Zedyone_kenobi

Update.. Not much has happened since this pic was taken. It still pretty much looks like this. But I did manage a trip to the parts store to score package of wire, brass, and hard plastic bristle brushes. Also bought a few more rolls of towels while I was at it. I have a couple of bottles of diluted Castrol Super clean. Once I get them cleaned up, I will start the assembly process. If I still have the clunk, then we will start looking elsewhere. Is there any trick to removing the yokes coming out of the diff? Looks like one bolt holds each in. Looks straight forward.

Update, the Diff is out and what a job that was... the PO had the exhaust run under it to some degree, so there was some exhaust shuffling going around.. I Think I have reached a while I am at it situation. I may as well order that nice monza exhaust to replace my rusted one. Love the over/under look and 3" piping is just overkill for a stock L24. Here are some pics. I found some nice clear bins I am going to use to clean and store / paint my parts. Half shafts are nice and cozy. Here are my two diffs, the VERY dirty one is the one off the car, the dirty one is potential replacement, I find it interesting how many more casting numbers there are on the diff that came off the car. THere are numbers everywhere. "209" is in several places. ???? you got me.. I will post pics of all the numbers tomorrow when I get some castrol superclean do work its magic.

Well, no argument there, no the revs, but 3" is overkill if you ask me. Plus the current exhaust looks rather bad. I am with Arne on this one. the PO had the foresight to get the header jet hot coated. I would hate to not use it. Seems like a whole bunch of work to replace a perfectly good header. I agree, that a good shop should be able to fab up just the back end of the exhaust. I think that will be my direction.. Plus it will save me 450 bucks on a new header.

Is that the eurethane bushing in the background.. I just ordered these.

I currently have a 71 Zed with an MSA 6-2-1 Header that has been jet hot coated. The previous owner decided it needed a 3" pipe all the way back to the no name muffler. I have long known that I have no intention on spending life upwards of 6500 rpm very long and would like a tuned exhaust with a smaller diameter pipe (2.5" all the way back, or even twice pipes) I have read many many threads on exhausts here, but since this is my first Z, I have noob kind of question. Can I replace my header with a new one without taking off the carbs. From the look of the gasket, its all one piece and would think I would need to replace the entire gasket if I chose to just replace the header? I have my eye on the Monza header and over/under exhaust system that matches it. Its all aluminized so it should be good to go with rust. As you can see my old exhaust is rather.. um... oxidized to be nice..

WEll thats the plan Mike, I have a urethane mustache bar bushing kit coming, and I have new diff mount. I do plan on using the existing strap, as it appears in decent shape snug against the diff. I will let you know about my results when I am done.

I have been looking at parts drawings and reading more on the web here an other places. Mike, I am going to take your advice as it seems number 3 is the best method. I was initially concerned with just dropping the crossmember and leaving the back part of the rear a-arm still attached to the frame, but the more I read on it, it seems to be fine. #3 is also more attractive as its quite easy to get my impact wrench on those bolts as NOTHING is in the way. More pics to follow after I get the diff out, probably this weekend. I assume when you mean big mothers that hold the bushings, you mean the mustache bar?

DOH, good one, I can get pictures, but I think the comments on sliding the boot back to clear the connector is a good one. I was going to try that, but was not sure if the boot moved and did not want to do any damage. I will try that and get back to everyone, WITH pics to help.

Project Update: The passenger side half shaft was pulled off and it is just as tight as the driver side. There is absolutely no slop in the ujoints that I can feel by hand or when I grab each side with a wrench and twist. The motion is smooth and fluid. The drive shaft put up little resistance and its u joint felt just as tight. So I still need to decide if I am going to replace all of them or none of them. I started to loosen the bolts to the differential and realized I may have to make a decision. I am not sure how I want to tackle that. Of course I want to remove the least amount possible, but still do the job right. THe back bolts to the diff are a piece of cake. Its getting the front lose and out that seems to be more of a challenge. Seems I could do it in several ways. 1) Loosen the arrestor strap and unbolt the nut holding the mount on and pick it right up and over the crossmember 2) Unbolt the two bolts holding the mount to the diff and then just pull it straight out, but those seem impossible to get to 3) Loosen the 4 bolts holding the crossmember to the chassis and lower it a little enough to pick the diff with the mount attached over the crossmember and out to freedom Either way seems feasible.. but for those who have done it before, what do you recommend. Pics for clarity included. Also, I have been pinging on the numbers on the bottom of my diff, here they are as well. Any clues to relevance?

I was playing with my half shafts the other day and notice two wired going to my gas tank on the passenger side facing the front of the car. One was so lose it fell off with a touch. The connector looked like it would slide onto the terminal on the tank. The terminal on the tank looked like a short stub with a flat hat on on it. My issue is I cannot get the darned wiring connector back on the flat hat!!! I think my wiring connector is worn out. Is there a place I can buy another connector I can splice in? I can take pictures if that helps!

DRAT, I had no idea, I figured somebody on this board had to have that somewhere in the country. I figure there is little chance we will bump into each other, although, if I do see you, I will buy you a beer.

Forward position it is then. Good explanation. Something for a future project Negative on the backlash, I did not. I started to get weary of driving the car with the diff the way it was 45 miles across Houston to the Z shop. With my 6 month old, it would have been hard logistically to get somebody to follow me and give me a ride home. However, my 'new to me diff' appears to have the same amount of free play when I turn the pinion, so you were correct, in that you cannot check for backlash by turning the pinion. I am not totally sure I have done the necessary legwork. I was done speculating, and decided to pull the halfhafts, drive shaft, diff and mustache bar and replace all the bushings before I just swap out diffs. I will pull the covers of each to see if there is any metal shavings or if the bearings look worn. Surely the entire ring gear should not move around inside the diff housing. I will look for obvious problem areas, then put a new gasket on the best diff, paint it and start to assemble it. I may need to check out the tranny mount while I have the car up on jacks. It may need some attention. But I dont want to get carried away. With relatively low miles, certain parts should be fine. Its that whole 37 years old thing that makes things tricky.

My car has a 7/71 build date, so does that put me in the scooted forward rear diff catagory? Also, is there any way to identify the pedigree of the diff I have on my bench? My current diff has numbers stamped into the bottom of it, and I would wager that they are meaningful to some degree. This new diff is smooth all over, no numbers anywhere. So I am left scratching my head. Its more of a curiosity than anything else. I would actually like to keep the stock diff in my car if I can, but I think I have bearing issues. It makes a noticeable noise when you coast in gear off the gas

Thanks, yeah, my little boy is 6 months old.. and he is why this project will take several weeks instead of one weekend. I spend 15 minutes a week sweeping it and mopping it. It actually pretty cluttered. The wooden shelves are destined for my shed thats going in the back yard in a few weeks. So then I will have more room for the compressor air lines, I plan on installing next year. Right now my compressor is next to my tool box. Its out of the way, but having several air bosses would be nice. But first the clunk. I have added replacing my tranny mount to the list. As I am sure it along with the engine mounts are original too. Keep in mind my car only has 69234 miles on her. So most of these parts should be in great shape.

I used UCOATIT light grey, followed by their tinted gloss coat. I elected not to use the flakes, as based on past experience, trying to find a nut or a small screw on a flaked floor is impossible. I cannot tell you how happy I am with the results. The floor is almost rubbery smooth, and sweeping and mopping it are effortless. NOTHING sticks to it, and its hard as nails. I highly recommend it.

The Z had one last peaceful night in her garage before it was time to start the investigation into her rear end clunk. With tools put away, and the garage cleaned up, she was ready for a peaceful nights sleep. Then while waiting on Hurricane Gustav this weekend I had time to do a little work. I started cleaning my replacement diff in case I decided to use it, and started the task of getting the car safely in the air and well supported. I had to put the garage stereo on easy listening so to lull her to sleep for surgery. THen the tires came off, followed quickly by the drivers side half shaft, which put up next to no fight at all. Here is the picture of the half shaft, and replacement diff before cleaning. AFter shots pending. I cant find my brass and wire brush at the moment. May have to pick up new ones to clean off the diff and get it ready for prime and paint. The good news is that the rubber boot on the half shaft is soft and supple, with no cracks I can see or feel. The U-joints no matter how hard I try have no slop and and are completely smooth in all directions. I have ordered new U-joints for both half shafts, but I cannot see replacing parts that are probably OEM and are probably in great shape. Opinions? Here is a better look at the U-Joint. So far the project is going well. I have new drive shaft U-joints coming as well, and a Urethane Mustache bar kit. You can see the new diff mount in the picture. I am going to be very interested to see the condition of the mustache bar bushings. More pics to come.

Well,I know what I am doing tonight... Thanks gents!

how much do you figure I could get for my oil cap!!!

Thanks for the correction, Arne. I just spun it around and counted...its 3.XX:1 something. But I will make note tonight and do it correctly!

I was cleaning off my diff I received from the Z store, and noticed that it had NO markings on the bottom of the diff. My stock Diff has two numbers cast into the bottom. One is T25, the other is something else, I need to go back and look. The light was bad. The new diff does not have any stampings cast into it. Its just a curiosity, but I would hate it if my R180 is different from this R180. The gear ratio is about 3.5:1 ish. So thats correct for a 71 240Z 4spd car. If somebody has time, take a look at the bottom of your 240Z Diff and let me know if it has any stampings? I need a Z part interchange manual.

no words are good enough

THey are not TURNING backwards, They move LATERALLY, straight back toward the back of the car. Again, it does come down to taking it into a shop that will do more than sit back and wiggle things like I have done. Its time to let a professional take a look. I will post to let everybody know what I found.

You would not be insulting! You would speaking a great deal of truth. I replaced a ring and pinion in a Chevy 10 bolt once, and I completely did not enjoy that. As it took many tries to get mesh patter just in the right place. And it still whined when I was done. That was 15 years ago. I sort of swore off diff work since then. I would never try to do any work inside my diff. I was under the impression I could replace the seals going out to the half shafts from the outside. I have never worked on an R180, this is true. I suppose I should just tear into my spare sitting on my bench before I bug the people here. I wish I could come to the same conclusion on the condition of my diff. But when I turn the drive shaft by hand, I can see the halfshafts move backward before they even try to turn. In the end, I need to do just what your saying. Take my car to a shop that specializes in Z's. Until then, I simply will not be able to diagnose this problem without randomly replacing parts, which can get expensive and time consuming.

If I pull the half shafts off the diff, can I take out and replace the bearings and seals with the diff still on the car. I have play in my bearings on both sides, and before I swap out the entire diff, I want to make sure its not something far more benign.

ooops!