/?do=findComment&comment=444347 I think I’ll hunt around for another subframe to modify. And I’d like to see what the camber comes out to with the new springs is before I start drilling holes to increase it. Anyone using the MSA bump steer spacers? I’m guessing the cheaper fixes aren’t a perfect solution, but maybe enough to make the bump steer less annoying. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, once I got it bolted back into place, of course. I searched the site for more DIY info, with pictures, but no luck. I could go off your description, but pictures would be nice. Got a link? Thanks Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was almost done plating the front end parts, and the power supply to my Caswell system gave out. Knew I should have coughed up some $ for the Amazon warranty! Maybe I should just pay someone to have it done. 🤔

I bought the rubber bushing kit from Z Car Source. Pricey 💸, and I guess I'm too lazy to research other sources.

Yep, definitely going to order brake stuff. I had one knuckle arm bolt and threaded hole that was boogered up a bit, not too bad. Didn't want to use a fast cutting tap and die and maybe make it worse, so I ordered this Lang Rethreader Kit off of Amazon, which surprisingly is made in the USA. 🇺🇸 It worked great! Highly recommended to chase threads. Used some anti-seize and reassembled.