1971 HLS30-14938 "Lily" build

[Patcon]

9 hours ago, Captain Obvious said:

If you haven't already pressed your old rear bushings out yet, measure the distance between the two of them, and compare that to the width of the strut body.

I did that yesterday and my quick measurement was about .003" different. So basically the same...

My real problem with the rear control arms is how to support them. I figured I would have to use a long rod to push through but there is so little metal at the end I don't know how to support it.

[Captain Obvious]

You need a tube of the proper diameter to use as an anvil. I don't remember if I had to make something, or if I already had something laying around.

Just like you did for the fronts, only the dimensions are a little more critical.

[Patcon]

I will look around. I think 1 1/4" is close but haven't found anything yet

[Captain Obvious]

Well I'm probably going to be manning the hydraulic press tomorrow, but not for a Z application. I'm elbow deep on wheel bearings for the family Truckster. But while I'm messing around in the drawer where I have all my short leftover drops, drifts, and scraps and stuff, I'll look to see if I can jar brain cells about exactly what I used.

You know you can press them in or out from either side, right. What about flipping it over and changing direction? I'm sure you knew that, but that's my name...

[87mj]

I am far from being a body mechanic but I was curious how you are able to mount a 240z on a rotisserie since the sheet metal is so thin.  Especially at the rear valance.  Isnt that just a piece of sheet metal with nuts welded to the back? 

[grannyknot]

4 minutes ago, 87mj said:

I am far from being a body mechanic but I was curious how you are able to mount a 240z on a rotisserie since the sheet metal is so thin.  Especially at the rear valance.  Isnt that just a piece of sheet metal with nuts welded to the back? 

The nuts behind the rear valance are welded to the sub frame, the front mounting points are also the bumper mounts which are very close to the sub frame also the early cars are quite light, about 550lbs fully stripped.

[Patcon]

Thanks Grannyknot

23 hours ago, Captain Obvious said:

You know you can press them in or out from either side, right. What about flipping it over and changing direction? I'm sure you knew that, but that's my name...

 

Thanks CO. Yes I have thought about several ways to go at it. Advice on an arbor would be great...

[Patcon]

On 7/18/2017 at 7:27 PM, grannyknot said:

The nuts behind the rear valance are welded to the sub frame, the front mounting points are also the bumper mounts which are very close to the sub frame also the early cars are quite light, about 550lbs fully stripped.

@87mj

Sorry I didn't reply, but Grannyknot is correct. The chassis is not very heavy when stripped and the points for the most part are bumper locations. So while not overly sturdy they are sufficient to mount the car.

[Patcon]

So as CO has mentioned there is a longer side to the rear swing arm bushings.

The longer side goes out away from the strut...

I suspect this is why some people have had a hard time reassembling the rear suspension in the past. If you were to orient these incorrectly the space would be about .008" too small for the rear strut to fit into.

I found a pipe laying around in my stuff that was very close in ID to the bushing but it was thin wall stuff

So I cut two pieces of it and split one down length wise

I then sleeved one inside the other and welded them together and welded around the lip for additional thickness

My apologies to the other welders here @grannyknot @disepyon these welds are pretty ugly. I assume I didn't get all the galvanize off, oh well

Dressed them down a little bit and tried them as an anvil...

Not happening! I couldn't get the anvil to line up well enough to receive the old bushing. So I resorted to less elegant methods. I didn't want to burn them out because the pieces are already painted. So I took a drill bit and drilled all around them...

Then I tore the center out with pliers

Then I took my body saw and made some cuts through the remaining bushing shell and collapsed it on itself

Pressing them in after that was a piece of cake

Even though I couldn't use the fabbed anvil for removal it worked great for the reinstall.

Today I worked on the fender repair some more and hopefully will figure out some bolt locations tomorrow...

Edited August 11, 2017 by Patcon

[grannyknot]

Down and dirty works, that's why we keep going back to it

[sweatybetty]

 

a hole saw works very well for this, not that expensive either

[Patcon]

That is what I looked for first. I am a builder and have an assortment of hole saws but didn't have the correct size so I went to the next best option at my disposal. I hate going to the store on the weekends...