240Z balljoint update

[Richard McDonel]

I guess any day in which one learns something can never be a total loss. In my case, I had the front struts and steering arms powder coated. Then I installed the new ball joints and tried to assemble the steering arms to the bottom of the struts. No fit. As the new ball joint had a larger nut and a slightly longer thread than the original, I immediately assumed a further ball joint fitment problem. A little more fiddling around though, and I determined that there was no contact between the nut / stud and the underside of the strut. The problem was the powder coat. Somehow, I had looked at a simple shock tube being bolted firmly in place and had assumed something less than a machine-fit, but no, the fit is very precise. A layer of powder on each surface is enough to prevent seating.

Sandpaper drum on the dremel-style tool, touch up both surfaces, and we now have a fit!