Having fun with the new Z1

[ZmeFly]

for the past week now i have been pulling and tearing at my new Z. so far ive had both fenders off. cleaned up some surface rust off to bare metal primed and painted the areas. replaced all four struts and springs. replaced all four brake hoses. i think the springs were original . replaced front sway bar links and bushings, replaced the rear sway bar bushings and links to. started today working on the floor boards. just the same thing there a lil surface rust. took off all the wheels sanded the hell outta them and polished them tonight. shes starting to look preety good. except for some small paint bubble spots i had found on the outside of the body which are now covered with primer. i still cant get over how clean the car is. i love it and am very happpy with it.

when i get it all done ill take some pics to show you how its going along. sometime this week ill be pulling the engine and transmission to replace it with the engine and tranny from my other Z. think ill really get into the engine bay clean up then and paint it while the egine is out of the car. i want it all nice and polished up for its new home.

ill keep you posted

god this is really fun work but boy am i tired

Z you all later

[Zvoiture]

Zme, reading this I am partly motivated and partly feeling this dreadful feeling come up in my gut. I just looked at what will most likely be my new Z project today, a '71 HLS30 40XXX. I am guessing it used to be silver, but it is all oxidized to nothing and peeling. Spider webs and crap everywhere. 4 flat tires. couple rust bubbles here and there, and just surface rust and dirt EVERYWHERE. Hopefully soon it will be in my garage and I will be sharing your activities. Just get it up on jacks and start stripping stuff!

Have you tried the Rust Treatment from Napa? It comes in an areosol can so is much easier to use than POR-15 and TONS cheaper. It really works great. Just hit it with a wire brush and spray a couple coats and the rust turns gun-metal black and is sealed under a hard finish.

steve77

[240znz]

This is one of those "should have know that" questions.

Zmefly...why did you need to replace those struts. I keep hearing of this being done but I can't figure out why you'd want to do so. Is it becuase the struts are rusted out? A strut is just a metal tube with a spring hanger...why but new ones?

Sorry if this sounds dumb.... gezzzz:rolleyes:

[ZmeFly]

actually nothing wrong with the stut assembly except the springs are bad. i did however replace the bad strut cartridges

is that better now

[240znz]

Arhar...you mean shocks...not struts....arghhhh...that registers in my tiny brain.

Merci:sleep:

[Mike]

Hey guys...

The strut is used to describe the entire package.

A Z strut contains a hollow tube and a base. Inside the hollow tube you install a strut cartridge (or shock). This is usually filled with gas or oil and dampens the ride. Your spring fits on the outside of this whole unit and a cap is placed on top and bolted together.

Most of the time, you are only required to replace the cartridge and the springs. Or, one or the other. I always recommend replacing both because it is such a pain to remove and reinstall new parts later.

But, most of the time the strut assembly is just fine and doesn't need to be replaced.

[m]

[Mike]

Here's a good site explaining how shocks/suspension works:

http://www.tokicogasshocks.com/suspension/components.html

[Zvoiture]

For the longest time, I was confounded by the process I had been reading about of cutting the 'strut' to allow more travel on lewered Z's. I had always thought your 'struts' went bad just like your 'shocks' and you had them changed. I couldn't fugure out how you cut a section out of your 'struts'. Aren't they filled with oil and are under pressure and stuff??? Then one day in a bolt of bright light, I managed to determine the difference between a 'strut' and the CARTRIDGE. The 'cartridge' is the part that wears out and you change (like your shocks). Likewise, the strut (TUBE) is shortened and a shorter 'cartridge' is installed. Since this marvelous suspensions system started appearing on our cars 30 years ago, we have all just gotten into a bad habit of refering to them as 'shocks and struts'.

steve77