Jeff G 78

Or just buy John's fancy adjustable LCAs. Your toe problem would be solved! Heck, it would still be cheaper than your original estimate. Back to the cheap options... Would the delrin camber bushings be a good idea for a street car that isn't going to see regular inspections and teardowns?

I'll make you a deal. I'll write you a check for an even million and you just give me the difference back in cash.

EPA fuel economy ratings in the 1970's were about as accurate as SAE Gross horsepower ratings. The window sticker didn't really predict real world fuel mileage. Today's method's are much more accurate for the way people really drive.

With my stock 3.54 FDR, '78 5-speed, stock tire OD, 10:1CR, AZC header, stock cam, and tiny stock exhaust, I get about 23 mixed and 26 hwy on 93 octane gas. Before driving it this spring, I will install my Web 0.450"/260° camshaft. I'm interested to see what effect it will have on fuel economy.

I'd say they are helpful, but not required for rear suspension work considering your Z looks to be rust free. There really aren't that many fasteners to do the job you are looking to do.

For those that have added your pins to the map, be sure to replace the "Placemark #" with your user name. Otherwise we can't tell who you are.

Done. I do have a Gmail account and it worked fine for me.

Yep, I agree completely with everything you said. Unfortunately, nobody had designed the puller yet and I was in a time crunch so I never took the time to come up with a puller myself.

To seal the diff cover, the mustache bar must be removed, so yes, it would be easier while you already have it off for the mustache bar bushings.

Sorry, but I can't really tell anything from those pics. You really need to hold a long straight edge across the rear tire to see what it looks like. A 4' level or straight 2X4 would work. Hold the straight edge halfway up the tire so that it touches in two spots. Now you will see where the front of the board points. Does the front of the board point towards the car, straight ahead, or away from the car? Other than a diff leak, the underbody looks pretty clean. You should be able to get everything apart easily.

I really wonder if the puller would have worked on mine. I tried everything with no luck. After banging away for a while, I tried to pull them out by stacking washers under the nuts, but it just stripped the threads right off the pins. Finally, I cut the pins off at each end of the knuckle and took the knuckles to work. I heated the crap out of the first one with a torch before using a commercial quality pneumatic/hydraulic press. It took every last bit of the press' power to push the pin out and when it did move, it sounded like a gun was fired each time the pin slipped a few mm. The shock from the movement kept making the push rods slip out of position. I skipped the heat on the second one with the same results. I'm pretty sure the lock pin had mushroomed the pins such that they were stuck tight. They were NOT rusty when they finally came out. I found when I tried to install the new pins that the control arms were a bit bent at the two rings, so they didn't line up with each other. I had to straighten them before I could re-assemble everything. I think the puller would work on most, but I'm not so sure about mine. I wish I could have tried it though. It might have saved me LOTS of trouble.

Plates are a no brainer. Get some used ones and throw them on. Otherwise, don't worry about the alignment. I think it will straighten out with new plates and bushings. Search this site and hybrid Z for info on the spindle pin puller. It didn't exist yet when I did mine, so I can't vouch for it, but many have had great success using it. A few people sell them and there are instructions online if you want to make your own. It looks pretty simple to make from what I remember. If you don't already have it, download the FSM here http://www.xenons30.com/reference.html. You will need it for torque values and instructions on how to remove the lock pin in the center of the spindle pin.

Hee hee. Do a search on any Z forum for spindle pins and you'll be enlightened. Every now and then, someone gets lucky, but 9 times out of 10 the pin is stuck in the knuckle and the four letter words start flying. It's not something you want to do with kids in the garage. You WILL get them done if you are mentally ready and you WILL be proud of yourself when you are done. Yes, you will be knighted upon completion of the quest. You can brag to the next guy in your shoes about how you faced the dragon and slayed it single handedly. Do your research and embark on your journey to enlightenment!

That's a sweet looking P1800. A little too much tire stagger for me, but otherwise very cool!

I wrote the last note before I read your last reply. Knowing that you have done quite a bit of light mechanical work, I'm sure you can do this. It WILL be tough, but that's just how this job is. It's known in the Z world as the Right of Passage. Complete the spindle pin job and you can do anything. Do some research and go for it!

Unfortunately, yes, it sounds about right. I would guess that over 75% of the people on this board do their own mechanical work for that very reason. Your Z car is worth about $5000 whether these parts are replaced or not. Most people on this board would rather spend $1000 buying the PARTS to replace the springs, shocks, swaybars and all the bushings on their Z than pay someone $1000 to replace $25 worth of parts. They would then sweat, swear, and donate blood to the knuckle gods so that they could afford to upgrade their precious cars. Not only do we save a lot of money, but we learn every little nuance about our cars. I have more money in my Z than I could ever get out and I've done 100% of the work myself. If I had to pay others to do the work, I'd have been better off buying a finished car. If you have any mechanical ability, some basic tools and a place to work, you could save lots of money and find a whole new appreciation for your car. To me, you're never really attached to a car unless you have scars from working on it. In your case, even if you choose to start working on your own car right now, this probably isn't the best project to start with. Replacing the rear control arm bushings is the final exam of Z cars 101... Not the place to learn. :stupid:

Please post pics of your car. We don't care if it's a 300 point car or if you just drug it out of a junkyard. We like pictures!

I upgraded my '78 to a '85 Maxima 100amp. It looks and fits like the stock one and other than having the alternator shop change the pulley and give me a wiring connector, it was very simple. Even with paying for the pulley swap, connector, and the core charge, I think it came to $120 (it was several years ago). I had to cut off my connector and solder on the Maxima connector. Other than that, it was plug and play. The key was going to an alternator shop, not an auto parts store. I looked in the yellow pages and found a place that rebuilds starters and alternators in house. The guy looked in his cross reference book and had what he needed to swap the pulley to the right one and then he grabbed a matching connector from a box under the counter. He drew me a schematic so I'd know which wires to splice together and I was on my way. He tested it before I left and it showed about 110amps. The whole process took about 1/2 hour at the store and another 1/2 hour to solder the connector and install it. You would have to convert to an internal regulator just like for a ZX alternator. I like that it is all Nissan and looks completely stock.

I always wanted an old 911, but I'd probably have a BMW E36 M3.

I had a blast meeting all of you and connecting the names with the faces. Unfortunately, I had to work, so I could only make it a one day trip. I would have loved to have seen a roster posted on the Cleveland Rockz website that showed each owner next to their car with their real name as well as their online name for whatever site(s) they frequent. I 'm sure there are people I talk to online that were there that I missed or never got their real name. Going back to judging for a moment (sorry Tom), I don't know the owner's name, but did the Black Pearl in the center isle win anything in the stock class? I'm no judge, but I thought that car stood out from the rest as a stocker.

I have had to replace the front mount on nearly every Z I've had. The new mount eliminated the clunk on all but one which had a torn mount and worn half shafts. It took both repairs to eliminate the noise.

This is a lousy picture, but it's all I could find in a hurry. The mount has an inner and outer steel "U" with rubber bonded between the two. The rubber and/or bond rips and the diff moves too far up and clunks. http://www.courtesyparts.com/rear-differential-mount-1970-1978-s30-p-568987.html?cPath=7724_7758& To test it, take a large screwdriver and try to pry the two halves apart. Look for gaps in the bond.

Please post pictures of the car. We want to see what you have to work with!

Very nice Z Goose!

Here is my longwinded Z tale... I am 43 and have been a Z fan ever since I was a kid. I saw my first 240Z in '71 or '72 and instantly fell in love with it. Over the next few years I got excited everytime I'd see one on the road. I was around 8 years old or so when my mom decided to redecorate my bedroom. She drug me down to the wallpaper store to pick out a new design to replace the flowers that my sister used to have in the room. As I looked through stupid wallpaper samples, I hit the jackpot. I found wallpaper with cars on it. In the foreground, there were color pictures of antique cars and in the background were black and white modern sports cars. Well, one of them was a 240Z! There was no doubt what wallpaper I was getting! I got to look at my favorite car every day in my room. Fast forward to 1984 when I turned 18. I just had to have a Z car. I found a guy with a 1972 and a 1976 in a field. He wanted $600 for the pair of Z cars. I rented a tow bar and drug them home with grand visions of building the '76 280Z out of the two cars. Well, they were rusted beyond repair, but I learned a TON from those two cars. I stripped both cars to their shells and sold off what I could. I got enough in parts to pay for the two cars and I had a lot of parts left over. At that point, I knew I had to get a rust-free Z, so I went to Atlanta (from Ohio) in 1986 in search of a clean Z. I found a very clean '76 280Z automatic. I still had the manual trans and pedal box from the 240Z parts car, so I bought the Atlanta 280Z, drove it home and converted it to a 4 speed. I kept that car for three years and had a ball with it. Over the next few years I bought and sold several more Z cars along with many other cars. In 1990, I decided it was time to go south again and find another clean Z. I found my current car, a 1978 280Z. It had been sitting for about five years, it didn't run, and it had a bit of front end damage. The hood had some bondo and the bumper was a bit bent, but otherwise looked straight. The interior was also shot, but it was either this car or go home empty handed. I bought the rust-free, but non-running Z for $700 and drug it back to Ohio on a tow dolly. Well, after removing the bumper and front fenders, I found that the car had been hit pretty hard and that the whole left front structure was crumpled and had been pulled back out. Rather than scrap the otherwise clean Z, I bought a friends rusty Z and had a buddy do some surgery. He replaced the whole left front of the Z with parts he cut off the parts car. It came out great and looked like it had never been hit. I rebuilt a spare engine and dropped it in. Unfortunately, something was wrong in the engine and I had to tear it back down. I didn't check the work of the machine shop that did the head and four valves were now bent. They had milled a head that was warped and the #1 and #6 pistons hit the valves. At this point, I was recently out of college and didn't have the time to work on this Z. I did have a different Z I was driving though. The '78 was tucked away in my dad's garage when I got a job in a Michigan. I also got married shortly after that. After living in an apartment for a few years, We finally bought a house and I was able to retrieve the Z after many years of storage. I *thought* I'd have time to work on it, but homeownership and a new bride kept me very busy. The Z got less attention than it needed and it took another long nap before I finally forced myself to get it on the road. Fast forward to 2006 when I finally got to drive the Z that I bought in 1990! Including the time it sat before I bought it, it had been parked for 21 years. I started over with a different engine and went through the suspension, brakes, and interior. I have since gotten many little things finished on it, but it does still need a paintjob. I have been able to put about 7000 miles on it since I got it on the road. Not bad considering the short driving season and few sunny days we have here in Michigan. In the last 25 years, I've had nine S30s, a Z31, an S13, a Sentra SER, a BMW, a few Hondas, a Supra and many Toyota 4x4 daily drivers. I don't think I'll ever be be without a Z car again and I promise that I WILL finish my Z someday. :stupid: