bacarl

Hoping to get some help on a problem that's got my brake bleeding buddy and me stumped. Bleeding the brakes is the last step in my suspension rebuild. The calipers have been rebuilt, the wheel cylinders have just been cleaned, and the rubber hoses were replaced with steel hoses. All pads and shoes are new but that shouldn't matter here. We started with the right rear drum and weren't getting any fluid during normal bleeding so we moved up to the bleeders at the master cylinder and got no fluid there either. The reservoirs and filters had a lot of crud built up so, thinking there was a blockage, we removed and cleaned them, as well as the bores on top of the master cylinder with the reservoirs removed. Even now, no fluid comes through either the front or rear bleed screws, even with fluid in the reservoir and the bleed screws completely removed. In a last ditch effort, my buddy literally sucked fluid out of the bleed screw with a length of hose, and with a fair bit of pressure we could force fluid in and out of the MC, but it won't flow on its own, regardless of what you do at the pedal. The brakes worked fine last summer when I started the suspension rebuild. I currently have fluid in the reservoirs and the screws open with hoses going down to a bottle to see if gravity pulls any fluid through over time but so far no dice, which is not surprising given the amount of force that was required to pull fluid out of the reservoirs. Any thoughts on what's going on here?? Seems like the issue must be inside the MC but things feel and sound like they're moving freely and there were no issues last year... help!

I paid $7500 for my '73 (not as good as a '71) which is in about that same condition except unrestored/detailed. I'm now doing all that work myself and while I'm enjoying it for the most part, it would definitely be worth another $2000 to have my car in that kind of condition already. Looking forward to the updates. Welcome back.

You could try sourcing a mini-spare from just about anything with a 4x4.5 bolt pattern. I wouldn't limit myself to Datsun parts. Offset will have less of an impact on a wheel that narrow, and even if it's 10mm off one way or the other it would be acceptable to limp home on. Bit of searching around found this site that indicates the following models with the 4x4.5 bolt pattern: Acura - Legend '86-'89 Acura CL 2.3/3.0 Acura TL 2.5 Buick - Special '61-'63 Chevrolet Corvair all 4-bolt Chevy II all 4-bolt Datsun/Nissan - most models to '89 Datsun 260Z, 280Z / ZX *, turbo '70-'85 Datsun 240Z * - needs chamfered nuts Dodge Colt '79-'88 - offset may be wrong Dodge Colt (early) Eagle Summit '86-'92 Falcon, Maverick, Granada all 4-bolt Ford Mustang all '65-'68 4-bolt Geo Metro '88-'98 Honda Accord '90+ except V6 Accord Honda Prelude '92-'96 Infinity G20 '91-'94 Infinity M30 '90-'92 MGA, MGB Mazda - 626, RX7 '83-'87 ???? Mazda 323 '86-'89 Mazda 626 '83-'87 Mazda RX-7 '84-'88 Mitsubishi Gallant '83-'97 Mitsubishi Mirage '88-'92 Nissan 200SX '80-'88 * Nissan Altima '93-'98 Nova ('61-'70) Olds - F-85 '61-'63 Plymouth - Arrow, Sapporo '79-'88 * (Sapporo wheels look similar to LE) SAAB - 900 and 90 to '87 come in 5.5 x 15 or 6 x 15 * SAAB - 9000 to '87 some will work * Sprint '85-'87 Suzuki Swift '89-'98 Toyota - most exc. MR2 and P.U. to '89 Triumph TR 1..5 Perhaps a mini-spare could be found for one of these. The more modern Acuras and Nissans would be a good place to start.

When you have an alignment done at a shop, their Hunter machines have bearing plates under each tire that allow the adjustments to be made with minimal friction. One way I've seen this done at home is to use two 12x12" vinyl floor tiles under each tire. Put some wheel bearing grease between the tiles and they form a poor man's bearing plate, allowing the tire to slide around relative to the floor when alignment settings are changed. Pic courtesy of Google:

The sway bar will add spring rate too ("wheel rate") if the frame mount bushings are torqued while the suspension is hanging. The frame mounts are particularly important to torque while the suspension is loaded. Great posts.

Well?

Where are those troublesome cowl drains? Like under the grille in the exterior cowl?

If you're still looking for the fuel hose thread, I think this is the one you were talking about: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/tech-pubs-howto/25857-rating-factory-240z-fuel-vent-hoses.html I've found that most of the hoses are NLA, but I updated Arne's thread not long ago (post #41) with what I've found recently and where.

Weren't you talking about getting an Alpha GTV not too long ago?? ;-)

How deep into the hub are you guys installing the grease seal? One of mine ended up flush with the hub but the other is about 4mm sub-flush (inside the hub). In Blue's write-up it looks like he tapped it flush but in the schematic up in post #7 the seal seems to be pressed a bit deeper into the hub. This may be a non-issue that resolves itself once the nut is tightened down, but what I'm worried about is the inside of the companion flange rubbing against the flat surface of the seal, wearing it out. The drawing in post #7 makes it look like there should not be contact between the companion flange and the seal, except of course at the seal lip on its inner diameter.

Engine removal! Figures. Thanks a lot!

Resurrecting an old thread here, but webdawg's picture is very helpful. Does anyone know the torque specs for the bolts in that illustration (both horizontal and vertical)? I don't see mount fastener torques listed in my FSM Transmission section.

For 17238-E4602 I think I'm going to use 2 feet of McMaster Carr p/n 5282K69 (3/4" ID petroleum hose - Use with diesel fuel, fuel oil, gasoline with up to 15% ethanol, and hydraulic oil). I haven't seen any mention of the small diameter hose coming off the top of the vent tank, except for in Blues photos. Does that one typically need replacing too? Where does it go to?

2014 update: These hoses are all getting very scarce. In the order that Arne originally listed the four hoses: MSA currently stocks 17239-E4601 for $37.08 (their part number is 11-3263). This hose can also be sourced from Banzai, I believe, and Courtesy currently shows one available that I'm in the process of trying to purchase. I have been unsuccessful in finding 17235-E4601 (which is the important one) or 17238-E4602. 17236-E4601 shows up in one or two places for $90-$100 but in actuality I believe it's NLA. However, I did find 14mm ID hose which can be purchased by the meter from www.AutohausAZ.com, p/n N203711. It's currently selling for $8.83/meter and it's even cloth braided like our original hose. So I think that's taken care of. I think 14mm is the correct ID for this hose and it would fit better than 1/2" ID hose which is closer to 12mm. I'm pretty well stymied on finding 17235-E4601 or 17238-E4602, though. Anyone had any luck recently?

Awesome, thanks for the feedback Captain! Tearing is exactly what I was worried about. It's counterintuitive to think that the full range of suspension travel could be taken up by the deflection of the bushing. No wonder they wear out. I know we can all relate to that. Good luck with all of them!

No problem! Say, have you put everything back together yet? I'm having the issue that when I tighten up the spindle pin nuts, the control arm locks down so tightly to the strut assembly that the only articulation between the parts is what's allowed by the rubber bushing deflecting. I know not to fully torque the spindle pin nuts until the suspension is back on the ground at normal ride height, but even then it seems like the parts are going to be too bound up for normal suspension travel. It seems like two bad things could happen if I reinstall this way: 1) the wheel rate will go way up 2) the bushing will fail prematurely Shouldn't the spindle pin act like a hinge pin that the control arm and strut rotate around? This is more or less what it felt like when I removed the parts, although they were old and worn and the bushings were cracked.

Here are some. With just the nut removed (showing metal and rubber washers): Flat side of rubber washer outwards; fits snugly over the bushing inner metal just like yours: And the washer pulled away showing the bevel on the inside:

Hey Captain, I have my 73 apart right now (original parts) and as you guessed, the bevel goes to the inside. I'll post up a pic or two later.

Tamo, do you know if those are the Z style that gets peened, or the ZX style which apparently is self locking? Edit: I checked with Motorsport and they sell the Z-style nut which requires peening to lock. Sounds like unnecessary additional hassle to me!

I see no reason to avoid the ZX nuts. I purchased everything from Motorsport and they only sell "Z/ZX spindle nuts". I'm assuming they don't carry the old peened Z nut but maybe I'll call and confirm.

I have just the rears (Timken brand) in my cart at RockAuto: $189.39 + shipping The fronts are super cheap by comparison, less than $5 bucks apiece so the fronts only add about $20 to the grand total. MSA sells Koyo brand bearings for almost exactly the same price, minus about $20 for our club discount; they have seals as well for $7 each, which RockAuto doesn't seem to carry. Thanks for the feedback Dave. I checked out your blog from your signature - good write ups in there!

Giving this excellent thread a bump from several years ago. Where are you guys getting rear bearings? Between MSA, RockAuto and Amazon, it doesn't seem that they can be had for less than $90 per side (except RockAuto's BeckArnley which are so much less expensive it makes me nervous)

I have the original Bridgestone RD-150 175HR14 tires from my 73. They're too old to be road worthy, but maybe someone is looking for an original set for shows or something? They still have tread on them and certainly look the part. Figured I should at least ask before I throw out original parts.

Nice! Thanks a million, guys. One correction to my earlier post, these bolts are M8's, not M10's. The TC rod bolts are M10.

My FSM gives the torque for the M10 bolts that attach the ball joint to the control arm as 35-45 ft-lb. But as I was tightening past 30 the bolts that came with my ball joints (marked with a "10" on the head) started to pull apart. I tried again with some new 10.9 bolts that I have and even those feel like they're stretching. They feel kinda spongy instead of torquing up crisply. This is all with my wrench set below 35 ft-lbs; I checked that I was indeed using foot pounds. What could I be doing wrong here? Any ideas? Top bolt with the big crack is what came with the Moog ball joint; bottom bolt is my non-JIS 10.9 M10x1.25.