anthony_c

spent the annual datsun allowance installing new kyb strut cartidges, mounts, bearings, and ball joints. not an inexpensive job, but it made a huge difference. the ride went from being quite unpleasant to downright soft.

http://richmond.craigslist.org/cto/4982050773.html 1975 Datsun 280z (2nd owner, low miles) - $12500 (Norht Chesterfield)

did you replace inner and outer bearings?

i'm planning a rebuild of the rear suspension and brakes to includes all bushings, strut cartridges, spindle pins, washers, nuts, etc. in the spirit of "while we're at it", is there any reason or value to replacing rear bearings as well? i noticed a fair amount of wheel wiggle up front, i'm assuming the rears are in similar condition.

well that was a pleasantly easy conversation. no hemming, hawing, complaints of tie-ing up their lift, or discussions of "after memorial day".

will do. thank you.

WIth the electrical, clutch, and engine issues resolved its time to move on the next item on the to-do list. Any recommendations for a qualified and conscientious shop near RIchmond, Va to replace the rear suspension bushings?

yakhopper, from what i can remember from my research, there should be roughy 1-1/2" of travel at the slave. but the replacement slave cylinders i received only registered around 5/8" after draining, filling, and bleeding the lines.

two years ago i encountered the exact same condition after replacing the clutch and slave on my 260. the master cyl was working fine and not leaking, so no changes there. i swapped out the new slave twice more. but no matter which vendor i ordered from they were all identical and produced the same effect. not enough travel. the clutch was removed and we verified all of the internal parts were the correct dimension, so there were no internal geometry problems with the clutch. at the suggestion of my mechanic and another member of this site the automatic slave and fork were replaced with a manually adjusting setup from a 240. problem solved. the original slave had been discarded so we couldn't say for certain, but i have strong suspicions that the replacement pushrod was too short.

just compared your pics to my 74. the second photo looks like the ignition reset switch, but with the red button broken off. it has a round connector to the harness. if your car had a/c there would be a second round connector to the a/c compressor relay. what's missing from your car is the vacuum tank, mounting bracket, check valves, and 2 magnet valves. check the FSM, section AC, page 6 for a diagram. if i'm reading this correctly: - the single wire lead connects to the Fast Idle Magnet Valve - the oval plug connects to the Vacuum Source Magnet Valve

hats off to chuck. i do appreciate his work. nice color too!

installing a new booster today and two questions come to mind. should the booster pushrod/backside of the master cylinder be greased?is there supposed to be a gasket or sealant between the master cylinder and the booster? (fyi my car came equipped with a 1" spacer between the master and the booster)

centric 160.88031 appears to be a perfect match for the 74. the pushrod was even preset to the correct length. it's going in now. the junction between the booster and master was dry, crusty, and full of crud, but no signs of an active leak from the master cylinder. does anyone know if the pushrod/master should be greased?

second round of rings, bearings, seals, gaskets, oil pump, and timing set repeat the valve job refresh the su's log a few break-in miles and order a new brake booster wheeee!

the joys of 260 ownership... according to a post on hybridz the bolt patterns changed a few times between 70 and 75, so what 'fits' on one year may not fit another. add to that the booster diameter varied with year and model (coupe/2+2). http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/22688-need-help-in-conversion-of-power-brake-booster/ the 53-5104 model sold under various brand names at different stores pretty consistently states that this will not fit the 260. the centric 160.88031 is the only one advertised as fitting on a 74. rockauto wins, but i'll eat the core charge and hang on to mine just in case.

i've noticed that different years had different drum sizes. the one on my 260 is 7 1/2 - 8 inches in diameter, but none of the vendors are including the dimensions so its difficult to tell what they are shipping. just called oreilly and they had none listed.

hmmmm. price is good, almost too good. a little concerned that none of the big chains carry this product or brand, its only available through online retailers like jcwhitney and partsgeek. need to research this one a bit. i called a few shops in town and they suggested - WhitePost in Northern Va ($500) - Apple Hydraulics in NY (no price yet) both of these shops rebuild your own and send it back to you. more expensive, but at least i know it will fit perfectly.

oem brake boosters for 72-75 are NLA. if anyone has had theirs rebuilt i'd like know who did it and about how much they paid. thanks, tony

just testing new upload function

still running the stock gauge so no numbers, but after the "bump" yesterday: - the needle is about a 1/4 inch past the midway point while at speed. - at idle the needle drops back to just below the midway point.

so i took the car out for its fourth break-in run today and two curious things happened. 1. the oil pressure went up and remained elevated 2. the brake booster failed, making the trip that much more exciting unless someone has really creative and ingenious explanation i'm going to assume that the booster was at the end of its life, and the timing of these two events was purely coincidence. but is it normal for oil pressure to go up when breaking in a new motor?

i've only cleared the first tank of gas, but your numbers line up with what i've observed so far. after 166 miles of normal in-town and 2 lane back-road driving i managed 17.7 mpg. no extended highway miles yet but it looks like i'm on track for the 25 mpg you suggested. it has a new cap, rotor, and wires, rubber fuel lines, filters, vacuum lines, hose clamps, and everything else i could throw at it. the heat riser tube from the manifold to the stock air cleaner is missing, but since the car came with a mixture of 240 and 260 intake parts i'm not certain how or if the vacuum motor in the stock air cleaner will work. the tubes that carry coolant through the intake have been cut-off as well. any thoughts on switching to a 240 air cleaner with the manual summer/winter lever? in cold weather it takes about 2-3 minutes of idling before it settles in becomes driveable.

after a 3-year absence my 260 is now off the lift and back on the road with a fresh rebuild of the motor and carbs. any thoughts on what mpg numbers i should be seeing? stock 2.8L, bored .020 Round-tops 5-speed

if you do decide to ditch the a/c, there are a couple small parts i could use.