Hardway's 1971 240z #8011 - Build and Repair Thread

[240260280z]

I'm proud of you son

For the #4, it is possible that the valve seat has been hammered upward into the head. This also causes the valve and rocker to rise up and remove all lash gap. I saw it happen on an E31 with bronze seats.

[LeonV]

I'm proud of you son

For the #4, it is possible that the valve seat has been hammered upward into the head. This also causes the valve and rocker to rise up and remove all lash gap. I saw it happen on an E31 with bronze seats.

 

I was going to say the same. Measure installed spring height to see if you have a sunken valve.

[bartsscooterservice]

Nice work !

 

I had the whine to but in the diff, ended up replacing it, because nobody cared to every check the oil level ( bearings and gear was damaged ). It's quiet ever since. I guess it's not supposed to whine, like some people say if your Z doesn't whine it's not a Z, well that's not true

[Hardway]

With my new job keeping me super busy it has been a few weeks since the Z saw some attention.  With a beautiful Valentine’s Day Saturday upon me and my wife busy with her own projects in the house I was back on the Z to get some things done.  After my last post regarding my valve adjustment I went back and did another round of checking and adjusting to make sure everything was spot on.  Sure enough, 4 valves were too loose and now I know why.  When I was adjusting them I left my wrench under the rocker arm thus giving me a false measurement and making the valve too loose once the wrench was removed.  Now everything is within spec except for my #4 intake valve.  It is currently at zero lash and even the smallest feeler gauge won’t fit under it.  I took it for another test drive and the engine ran smoother and felt more predictable.  Plus, it was both quiet at start up and quiet fully warmed up as I examined it in the garage after my test drive.  I still need to further investigate the #4 intake valve and have been reading up on other people’s experiences.  I did hear back from the previous owner and all he could remember was the engine and head was rebuilt to stock specs.

 

Switching gears, I saw the thread regarding the use of Kia weather strip seals again and was inspired to try this on my Z.  See the thread here -> http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/50845-just-did-the-kia-hatch-seal/

 

The rear hatch seal on my Z was far past its expiration date.  In addition a previous owner had added blocks of black foam to the hatch panel, possibly quieten the squeak of the hatch since the weather strip was no longer providing a cushion for it.  Needless to say it looked pretty sad and really started to bug me when I was trouble shooting my brake light issue last month. 

 

 

 

Seeing I could get a new Kia door seal for $35 shipped I checked my local salvage yard and saw they had five 1993-2000 Kia Sportages in the yard.  After looking at all 5 vehicles I came up with 3 good door seals.  At a cost of $3 each the trip was well worth it.  As I checked out at the pay counter the guy even said they were some of the biggest seals he has seen that still looked good.  Definitely the most bang for the buck!  Below is a picture of what one looks with a can of spray paint for reference.

 

 

Next came the task of removing the old seal.  It started out promising but quickly turned tedious as the old seal proceeded to come out in about 10,000 pieces.

 

[Hardway]

Once done I attacked the ugly blocks of foam.  With the foam pulled off a very thick and gooey layer of adhesive was left.

 

 

It took several rounds of soaking with professional strength Goo-B-Gone to get it off.  *NOTE: Professional Strength GBG smells and acts just like brake cleaner, protect yourself properly.  Once it was all gone the end result was some good looking original metal.

 

 

 

With all the goo off I moved on to installing the new/used Kia weather stripping.  This is an interim solution as I plan to buy brand new weather stripping once I repaint the car in the future.  With that in mind I decided not to glue it down as the clamping force of the seal was pretty tight.  I used a passenger door piece that already had a 90 degree bend in the top corner so I started at the top left corner of the hatch.  Installing it was pretty straight requiring some patience to work it in and fully seat it with a couple of taps from a rubber mallet here and there.  After about 20 minutes I was done and the visual difference was immediate. 

 

[Hardway]

Since this is a used part the seal is a little more collapsed on the right than it is on the left.  There is also a permanent impression in the seal where a panel pressed against it from the factory.  Overall the fit is very good considering the seal probably has 80K miles on it.

 

 

 

 

 

A few small challenges presented themselves along the way, the first being a rip in the seal that was not noticed until I was 80% done.  I decided to wrap it in electrical tape for now.  Since the seal is about 2 inches too big I placed the cut below the lower strut mount.  The seal is very hard to cut through even with an industrial pair of shears.  Therefore my union did not turn out as pretty as I had hoped so I decided to cover it with some electrical tape as well. 

 

 

 

All in all for $3 and a few hours of my time it was totally worth it.  Even with the imperfections, given the state of my old seal I will take function over form any day of the week, especially at a savings of $32!  I still have the 2 other seals and plan to replace the door seals in the near future.

[rossiz]

nice - huge improvement!

 

btw: the trick to cutting the seal is to use a utility knife and get between the metal ribs. the clip-on portion of the seal is made of many small metal ribs with a gap in between them where you can slip the knife blade. like cutting a rack of ribs between the bones...

[Hardway]

It has been awhile since I have posted an update on the Z.  Over the past few months I have completed a few projects but nothing ground breaking.  Back in March I noticed my front calipers were dragging and not releasing like they should.  At first I thought the clevis that links the pedal to the brake booster needed some adjustment.  I was careful not to back it out too much as I did not want the reaction disc to fall inside the booster.  With as much adjustment as I felt comfortable with and a quick trip around the block revealed that did not fix the problem.  I pulled the wheels off and could clearly see the pads firmly pressed against the rotor. 

 

 

 

The pads were being pressed so hard that I could not turn the wheel by hand.  I was able to use a c-clamp and pull the pad away a little bit.  Once I did this the wheel would spin freely.  I pulled everything out to inspect it further and I could see the dust seals were showing their age and there was rust around the edges of the pistons.  Based on the appearance of the calipers it looks like someone sandblasted and painted them, installed new pistons and seals, but reused the brake hardware and bleeder screw.  I don’t know the history of the brake system on the car other than the previous owner installed new hoses just before I bought it and I had adjusted the rear brakes right after I bought it.  Oh well, time for new calipers! 

 

 

I ordered a set of calipers from Advance Auto Parts as I had used their re-manufactured calipers in the past with good results.  Plus, they were the right price at $33/each.  On their site the brand is listed as Wearever but the boxes say OEM.  They included new hardware and appear to be well done by the reman. company.

 

 

 

 

The pistons looked really good and the seals looked to be of high quality.  The reddish liquid you see in the picture is oil residue from the re-manufacturer.

 

 

[Hardway]

My only point of concern was the threads for the hard brake line fitting.  The driver side caliper’s threads looked a bit questionable but the passenger side looked just fine.  I did a quick test with an extra brake line I had and the fittings seem to go in just fine for each so I proceeded further.

 

 

 

The install was quick and drama free.  With the help of my wife I got everything bled, checked for leaks of which there was none and took a test drive.  Since bad weather was closing in fast I only got in a quick lap around the block but everything seemed good.  Job done!

 

[Hardway]

Several weeks ago I had the Z out on a cruise that involved some of the quickest and most spirited driving I had done with the car.  Two items of attention quickly bubbled to the surface.  The first being that my diff mount was shot as I could hear the diff thunk and clunk as I shifted.  The second item was disappointing as I was advised by a fellow driver that my left brake light was not working.  It appears my fix to the turn signal switch from a few months ago did not hold up. 

 

 

After some quick trouble shooting I confirmed the issue was with the turn signal switch again.  Knowing that I was tired of dealing with the old unit that had been messed with numerous times I bit the bullet and spent $140 on a restored swtich from a seller on Ebay.  He offered a 30 day warranty so I clicked Buy It Now and was in my hands within a few days.

My first impressions were good.  The entire mechanism was clean and properly lubricated.  The turn signal switch itself was super stiff and I was a little concerned the action was too tight.  The stalk had been cleaned and painted and the horn contact had a good dome of solder on it.

 

 

The only point of concern for me was the mounting pin that is cast in to the switch assembly.  My original switch’s pin was in very good shape which made installing it a breeze.

 

 

The pin on the restored switch was crushed pretty good.  Once this happens I don’t know what could be done to fix it but it was a little disappointing.

 

 

Swapping the switches was quick and the newer switch mounted up just fine.  Once everything was hooked up I did a round of testing and everything checked out 100%

 

 

I have driven the car around some and noticed my turn signals flash faster and the tightness of the switch has let up a little so all in all it was money well spent.

[Hardway]

With the Z’s brake lights working properly again I turned my attention to the diff mount.  I ordered a new RT diff mount the same day as the turn signal switch and both arrived on the same day.  I have installed this kind of mount before and knew of the challenges lay ahead of me.  The rear suspension of my car was rebuilt by the previous owner so I knew I should not encounter any rusty bolts.  However, the last time I installed one of these mounts I had all of the suspension out as well as the diff so access was going to be limited this time around.

 

A quick inspection revealed the original strap mount was shot and was probably original to the car.  It leaves me scratching my head why the previous owner did not install a new one when he had everything out.  I do know he did not put many miles on it after he put all the work in to it so maybe he never realized the ill effects it had on the car.

 

 

After some wrenching and “speaking” to the car I got the old strap mount out.  A side by side comparison of the old vs. new shows just how superior the RT mount is.

 

 

 

For those that have installed these before you know they are a VERY TIGHT fit.  Since the diff and drive shaft was in the way I used a small piece of wood and my floor jack to drive it in to place.  It was somewhat of a “ballet of persuasion” with my wife working the jack as I was using a rubber mallet to tap the mount until the holes were perfectly lined up.  After about 20 minutes and more “speaking” to the car all four bolts were in.  Another 15 minutes were spent doing some trial and error fitting of the mount.  I ended up having to cut 3 layers off the mount so that is fit correctly above the diff.

 

 

The threaded bolt end of the mount and included lock nut are too tall and interfere with the parking brake mechanism.  As part of my trial and error fitting I cut the bolt down and used a short nut to secure it.  As you can see there is no room for a lock washer but there might be room for a star-washer.  The pull of the poly rubber mount should keep it in place.  I will double check it after I put some miles on it and if I see an issue I will address it.

 

 

That is all for now.  Next up is looking over my carbs as the car seems to run a tad rich all the time and possibly installing the other Kia door seals in place of the door seals on the Z.

Edited April 15, 2015 by Hardway

[SurferD]

Hey Hardway that's a beauty.

So much detail work is what makes the difference.

I'm doing mine much the same as you but you have a much better starting point.

My car was in CT it's whole life and has been stored outside for the last 6 years.

I really enjoy your progress reports.