front suspension and tire clearance problem

[newbzee]

I really had no choice to get it in position.  It wasn't going to bend w/o a tremendous amount of force.  Kind of like buying a 18" pice of 1.5 pipe from Home Depot and thinking your going to bend it.  my thought process was people are taking whole sections out to lower their car or do a coiler conversion so this is really no different and I still have about 1/3 of the pipe intact.  Since it's not 100% my gut is telling me to source a replacement but I may base the decision on how it welds up.

[newbzee]

new clearance with shock in, gland nut on, tire on.

[cgsheen1]

If you're committed to this path, make sure it's perpendicular in both (all) planes.  Did your inboard/outboard repositioning affect the forward/aft position of the tube?

[Captain Obvious]

I haven't done a coil over project, but I thought they used a slip over collar and did a lap joint. I think that would be better. Can you slip a collar over the slits after you weld them up and then weld the collar in place?

I think that could buy you some time while you looked for a replacement.

Another hurdle / test will be when it hits the alignment rack.

[Patcon]

Yeah,

I was wondering how close the camber was going to be...

[grannyknot]

2 hours ago, newbzee said:

new clearance with shock in, gland nut on, tire on.

Happy to be proven wrong, as long as you have the same distance between the tire and the coil seat on both sides then your camber will equal.

[newbzee]

So here is where I'll leave this.  First, I think part of having a project is learning.  I've learned a ton about the suspension of the 240z because of this thread, and identified some other issues "ball joints" in the process.  Second, I've never been big on throwing parts at a problem and try to minimize most problems to their basics, nuts, bolts, metal, all of which can be manipulated.  In this case, what I see is a condition that can't be fixed to better than close and that's probably not good enough.  Do I think welding it up will be structurally sound? Yes.  Can I do added things like sleeve the area to help?  Yes.  But the bottom line is this car will not be ready for the road until next spring which gives me a lot of time to source a replacement strut assembly.  I'm going to weld up what I have and put things back together including new ball joints and move on with the project.  I'm not thrilled with having to take it all apart again some day but oh-well.

So lastly, although many would read this thread and think what a waste of time, why didn't he just buy a replacement to begin with, I got to meet and converse with some really great people.  I really feel like you all bought into trying to get this resolved and it was amazing how responsive you all were.  So, I think case closed on the strut assembly being bent, and needing to be replaced.  I just feel where it's bent will be a continued problem.

I thank you all and look forward to resolving the next problem with you.

 

Allen

[newbzee]

Oh and if any has or knows someone with a front LH strut assembly let me know.

[Patcon]

40 minutes ago, newbzee said:

Oh and if any has or knows someone with a front LH strut assembly let me know.

Did you contact Chuck (post #85) ? He is in PA

You can PM him by clicking on his name

[cgsheen1]

If you can't find one closer to home, PM me and I'll get you a FedEx shipping quote on the 1972 front strut assembly I have.  It'll be coming from Arizona though...

[newbzee]

A quick update, I found one on ebay and have since installed it with new inserts and all appears well.  It also gave an excuse to replace the ball joints.  Thanks for all the help.

[Captain Obvious]

Excellent. Glad it was that simple.  

Don't forget about an alignment before you call it "done".