Problems leveling my 240z

[cbuczesk]

Do you have a rear sway bar? Maybe it's bent?

 

Is there any chance that the left insert has a spacer on the bottom? Could there be one that fell off an old insert and is still at the bottom?

 

Chuck

[EuroDat]

Im sorry if my post sounded insulting, that was not my intention. If I knew my post would have caused such a ruckus, I would not have posted it. A lot of posts after it are not helping you.

I have followed the thread daily. I felt your frustration in post 69 "Nothings making sense". You also answered the question I asked back in post 68 in post 70.

If one reads the first 20 and last 20 posts, there seems to be little progress, and that would frustrate me. If you follow most threads, people fix one problem and find another, then another etc. That is why I made that comment, this thread seems to be churning around the origanal question.

Can you take it to a shop in your area and ask them to check it. When its in the air and you can also walk around under the car, might see something that you're missing now. That would be my next move.

[Mike]

Hi guys, I went through the thread and revived it by removing the off-topic posts.  Let's see if we can get this project through to finish by staying on topic.  Someone else might run into this exact problem in the future and a thread like this would be useful to them, too.    Thanks.

 

m

[Mike]

Outdoorsman, from what I have seen while going through these posts is that you have pretty frustrating situation on your hands.  You will find the problem, just hang in there.    This site is full of Zcar fanatics, you won't find better help anywhere else, believe me.  There are probably a few of them reading this thread and ready to give a hand... but they are waiting for the right moment.  You never know.

 

Anyway, *MY* opinion is that you have something bent, or something was installed wrong.  My gut feeling is a spring was swapped to the wrong location... or, possibly the shop that sold you the springs gave you 3 of one type and 1 of the other.  You should have front springs and rear springs.  2 different parts.  I would take out all of the parts and lay them side-by-side on the ground.  Compare the differences and look for difference in the springs -- also check part numbers.  You might see something..  

 

Mike

[Patcon]

I agree with Mike. The other thing 2 things I suspect are a bound up spindle pin or one of the new strut cartridges is wrong or damaged.

Sometimes even brand new parts are bad or miss labeled.

 

Cbuckzesk's comment #87 on the spacer in the bottom of the strut tube is another possibility. If you pull the struts down and the springs off, remove the gland nuts, pull the strut cartridges out. Measure everything including how deep the hole is in the strut tube. Check part numbers on all the struts. I don't believe this is a chassis issue...if the rear strut cartridges are correct, match and everything looks ok, install them on opposite sides. See if the problem moves. If it does that will narrow it down.

[Mark Maras]

 I doubt it's anything you've installed or the way it was installed if the problem existed previously. Some of the suggestions that ignored new parts were; Strut tube spacer left in, easy to check & a good possibility. Rewelded suspension pick-up point, is it located properly? Spindle pin, This got me thinking about post #1. The car had sat for 17 years. How was the car situated during storage? On four wheels on relatively flat ground? Some tires flat? On stands? Level?? Or could it have sat with three corners supported and one corner left to sag or could one spindle pin have seized while one corner was fully extended for 17 years.

 Probably grasping at straws here but you can't have too much info.

[Darren Mann]

Outdoorsman, from what I have seen while going through these posts is that you have pretty frustrating situation on your hands.  You will find the problem, just hang in there.    This site is full of Zcar fanatics, you won't find better help anywhere else, believe me.  There are probably a few of them reading this thread and ready to give a hand... but they are waiting for the right moment.  You never know.

 

Anyway, *MY* opinion is that you have something bent, or something was installed wrong.  My gut feeling is a spring was swapped to the wrong location... or, possibly the shop that sold you the springs gave you 3 of one type and 1 of the other.  You should have front springs and rear springs.  2 different parts.  I would take out all of the parts and lay them side-by-side on the ground.  Compare the differences and look for difference in the springs -- also check part numbers.  You might see something..  

 

Mike

 

 

Thanks Mike.  Something could be bent.  I am going to check the rear control arm bracket that is located near the gas tank that showed signs of being cut and repair.  I just hope the parts car has a viable replacement.  My thoughts are they may have modified it to mask other problems.  The springs were purchased from MSA and are Eibach springs that are numbered and I have confirmed they are in the correct position.

[Darren Mann]

 I doubt it's anything you've installed or the way it was installed if the problem existed previously. Some of the suggestions that ignored new parts were; Strut tube spacer left in, easy to check & a good possibility. Rewelded suspension pick-up point, is it located properly? Spindle pin, This got me thinking about post #1. The car had sat for 17 years. How was the car situated during storage? On four wheels on relatively flat ground? Some tires flat? On stands? Level?? Or could it have sat with three corners supported and one corner left to sag or could one spindle pin have seized while one corner was fully extended for 17 years.

 Probably grasping at straws here but you can't have too much info.

 

Thanks for the response.  I did replace the spindle pins that were locked up when I did the new bushings.  The car sat in my mothers garage for 17 years on level concrete.  She did mention the front driver side tire kept going flat.  There were no spacers in the bottom of the strut tubes I cleaned them out before inserting the new struts.  The new struts retaining caps are in the same position and the length from the top of the insulator to the end of the strut tube is equal.

Edited December 5, 2015 by outdoorsmann

[Mark Maras]

 Ok, Let's work on something bent. What are the possibilities? Don't know the condition of your parts car but have you compared (measured)

the rear structure of both cars? A few horz., vert. & especially diag. comparison measurements inside & underneath on both cars should tell you a lot more. Probably more things but the only other thing I can think of would be the control arm. Thoughts?

[Chickenman]

I just dropped the strut assemblies down and they measure 25-1/2" from the  top of the insulators to the end of the strut tube.  Same on both sides.

Unfortunately that way of measuring does not tell the whole picture. You can have two strut casings that have the same overall length measurement with the exact same springs and top insulators but still have one side of the car dramatically higher than the other.

 

How?  It is the height positioning of the lower spring perch on the strut casing that affects ride height. And Late 260z and 280Z spring perches are NOT located in the same place as 240Z spring perches.

 

Think of a Coil over. The spring perch is on a threaded sleeve. You can crank one side  up or down and that raises or lowers that corresponding corner. You will only notice this when the suspension is LOADED with the weight of the car on the suspension. The " over-all " length of the strut housing may be them same, but depending on where the lower spring perch is adjusted that will affect ride height

 

Measure both rear struts from the lower spindle pin center-line to the weld mark on the lower spring perch.  That distance should be exactly the same. It does vary on different struts housing. I suspect that when you make this measurement, you may find that you have two different strut housings. You can have two strut housing that have the same " over-all length", and yet the lower spring perch is welded on at a different height.

 

While you have things apart. Physically remove the top insulators and measure them for thickness. Also examine the inner structure and make sure that the rubber has not separated. I think people have already asked you to do this and it must be checked. Do not " assume " they are correct, even if they are brand new. Parts get mislabeled or can be defective even when brand new.

 

And lets be clear on naming convention. Shock absorbers are not struts.... they are shocks. The shock absorber goes inside the strut or strut housing. This will avoid confusion.

 

So, please measure both strut housings from the center of the spindle pin to the weld mark on the lower spring perch. post that dimension. Then measure from the center of the spindle pin to the top of the strut housing where the gland nut threads in. Post that dimension. Both strut housing should measure up exactly the same when you measure it that way.

 

Report back with findings and we'll go from there... .

[Chickenman]

IMHO, the Internet is not always the best way of communicating. Biggest problem is expressing what we are " visualizing" in our heads. You can have two people " saying " essentially the same thing, but " visualizing "  two different things in their heads. Sometimes an old fashioned phone call is better...

 

Edit: PM sent.

Edited December 16, 2015 by Chickenman

[gundee]

What Chickenman said. I was trying to get the same idea across.

It would be very important that the dimension shown by the red line be the same.