YOU SIR are doing one heck of a great job!

I am about to tackle the suspension on my Z very soon with some illumina's! I have already done all the steering components as you did, and they make a huge difference when they are fresh and clean and to spec like you did them. Great work!

I had wondered how hard it would be to remove the old struts from the housings, and watching what you did gives me pause. I was hoping to pull them out while still on the car, but that may be an impossibility. Hummm.

Keep up the great work!

Thank you for the comments and compliments Zed. I followed your engine build and install thread like a hawk so seeing your posting has made my day. You may get lucky and your strut inserts may slide right out. However it seems its about 50/50 around here. One item I am going to try and locate is a wire bore brush that will slide down in the strut tube to clean it. Mine still had a some gunk in it despite blowing out as much as I could. Post up or shoot me a PM if you have any questions.

Like everyone else the holidays have been keeping me busy. I did manage to find some time in the evenings to do some work on the Z. I got the new rebuilt front calipers installed along with new pads, hardware, original rotors turned with it’s re-packed bearings back in place and some new stainless steel braided hoses. I also installed the front sway bar with the poly ES bushings and new hardware. All in all I think it looks really good. I know some will ask why I did not paint and detail the rotor and hub. It came down to 2 factors, time and value. I needed to make the car a roller again and time was not on my side. The lack value being that trying to wire brush the rust off the rotor and hub would have been rather tedious and then cleaning everything to paint such small areas would not make any real difference in the long term.

Since my wife and I were going to attack the garage to put up some wall shelving the Z needed to come out. So back on went the wheels and she was finally a roller again. She effortlessly rolled out of the garage and saw sunlight for the first time in 9 months.

While it was on the ground it gave me a chance to look at the springs and see how close to the bump stops I was. Sure enough I had less than 1” of travel before the top of the strut tube would hit the bump stop. I figured this might be the case since others had experienced this with their Z when lowering it. This is too low for me so I am going to look in to getting some Eibach Pro-Kit springs as other owners has reported good results with them while using the KYB struts.

That is all for now. We will see what kind of time the rest of the holidays give me.

After a decent break from the car due to the holidays and work I decided to dive back in to the Z since I had a 3-day weekend. I got just about everything pulled from the rear of the car on Friday night. Everything came down with very little drama. This is where air tools are your best friend!

My R200 diff looked to be in good shape except for the leaking cover gasket which will be addressed. I am unsure on the snout seal. It has a tiny bit of seepage but other owners has said to leave it along unless it is leaking bad due to the expertise needed to properly replace it. Thoughts?

When I was pulling everything apart I noticed the parking brake cable has several rusty broken strands in it so I removed it on Saturday. Spent pretty much the whole morning wrestling with the gland nuts on the strut tubes. After about an hour of applying heat and sheer strength they broke loose. Needless to say the old KYB’s were shot.

Moving on I embarked on what is probably one of the more entertaining aspects of a rear suspension upgrade, the burn out of the mustache bar bushings! With about 15 minutes of fire and 20 minutes of clean up with my Dremel tool the bushing shells were clean and ready to accept their new bushings when the time comes.

Since I knew I would need to build a spindle pin removal tool I started stripping some of the suspension components that were free of other assemblies. As mentioned earlier in this thread my Makita variable speed rotary tool with a wire brush is a true life saver.

I welded part of my spindle pin removal tool together this evening. Once it is complete and I have proven success with it I will post up the pics and continue on with the clean up process.

Looks great, I've enjoyed reading your build so far. I just tackled the front suspension myself. Did you have a hard time finding tie rod ends that would fit? I had to go through a couple different companies to finally find one that worked.

Chase

Looks great, I've enjoyed reading your build so far. I just tackled the front suspension myself. Did you have a hard time finding tie rod ends that would fit? I had to go through a couple different companies to finally find one that worked.

Chase

Hey Chase. I bought my tie rod ends from Rock Auto. They were the Moog brand and from what I can tell they went on just fine and should function like the originals. What kind of issues did you run in to on the ones that did not work for you?

Edited January 24, 201312 yr by Hardway

Hardway,

I have a spindle pin puller that you are more than welcome to borrow. Should save you some time as well as some $$$ and given that you only use these once in a blue moon, borrowing mine might be a better path than building your own.

I'm also in Austin as you know and work up in the north part of town so perhaps we can find a way to hook up and I will give you the tool. Alternatively, we have a club meet coming up on this Monday and I could meet you there as well.

Just let me know if you are interested. One way or another we should find a way to connect given that we live in the same general area.

Mike.

Thank you for the offer Mike. I am about 99% done with the puller I made but if for some reason it fails I will reach out to you.

I think you PM'd or I PM'd you awhile back on trying to meet up. I have only been to one club meet and that was when it was at the pizza place that is now closed. I can't make it to the new south meet location as I am in Pflugerville. I wish it was somewhere more central or north, possibly flip flop between north and south. I work in the Arboretum so maybe we can meet up one day after work somewhere and talk shop. Would love to connect with some other Z owners!

I go past the arboretum on the way to / from work so hooking up after hours would be easy for me. Just need to target a nice weather day so I can drive my Z.

Would really like to talk shop. I have already been down the path that you are going so perhaps I can help you avoid some pitfalls that I ran into.

Let me know what works for you and we will try to set something up. In the meantime, if you need my puller, just let me know.

Mike.

Mike if that spindle pin removal tool is still on the table, I may need it in a few months!

Make sure the struts are getting fully sitted with the gland nuts. You will get fooled by the gland nut bottoming on the threads and there will be play in the struts-then clunk, clunk over the bumps.

Steve D,

No problem. Would be a great reason for me to take a trip to Houston.

Just let me know.

Mike.