Trouble - late-1969 SSS Bluebird Coupe

[carterb]

Front struts removed:

 

 

 

Replacements in:

 

 

 

Now, in keeping with its namesake - once the hubs and brakes were mounted, I had more trouble.  I could not spread the brake pads far enough apart to fit them over the rotors.  Even after removing the anti-squeal shims there was simply not enough room:

 

 

So I think hmm...  Maybe if I turn down the rotors (they probably need it anyway) I can get everything together:  This is where my friend Paul steps in.  Nice to have a pro mechanic friend!

 

 

Now I don't know how you guys like to change rotors but I like to turn the hub upside down in a wheel which I use as leverage against the wrench while turning the rotor mounting bolts:

 

Here is the hub (rotor already removed) just sitting in the wheel:

 

 

Now with rotor in place:

 

 

Super easy to tighten bolts now:

 

 

I still had to leave out the shims but at least the calipers and pads now fit over the rotors:

 

 

 

Added stainless brake lines too!

[carterb]

Great progress post!

 

More to come!  :D

[Just Joel]

Clever...

[Dime Dave]

Carter,

FutoFab has 5 pair of 280ZX Illuminas in stock.

 

Now can be bought online at our website. 

 

Tokico's from FutoFab

[carterb]

Here's Trouble back down on all fours for the first time in a while.  It looks SO much better now!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[carterb]

One thing that seems odd about this camber plate setup is how little thread engagement there is between the insert rod nut and the insert.  Look how deep the adjuster is down there.  Especially odd on a strut rod since you can't really hold on to them to tighten them up.  You're only real friend is a pneumatic wrench I guess.  Even with this Cusco setup, I think there is still some work to do before I'm happy.

 

 

[carterb]

On May 24th, with brakes bled and motor working, on May 24th I was able to drive it in and out of the garage under it's own power:

 

 

(need to get a youtube account so I can post a video)

[Dime Dave]

Carter,

What a bunch of work you've done.

 

When I do multiple projects I never seem to get anything done.

[carterb]

Unfortunately, a short test drive around the neighborhood revealed front brakes that are still dragging and a motor that makes NO power at low revs.  Didn't have time 'till the next weekend to do anything about it.  First I added a radiator fan (thanks Sam!) in anticipation of longer trips ahead.  Stock 4 blade fans are hard to find when you need one!

 

 

 

I was told it had a Kameari cam and possibly an adjustable cam gear, which I photographed earlier but hadn't properly investigated yet (still haven't)

 

 

 

 

Can anyone verify the equipment by looking?

[carterb]

Carter,

What a bunch of work you've done.

 

When I do multiple projects I never seem to get anything done.

 

Funny, I never seen to get anything done BECAUSE I work on multiple projects!  :rofl:

[carterb]

Next step - Paint those fenders!!!!

 

 

[carterb]

This came with the car:

 

 

I made multiple calls and sent multiple e-mails to the hot rod shop that worked on the car before I got it to find out more about he paint I would be working with.  It looked like there was enough in the can to do the two fenders and maybe some other touch-up but I didn't know if it was already thinned down, or what type of hardener it needed or whatever.  Never did get a call back or e-mail from the shop.  But between google, Sherwin Williams tech support, and my local paint guy, we were able to figure out what I needed to do the job so I bought some more reducer and hardener and started prepping the fenders.

 

Here is one of the fenders after a good wash and  wet-sand:

 

 

Trying to at least pretend I learned something while painting Bruiser's cab, I set up a couple box fans to help keep the air clear while painting this time:

 

[banzai510(hainz)]

get a electronic ignition brother!!!!!!!!!!!!

then sell me the car.

frank and Jeff got no money

I do!!!!!!!!!!

[carterb]

Now then...  Time for some more trouble.

I was going to mix half the paint but it quickly became apparent that it wouldn't be enough so I mixed everything I had.  With these two part paints, that of course means I get one shot.  So I loaded up the gun, put on my breathing protection, aimed the sprayer and pulled the trigger.

 

****ptb ptb ptb ptb ptb ptb ptb ptb****

 

You're kidding me!  The sprayer sounded like a machine gun, or at least a kid making machine gun sounds...   You can imagine what the paint was coming out like.  The fender was getting tiger striped:  paint - no paint - paint - no paint - etc.  I stopped after 3 or 4 stripes to consider my options.  With the clock ticking on the pot life of the paint, and with no more color to mix, I felt my only option was to just go for it.

 

So with alternating patterns and quick movements I just laid on the paint, one fender then the next.  When I turned to look at the first fender, the paint was starting to sag and the metallic was all uneven and stripped. 

 

I hurriedly moved the fenders from their vertical orientation to a horizontal orientation to prevent the sags from becoming runs.  I let the paint sit a little then used the remaining paint to fog the fenders in an attempt to even out the metallic. 

 

 

The right side didn't look too bad, but the left side was not so good:

 

[carterb]

get a electronic ignition brother!!!!!!!!!!!!

then sell me the car.

frank and Jeff got no money

I do!!!!!!!!!!

 

Oh, I'm sure it's not that big of a deal.  The only real problem was the looming deadline, the length of my to-do list, and the lack of time I was able to dedicate to the cause.  The difference between running and running well is as you suggest, often as simple as a better ignition.

[banzai510(hainz)]

Car looking awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[carterb]

After the damage was done, I cleaned out my sprayer tip, nozzle, cup, etc like always and then spent some time fooling with the settings and running straight thinner through the gun and never did get constant flow.  I later completely disassembled the gun - needle and all - and found no smoking guns.  I'm left scratching my head a bit to be honest.  

 

I didn't do anything different than when I painted Bruiser a few months earlier.  I've never had any trouble with the sprayer.  But I'm sure one of you will read my description and know exactly what may have been the trouble.

 

Again, as with Bruiser, I don't really mind having a problem - as long as I learn from it.  And next time I paint, I will run some thinner through the gun BEFORE I put paint in the cup just to make sure the gun is functioning properly.

[carterb]

Car looking awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks Hainz,

As it turned out.  It really didn't matter if the paint went on nice because once the fenders were dry and I hung them on the car, it became painfully obvious that the color match was TERRIBLE!

 

Honestly, I can't believe that this was the best the hot rod shop could do.  I don't think they tried actually.  Looking back at the can, it appears they just picked an available stock color that was close and went with that.  Since the panels were never side by side before, it was not obvious that the work done in the engine bay did not match the rest of the car but now you could see it.  My fenders perfectly (well...) matched the engine bay and the underside of the hood but did not match the rest of the car.  :crying:

 

You can see here how much lighter the fenders are compared to the rest of the car:

 

[carterb]

Still thinking I could get to Canby, but semi embarrassed by the poor color match and my paint gun issues, I toyed with adding a rising sun to the fenders to break up the side-by-side color comparison and cover the worst parts of the metallic pooling and streaking.  What do you guys think of this?

 

[carterb]

Either way, it was time to move on...

 

Begin front end re-assembly.  Here are the new mirrors:

 

 

 

[banzai510(hainz)]

throw some NGK stickers on there

[RandyWanger]

It's coming together nicely though. More and more I'm liking the stock body look.

[Just Joel]

[carterb]

It's coming together nicely though. More and more I'm liking the stock body look.

 

Yeah but by comparison, there are plenty of stock body coupes out there...  Don't even think about changing yours!

 

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/62636-nissan-bluebird-coupe-jcca-race-car/

 

 

[carterb]

In another effort to see what the baseline I was starting from with the motor - I set out to verify/adjust my timing.

There was no timing indicator on the motor so I found one in my parts stash and attached:

 

 

Then I set up an indicator in #1 cyl to find TDC

 

 

 

After finding the timing mark on the crank, I was able to verify that gage, mark, and indicator all agreed on 0 degrees TDC.  Then with timing light I set the distributor to 10-12 degrees BTDC.  It was already very close so it looked like timing is not part of the problem.  Ignition timing anyway...  Cam timing may be a different story.