Captain Obvious

Well honestly, I find that description of "full hardened temper" to be marketing jargon at best, and completely nonsensical at worst. By that, I mean... For something to be "full hardened" it means "was made as hard as we could make it and did not temper at all after hardening". If you tempered it, it's not full hard anymore. That's the whole point of tempering. But even before that... The description of the listing says it's 1008 steel, which doesn't contain enough carbon to even BE hardenable in the first place. You need a certain amount of carbon in the mix before steel will even react to a hardening process, and 1008 is well below that threshold. So, when I see "full hardened" 1008 steel, it really makes no sense to me. I would expect 1008 to be dead soft malleable whether you TRIED to harden it or not. The plastic deformation threshold would be very low compared to something that is (honestly) heat treated hardened. For example, if you take a look at the shims from McMaster. They also offer low carbon steel shims. 1008-1010 steel. And the hardness rating is Rockwell B40. The higher carbon "spring steel" shims (1074-1095 steel) is significantly harder at Rockwell C44 or at least B85 I'm curious how hard the original spacer is.

I just took a quick look at McMaster and the thinnest hardened shim they have is 0,1mm (.0039) about 4 thousandths, which is too thiick. You could grind the thickness of your original spacer down to need a thicker auxiliary spacer. I don't know why she swallowed a fly.

Hmmm. I'd be reluctant to use that Amazon shim material in this application. I think I'd want a hardened washer in that application. How high do you torque the nut on the end of the pinion gear? I'm worried that you would ooze a low carbon shim at high torque. Is the original spacer shim hardened? Does a file cut it easy, or just skate off the surface? But you could certainly use that shim material as proof of concept. You could cut that thin stuff (.003) with scissors for the OD. Easy peasy. The ID you might be able to hack out with a razor knife. I'm thinking that the profile doesn't have to be perfect, just fit over the pinion even if the ID is a little rough. Cut the shim, put it together and check the backlash. That will at least confirm for sure what thickness shim you really need.

I believe the 240-280 radios were all mono. Can you take a pic of the connector on the back of the Clarion?

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. The beatings will continue until morale improves.

Here's a pic of the underside that I hoovered. I don't know what year it is, but it might help with your analysis:

I don't have any really good pics showing the belt reels, but i do think I have enough mediocre pics hoovered over the years to hopefully get the idea across. Here's one with the seat belt mount in place: And here's one with the interior stripped and you can see the mounting holes: Hope that helps!

They moved the seat belt locations around a bunch over the years, presumably chasing safety requirements and comfort desires. By the time they got to 77, the seat belts were mounted to the tops of the rear strut towers. Another reason why 77's are better. But seriously, there aren't any belt guides. They just come around the sides of the seats. Not quite as neck choking as previous years, but not that different. Maybe a little lower than what's on yours?

I do have a rear strut brace, but I won't make any claims as to the functionality / necessity of the brace. I didn't put it in. Came to me with the car from my PO. Here's a pic of the brace that was taken before I did the Fiero seats:

I don't know how severe the bump was in 75, but on my 77, the left side was tight dealing with the seat bolster up against the trans tunnel and converter bump. Some people perform the catalytic converter "hump bash" (technical term). Which, as the name implies... You bash the hump down with a BFH from inside the car to make more room for the driver's seat. I put Fiero seats in my 77 and passenger side was a lot easier than the driver's side. I did not perform any hump bash operations because I told myself that I might want to put a pre-muffler resonator in that location some time in the future. That was ten years ago maybe? Haha!

I like it! Sounds like a good winter project! Hope the project goes well with no surprised.

That should make it easier. On my 77, the bump into the interior for the catalytic converter (if equipped) looks larget than what you have on yours. Here's a pic of a 75 or 76 with the bump: And here's a 77-78 bump, hump:

"Supposedly up to 10% more." Perfect. So I'm not sure about the openings where the carbs mount. I haven't measured them to compare, but I do know that the carb throats themselves are the same between round tops and flat tops. They are all 46mm, so it seems like all the intake manifolds would have that same hole in them. I've got both varieties of intakes around here somewhere, but it will probably take me some time to find them and measure.

Has all your seat work to date been on the right side seat? I ask because the left seat may be a little more complicated if your car has a bulge in the floor for a catalytic converter. It started in CA first, but not sure what year they started that.

Actually thinking about it a little more, I think you could put your round tops on the N36 without a coolant leak. There were coolant holes in the previous intake manifolds for the 3-screw round tops in 72, but they gave up on that idea and ran coolant direct into the carbs starting in 73. I don't think there are holes in the carb mounting face of the N36 manifolds. There are "teats on a boar" holes in the back side of the carbs, but no matching holes on the manifold side. So you're back to being able to say that you have the best flowing intake manifolds installed. If I had the manifolds off for some other reason, I'd put the N36's on just because. Not sure if I'd go through the trouble just to switch, but if you had it apart for other work as well.

I haven't tested any of the manifolds, but I'll go out on a limb and say that you will not notice any difference at all. And if there is some minuscule difference, you would only be able to pick it up on a well tuned dyno with multiple runs. That said, I've heard the same thing about the N36 manifolds. And if I've heard it and you've heard it, then probably lots of other people have heard it too. The point of that is... If you switch to the N36's, you would be able to say things like: "Lots of people say the N36's flow the best of all the intake manifolds, right? That's why I put them on my car." So, I'm clearly not providing any technical expertise on flow characteristics, but I CAN tell you that you would use the same thick phenolic spacers you are currently running with your E36 intakes. I can also warn you about one potential pitfall... If you are running coolant through your E36's now, you will have a problem with the N36's because they have a hole on the face where the carbs mount that will leak of you run round tops there. I suspect you are not running any coolant through your intakes currently, but thought I would bring it up just in case.

At quick glance, I would interpret the torque spec for that nut to be 59 ft-lbs And no... I don't think that nut could handle that.

Glad to help. Hope you get it all figured out. If I were energetic, I'd reload those pics into that old thread. Maybe next time I'm allowed out.

Most of the strut shafts I've messed with are chrome plated carbon steel, not stainless. But I don't know for sure what Koni uses. As for "Is it a mistake?".... I guess that kinda depends on who you ask. If you ask ME, the answer is "Yes, someone at Koni made a mistake." Why do I say that? Because this problem keeps happening over and over again with those parts. It's clear that something is wrong and it's not just you. But WHO at Koni made said mistake, or what KIND of mistake was made is up for debate. It's either a materials specification mistake or a documentation mistake. At bare minimum, there should be warnings in their documentation about this type of failure and how to handle the installation process to avoid the problem. Maybe specify (or even supply) some lube. Maybe switch to different hardware. Something. But the fact that it just keeps on happening to other new purchasers is an indication that something is wrong. I think you should take it up with Koni and see if there is any relief available. There was a Koni guy around here at one time. @KONI Lee

Hope that helps!

Here's the pics I took of my seatbelt disassembly. First, a caveat... I didn't take these pics with the intention of using them for a how-to... I just had a dead belt with badly frayed webbing and thought I would take it apart to see how the whole thing worked. I figured I would take some pics along the way so I could refer to them again in the future if I ever needed to. Second, these pics are from a 77, and I have no idea if they are the same on other years, but hopefully they will add some value. I also have pics of the assy before I popped off the side covers, but I'm not including those since we all know what that looks like. Step1 - Wind the seatbelt as far as you can into the retractor assy to minimize the tension in the retractor clock spring. In other words, let the retractor spring pull in as much belt as it can before you loosen the side cover. Once you have the belt fully retracted, use a small screwdriver to pop off the side cover. Note that there will still be some spring tension so be careful. Do not let the side cover spin wildly after you pop it free. Hold the cover with your hand to make sure it does not spin and after you get the last retaining pin free, carefully rotate the side cover to release the spring tension. Count the number of turns it takes to release the tension so you know how many turns to wind it up when you put it back together. Interesting to note that the retractor spring function is completely separate from the rest of the assy. That means for those of you guys with retractor spring problems, all you need to do is pop off that one side and replace the spring. You don't have to mess with the latching mechanism at all. In fact, for the shoulder belt portion, you probably don't have to take the assy out of the car. You can probably do that with the assy still attached to the strut tower. Here's the retractor spring and cover after releasing the spring tension: Step2 - Pop the side cover off the other sire. Here's the latching mechanism side: Step3 - Pry off the little support arm: Step4 - Pry off the latching mechanism: Interesting to note that there isn't a whole lot that can go wrong with the latching mechanism. Probably the simplest thing that can go wrong is the tiny release spring can come off or break and then the latch will operate too easily or will not release at all. Step5 - Pull the retaining pin that holds the take up reel into the bracket. Look down into the belt reel and you will see a retaining pin. Here's the pin fully installed: Here's the pin pulled halfway out: Here's the pin pulled all the way out: Step6 - Pull out the center axle shaft and the take-up reel will come free. The belt is held into the reel by the center axle, so once the axle is removed, the belt webbing can be removed from the take-up reel: Reassembly is the reverse of disassembly.

What happened to the threads on your struts is called "galling", and it is an unfortunate occurrence when using hardware like you have there. Especially the Ny-Loc nylon insert anti-vibration style of nuts. The worst situation is stainless Ny-Loc nuts on a stainless shaft. Just don't do it. Here's some discussion about such matters in this thread. On or about page 14: https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/61542-koni-sports-for-classic-zs/?page=14 Here's some links that talk about thread galling. Some of these even specifically call out stainless nyloc nuts: https://www.boltdepot.com/fastener-information/Materials-and-Grades/Thread-galling.aspx https://www.anzor.com.au/blog/what-is-stainless-galling https://www.westfieldfasteners.co.uk/Ref_Thread_Galling.html

He made those rivets on a lathe. You're not going to find them off the shelf anywhere. Someone would have to custom make them. And the machine he uses to peen the rivets is more than a simple straight down press. It's more like an impact hammer and press combined together to swage the rivets. If you listen, you can hear the buzzing sound of the impact. This guy has access to lots of machines. And your comment about the tolerance stackup is spot on. Each connection needs a tiny bit of clearance in order spin and the stackup causes that play. I've got machine shop envy.

@HusseinHolland is working on the fuel pump primer. I'm just supporting cast.

Greg, I have only disassembled the later style rack (280), so I'm not positive about the function of that part you are trying to remove. But if it's like the 280 rack, that thing should either tap off or screw off the end of the rack. I would try to twist (in the "unscrew direction") and pull and see what happens. Was there a lock nut threaded onto the end which you already removed? And as for plcs... I reloaded them on page seven of this thread. Take a look here and see if this works for you: https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/48621-steering-rack-disassembly-and-refurb/?page=7