What I did today

[JohnnyO]

Parts look good. Hit them with some metal ready or ospho and you are all set for por.

John

[Mikez73]

Saturday: removed front sway bar...prepped and painted.

Today went to install it with new bushings and...the bar is 24mm and I have 20mm bushings :stupid:

If anybody need some 20mm Prothane bushings cheap let me know

I think the rear bar is 22mm but I'm going to measure for sure. Seems like big bars for a 240z. I think my shiro had 24 and 26mm bars.

I need to order end links too. The bushings are squashed and the hardware is gnarly.

Removed the compression rods and wirebrushed the surface rust from the mounts and rods. Used rust treatment, I'll prime and paint tomorrow night.

Found these:

I'm assuming that and the one just like it from the other side are "TC rod kits"? And there should be a ball in each? The ball is gone. I think I'll just install poly bushings and put those kits in a box.

Johnny'O would prolly have had this done in 15 minutes

[EScanlon]

Lee:

Those rubber pads on the gas tank are just attached with a type of rubber cement adhesive. If you are planning on using POR on the exterior, you might as well remove them to get it on all surfaces and truly encapsulate the metal. You might also check that all the vent tubes are solid and not wiggling at all, if they are, now is the time to resolder them in place. Use a Heat Gun and not an open flame. Also try to minimize the amount of POR you put into the Sender O-Ring Groove... VET

On the Heater box, just immediately before applying POR on the side doors and other hinged items that you cannot remove from the box, apply a gnat's drop of oil to the hinge pin itself. Work it in and make sure you don't have it anywhere else. The oil will prevent the POR from cementing your doors open or shut... VET (Voice of Experience).

FWIW

E

[mlc240z]

Mikez73,

Don't install all poly bushings on the TC rod if you don't have a complete 'Kit' with the nylon? ball for that socket.

Just go with all new rubber.

Have heard all kinds of nastys (broken rods) with all poly bushings.

Installed that kit with the recommended ball, socket and RUBBER rear bushing.

[Mikez73]

Mikez73,

Don't install all poly bushings on the TC rod if you don't have a complete 'Kit' with the nylon? ball for that socket.

Just go with all new rubber.

Have heard all kinds of nastys (broken rods) with all poly bushings.

Installed that kit with the recommended ball, socket and RUBBER rear bushing.

Good call. I found some bad stories looking for info on tension rods. A broken t rod is bad news but at the wrong time it could be a disaster. I looked at the parts today in good light and what I thought last night were hard half-bushings were the balls. I was expecting white material. These are black. They look okay except for one having the "guide" extension broken off. I think I'll put them back on.

There probably isn't much point in using poly bushings on the back side?

It's surprising that BD and MSA don't sell replacement parts for the t/c rod kit.

I read a couple of posts where people thought the balls were delrin. Maybe the kits now use delrin but I don't think these are delrin. I've got some delrin but I don't know if it's thick enough to shape a replacement ball.

[Mikez73]

Ok I kept the t-c rod kits and reused the rubber rear bushings. They looked good BTW. Bought some 24mm bushings for the front bar and some endlinks. Installed the 20mm rear sway bar bushings. Did this car come with a factory rear sway bar? I'm pretty sure the 20mm bar isn't stock anyway.

And Howard the garage cat.

[Bonzi Lon]

It is my understanding that the 73 came with the rear sway bar mountings, but no sway bar. The sway bars were installed on the 74 260's though.

Bonzi Lon

[GreenZZZ]

Lee:

Those rubber pads on the gas tank are just attached with a type of rubber cement adhesive. If you are planning on using POR on the exterior, you might as well remove them to get it on all surfaces and truly encapsulate the metal. You might also check that all the vent tubes are solid and not wiggling at all, if they are, now is the time to resolder them in place. Use a Heat Gun and not an open flame. Also try to minimize the amount of POR you put into the Sender O-Ring Groove... VET

On the Heater box, just immediately before applying POR on the side doors and other hinged items that you cannot remove from the box, apply a gnat's drop of oil to the hinge pin itself. Work it in and make sure you don't have it anywhere else. The oil will prevent the POR from cementing your doors open or shut... VET (Voice of Experience).

FWIW

E

Got the heater parts all POR'd without cementing in the flaps. I posted photos in a heater box thread. The gas tank came out great, but I didn't bother popping the rubber off. :stupid: All the lines felt real solid.

http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=33860

[motorman7]

Started the clean-up on my 73Z. Not sure I should really call it a restoration as I am not planning on a full rotiserie job. The plan is to strip the car and send the rolling chassis to Lance for the silver 901 paint job. Will try and keep as original as economicaly feasible.

I am really thrilled with the sheet metal on this. Even the battey tray is fairly clean. Minor surface rust, but nothing major. I am removing the side door ding bumpers (hate those) and the old AC (poor ROI), but otherwise will keep everything the same. Will also keep the flat tops and that lovely gray insulation . Should be fun.

Did a little clean-up on the motor earlier on, but will do the full monty now that the motor is out.

Major items I will need to get, other than paint, is the weather strip kit, carpet kit, and center console. Otherwise everything is pretty decent. Plan is to make it look like the final pic here when it's all done.

Edited July 4, 2010 by motorman7

[SmoothZ]

motor, those pics look almost like what I experienced the last few days. I didn't take the motor out, but I did a lot of 'cleaning' today. Your car looks great. What wheels are those?

See my thread:

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39064

[Mikez73]

Started the clean-up on my 73Z. Not sure I should really call it a restoration as I am not planning on a full rotiserie job. The plan is to strip the car and send the rolling chassis to Lance for the silver 901 paint job. Will try and keep as original as economicaly feasible.

I am really thrilled with the sheet metal on this. Even the battey tray is fairly clean. Minor surface rust, but nothing major. I am removing the side door ding bumpers (hate those) and the old AC (poor ROI), but otherwise will keep everything the same. Will also keep the flat tops and that lovely gray insulation . Should be fun.

Did a little clean-up on the motor earlier on, but will do the full monty now that the motor is out.

Major items I will need to get, other than paint, is the weather strip kit, carpet kit, and center console. Otherwise everything is pretty decent. Plan is to make it look like the final pic here when it's all done.

Nice looking car. The engine bay looks to be in good shape. Did you look under the cowling for rust?

[motorman7]

Nice looking car. The engine bay looks to be in good shape. Did you look under the cowling for rust?

Yes, I actually cleaned it up about 4 months ago. I think the car sat under a tree for some time and there was the equivalent of a small bush (a shrubery)underneath. Had to empty my shop vac after sucking must of it out. I will remove the cowl for paint. pulled off the headlight buckets today. They came off nicely, no broken studs, all metal-very nice. Only bolt that broke during removal was a horn bolt.

I am really happy with how original the car is. It still has the original muffler and muffler brackets (but i dont think the PB blaster is going to help those).

Gotta have baggies to sort parts. Will clean and re-zinc baggy by baggy...easier that way in the long run.

The rims came with the car, 5 slot 14 inch diameter. Tires are new Michelins, 195/70 14 radials from Costco.