Acemon

Some of you have seen my website before but it's continuously getting updated with cheap & easy upgrades for your S30, plus some great tips and tricks, so come take a look. http://Ace240z.com

I recently did a big update to my website showing the recent progress on my '71, along with an expanded "easy upgrades" section, so come check it out. Ace240z.com

Hi all. Fun to see pics from my site. Like I said on the page, the RT mount didn't fit my '71 right. It took a few hours to modify but I think I've got it in the right spot. I thought about drilling a hole to move the bushing back but the bracket itself interfere with the parking brake yoke so cutting and welding seemed like the only choice. I haven't driven it yet, so I don't know how well it works but I think it'll be better than the original strap which was shredded into pieces. I bought the car as a semi-basket case so I don't know if it's the stock moustache bar but it seems to fit right. Hopefully you got a laugh at the gold differential. Clay, if you run into problems don't hesitate to email me - I'll be happy to help. Had I known how much different a '70-71 would be, I would have looked for a '72 (which is what I owned years ago) but it's too late to change and I'm happy with the way this one is turning out.

I beg to differ. Take a look at the discussion here: Datsun/Nissan would not have made something so complicated for the fun of it. They could have very easily used the same type of bronze bushing like at the end of the arms. The assembly is there for a reason and I'm trying to find out why. I appreciate the advice about using clothespins - I had a pair of nice gouges in my long-ago first car, a '64 Beetle, when I bolted the arms in the wrong place. If the feature is purely within the stock motor, then I shouldn't have to worry about the multi-piece assembly with the Honda motor. I can either glue it together into one piece, or replace it entirely with something easier.

I'm doing the Honda wiper motor upgrade for my '71 (with the nifty electrical adapter harness), and everything is pretty clear except for one thing: how the stock wiper mechanism attaches to the motor. If I've read various posts correctly (here and elsewhere), the stock 240z motor has a "reverse feature" that stops the motor in the forward direction and briefly runs it backwards to the park position. Because of that feature, the connection between the mechanism and the motor shaft has some kind of a rotational clutch which includes a cam and a spring (with a tang) and a tabbed washer to make it work. I guess it was pretty state-of-the-art back in '71. Here's the question: is that complicated assembly needed with the Honda motor? The adapter harness has a relay needed to park the wipers in the correct place, so unless the Honda motor has that same kind of reverse rotation, the clutch seems as necessary as an appendix. Part of my curiosity is to make sure my upgraded motor works with the oddball Datsun connection, but also because I'm creating a page for my website (Ace240z.com) to show the upgrade process in detail and this is something I want to include. It might be possible to 3D print something less complicated, so now's the time to investigate. Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

My 240z has enough room for an ordinary spare, but I'm curious about the weight difference with the donut spare.

I agree rubber can be tough to bond. The first glues I tried didn't work so well. I thought about using a "slippery" plastic like polyurethane or UHMW but it meant removing the roller shaft. I agree about wanting to see how it works in a real-life situation, so maybe I can make some type of motion simulator and let it run for a few days.

I'll take at look at McMaster Carr. Don't know why I forgot about them. They're a great resource. I tried some "ordinary" superglue but it didn't adhere as well to the rubber. The Gorilla Glue worked better than I'd hoped. I tried using o-rings but they didn't cover enough of the metal. It's worth looking at again.

I think I included a link to that. I ordered the same grommets but they're triangular now instead of round. His idea is great but I didn't want to mess with the rollers.

Like most people, the soft plastic bushings in my window regulators were shot. I did a lot of poking around but didn't find much. The few I saw required removing the plastic rollers. I did some research and experimentation at home and came up with a cheap and easy replacement. Take a look and let me know what you think. http://ace240z.com/window rollers.html

A big nod of praise for Captain Obvious' and Jonathan Russell's efforts. Well done, gents. I'm actually (finally) reassembling the rear suspension of my '71 and gave the moustache bar bushings and the ridged discs a close inspection. The bushings are swaged at one end and in too good condition to be original, leading me to wonder how/when they were replaced. The discs have the taller/deeper ridges but seem to fit quite well. I'm putting it all back together as-is and hope for the best. Even in the slightly worn condition I think it'll work fine for ordinary street use. As an aside, I bought an RT diff mount a few months ago only to discover this weekend that it doesn't fit very well on the '70-'71 models. Has anyone had to modify theirs?

I definitely think this thread should be preserved given the lack of replacement parts. I found a moustache bar on eBay (kinda rusty and perished bushings) for $50 with shipping. The 2-part rubber compound is about $30 with shipping, so It's temping to spend a little cash and do some mad scientist experiments. The bushings on mine seem OK, so if I mount the bar on my workbench and use a 6' long pipe as a lever, I can determine how many pounds it takes to deflect the bar 12", then do the same with a set of urethane bushings, and finally with the 2-part compound. It might not be the most accurate method but at least it'll give me a baseline. My beer budget will be impacted, but science is important, right?

Thanks to all for that great information. It explains a few things on my '71, which has the stoppers with the large ridges and solid rubber bushings. It also explains why some of the nuts and bolts were nearly loose - the PO, or the previous PO, must have replaced the bushings and stoppers but never really finished the job (or the car). After seeing these pics I'm going to keep what I have and see how they work when the car is back together. I'm still going to order some of the rubber compound that's supposed to be the approximate firmness of a car tire and do a little experimenting to see how similar it is to the bushing material.

They have a variety of compounds. One was described as being similar to a tire tread. I like your idea about creating a softer bushing in the modern style but I wonder if flexible types of PU are available as a block or a bar? It might be easier to carve/machine a few pieces instead making a mold. What about skateboard bushings? They're also PU but they would need to be fairly flexible for the rider's weight to turn the board back and forth. There are plenty of small-scale board makers, so I wonder if one might be interested in a niche market for vintage Japanese sports car suspension parts.

I'm going to revive this 7-months-old thread because I also want a rubber bushing. I looked at one of the FSM diagrams and the exploded view seemed to show a separate inner sleeve (with a collar of some kind) going into the rubber bushing. It's an interesting idea but depending on the wall thickness of the sleeve, there might not be enough space for the rubber itself. I wonder if a "recycled" bushing might work. With the bushing still in the moustache bar, burn the rubber out. Clean the tapered sleeve and the inside shell of the bushing. With a little ingenuity (something all Z owners have) make a jig to hold the moustache bar in place, and keep the pin centered, and maybe use a couple pieces of wax to form the voids. Pour liquid rubber inside and let it cure. I found 2-part mixes with a variety of hardness here: https://www.polytek.com/product-type/polyurethane-mold-rubbers and here: http://www.uscomposites.com/moldmaking.html. I think replacement "washers" could be made using a mold from an existing one and using a very hard urethane mix. They might not be as ultimately good as the Nissan version, and might even have to be replaced every few years, but I think it's a better option than what we presently have. Comments? Thoughts? Suggestions?