Dave WM

sent you a PM with my phone number give a call.

had not thought about it taking a set. I have some new ones on the way, will check to see if they have the same wobble.

one quick question, while I did mark the strut insulator I was wondering if there is a "right" way to install in. I noticed that the flat is pointing back a little toward the inboard nut. I wonder since the insulator seems to wobble when spun on the spring mount, indicating that the flat metal part of the insulator that rest on the bearing is not plumb with the centerline of the hole. there is also 3 molded rubber nibs on the bottom of the insulator rubber part, perhaps for orienting correctly? It would seem possible that changing this could effect the castor or camber depending on how its installed. do me a favor all, pull the front rubber plug on your struts and see which way the flat of the threaded rod is facing please. I don't recall any mention of this in the FSM.

I decided to remove the front strut after noticing that the passenger side was weeping a good amount of oil and the bounce test seemed iffy when pressed down on that corner. It seemed fine when bouncing the middle front but not so much on the corner. after getting the strut out and the spring off I found little to no damping action at all in compression or rebound. It was the orig strut hardware (not a cartridge). I decided to try replacing the oil (after some research I ended up with some 15wt fork oil from a motorcycle shop, belray IIRC), 310ml, put a new o ring in as the old one seemed a bit deformed, reassembled and cycled thru a few times (much better now), then installed the spring. I reused the old glan nut, the rubber wiped seemed ok so I greased up and reused. I have to replace the boot (it tore in the disassembly process, should have been more careful) so I left it off for now, better to see if the seepage is gone. I do see some seepage after driving for a while, I suspect the glan nut wiper/seal is not working very well. The is a local hyd seal place near by so the plan is to take it to the guy and let him look and see if there is something that will work. If not I have a spare glan nut with a use seal that I may try. As far as the process to remove the strut, could not have been simpler, jack up front, remove wheel and brake caliper (use a plug to stop the brake fluid from leaking out of the hard line), unclip the brake line and fish it up thru the holder that is mounted to the strut. loosen the sway bar top nut and the control arm bushings to make it easier to move the control arm down. remove the 17mm bolts from the bottom of the steering knuckle and the strut will be free on the bottom, remove the 3 top mount nuts on the insulator (while holding the strut so it does not drop) and its out. I did NOT remove the brake hub/rotor as could not see a reason to do so. It is heavy with all that stuff but not too much to make it worth the effore IMHO. Used a BF adjustable wrench the remove the glan nut, no problem at all just brace up the wheel hub with on foot and crank on the BFAW and it came right off. putting back together was just as easy, just have to remember to re torque the control arm nuts (19mm) with the suspension settled under load. I used a HF coil spring compressor, its almost too big for the spring but easily compressed it. I used a air ratchet to speed things up (not an impact, not needed as the Z springs are not that stiff). I am not sure why the recommend no air tools so do at your own risk. It was all very easy, again just make sure you loosen up the bottom of the boot and slide it up as far as you can before starting the process and make sure your spring compressor stays clear of it. I know there are cartridges out there but I am a stock kind of guy and would prefer to keep it original. Not racing it so no need for the added performance of a gas shock.

The AAR on mine works just as is should. Start up it idles about 1100, then after a few minutes it drops down to 750. Its a pretty simple devise so should be easy to diagnose if its not working. I would think it make since to leave it on just to make the start up process more automatic.

R200 has the clip, he could have just yanked them from the diff.

anytime you have to open up the closed system its recommended that you replace. the 33286 has been NLA for a while. Since all AC systems will eventually need service if the drier is hard to come by it makes since to have a spare. I plan to replace my compressor in the not too distant future. Also driers can be rebuilt, but not cheap. As far as crapping out, they are nothing but a pressure vessel with a desiccant bag so absorb moisture. The idea is to get any residual moisture out after vacuuming the system and recharging. Water in the system will wreak havoc on a air con system, besides making it not cool I think I have read it can be corrosive in an R12 system. bottom line is nothing to break so as long as your system is working, the drier should never be a problem.

ordered mine from autoplicity, lets see how this goes.

One more, at what point do you put on the chrome trim on the outside of the weather strip.

is there any lubricant or do you do the process dry?

this is a bit of a guess also, but maybe there are some power supply caps that may be open, allowing a surge of current, hard to say without looking at a schematic.

with the radio on check the speaker leads with a VOM set to read DC volts. See if there is any, should be Zero.

prob a bad coupling cap. You should check to see if there is any DC on the speaker output leads.

the only thing I would have done different is I would have kept the heat shield in place, its nearly impossible to put back on AFTER the manifold is re installed.

here is part one of my saga

been down this route recently. will need to remove the manifold which means removing the intake 1st then the exhaust (at least on a EFI setup) then take to a machine shop and get them to remove the broken stud. Lastly new studs on the down pipe, fix any broken studs in the head (a lot of care and a reverse drill bit with a drill guide). Then a new manifold gasket. If you are ham handed then better leave it ALL alone. the way to get the exhaust nuts off the down pipe would be to heat with an oxy acetaline torch. No short cuts here. If you don't have the tools or the expertise then better to not try.

I don't think there is enough meat there, would be better off getting a shifter with the longer throw, or cutting and welding. the Drilling of the ears should not be too much of a issue, just use a center punch and a template and do each one from the outside drill a little undersize and then use the correct size to connect the two. The plastic bushings should allow for any tiny difference in angles if you are less than perfect. The problems I see are the stresses involved. the shifter as is has a lot of leverage, so if you weld you better do a good job. If you go the other route, just drilling into the shifter where is was not thickened, and get it too weak, well snap comes to mind. So back to buying a shifter with a longer bottom section to match up with the higher pivot point. I think MSA has something for this.

One more thing Jai, with your long hair PLEASE be extra careful anytime checking under the hood with the engine running. long hair and belts and pulleys are is not a good combination. You should always have your hair pulled back into a tight pony/bun before even opening the hood.

1st thing to check is to see if the compressor clutch it engaging when AC is on. You should be able to see/hear it with the hood up. the pulley will always be turning if the engine is running, but the compressor has a magnetic clutch that only allows the compressor to run when its engaged. so with the AC off, open the hood and start the car. locate the compressor, and note the sound (or lack of sound) from it. Now turn the ac on and look listen again, there should be notable sound from it as its working. You can also try feeling the hoses that come out of the firewall that hook up to the compressor and drier. One should be hot the other cold. Knowing the compressor is engaging is the 1st thing to determine. From there the diagnosis can continue. If the clutch is not engaging then it could be an electrical problem in the switching OR if so equipped a low pressure sensor telling the compressor clutch not to engage due to a loss of Freon. Remote diagnostic of mal functioning AC is not easy. the best way would be to hook up gauges to the high and low side and see what's happening assuming the clutch is working.

First, I am sorry for your loss. As to selling the car, your best bet would be to see if someone here is near you to look over the car and give pointers on what buyer would like to see. The main thing will be to get pictures, a LOT of pictures, esp of areas that are known to rust (rust is very common on Z cars, hopefully this one was in a dry area). Typical pictures would be under the car so having it on a lift would help (making sure the lift operator knows how to lift correctly is important). Under the battery, and under the brake booster is good to. Not knowing your level of car knowledge makes it hard to described exactly what buyers are looking for is why it would be good to get a member here to look it over and point out these areas.

Alt, battery, battery cables,fuse links

they are stupid easy to work on as long as the bolts don't break. So far the hardest job for me was removing the heat shield. I hear that working on the rear suspension (control arm bushings and wheel bearings) can be a pain. all comes down to if things are seriously stuck. 1st things I did was fluids (use yellow metal safe oil in the trans), belts and hoses,T stat, water pump (well after it leaked),alt (after it shorted out), FI rubber hoses with correct clamps. the list goes on but you get the picture, mainly simple stuff that was done wrong (like wrong hoses and clamps on FI) normal maint, and electrical connections including new rubber boots to keep out moisture. Sensors on the T stat housing are often bad. Hopefully no one has monkeyed around with the AFM, it seems to be the go to thing anytime the FI is not working right.

I am so happy for him, almost want to intercept and escort it from Orlando to Boca

Got the wrong gasket again, this time is was for a 260, so I finally gave up on the exact match gasket and got the fel-pro from a local part store. Fits fine, not perfect but I am sure it will seal. All back together and running well, will re torque all the fasteners after I take it for a test drive. Getting lots of smoke from the engine after is warms up, pretty sure its from all the penetrating oil and waxes used in the various attempts to remove the frozen studs on the down pipe part of the manifold. I hope it will burn off and that will be it, again waiting for daylight for the test drive. After checking the fasteners I will replace the heat shield. Now at last I can remove the exhaust pipe when time to do the trans swap. Before I do that I will be working on the struts. I noticed a lot of oil leaking around the weep hole of the spring cup on the bottom of the strut. Car does not seem to have excessive bounce when pushing down the front, but I figure it cant be right to be leaking oil, unless maybe there is a strut cart and the oil is not actually damping oil but oil that was poured in at the time of the cartridge. that may explain why is still seems to be working. No matter I will check it out. After that I will finally get back to the trans swap, as I have done just about everything else I had planned.

looks to be in nice company!