Project Boondoggle (or, so I went and bought a Z!)

[charliekwin]

Well congratulations to me for managing to tear one of the spindle pin bushings while trying to force the strut in there.

This one is basically useless and it seems like the only way to get another one is to buy the whole tear control arm kit. That's about $50 worth of screwup I really could have done without.

[Captain Obvious]

That's a bummer. Only suggestions I can offer are to make sure all the mating surfaces are very clean and rust free and use some silicone lube. Rust on the faces of the involved surfaces not only takes up room that you need, but it also won't slide as easy as a clean cast iron surface.

 

Unlike the stock rubber bushings, the poly bushings need to slide against the faces of the strut casting. The sliding surfaces need to be clean and lubed.

 

Do you think the poly parts were made properly or is the shoulder too thick?

[Zed Head]

You've already done all of the hard work.  Carve that torn section off and use it.  If it starts to degrade you can pop the pin out, drop the casting,  and insert a new one, probably without removing any brake lines or strut mount bolts.

[charliekwin]

After successfully mangling that bushing, I put one of the good ones on the inside and tried using that one on the outside, but It spreads apart too much and won't work there.  I don't dare tempt the fates by disassembling everything to try it on inside again, so I bit the bullet and just ordered a new set from Amazon.

 

It's been that kind of a weekend...on Sunday I went for a nice dip in the pool for a full 5 minutes before realizing that I forgot to take my phone out of my pocket.  I'm getting kinda tired of doing this much self-inflicted damage to my wallet!

[charliekwin]

Been kind of slow-going the last few weeks with life and all that getting in the way, but I've managed to squeeze in some progress here and there.

 

So that strut boot problem...first attempt was to cut notches out of the collar.  That was enough to get the clips around, but it still moved too much, so I went to my local hardware store for inspiration and found this stuff, which I trimmed down and lined the inside with.  Then tied with CV boot clamps.  Fits great.

 

 

The bump stops I'm still not sure about...the instructions have the tapered end pointing down, but that leaves the piston exposed when it expands, which seemed wrong.  I left them turned around so the taper fits into the top of the perch.

 

 

The outer rubber layer on the insulators was long gone, so I got some 1/16" rubber sheet and cut some "washers" to stick on the top.  The fronts, ready to be installed, and in the car.  Suspension Techniques sway bars went in too.  Progress!

 

 

The troubles with the rear end I don't need to revisit, but it's back together as well.  The driver's side, complete with 2 black bushings, just to be matchy.

 

 

This weekend I moved on to the hubs.  They were kinda rough looking and a bit rusty, so I hit them with a wire wheel and some high-temp paint I had left.  The bearings looked decent-enough when I pulled them out, but one of the POs did -- big surprise -- a lousy job greasing the hubs, and a complete set of Timkens was something like $30, so I figured replacing them now is cheap insurance.  Not too many pictures here...cleaning and packing a hub with grease is messy business, but here's what someone before me managed to do when knocking out a race.

 

   

 

Both sides are finished and my parts piles are getting smaller!  Then nature intervenes.  Despite being in the middle of an historic drought, it still manages to rain whenever I want to work on a car.  There's always next weekend.

 

 

 

 

[Hardway]

That is some good work Charlie!  Yeah, mother nature seems and Murphy's Law seem to sync up when we work on our cars.  I like your idea of using the self adhesive foam to take up the room in the strut boot.  On the bump stops, when I installed my poly bumps stops in my '72 240z, the tapered end was facing down.  I did not install a boot around them but at the end of the day no matter what direction they are facing I think they will accomplish the same thing.  Maybe someone who has had experience with them installed both ways will post up.

[charliekwin]

It's some kind of miracle, I actually drove the car today.

 

This morning, I went to Harbor Freight and bought a grease gun for the ball joints and tie rod ends.  First time I've greased anything with a zerk fitting in probably 20 years!  But naturally, nothing goes without problems.  One of the half shafts has a fitting, so I figured I should grease that one too.  Can't hurt anything, right?

 

Not right.  Snapped clean off.

 

 

Back to the hardware store to get a screw extractor.  For once, at least, the gods smiled upon me: it came out easily.  Back to the same hardware store to get a screw to plug the hole.  Local hardware store has everything except 1/4" - 28 machine screws.  Special trip to OSH, then, and back to work.

 

Bled the brakes, everything else goes back together without incident and the car is finally sitting on its own wheels!

 

 

Overall drop ended up being about an inch all around, but it'll probably settle a bit more.  I'm actually pretty happy with way it's sitting.  The wheels are kind of a bummer.  Just another item for the shopping list!

 

Driving impressions: not many so far.  I've only done a few very cautious laps around the block.  Partly because I don't want to do anything too exciting until I'm convinced I put everything back together correctly and partly because the brakes felt awful squishy.  I'm going to bleed them again tomorrow to see if that helps.

[charliekwin]

It only took 4 months, but I finally got to put some miles on the Z last week!

 

 

I bled the master cylinder last weekend (and re-bled the rest of the brakes), and that really helped with the pedal feel.  The brakes aren't great, but at least are safe.  Some betterpads will help, but mostly I think I just need to remember that brakes from 1978 aren't going to stop like modern ones do.

 

Handling is greatly improved, and the terrifying oh-god-the-car-is-falling-apart-and-I'm-going-to-die noises it made going over bumps are, thankfully, gone now.  Steering feels a little heavy and there's a bit of play. I don't know if it's in normal range, but I'll take a closer look at the steering rack.  I'm sure it also needs an alignment, but I'll wait until the rear tires (which are not long for this world) wear out and then do wheels, tires, alignment all at once.

 

I really want to get the interior cleaned up and put together so it doesn't feel like such a jalopy.  I think that's up next, but that project will have to wait for a bit.  The house we're in just sold, so we're moving in a couple weeks.  Our new place has a big two-car garage with work space and tons of storage (awesome!), but we're paying a fortune in rent (less awesome!) so project car funds are going to be limited for a while.  Best laid plans, indeed.

[rossiz]

great to hear you're getting out on the road. a simple check for steering play is the rubber steering rack mounts - they are isolators that go around the rack on either side and are held in place by the steel c-shaped tie down clamps. you can actually see the rack move if you stand just outside the drivers side door with the hood open and move the steering wheel back and forth while eyeing the rack below the engine.

i have a thread on here somewhere that shows this job on my car - there was quite a bit of play due to the mounts being old and distorted. new ones are cheap and it's about an hour's job to replace them. next to check is ball joints and then the round rubber disk in the steering rod just below the break master reservoirs.

[charliekwin]

Well...crap.

 

Filled the car with gas and took it out to run a few errands last night.  Walking down the driveway I thought to myself "Huh.  Smells like gas out here.  That's weird."  On the way back up, one of the outdoor lights comes on and I see a puddle.

 

 

Something is leaking around the filler, but it was too dark and late for me to be able to pinpoint what or where.  I drained enough to get below the leak, so at least I won't have the fire department knocking on my door.  The damage, however, is done: the gas sitting on the tank lifted the paint, so in addition to finding and fixing the leak, I also have to re-drop, re-strip and re-paint the tank.  Wasn't exactly part of the plan.  Of course this happens two days before we move.

[SteveJ]

Look at the EF section in the FSM. I believe it will have a diagram of the vent hoses. It's likely that either the filler hose or a vent hose is leaking.

[Captain Obvious]

Haha! And if you're going to paint a gas tank, I would try to find a paint that is fuel proof....

 

Signed, Captain Obvious. 

 

PS - Maybe some of Eastwoods "catalyzed in a can" spray paint? I haven't tried it, but I suspect it's fuel proof or at least fuel resistant. Wear a good respirator...

 

http://www.eastwood.com/paints/2k-aero-spray-paints.html