Restoration of BringaTrailer 240z - HLS30-35883

[emccallum]

I bought my carpets earlier this year from Chester and herod. Pleased with the quality. I called Jim at 760 877 3403 to order.

Edit: It was 8/22 when I bought mine! Time flies.

Edited October 31, 2023 by emccallum

[SteveJ]

22 minutes ago, emccallum said:

I bought my carpets earlier this year from Chester and herod. Pleased with the quality. I called Jim at 760 877 3403 to order.

Edit: It was 8/22 when I bought mine! Time flies.

I also just searched on Chester and Herod. They have a current FB page, and they list that number to call them.

 

[inline6]

Hmmmm.  Whoops! 

I recall finding out about them a couple of years ago, and seeing that they were no longer answering their phone?  Did they move from CA to TX?  Maybe I was trying to reach them while they were "offline" for the move?  

Anyway, I am excited to see that they appear to be in business still.  

 

[inline6]

I am working my way towards getting the car off the lift and sitting on its own suspension.  I was able to assemble the rear struts two nights ago and get them on the car.

I had to order bump stops as I had forgotten about those - $100 plus shipping for these Koni ones. 

    

 

It was nice not having to compress the Suspension Techniques springs for the rear to get the strut assembled.  Somewhere, I believe I have the spring rates written down for these.  The rear springs have a thicker coil wire.  And they are a bit stiffer than the fronts if I recall correctly.  Lock washers pictured are a bit small - I had to swap those out.  Note the "9"s on the strut to body nuts.

    

 

I still haven't done anything about my rear control arms - not being able to remove the bushings.  And therefore, they have not been painted black yet either.  And I did hear back from Motorsport Auto.  They are sending me modified gland nuts for the front struts.   They are coming from CA, so will have to wait a bit for them.  I think those are the only parts that are holding me back now from mounting the wheels and tires and setting this thing on the ground.

 

[inline6]

I revisited the job of getting the rear control arm bushings out and was able to accomplish it this time.  The issue turned out to be that the socket I was using was a bit too big in diameter.  On my first attempt many months ago, I must have had it slightly misaligned as well.  This time, though I measured the socket to be about 3-4 thousandths smaller in diameter than the new bushings, I obviously got it aligned better, because I was able to get the bushing to move this time.  And this, with the same 12 ton capacity press.  However, as the bushing was nearly pushed out, the resistance did not lessen.  Sure enough, as I got to the end pressing out the first bushing, I found that I had pressed the socket into the control arm. 

Clearly the socket varies in diameter a bit along its length.  But I didn't bother checking that, I just used a different socket of a slightly smaller diameter for the rest of the bushings.  To get the socket out of the arm,  I used my bench vise and removed it without any difficulty. 

I didn't have any problems pressing the new bushing in - all went in the same.  After the new bushings were installed, I epoxy primed, and then painted the rear control arms, the rear axles, the gas tank and a few other bits. 

Tonight, I only had about an hour to play, so I worked on partial installation of one of the control arms:

    

    

    

 

As before, I put some silicone rubber in a few places to keep water from entering.  This included both sides of each of the outer control arm bushings.  With regard to the rubber washers, they fit best with the taper facing inwards, like in this first picture.  Is that correct?

    

Edited November 8, 2023 by inline6

[Captain Obvious]

The general consensus is that the beveled side of the rubber washers goes on the inboard side towards the control arm. Here's a thread that talks some about it:
https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/48661-spindle-pin-rubber-washers/

And about the rear outer control arm bushings... there has been some chatter in the past that they are slightly asymmetric and actually have a longer portion of metal tube sticking out on one end compared to the other. I don't know if you got yours all in the same way, (and I doubt it's worth the trouble to press them back out again and start over if you didn't) but here's some threads that talk about that:
https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/64195-rear-control-arm-bush-alignment/

 

https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/55369-1971-hls30-14938-lily-build/?page=4

 

[inline6]

Thanks for the info.  I had come across the info about the sleeve in the bushing being offset and installed all of mine so the longer part faces outward... both front and back.  With the shorter part facing outward, the crush on the rubber washer would be greater.  Glad I installed those correctly.

[inline6]

It seems I have not recorded any details about this suspension bolt.  Can anyone help me with info?  I need the number if any on the head of the bolt and the overall and threaded lengths.  Should be M10 and 1.25 mm thread pitch.  

 

[emccallum]

Pretty sure the bolt does not have a number on it. If someone else doesnt post up, I will be working on my car Saturday and can pull that bolt and get you some measurements.

[CanTechZ]

Here's a pic from my 7'70 I think it's a 7 on the head. 

Here is a close up of one with the picture above flipped over.

I will find the bag they are in and get some measurements shortly.

[CanTechZ]

They are M10 x 1.25 x 30mm long with a 7 on the head. Thread length is 21mm. Here's a couple of pics. You can even see some yellow paint on them. 🙂

 

[inline6]

Awesome.  Thanks for the quick responses!