MUSTACHE BAR QUANDRY/HELP!!!

[zKars]

Take a look at the bar they sent you. if its flat, it's wrong. If its curved, it will work. If you car originally had a straight bar, (its not clear what year your chassis is) the diff is in a forward position that would make either of the curved bars hard to use. 

I'll dig a set of the three bars out of a snow bank and take a picture for comparison.

Edited February 19, 2017 by zKars

[Zed Head]

Jeff G's #7 post shows a lot more than just ovaling two holes.  And the part is "wrong" because it's an R180 bar in an R200 application.  It's a 1975 280Z which he says came with an R200, and it's well after the diff-moving redesign.  He messed up the R200 bar but  still has it so should be able to set the bars side-by-side to see the differences..  Might have noticed something before the 6 hour session.  In this case two wrongs make a doubly wrong.  It's the wrong wrong bar.

But it's also possible that some other part is out of alignment, since everything was removed.  Might try assembling things with the old bushingless R200 bar and see if it sits in the right spot.  The washers will still hold it in place but let it hang lower and be misaligned.  But you'll be able to see if things are off at the bar or somewhere else.

[jlenownnab]

Thanks, I am going to get some pics and post in a few hours. We hung the old r200 bar and everything lined up perfect. Nothing has changed on the car except the bar. I call the control arms the "A" arms that connect the rear wheel assembly to the body. They get the spindle pin on one side and the other side they pivot down from the bottom of the car. The problem is when the diff is in place and you hang the "U" shaped bracket behind the diff then go to mount the cross member bar to the diff mounting bracket the cross member will not line up with where the bushings are on the control arms (where the control arms swing down from the body). When we pry the m bar back it hits the "U" shaped bracket and will not allow the cross member bar holes to align with the holes where the "A" arm pivots. They did send me the bent r180 bar. We exhausted every scenario. Hopefully this explains things better. My friend is a 25 yr ASE mechanic at a dealer and does the race/ autocross thing, I think he's pretty good. Plus we have a 70 and 72 sitting there to reference. I am going with the r200 bar when it shows but I sure would like to know how this bar fits?? Pics coming in a few

[Zed Head]

You're in solving the puzzle mode.  Anything you learn will probably be completely useless for future endeavors.  Like understanding how the BCDD works.  No offense to those who understand how it works. I'm just jealous.

[siteunseen]

10 minutes ago, Zed Head said:

You're in solving the puzzle mode.  Anything you learn will probably be completely useless for future endeavors.  Like understanding how the BCDD works.  No offense to those who understand how it works. I'm just jealous.

Until google goes out of business I'm in the issue at hand mode 24/7. 

[gundee]

R180 on top. R200 on bottom.

More beef on the R200 bar and larger holes.

Copied photo. Not mine

 

 

[Jeff G 78]

The holes are not only larger, but they are not in the same place.  When I made my emergency bar trackside, I welded the spacers on, followed by welding on the new crossbar.  I then transfer punched the R180 holes onto the new crossbar and then offset them the correct amounts before cutting out the original bar section and drilling the new holes.

I was amazed that the modified bar not only fit perfectly and lasted the remaining four hours of the race, but we actually left it in place and ran another 14 hour race with the fabricated mustache bar.  We finally replaced it and kept it as a trophy for finishing our first 24 hour race.

[jlenownnab]

Here's the pics, r200 is a heavier and the bends are different. Obviously, the rear diff isn't in and the m bar is not in place (I am with my wife for just a few minutes at my shop). I am holding the cross member where it was hitting and that was as close as I could get it to the predrilled holes.

[JLPurcell]

29 minutes ago, jlenownnab said:

Here's the pics, r200 is a heavier and the bends are different. Obviously, the rear diff isn't in and the m bar is not in place (I am with my wife for just a few minutes at my shop). I am holding the cross member where it was hitting and that was as close as I could get it to the predrilled holes.

The top picture on the control arm. Does it hit if you put the control arm up within the travel zone? It looks like you have the control arm hanging down at about an 80' angle.

 

[jlenownnab]

It wasn't hitting the control arm when we were actually trying to assemble it. We tried prying the mustache bar back but the m bar was hitting the "u" shaped bracket. 

[Zed Head]

Another way of saying it is that the front mount is too far forward when you use that mustache bar.  Somebody had a similar problem very recently, but with an R180.  When you said "hitting" it made it sound like an obstruction issue.  I think that you meant :"landing" or "locating" or "ending up".  The holes don't align.

I've read of people flipping the front mount.  Don't know how much it buys you, but I think it helps for some applications.

[jlenownnab]

We tried flipping the front mount, still didn't work. When I say hitting I'm saying we were prying the m bar backwards so it would move everything back a quarter of an inch including the diff but we could only pry the m bar back until it hit the u shaped bracket that hangs down behind the diff and kept us from prying it more.

I don't believe the bars are interchangeable with out fabrication