demo243

And… We are back on the ground!!!! Looks so good!! Before we got there though I tried to roll the rear fenders…. With no luck! Broke the fender roller- stripped the nut and all the fender did was cut into the roller… even tried the old book method… but the car isn’t heavy enough! Gave up on that - although I may not need to worry about it. Seems like as long as I have the camber dumped it might be ok. Then I added a spacer and adjusted the e brake cable as tight as it would go. Works well enough to torque the lugs… but idk about MA state inspection… ghetto but will do for now. Then bleed the brakes- quick bleeders for the win!!! Make life so much easier. Finally while it was in the air I re-made the fuel pump shield with some 1/8” aluminum. It is sandwiched between the pump mount and the body using the Nissan mounts. After that I primed the pump and fixed one fuel leak at the front carb. Then I dumped it on the ground! It went back up for a quick driveway alignment (definitely needs a pro… - tape measure was catching on the oil pan so not really accurate… and likely (definitely) have more front camber then needed). It is LOW! Exhaust flange is 1/2” off the ground! Too low I guess… didn’t make out the driveway without scraping… Back up it went! Added 1/2” to the coilovers and made it out the driveway. Dumped camber- Cleaned up and tried to push it back into the garage for the night…. Beached! Got it a little further back till the flange hit… then was stuck… Really need to tuck this exhaust… lots of room back by the crossmember- it’s a couple inches off of the cutout for the exhaust… but this is the header flange that is the issue… and more frustratingly is I have the same header as a replacement! Hopefully the exhaust shop can help… Thinking some new engine and trans mounts might help a touch to lift the the engine up a touch - need to look into it. couple of 2x4s should get it in the garage tomorrow hopefully

Wasted a bunch more time today on the rear brakes- but I think I have them sorted out. I’m not stoked on them but hopefully it works out. Bleed and e brake adjust tomorrow and we’ll find out. First I swapped the caliper back to there “proper” (left on left/ right on right sides) as I had set the brake lines up for and jacked up the control arm- short answer was that wasn’t going to work- So I ended up swapping them back to the opposite sides as recommended for the swap (also puts the bleeders up top) and then had some fun with a drill and the angle grinder. it puts a pretty sharp bend on the e brake cable but still seems to work- hopefully I can tighten it enough to work. Long story short is I should have just bought the damn Wilwoods… anyway hopefully I get a year or two out of this set up and call it good enough. That’s what I get for trying to cheap out here… Also definitely gonna have to roll the rears- tried the fender roller I have but the angle wasn’t working and the metal is pretty thick… guess I’m gonna have to go old school and try the phone book technique. till then I dumped the camber plates negative

The car is back on its wheels… not the ground yet… and not with out issue… I knew the rear brakes were likely going to be an issue, but at stock height and full droop my rework was no problem and looked like it would clear. How ever… even at full droop with the coil overs there is contact. Like I said based on witness marks from before this was potentially going to be an issue… Here it is with my reroute - there was going to be an issue with the brake bracket. I thought I took another photo but I guess not. Then I swapped the calipers back to how they were (how it is recommended for a 280zx set up) and still there are issues- I was thinking I’ll just try and shave the bracket, but looks like the cable will be the next issue…. I think I’m going to try and go back in tomorrow and swap the calipers again… another option is to potentially re drill the cable hole lower on the bracket and trim down. I think most people run a Maxima bracket - and mine is definitely not that as it is welded. I looks like the maxima brackets mount the caliper more vertical which could potentially help- but no way am I gonna find those brackets. Just frustrated… was hoping to get a couple more years out of these brakes and avoid and expensive wilwood update.

Proper 240z rotors showed up today and fixed the problem. Calipers dropper right on. Got both hubs off and rotors swapped - no big deal, just annoying to have to do it again. Once the calipers were mounted I got to work on the brake lines - the Toyota calipers (at least on my car) need a short hardline section from the caliper to the strut. The BCs come with a bracket but it is slightly different then the stock 240z one (I believe... don't exactly remember). This car also has stainless flex lines on it already... although they seem slightly short... anyway here is what I came up with. I felt the flex line coming up from the bottom gave it the most length and chance to stretch as the car compresses down ( lengthening the line). Started working on the other side, but bent the line without moving the brake nut so I need to start over. Picking up some speed bleeders tomorrow. Will hopefully get a chance to get the other front line made and get the rears mounted up tomorrow. Then its time to bleed the brakes. After that I just need to adjust the parking brake, adjust the exhaust hanger, hopefully try and roll the fenders (may need to customize my roller... otherwise need to extend the coilovers...); and finally a quick driveway front end alignment. I will likely schedule a professional alignment just to check my work and confirm camber specs but tbd... Hopefully driving it this weekend. 🤞

Flex hone showed up today so I got to work this afternoon. Spent about an hr messing around with it. The one strut the spindle dropped right in (same one that came out easy) the other one literally took an hr with the hone… ended up hitting the axles with 400 sand paper quick too to clean em up… so there goes the zinc coating… hopefully these come out again someday…. I pumped em full of grease so hoping for the best. But the rears are in! I did strip out one of the lock pins so need to call Nissan tomorrow and see if they can get me one or I’ll order it from z car depot. if anyone is dealing with the spindle pins and comes across this- get 2 flex hones; one rough and one fine grit; that should help make it a bit quicker. New rotors here tomorrow hopefully. Pick up some quick bleeders tomorrow too. Making progress . Sorry no photos. Ar least now I can get the car back on wheels and roll it around if I need it too. More to come- hoping to be driving it this weekend.

A couple things- As far as I can tell the 240z all had the same rotors, hubs, strut housings. The 260 is the bastard child, early ones are basically a ‘73 240, late ones are basically a ‘75 280, middle ones are a crap shoot. 280z changed the hubs, struts and rear stubs to beef them up a bit. There are also 3 different calipers- solid rotors, and 2 different vented rotor versions. As far as i understand the solid rotor version (pre ‘83 4x4 pickup) are a bolt on for the 240z - uses stock 240z and rotors. One may need a spacer on the 280z? Idk. The vented rotor calipers use 300zx rotors and a spacer which varies per caliper. Im using the regular 4x4 solid rotor calipers. It’s what the car came with and will be good enough for now and maybe long term too. No real plans to track the car so I doubt I’ll run out of brakes … but may want some fancy wilwoods or something someday just because.

… continued. Then came an annoying set back. Last thing I did was try and mount up the front calipers… and they didn’t fit… Grabbed one of the old rotors quick and well shit…. A quick Google and my suspicions seem correct Rock auto sent me 280z rotors. Which are 1.7” in height where as 240z are 2” in height. A quick run back to RockAuto and they do have the rotors I ordered under the ‘73 240z - although there is a note that says from 8/73 (which shouldn’t matter… since Datsun didn’t change the struts till the late 260 into 280z) - but they do have them listed as 1.7” tall. Also my car is. 8/73 car so it’s wrong on their site either way. I ordered up the proper replacements which should be here Wednesday hopefully… just annoyed I need to pull the hubs off again. Also annoyed as I’ll need to call and complain since I’m past the 30 day return window…

Got some more time out there again today. Got the rears torqued past the 159ft lbs my torque wrench goes to and called that close enough to the 180ft lbs called for and peened the nuts. Axles spin smoothly and I don’t feel any play. Then got the fronts installed. I used MSAs short bumpsteer spacer (3/4” instead of 1”)- and glad I did! Plenty of clearance- although I do wish T3 had sent the button heads instead of socket caps. Then i attempted the rears- but unfortunately the spindle pin was binding on the drivers side. Ordered a 5/8” hone to hopefully clean up the strut and solve that issue. If that doesnt work I’ll try a 5/8 bolt from fastenal- some people have mentioned since its a hair smaller it is easier. Luckily right as I gave up on that the Amazon guy dropped off my fuel fittings so I refocused on the fuel pump. It is now mounted, plumbed, and wires. Oddly I did the return soft line as well and it is 1/4 hard line but 5/16 on the tank… used a 5/16 hose with a double clamp on the hard line. May get some 1/4” inch to stretch it later on …. Also ordered some thicker aluminum to make another plate for protection out of, but this will do for now.

I have actually read that too… anyway seems to have worked fine. I “sacrificed” one of the spare muteki lugs which has a pretty good extended thread which I’m sure helped (lug still threads on smooth… but not sure I would trust it after it’s improper usage. I’ve got 7 more spare so not worried about it.

That last teal and tan car is one of my favorites! Hard bodies / frontiers are KA engines ? If I recall the one downfall of the truck engines is that the wiring harness is incorporated into the body harness… just makes it tougher to swap over. They do have the advantage of running a distributor though if you intend to carb it. I love the KA in my 510- great street engine with lots of torque down low. But KAs are getting harder and more expensive to find. Id really love to do a CA18DET swap… its an old engine but kinda like a mini RB and cheaper than SRs. A couple people have talked about the QR25 it’s kind of an interesting idea- although kind of an ugly engine in my opinion…

Struts/Coilovers are together! just need to attempt to torque the rear stubs one more time. Got them to 150ft lbs… but that’s where my torque wrench stops… also just couldn’t get any more leverage. Planning to put them on the car and try there; just one less thing to hold. Then need to peen the nuts… should have bought the Zx nuts; oops…. Meant to but ordered to quickly- why does anyone sell the old ones anyway?!? Messed around with a few other things too including the fuel pump. I think I am going to mount it in the factory location. The Carter bracket fits the of the holes just need a shield then. Threw this one together pick it the some spare metal hanging around - seems like it might rattle so considering ordering something thicker… tbd. Also ordered an AN 120 and 180 fitting to clean up that big loop of hose into the inlet. Hopefully get the struts mounted tomorrow? Will probably try and roll the fenders at the same time- hopefully the struts aren’t too short now for the tool. Then need to mount the front and rear calipers back on. Will need some new hard lines for the front Toyota calipers, but that should be quick. Bleed the brakes and we’re almost back on the ground. Just need to mess with the e brake adjustment… and I’m sure more

I used a stall mat from -edit sorry tractor supply -in my old 620- downfall is it was HEAVY… But… if you wanted to get crafty a wood floor cover would be cool. So lame that that they will give you trouble for the floor of your bed… has no effect on anything or anyone…

Few days of rain and have been battling the “plague” … but finally got back out there again today. Picked up my struts- guy did a nice job on them. Cut, blasted and welded them for $150 I can’t complain about that! I do wish he had taped things off a little better before blasting… but not damage that I can tell. I didn’t know he was going to blast them so I didn’t have them pre-masked. Spent a good hour cleaning them before paint- then masked and painted. Picked up a tap from Amazon and got lucky and was able to savage the threads on the one stub axle. Hit the other one too for good measure and the new nut threads on smoothly on both now. Grabbed a couple other tools that came in handy… clamshell? Bearing puller, and FWD bearing tools used both of them and happy to have them on hand now for future use rather then the parts store tool rental. Got my extended studs in as well- ball joint tool worked well for popping the old ones out. Was hoping to use my press to put the new ones in but the bench top one just wasn’t big enough… should have just bought the big one before… but don’t really have space for it… thankfully the Z car depot spindle tool I picked up (and broke) utilized a stud pulled so I used that instead. Also got the front bearing races in and trimmed my rear disc adapters - they are a 4 bolt plate for the 280zx calipers so require the stubs to be removed; now if (when) I decide to upgrade the brakes I won’t have to do the stubs again. Making progress toward getting the car back on the ground- most likely not tomorrow but definitely this week or next weekend.

Snuck in a little bit more time today. Was able to get all the strut towers opened up and trimmed for camber adjustments. Forgot to take a picture after paint. Not perfect… but I’ll take it as a win- best I’m going to get with a Dremel. Some people open up the rest of the “ears” which looks nice but isn’t really needed. I’ll probably end up hiding them with a T3 strut bar anyway… I know it doesn’t do much but for some reason I like the look of them on the Z. Also found someone to weld up my coilover sleeves. Drove past a neighbors house and he was working on a Chevelle, stopped to ask him and turns out he’s a welder for the power company. Dropped em off with him and should hopefully have them back for the weekend 🤞. I’ll work on prepping the hubs with studs and new bearings in the meantime.

Got some good wrench time in today. The z car depot tool showed up and I was able to get the rears off. Passenger came off no problem… driver put up a fight and ultimately destroyed the tool; but I was able to get it out. Got the rear struts striped down. Decided to pull the stubs since I couldn’t get the brake bracket off without pulling them, and can’t swap the studs with the bracket on- one of them had a click when spinning it around too… I may regret pulling them tough as one of the threads is a little buggered… I do have rusty spare so maybe I’ll clean that one up. Got three of the strut towers opened up with a hole saw. Need to do the 4th still and then open em up a little more with a grinder. Going to make some calls to welders tomorrow.