PATZ

Ok, to all you math wizzards out there, i dont have the time to do the math on Converting TOE alignment in mm./inches to DEGREES(and i am poor at trig). I just came from the neighborhood alignment shop, and they can only do my TOE in DEGREES, NOT mm. or inches! So anybody know the 240Z TOE specs in DEGREES for Front and Rear? THANK YOU! patrick 1973 240Z

Hi ALL! I cant seem to find this part in the FSM or the HAYNES. After (finally) putting in the REAR INNER transverse link bushings i noticed that one transverse link bolt (out of the 4 bolts) did NOT have the large (2" O.D.) flat washer, so i just got another washer. I suppose these washers are required? THANKS! patrick

JOHN COFFEY- Thanks a lot! Now i can proceed more confidently. Now i just need to get some elbow grease into it.

Hi ALL! I`d like to pls clarify what the FSM says on p. RA-4 on "Reinstallation" (of Rear Transverse link OEM INNER Bushings) (2) "Align the projection on the bushing (directed to the axis direction) horizontally."- Would this projection be the 2 fin like projections 180 degrees apart on the bushing? Am i understanding it right that if i looked at the head (FLAT portion) of the transverse link inner bolt, that the "fins" should be positioned (by rotating the bushing) so their at 9 o clock & 3 o clock and would get sorta clamped when the Differential Mount Cross member (FRONT portion of differential) is tightened up and also the same scenario when the Link Mount Rear bracket (REAR portion of differential) is tightened up? (3) "Align the center of bushing (directed toward the axis direction) to the center of bracket."- Is this done to insure that the convex (curved) portion of the Differential Mount Cross member & of the Link Mount Rear bracket fits into the depression-smaller diameter portion of the Hour glass shaped rubber bushing? Is this a critical step? I asked because i already have the new OEM bushings in but not tightened up yet because i`m still working on this "alignment" step (if i`m understanding it right..) If i'm not able to get the convex portion of the cross member or the rear bracket exactly in the depression of the rubber bushing (say i miss the depression by maybe 2mm.) and tighten it up, then drive the car a bit, could this cause the rubber bushing to hopefully find its proper position? Or might i DESTROY the rubber bushing? I plan on continuing the job in about 12 hours, so any replies ASAP GREATLY APPRECIATED!! THANK YOU! patrick P.S. We just ordered the bushings overseas (Z CAR SOURCE) and will be greatly inconvenienced if we had to order again...

Too late guys, had the body man do it 6 days ago. He did (as 240znz said) remove the rotten portion and welded in a patch on to good metal after drilling the holes on the patch first. Nevertheless, THANK YOU ALL for the replies! I`m sure someone else will benefit from your advice!

Hi ALL! The left side portion of the chassis where the FRONT Stabilizer bar Mounting clamp is bolted to just sheared right off (BAD rust!). In about 18 hrs. i`l have a body man weld in some new metal so i can attach the left side of the swaybar. Is it as simple as just welding the piece of metal on properly(correct orientation, etc..) then attaching the Stabilizer bar? The FSM mentions "installing the Stabilizer bar correctly so that the position painted in white is in the position in fig. FA-12". That white paint doesnt exist on my Stabilizer bar anymore. Whats the lowdown on that painted white mark anyway? Is it just to insure that the Stabilizer bar ends are aligned properly to the suspension arm and give the Stabilizer bar a certain amount of loading or something? Bodyman is doing it in about 17 hrs, so pls, any comments, advice? THANKS! patrick

DATSUNZSRULE- No problem guy, thanks for your concern, i`m here to learn (a lot!) Now on to the rear...

DONE torquing the transverse link to chassis bolts! It must be the OC (obsessive-compulsive) in me that made me get 2 volunteers anyway to sit in the car, though they were admittedly only bout 140 lbs each. Asked a smaller (than me) guy to put a socket to the front bolt of the Right side transverse link while i torqued the nut w/ a long enough extender so that the torque wrench clears the rear of the tire and sticks out (so i`m not under the car) enabling me to sorta put some weight on it! On the Left side transverse link i had the guy put the socket on the nut, while i torqued away on the bolt (front of car) part using the same socket extender, but this time w/ the torque wrench sticking out from the front of the tire. Took a while torquing though! It was like working out at the gym! I`m only 5ft.8in. myself and weight 160lbs. so do i qualify for skinny? But really, THANKS for the tips EVERYBODY! now where are those smilies...

Yep, a low profile jack would be very nice in fact, just not in my budget now. I will finish up the front tom and take a couple a days breather, then on to the rear suspension arm bushings (my first time to do)!

Oh, THAT WAS EASY! THANKS john!

Hi all! As far as torquing the FRONT transverse link (suspension arm), i realize it is supposed to be fully torqued only after the car has been set down on the ground with the weight of 2 people.(I finally found our old 240Z FSM by the way). The FSM says "tighten the transverse link mounting bolt temporarily, and finally tighten to the rated tightening torque with the vehicle loaded with the standard load(2 passengers)." Question #1- I assume temporarily tightening the mounting bolt when the wheels are still off the ground is like just a snug fit tightening? I myself just put in the bolt and put the nut on just a few turns (i might as well not have even put on the nut) such that if the hub side of the transverse link were disconnected i`d be able to push the FRONT transverse link up with ABSOLUTELY no resistance from the rubber bushing. Is what i did OK, or might i damage something? Can i just set the wheels to the ground then (w/2 people) and FULLY torque the bolts then? Question #2- I read somewhere on this forum (think it was BEANDIP) who says that the reccomended load of 2 passengers is 300 lbs, where is this 300 lbs from? Didnt see it in the FSM nor the Haynes Question #3- Also from the forum, someone said to put blocks under the tires before lowering the wheels and having the 2 passengers go inside. Do they mean actually putting the blocks DIRECTLY under the tires? Would it be because the whole car would sag down and might hit the floor? If so, how tall would the blocks have to be approximately? Blocks placed just under the FRONT tires, or all 4 tires (since i`ve only just replaced the FRONT bushings)? Sorry for this endless barage of questions, this is just my first attempt at doing this and i only just need to torque down the bolts and i`m through! THANK YOU!

Alright great, i can finish it up! THANKS A LOT steve! patrick

Hi guys! I have a question, I had new OEM (Rubber) bushings pressed into my Front suspension arm. So i finally bolted it in to the chassis (but NOT yet bolted to the balljoint or anything else). The car`s sidemembers are on jackstands, so the suspension arm is just DANGLING. I`m aware that you only do the final torqueing once everything is bolted on with 2 passengers in the car, so i just tightened the big bolt-nut going through the bushings maybe 20 lbs or so. I then pushed the arm upward and let it go down, i repeated this a few times and felt some "elastic" resistance (binding?) each time i pushed it upward. So is this "elastic" resistance normal (i assume its from the rubber part of the bushing of course) ? Or is the Front suspension arm suppose to feel very free when i move it up and down (in both directions) regardless if its lightly torqued or fully torqued? Just needed to be sure this was normal before i finally bolted up the suspension arm to the balljoint. THANKS!

Hi guys! Just thought i`d let you know that i finally got the suspension arm mounting bolt off. Yes the inner sleeve was stuck to the bolt, but not as much as i thought. What was really causing my problem was that each time i whacked one end of the bolt(to push it out), the chassis mounting point area just flexed (vibrated?) and kinda pushed the bolt back in! So someone suggested to get a stout piece of water pipe and push it against the chassis mounting point area (the part facing the front of the car) to hopefully reduce the flexing/vibration. I then whacked the other end of the bolt again and voila! the bolt moved out FINALLY! Man that felt good!!

weasel73240Z- we in fact have an acetylene torch gotswap-THANKS for the advice!

Weasel73240Z- My camera conked out, i`ll just try some heat then. THANKS!

ezzzz- Too late, i chiselled the nut off(awfully rusted). I went on the cheap and had it injected w/some polymer, we`ll see how it goes. THANKS for the advice though!

Hi guys! NO, this ISNT another question about how to remove bushings from the FRONT suspension arm (Transverse control arm). The problem is that i tried removing the big bolt that connects the suspension arm to the chassis, but then the INNER sleeve got stuck on the bolt and the rubber just got all ripped up (so i just torched the rubber off), so the INNER sleeve is now acting as a stopper of sorts preventing the bolt from going out even after giving the nut end(nut removed of course) a few whacks with a hammer! Earlier on i put a vise grip on the INNER sleeve with just enough grip (too much and i might deform the sleeve and make it even tighter) so i could rotate the bolt with a socket without the sleeve moving, and it worked. So i released the vise grip and hammered away at the nut end hoping the sleeve loosened up on the bolt and still the bolt refused to go out! I thought about cutting off the head and pushing it out from the susp arm but the hacksaw wont fit there. I would rather save the bolt if possible since i`m not sure if i can get a similiar bolt over here. In fact i`m not even sure if this is the right bolt, are there GRADE MARKINGS on the head of an original bolt for the 240z? ANY and ALL advice appreciated! THANKS!

Ok, i was just thinkin that maybe a balljoint CANT be tested properly when its not preloaded w/ everything back on? Regardless, i`ve decided to put in NEW aftermarket balljoints from a Nissan specialist in our area. But being that old or new parts for the Z here are nearly impossible to come by, and being that majority of our roads are pretty bad, i would still like to try to salvage my old balljoints as a spare as i can have it injected w/ some polymer to have it work well enough for a few more years. Anyway, the castle nut on the balljoint seems stuck, so i will soak it in wd40 for a day. To make matters worse it seems i need a thin walled 22mm socket to fit the space around the castle nut(at least at one portion of the castle nut)? Or can i just hammer my "regular" walled 22mm socket in to fit the castle nut without damaging the part around the castle nut? IF i cant take out the castle nut, i plan on cutting up the castle nut w/ a hacksaw to remove it then. Either way i plan to put the steering arm in a vise and pound at the steering arm near the threaded end of the balljoint and hope it comes off. What do you guys think? THANKS!

Hi guys! I finally got my front suspension arm(track control arm) off and just had the new bushings pressed in. So now with the Radius rod(compression rod), Outer tierod and Stabiliser bar and suspension arm DISCONNECTED but with the strut-hub-drum assembly still connected to the Driveshaft, can i "properly"(backyard mechanic style) check the condition of my Balljoints without having to put everything back together with the wheels on? I simply held the flat plate end (with mounting holes) of the balljoint and started moving it around (no i dont have any kind of gauge for checking play) and compared it with a NEW aftermarket balljoint, and it felt about the same as the new one. There are NO tears on the rubber boot of the old one. Can i assume pretty much that the old balljoint is still ok? I`d hate to throw away a perfectly usable balljoint(and would rather not have to remove the old balljoint). Any comments, suggestions appreciated! THANK YOU!

Too late for that! I already got it done. Thankfully it wasnt one of those rusted out deals (or else the reality of breaking something woulda been REAL!), tierod came off after several moderate force hits with the hammer. Uhm, may i say that cheap is kinda relative to what part of the world you're from, unfortunately i`m from that part of the world. But THANKS for your concern all the same!

Guys THANKS A LOT for the replies! I`l give it a shot tom. johnnyrock- No such thing as loaner kits over here. You either buy it or have it done at a shop. mr camouflage- its a joke looking for specialty tools over here! Thanks for the tips! doradox- hundreds of times? thats encouraging. Thanks as well!

Hello all! I`d like to disconnect my outer tierod from the spindle as part of a procedure to remove my front suspension arm. Thus, i plan on using the tierod again. This is my first time to do this by the way. I`ve read some of the threads on outer tie rod removal using only a hammer to vibrate the tierod end loose from the spindle, i`m aware of the pickle fork and the tierod remover but really would rather go the ULTRA cheap method with a heavy hammer. I read that you dont hit the tierod itself or the tierod arm, that you hit the one the tierods connect to (Spindle/steering knuckle). Now to my question, does it matter wether i hit the spindle from above or below(of course i can hammer harder from above)? Oh, any chance of distorting the steering knuckle and thus possibly causing an alignment adjustment problem? Thanks!

WEASEL73240Z- THANKS again! I can at least get started and get a go at the bushings, but i`l try it without messing around with the spindle pins portion and with the entire assembly still on the car(?), otherwise i may just go the route of removing the entire strut-drum-hub-axle assembly... BEANDIP-As i originally said, i`ll check the spindle pin bushings part of the arm for any unnecessary movements in the wrong plane and if it checks out ok, i likely wont mess with it. And THANKS about how to properly torque the fasteners!

THANKS A LOT Weasel! The FSM pictures help a lot! Sorry, i forgot to mention that i planned on bringing the suspension arm to a shop to have the rubber bushings pressed out and have my new OEM bushings pressed in (hence the necessity of taking out the suspension arm w/the hub-brake-strut assembly). Otherwise, is replacing the inner bushings something i can do myself without any fancy tool? Thanks again!