Restoration of BringaTrailer 240z - HLS30-35883

[inline6]

With the left front strut on the car finally, I was able to move forward with getting the front suspension assembled.  I also put the outer tie rods on, and the front brake calipers, little "s" hard lines and brake hoses.  I also removed the steering rack clamps and took a couple of pictures of them, trying to capture the differences from front and rear that I saw.  

    

I hadn't torqued the brake caliper "bridge" bolts (the ones with T 10 on them), so I did that (~39 ft-lbs.) before installing the calipers.  The "s" hard lines required a lot of fiddling.  Literally every hard line I sent to get plated got "jacked up" - I don't know why.

    

 

For the steering rack "clamps", I didn't see a difference in the "arch" portion.  Instead, I noted that the angle of the "feet" is different.  In these first two pictures, you can see that one "foot" sits flat, whereas the other, does not.  I also think I see that one "foot" is slightly longer than the other - in the third pic here, the "foot" on the right has a bit more length from the hole to where it starts sloping upwards. 

    

 

I found it difficult to install them incorrectly.  The back bolt won't thread easily into the bracket if you have it reversed (front to back).  I found the best fit by placing the longer "foot" it in the back location.   

After completing these things, I was able to set the car down on all four wheels for the first time in 5 years!

 

Even with the Suspension Techniques springs, the car looks like it's four wheel drive.  Bummer.   Part of the issue is there is still a fair amount of weight that is not yet on the car.  It has none of the interior, none of the glass, none of the door hardware, no hood, no bumpers, etc.  I hope that additional weight will make a big difference.  However, I think the tires I bought are part of the issue.  They are 195/55-16, which have a 24.4 inch diameter, whereas the stock tire diameter was 25.3 inches.  So, not quite 1/2 of an inch of tire is "missing" from the wheel well.  

I'll see how it looks when it is fully assembled and has been driven for a few hundred miles.  If it still looks awkward, I will swap the tires out for something a bit bigger.  

Starting to come together though!

 

 

Edited December 11, 2023 by inline6

[Patcon]

All of the suspension bushings need to tightened after the suspension has settled. Otherwise they will add lift.

[inline6]

11 hours ago, Patcon said:

All of the suspension bushings need to tightened after the suspension has settled. Otherwise they will add lift.

Thanks for the reminder.  All of the control arm bushings/bolts are still very loose.  I will wait until the car is fully assembled to do that. 

Edited December 12, 2023 by inline6

[inline6]

Upon closer examination of the both the alternator that came with the car, and the new replacement, I found the lower mounting holes to be more similar in ID than I thought.  They measured out at about .400" ID for the old one and about .410" ID for the new (rebuilt one).  I used a 27/64ths drill bit (.420") to enlarge the holes on the rebuilt alternator so I could install some split sleeves I bought from McMaster-Carr.  I had to shorten the spacers a bit to fit the tabs on the alternator.  Doing what I have done here with spacers is not actually necessary, but I am glad I went this route.  You can see the impression of the threads in the old alternator bolt holes from the way it was installed before.

    

With the sleeve, things were tightened up nicely.  What I did not count on was that the distance between the alternator mounting tabs was about .015" narrower than the alternator bracket.  How frustrating is that, when you go to bolt an alternator on one of these cars, and it isn't a "bolt on" part?! 

I very carefully hand filed the inside surfaces of the mounting ears of the alternator.  Lots of measuring with calipers... with very careful filing.  Even after the spacing was correct, and I could get the alternator to slide tightly onto the mounting bracket, the rear tab would not align so I could thread the bolt in.  I thought for a moment that I must have filed the inner surfaces out of plane.  But, then I slid my Exact-o knife (aluminum bar in the pic) through both mounting ear holes and saw the issue (middle pic below).  You can see that it is at an angle.  When rebuilt, the front and rear case halves were assembled "cocked".  I loosened the three bolts that held the front and back together, aligned the holes in the mounting ears and retightened the the bolts.  In the third picture here, you can see how the Exact-o knife (bar) is square after re-alignment.  Installation went perfectly after that.  
 

    

Next, I cut replacement rubber shields for the inner fender supports.  I sourced this rubber sheet from McMaster-Carr as well.  

    

    

 

After that, I unpacked the Suspension Techniques front anti-roll bar and hardware.  Installation went very smoothly.  While part of me wants to have the car look 100% stock, I really don't want to drive a 100% stock 240z.  The four speed, the 4.5" wide wheels, and the stock suspension are... not great.  I have never run this combination of suspension parts: (ST springs and front and rear bars, with "the new" yellow Koni shocks).  It will be interesting to see how this car drives when it is fully assembled. 

    

 

Next, I pulled the restored front turn signal assemblies out of storage and grabbed the re-plated hardware for them.  It is very satisfying to assemble and install parts like this which need little or no additional work.  

    

 

Edited December 17, 2023 by inline6

[inline6]

I wasn't able to spend much time working on the car today.  Just a few pics:

    

 

I used silicone rubber between the master vac and the firewall to keep water from finding its way into the car in the future.  I like how the master vac paint came out.  I was able to save the original master vac sticker.

I also pulled out the box of OEM rubber items that came with the car.  I put the main hatch seal in place all the way around the hatch opening (without glue) and shut the hatch on it.  I will leave it like that for a few days, which ought to help it relax/fit the opening a bit better than straight out of the bag.  I also started assembling the headlight buckets with the new bits I got from 240zrubberparts.com.  I bought the headlight harness rebuild kits, which include new rubber grommets to keep water from entering at the point where the wires go inside the bucket, new sleeves for the wiring, and new rubber enclosures for the plastic connector.  Can anyone tell me which ends is supposed to have the yellow tape (bucket side or harness connector side?   

  

And finally, I also changed out my signature picture with a small version of this pic:

[Yarb]

Are those 16” Panasport wheels? Car looks fantastic.

[inline6]

35 minutes ago, Yarb said:

Are those 16” Panasport wheels? Car looks fantastic.

Yes, they are.  Thank you!  

[inline6]

Here are a bunch of pics of the door latches and receivers.  I will say my efforts here were excessive... that I pulled apart two sets of latch components to acquire enough parts in very good condition to make one excellent pair.  The plastic wedges can wear.  So, a passenger side wedge to replace a driver side wedge that is worn is a good option.  I had the parts plated individually.  Springs received black, tubular rivets received yellow chromate, and the dove tails received clear zinc.  NOS strikers were sourced along the way of my very many hours looking for parts for this car online. 

    

    

 

The new dove tails are symmetrical, while the old ones are not.  Also, the new ones have much smaller openings for the screws and conical serrated washers.  I used a deburring tool to open up the screw holes which allowed the screws to fit closer to flush - more like the originals.  
    

    

 

Semi tubular rivets were press out of the receivers, plated and will (hopefully) be reused after re-plating.  I will need to fold over the metal pn the end of the rivet to secure the rivets in place:

    

    

[inline6]

I also made a quick walk around video as the car sits now.  There are still a lot of parts to add to the car.  So, I am hopeful that the gap between the wheel wells and the tires shrinks quite a bit, giving the car a much more pleasing visual stance.  I am guessing that the car is easily 500 lbs lighter as it sits now without hood, glass, interior, bumpers, fluids, etc.

 

[emccallum]

Car is looking great!  Good point on the new dovetails. Mine were the same way. If you dont open up the holes or use different screws the bolt will hit the metal on the striker(at lesst mine did). 

I guess the smaller hole would be stronger and less likely to crack, like all the originals I have seen, but you cant use the oem screws. I opened mine up too, as I like oem screws and I rebuilt my hinges, so it doesnt sag as much as it used too. I dont think Nissan expected these cars to be on the road this long!

[inline6]

Here are some pics from the work completed this weekend.  New factory original parts like this mirror and door handles are so nice to install!  

    

    

Little remnant of plastic piece (middle and third photos here) was a sleeve that sits on top of the door latch lever.  When those disintegrate, the amount the door handle has to move increases.  Obviously, you can adjust the height of the plastic part on this rod to achieve proper handle movement to operate the latch.

    

I am second guessing the plating of the hardware for the bolts that attach the stainless window frame to the door shell.  Yellow chromate on the washers isn't looking right to me.  I think I have the original bolts here (clear zinc), but I think the lock washers and flat washers should also be clear zinc.  Also, in the first pic here, I used some bolts that have a captive flat washer and no lock washer.  I believe these are incorrect and I will have to swap them out.

     

 

New window weather stripping is nice - it will make for some tight (and quiet) windows when they get installed.

      

 

I mainly used 1000 grit on the stainless window frame to remove light scratches.  I used 600 grit in a couple of places, as there were a couple of deeper scratches.  Then followed with 1000, then 1200, then a light finish with 2000.  I like the finish.  You can still see some "grain" which is how the original finish appeared to me. 

    

 

I found another thing the body shop did that I was unhappy with.  The hatch was not well aligned - the left side was a little low.  I instructed them to align the hatch, and then remove only the hatch panel, leaving the hinges in place to be painted (as they did at the factory). 

I have no idea what they did here with the hinges.  They didn't remove them to paint the inside of the hatch frame, as can be seen in the pic where I am lifting up the rubber hinge seal and you can see primer underneath.  That is fine, and what I wanted, but why is the hatch hinge seal not painted, and yet the "seal cover plate" is?  I don't know how they did that. 

The bolts securing the hatch hinge to the body were loosened and the hatch shifted/aligned after painting!  I specifically wanted to avoid that.  Now the paint on the bolts is chipped and there is an unpainted spot on the right hinge - you can see where the bolt was when the hinge was painted.  

And they managed to mess up the phillips screws... 

    

Fortunately, I had a spare set of screws on hand, so I swapped them out.  Swapping out the messed up screw for a nice one (first pic below) makes a big difference cosmetically. 

    

 

Details like this matter to me.  I wish this was done as I instructed.  

Live and learn.  Next time, I will make sure I complete everything - everything, before I hand off for paint.

Edited January 2 by inline6

[emccallum]

When you adjust the plastic part on the interior latch rod make sure you have enough play on the latch for when you put the door card on. If its too tight and the latch isnt completely releasing the lock will not work. I tightened mine up to take all the play out of the interior handle and when I put the door card on the lock wouldn't work......and it all had to come apart. Hope that makes sense.

 

Good thing you installed the mirror before the glass. Its a pain to get on with the glass in place. 

Pro tip......The clips that hold the door card in place go opposite the little notch on the door card. 😀