Lonestar Posted March 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 So it's been a little too cold for me to do anything but I hope this weekend proves better for working. I've started with tearing into the rusty h165 rear. I got it taken apart and now my whole garage smells of old axle oil, YaY! Been hitting up ebay and Rockauto, making a list of parts and getting things order for my little car. I really wanna go to the Nismo Fest in April so I decided to focus on my car's stance rather than yanking the motor and putting her up on stands for a time. So what does this mean? Time to start digging through my horde of cars parts! Dug these out of the shed. I've been sitting on those struts for over 3 years now, figured now is the time to get them cleaned and give my little 210 a mean front stance! Til then, it's off to hunt down more parts and wait for what I ordered to get to me, more to come! Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Let me know if you need any help with the ZX strut swap. :thumbup: Quote Link to comment
Lonestar Posted March 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Yup, just need to get the 210 in the air and the 210 struts out so I can get the collars swapped. I may start tomorrow on getting the other struts out of the 210, we shall see. Quote Link to comment
Lonestar Posted March 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2014 So, slow going but going, got a good number of my parts in. Still waiting on a few but I have everything for my strut swap. I finally cleaned out the spot where the old 68 Goon sat and pulled my 210, jacked her up and sat down on stands. I took the wheels off and put my Advan BRX's in place to see what they look like before I go dropping the front end later on this week, so here's a few pic's. Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted March 19, 2014 Report Share Posted March 19, 2014 If the Rewinds come up for sale, let me know. :rofl: Quote Link to comment
Lonestar Posted March 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2014 My work has been going along, hopefully I'll have it done in time for the Nismo Fest. Still waiting on a few cosmetic parts for my 210 to get here. They are out, my old struts and brake are now bye bye along with drag and tie rods. New ball joints, tie rods, drag link and idler arm will soon be bolted into place when the 280zx struts are ready. Old vs new sway bar links. installed and just for some fun, I'm cleaning and painting my parts. I started with my front control arms? Dirty vs cleaned. The one on the bottom I cleaned with a drill and wire wheel, does quite well. Once I wire wheeled it clean, I sprayed it down with a metal paint pep cleaner and towel dried. Then I got my ace weapon, Mar-Hayde self etching primer! This stuff is the shit! Strong and durable, it holds well on bare clean metal. Let it dry for 5 min then sprayed on a base coat followed by blue paint I wanted to see what it would like done, end result.. It looks better in person and I'm thinking this is what I'll paint my NapZ when times come for the motor swap. That's it for now, til next time, Lonestar out! 2 Quote Link to comment
flatcat19 Posted March 23, 2014 Report Share Posted March 23, 2014 Where did you get them sway bar links? Quote Link to comment
Lonestar Posted March 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2014 RockAuto Moog part number, K700530 x2 Quote Link to comment
Lonestar Posted March 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2014 More shiny painted stuff. Just got to finish the last ball joint and rh tie rod assemble and I should be able to start putting it all back in tomorrow or Tues. I'll be picking up my split collars for my 280zx struts and start getting them in one piece ready for install. Coming together, one piece at a time. XD 3 Quote Link to comment
ggzilla Posted March 24, 2014 Report Share Posted March 24, 2014 I love Cusco blue. Did you get those parts from imports? Quote Link to comment
Lonestar Posted March 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2014 Nope, painted them myself. XD Those are all MOOG parts that I painted with Duplicolor paint. Quote Link to comment
Lonestar Posted March 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2014 Looks good!! Thanks, got the drag link, idler arm, ball joint, and LH tie rod installed tonight and got the other parts painted. The Strut Rods will go in once I get the new rubber inserts in the mail. So in that time, it's time to attack the 280zx struts! I'll post the steps for anyone else wanting to do this for their 210's as well. First, get a pair of 280zx struts! :P Got mine from a fellow Ratsuner here on the site. It's been a long time so I've forgotten who, if you remember, shout out to ya bro! Anyways, I got mine with the shock inserts, steering knuckles and rotor removed. Saved on shipping weight and you don't need them. I'll explain a little later on once I get one of these fully assembled but moving on. Step two, disassemble the units. For mine, the wheel hubs had been removed and placed back so they weren't hard to take off and removed all the bearings. Once the wheel hubs are off, tape off the spindle ends to protect them from bumps and scratches. (Refer to the lower pic of the cleaned grind strut tube pic) Now you can save the bearings and reuse them (if you wanna go that route) but I'm replacing everything that needs to be replaced. The wheel hubs will addressed after the strut spindles are done. After the hubs are off, the dust shield can be removed. I wanted to reuse mine but alas, it was not to be, the dust plates were eat through rust on mine and had to be junked. To make it worse the four screws holding them on both struts were sized and I had to drill them all out. Sucks. The shield is not a crit component, it serves to the back of the disc's dry in rain so you do not lose braking in wet weather. So set aside and move to step three...get the strut spindle, a hack saw, and a table vise grip. Secure the Strut in the vise. Then starting at the weld that holds the lower spring perch seat on, take the hacksaw and start cutting all around the base of the lower perch seat. When cutting, take your time and avoid power saws unless ya want a short tube. Once you cut through the seat weld and down to the tube, you should hit a second layer of rust. Once you cut all the way round, take a hammer and knock it off. Once this done for both, it's time to move to step 4, grinding down the old weld that held the old seat on. (Use this method if your going to do coil overs. If your going to use springs, then you need to cut and weld the lower spring perch's from the 210 struts onto where the old 280zx seats were cut at) Again, this will take some time, so don't get over aggressive or you'll wind damaging the strut tubes. Grind the old welds down smooth with the tubes. Doesn't have to be 100% perfect but don't leave it all wonky either. Once done it should look like this. Now from here you have a few choices of what to do. Some will just paint, assemble and slap in. For me, these will get sanded blasted and powder coated but for now they are get wired wheeled and quick paint because I'm on a time crunch. The struts will come back out when I do the engine swap because I'll be cleaning the lower control arms and cross member. I also went ahead and installed my strut insert, KYB, the preferred brand of all Ratsuners. :cool: That is all for this round. I'll post more as I get more done on how to set up this swap but I leave you all with a teaser, my coil over set up. Ground Control 280zx Coil over setup, so tasty! Props to DatsunFreak and a big shout out. He's been guiding me on this so I don't make a huge error and mess something up. Til next time next time Ratsun boys and girls, Lonestar out! 3 Quote Link to comment
toyota1515 Posted March 25, 2014 Report Share Posted March 25, 2014 So no short stroke setup on your 280zx struts? U can made short stroke coilover setup on them if u want u know and it will make the ride height lower! Quote Link to comment
ggzilla Posted March 25, 2014 Report Share Posted March 25, 2014 280ZX struts are already short stroke. Quote Link to comment
Germ_555 Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 Thanks for the details & pics, Just picked up H-165 two weeks ago and picking up the ZX struts this wknd. Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 280ZX struts are already short stroke. 210 struts be crazy long, yo... B) Quote Link to comment
Lonestar Posted March 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 So no short stroke setup on your 280zx struts? U can made short stroke coilover setup on them if u want u know and it will make the ride height lower! 280ZX struts are already short stroke. Yes, that why I said not to accidentally tube through the tube when cutting the old spring seats off. Cars look cool low but there is such a thing as too low! Quote Link to comment
Rhapakatui Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 Soooo awesome! I've got some crazy wheel envy going right now. Looks like I'm gonna be the only Ratsuner at Nismo Fiesta with a (ratty) Ratsun. That's ok. I'm gonna get my goon as close as I can to the ground and rock the patina on my steelies. I look forward to seeing this car there. Sounds like it's gonna be the closest we get to a real Texas Ratsun event this year. 2 Quote Link to comment
toyota1515 Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 280ZX struts are already short stroke. You can always go a notch farther, I made this ones not so long ago with Toyota Tercel inserts on Toyota TE72 struts, i think this way you can have your car very low without having the coil spring loose on the strut, look! By the way the Tercel insert is shorter that the commonly used SW20 MR2 insert! Quote Link to comment
toyota1515 Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 Yes, that why I said not to accidentally tube through the tube when cutting the old spring seats off. Cars look cool low but there is such a thing as too low! Yes one thing is a too low of a car without suspension ability and another thing is a very low car with suspension ability, i will get my car as low as i can get it as long as i dont loose any real suspension ability, i see many guys doing the 280zx strut setup and coil-over sleeve setup but then if they want to lower the ride height the spring will be loose betwine the adjustment and the top spring hat loosing all the suspension ability in other words a system that works only for looks but not for daily use IMO. Like this one and this is a NO NO for safety reasons! Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 Like this one and this is a NO NO for safety reasons! That's what these are for. B) 1 Quote Link to comment
Lonestar Posted March 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 No pics today but got some more painting done and the last of my goodies in the mail. Now I must wait til I get paid again so I can get the last of parts needed to bolt everything together and get her back on her feet. Then it will just be cosmetics like getting bars for bumper made up so I can put it on my car! Yota1515, I get what your saying man but right now, I just want get all back together and see how it sits/drives before I start getting nuts and lowering it. Quote Link to comment
toyota1515 Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 No pics today but got some more painting done and the last of my goodies in the mail. Now I must wait til I get paid again so I can get the last of parts needed to bolt everything together and get her back on her feet. Then it will just be cosmetics like getting bars for bumper made up so I can put it on my car! Yota1515, I get what your saying man but right now, I just want get all back together and see how it sits/drives before I start getting nuts and lowering it. Gotcha :thumbup: :thumbup: Quote Link to comment
toyota1515 Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 That's what these are for. B) LOL Nahh, those are a BAND AID for a too big of a wound buddy, it wont just work right! Quote Link to comment
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