madkaw

On closer examination of the drivers side, it's really no better. Same scenario where as the nut loosens up enough for movement of the LCA. When I removed the spindle pin I could see the same gouging on the spindle housing. I've cleaned up both sides by filing the ends smooth and it probably took 1mm off the driver's side also. Now it's time to wait on the new bushing set to see how that works. I wish I new enough about the suspension so when I did this initially I would have seen there was a problem. I guess now I can torque things down and known what to look for.

I tightened up the nuts very tight and worked the LCA up and down and watch the nut loosen up as the washer turned. So you are probably right that the LCA was turning the sleeve and wearing on the housing. I'm thinking it is a combination of too thick of flanges on the bushings and the sleeves being a tad short because of that. Measuring the width of the spindle housing I get about 135 mm. Now measuring the LCA at the width of the bushings I get about 133.5, so even after filing down the spindle housing it's still a press fit. I think I might have taken 1mm off by filing. That shouldn't effect how the sleeve works in regards to the urethane bushing. Not sure if that small amount will pinch the LCA mounting points or not. I have ordered a new bushing set and see how that does

So I stopped and pulled the spindle bolt. Looks like I might have truly found the issue. The strut housing where the spindle mounts up is not real flat. You can tell where the sleeve has ridden and worn a spot on the end. I'm thinking this wear has actually moved the sleeve inward and is causing the flange of the urethane bushings to ride hard against the housing. Looking at the pics you can see the high spots on the strut housing end and the gouges on the urethane. I am happy to report that my spindle popped out easy.

Well I swapped the hardware around to eliminate possibilities. Putting the bad washer on the driver's side doesn't make much of a difference -the driver's side still moves easier then the passenger side. More importantly, putting the good washers on the passenger side doesn't help and it is still near Impossible to move up and down once torqued. So this tells me that; 1. my sleeves are just a tad short on the passenger side? The washer should ride on the sleeve-correct? 2. The spindle is not centered, but not sure how that would effect things. If it's off, I can't see it. Talked to my buddy and he says that his LCA's will just flop down after releasing the inboard sides. They move VERY freely. If I back off my nuts 1 turn I am there. Be nice to just drill and cotter pin like a bearing!

The flange is there, but the shadows in the pics hides it. You are seeing a distinct line where the washer rides I believe. The sleeves on the other side look different-like is in made from different material. They look plain steel in color on the driver's side.

Okay folks, I'm pretty sure I have an issue on my passenger side rear LCA -front outboard bushing. When I torque up the nuts on the spindle bolt the LCA about locks up, near impossible to move. I have attached pics of the control arm and hardware. The washer with the groove is the front outboard. This should tell me what is wrong, but I am too dense to figure it out. I look at the bushings and sleeves and they look alright, but honestly not sure what to look for. The driver's side works good and I can rotate LCA after torqueing. The driver's side bushing sleeves look different then the passenger side. Also, I did not try to remove the spindle, but they have been replaced. I tried to get the locking bolt out on the passenger side and couldn't get it to budge. The lock bolt seems to be canted inboard in the hole of the LCA, against the threads of the bolt. I don't want to remove the spindle when I'm not sure it's any issue.

Chas, good point about being centered . Makes me wonder if I actually did the right order when I initially installed the arms after bushing install. So loosening the center nut would allow the spindle to center itself during the torquing and then lock the center in place. Thanks

So I am putting stuff back together and I am curious of my spindle bolts. My right /passenger rear control arm would not pivot at the spindle bolt with the inner bushings removed. I couldn't push down it and make it pivot. The driver's side was stiff but it would rotate at the spindle. I loosened the spindle nuts on the passenger side and everything pivoted fine. It doesn't seem right that I couldn't rotate the arm--????? Could this be part of my squeaking? So now I am trying to make sure I am torquing things the right way when I put it back together. I know it's best to torque things down while the car is sitting on it's tires. I am having a hard time finding torque specs on the spindle nuts.Any help please? The other issue that might have caused squeaking is that I had a way of adjusting rear toe, and what little adjustment I might have had, might have been too much for the urethane bushings.

Sure you got everything back together right when you reinstalled the carbs. Possible air leak would cause lean mixture and idle problems. They were running great and you pulled them off to clean them? Now see, this is more info relating to the issue that is slowly leaking out.

I'm not sure that you can characterize this as an inherit problem with the early Z's . Maybe both cars had the same issue causing this. If the ends are badly damaged or not staying connected securely I would definetly consider installing new ends . Any looseness would cause this hot spot. Could have been fusible links that didn't give out quickly enough and let the wires get hot? Either way, that's pretty hot to allow them 12 gauge wires to melt the plastic

Do you have color on the plugs? How are you sure this is a starvation issue-by sound?? As far as the dampers , you could experiment with different weight oils and amounts to get them the same. Do they both fall freely and clunk? Don't be afraid to richen up the floats a little. Take the lids off and measure and then tweek them enough to know you made a considerable change. This should make a change at top end if you are running out of fuel. Sorry if I came off gruff, you are doing better with your posts.

First of all, are you sure all other aspects of your tune are right. I'm talking ignition, points or whatever, timing, valve adjustment, fuel filters. You will be chasing your tail if you don't have those things right. You might need to start from ground zero on the carbs. What are your plugs telling you. You say its bad on gas, but you are wanting to richen it up? How is the power? "It seems to run out of gas"-statements like this will get you no help on this site. That means nothing with out other info. Try and do better on your posts when asking for help, be specific, logical and scientific

I'm with the crowd that says the linkage is NOT a bad design, but these are old cars and will have issues. I stuck with rods on my Mikunis and they work flawlessly, better then I ever expected. So I am saying there is a fix for the rods, just need to find it. I'm almost sure you can buy all new ball ends and that's where I would start. I would also look at the long main rod that has the fork end hooks to the balance tube.

Just got done reading thru the thread by OZConnection on Hybridz. If you haven't yet, search small port heads over there. Not much specific recommendations for your head, but no bad news either. IMHO, that head would be definetly worth investing time and money. Not sure what your budget is, but I would consider contacting Rebello to get their ideas on how they would approach your search for more HP up top. It sounds like the smaller ports and low end is a great for the daily driver scene that likes that initial pop when pushing the accelerator. As far as machine work, as said in that thread, it's easier and less expensive to go bigger-ie. valves, ports, combustion chambers. Maybe some bigger valves, port work, unshrouding and a beefy cam you could have something to brag about.

Not much info out there on guys that have built this head. It has pretty chambers and smaller ports. You might pose this question over at hybridz. People like TonyD that has experience with the L20 motors should chime in with some specific answers to get you higher rpm power. I guess my queston would be about how much you can work the ports? Hopefully they were just cast differently with lot's of meat to be carved out. You could have it ported by an experienced builder to flow more for maybe a bigger cam. Looking at the combustion chambers you probably would do nothing, they look great. I'd say that head heas some very nice potential, and maybe fine just to bigger cam as is. I'd like to find a M47(maxima) head myself, that looks very similiar to your y70.

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/body-paint-s30/48410-s-30-floor-replacement-zed-finding-pics-galore.html

Please do! This is a Mikunis thread- not just my thread . Love to see some dyno stuff with the Mikunis. I am waiting to have my day at the dyno, but ironing out other issues right now.

You guys burst my bubble. I thought I had something. I have been running a heim joint style bar to connect my rear control arms- in leu of the standard brace. I'm going to dump the adjustable brace because it might be inducing loads on the bushings that are causing the squeak. The heim joints gave me ability to adjust toe, but my toe maybe the issue

Okay guys, help me out here. I took off the rear control arms and suddenly noticed the length of my inner bushing sleeve( steel sleeve) was longer then the control arm pivot. So that tells me that my sleeve is not rotating on the control arm because it is locked in place by the cap bolt. I guess I have the wrong ones ? I'm going to trim the sleeve down and put it back together. Comments?? Also, talked to a buddy who said his urethane bushings on the rear control arm( inner) is one piece where mine is two pieces. What do you guys have.

Turbocharged Subby or non?

My only thought was a cavitated oil pump after oil changes.

Fresh from the school of hard knocks, I can tell some stories. I kind of left this thread hanging as I was writing on this forum and Hybridz. As far as the suden rich issue, I have had several occasions. It was operator error of course. When doing all the jet changes make sure you get things tight. I guess when I installed my main jets after another change I neglected to get the jet snug enough and it fell off. Yes, the jet worked itself loose enough to actually fall off and into the belly of the accelerator pump. What I learned from this-GET THINGS TIGHT! But I also learned how seperate these circuits are. My car ran great at idle and cruise, but punch it hard and it ran like poo. You would have attributed this to some other system malfunction because the carbs operated so well in every aspect other then WOT. And I did trouble shoot ignition and anything else, but it was one unmetered emulsion tube sucking unlimited amount of fuel down it's pipe. Another "running rich" issue. Cylinder 5&6 are running richer then the others-quite a bit actually. All the jets are secure and float adjsutment is dead on-WTF. In fact, the needle assemblies were brand new-I just installed them not too long ago. I finally got it figured out when the carb flooded out and I limped home. I didn't get the needle assembly tight so fuel was working it's way around the threads of the assembly and dumping fuel into the carb. As far as tuning, I am still looking for perfection, but not attaining this. I do believe that these carbs like to be tuned on the rich side to run properly-especially for the transition area of tuning-going from pilot to main circuits. The engine sounds better and smoother the richer I tune. The plugs get that nice tan color with a rich setting. more to come...

Is the fenders you ordered Nissans? You made a wise choice in avoiding the fender repair. Those patch panels would have eaten a ton of time and would have been extremely hard to make look good. I'd be suspicious of the fit of aftermarket fenders

Looking good. Painted metal bumpers or fiberglass

Sounds like you running the same exact set up as I .