Jeff G 78

Mine is still napping, but if the weather looks good, I'll uncover it next weekend and start my spring upgrades. I have lots of work to do before our club's first meet on May 9th. I'm shooting to have it ready by the end of April. By then, the roads will be cleaner and with any luck, they will have filled some of the potholes.

I only know a bit about this virus. Will a standard anti-virus software find the trojan when it first comes in? Do I need to worry if my Avast hasn't flagged anything coming in lately?

Post deleted. Welcome and good luck Erick!

Speaking of moving a pin, how do you edit a pin? I couldn't figure it out.

Slackers! I'm not sure why they don't want to pin themselves. Maybe they don't want us to drop in for a visit? I am impressed with the northwesterners. I had no idea there were that many Z cars in that area. I would have guessed that Florida and southern Cal pins would have dominated the map.

Good luck. Like I said, on my '78, I checked it vs the FSM and could not come up with a switched power lead in the radio connector. Be sure to check the wires with a multimeter once you map out the wiring per the FSM.

I have a '78 and I had a heck of a time finding a switched +12V wire even with the FSM wiring diagram. It seemed like there should have been one in the original radio connector which was still intact on my harness, but nothing panned out. Finally, someone here pointed me towards a switched power wire under the dash on the far right side just above the FI relay box. I believe it is an unused wire with a bullet connector. I'm not sure if it's there on a '76, but I'd look there first. My car is still hibernating, but it will be awake in a week or so if you still need me to take a picture of the wire for you.

Very nice. I love the BRE spoiler and bumper swap. Welcome to the club!

Not to hijack, but did they use the same color throughout the S30 years, or did it change over time?

It's funny to see only four pins in California and five in Canada. Are the Californians afraid to admit that they own something other than a Prius?

Or just buy John's fancy adjustable LCAs. Your toe problem would be solved! Heck, it would still be cheaper than your original estimate. Back to the cheap options... Would the delrin camber bushings be a good idea for a street car that isn't going to see regular inspections and teardowns?

I'll make you a deal. I'll write you a check for an even million and you just give me the difference back in cash.

EPA fuel economy ratings in the 1970's were about as accurate as SAE Gross horsepower ratings. The window sticker didn't really predict real world fuel mileage. Today's method's are much more accurate for the way people really drive.

With my stock 3.54 FDR, '78 5-speed, stock tire OD, 10:1CR, AZC header, stock cam, and tiny stock exhaust, I get about 23 mixed and 26 hwy on 93 octane gas. Before driving it this spring, I will install my Web 0.450"/260° camshaft. I'm interested to see what effect it will have on fuel economy.

I'd say they are helpful, but not required for rear suspension work considering your Z looks to be rust free. There really aren't that many fasteners to do the job you are looking to do.

For those that have added your pins to the map, be sure to replace the "Placemark #" with your user name. Otherwise we can't tell who you are.

Done. I do have a Gmail account and it worked fine for me.

Yep, I agree completely with everything you said. Unfortunately, nobody had designed the puller yet and I was in a time crunch so I never took the time to come up with a puller myself.

To seal the diff cover, the mustache bar must be removed, so yes, it would be easier while you already have it off for the mustache bar bushings.

Sorry, but I can't really tell anything from those pics. You really need to hold a long straight edge across the rear tire to see what it looks like. A 4' level or straight 2X4 would work. Hold the straight edge halfway up the tire so that it touches in two spots. Now you will see where the front of the board points. Does the front of the board point towards the car, straight ahead, or away from the car? Other than a diff leak, the underbody looks pretty clean. You should be able to get everything apart easily.

I really wonder if the puller would have worked on mine. I tried everything with no luck. After banging away for a while, I tried to pull them out by stacking washers under the nuts, but it just stripped the threads right off the pins. Finally, I cut the pins off at each end of the knuckle and took the knuckles to work. I heated the crap out of the first one with a torch before using a commercial quality pneumatic/hydraulic press. It took every last bit of the press' power to push the pin out and when it did move, it sounded like a gun was fired each time the pin slipped a few mm. The shock from the movement kept making the push rods slip out of position. I skipped the heat on the second one with the same results. I'm pretty sure the lock pin had mushroomed the pins such that they were stuck tight. They were NOT rusty when they finally came out. I found when I tried to install the new pins that the control arms were a bit bent at the two rings, so they didn't line up with each other. I had to straighten them before I could re-assemble everything. I think the puller would work on most, but I'm not so sure about mine. I wish I could have tried it though. It might have saved me LOTS of trouble.

Plates are a no brainer. Get some used ones and throw them on. Otherwise, don't worry about the alignment. I think it will straighten out with new plates and bushings. Search this site and hybrid Z for info on the spindle pin puller. It didn't exist yet when I did mine, so I can't vouch for it, but many have had great success using it. A few people sell them and there are instructions online if you want to make your own. It looks pretty simple to make from what I remember. If you don't already have it, download the FSM here http://www.xenons30.com/reference.html. You will need it for torque values and instructions on how to remove the lock pin in the center of the spindle pin.

Hee hee. Do a search on any Z forum for spindle pins and you'll be enlightened. Every now and then, someone gets lucky, but 9 times out of 10 the pin is stuck in the knuckle and the four letter words start flying. It's not something you want to do with kids in the garage. You WILL get them done if you are mentally ready and you WILL be proud of yourself when you are done. Yes, you will be knighted upon completion of the quest. You can brag to the next guy in your shoes about how you faced the dragon and slayed it single handedly. Do your research and embark on your journey to enlightenment!

That's a sweet looking P1800. A little too much tire stagger for me, but otherwise very cool!

I wrote the last note before I read your last reply. Knowing that you have done quite a bit of light mechanical work, I'm sure you can do this. It WILL be tough, but that's just how this job is. It's known in the Z world as the Right of Passage. Complete the spindle pin job and you can do anything. Do some research and go for it!