My Swiss 1972 S30 240Z rebuild project

[JDMjunkies.ch]

I continued with the rear-axle disasembly and i've come pretty far, even if progress is seriously slow. i think that's the disadvantage when you don't have a clue what you're doing :)

anyway i need your help once again:

1) How can i remove these two bushings (marked blue) on the rear arms?

2) How can i remove the center Wheel-Hub lock bolt (marked green)

I tried a lot of different things but nothing works - Argh. so i thought i might ask before i destroy something expensive..

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Sometimes you do something, break something and then think about how you should have done it right.. that's what i actually did a few times now :) Three days of work short:

Day 1 - Thursday: The Spindle Pin lock bolt pain:

Everything started easy - removed a lot of brackets, mounts and brake-lines / Hoses:

 

 

 

 

 

Now here's where trouble started: The Spindle Pin lock bolt (in the Center): Curiously it's mounted the other way then mentioned in the Manual (See below) so i wasn't really sure how to get it out...

 

 

Tried to hammer it out but didn't work. It made me angry so i put a lot of penetrating oil to it and let it soak overnight..

 

Day 2 - Friday: The Spindle pin pain:

Well after hammering hard i finally got that damn spindle pin security bolt out - as you see it was mounted the wrong way previously:

 

removed some drum-brake hardware as well:

 

Now next problem: How can i disconnect the spindle-pin that holds the Rear lower control arm bars together with the rear suspension bases? tried a lot of things until i gave up and decided to ask around first before i destroy more (See last post also)

 

Day 3 - Saturday: Finally success by doing it the "raw" way:

Decided to start with something different. My Friend Stefan borrowed me a set of his suspension spring removal tools (Thank's mate!), so i removed all the suspension springs from the dampers first (Front and rear, pictures shows only front - sorry...)

 

 

 

Now back to the spindle pin:

Alex Straffin from the Dirty S30 Blog (Check it out) told me there's a special tool for the Spindle pin removal - see his post about how it's used: http://dirtys30.blog...-search-results

 

But finally i wanted to get it done soon and i wasn't really in mood to buy a tool from overseas again.. i googled... and i found this (really terrible but simple) way to do it:

http://www.atlanticz...rend/index.html

 

And then i had to decide... I've destroyed one of the spindle pin's threads anyway, because i tried to hammer it out first on friday.. (argh..)

 

so i thought i'll have to replace them both anyway, so why don't just cut them apart like described in the link above? :)

 

Yeah! They're apart :)

 

Had to hammer the pin out then (Wasn't too easy..) and here you have it - in three pieces:

 

So that's how work looked at the end of today's three hours of work :)

 

Next problem: How to get the bushings out uf the rear control arms. but i allready have some ideas (like using a saw or burn them out, etc.. you'll see :D). proably even the mashine-shop at my work have a press to push 'em out. and regarding the center wheel-hub lock bolt (See last post) i'll try to get a local garage with a big rattle-gun to turn them out - we'll see :) thanks all for your help and even if it's not the most beautiful way to do things. im pretty happy with the results :D

[BRYAN503]

Wow, keep up the great work! Are you planing on powder coating everything once you'r done?

 

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Thank's Bryan :)

I think so, yeah. seems like the the previous paint is some rattle-can job or something. really bad. they just painted everything. like the inside of the brake-drum etc.. and they painted really bad too.. (lot of runs,..)

I thought i'll give all the parts a sandblast and will get them powder-coated in a satin black color. Parts should be like new after that :) but i won't do it on my own. (Me + Paint = bad idea :P)

[WagDatto]

Thank goodness, I was going to say if not powdercoat, get everything repainted at least!! The red and gold color combo is horrendous and needs to be changed! Go for a darker color, but don't do black. Black is boring! Get a charcoal or a dark metallic silver... Boss!! Would look killer, and wouldn't show the dirt and grime as bad as the red.

[BRYAN503]

Thank goodness, I was going to say if not powdercoat, get everything repainted at least!! The red and gold color combo is horrendous and needs to be changed! Go for a darker color, but don't do black. Black is boring! Get a charcoal or a dark metallic silver... Boss!! Would look killer, and wouldn't show the dirt and grime as bad as the red.

 

Yep, silver would be rad!

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Thank's guys. not sure about the color so far, but defiintly something dark. Think genuine is black, right? don't want to keep it too blingy here :D we'll see.. have to decide it when i have all the parts ready for powder-coating..

 

On we go :) Wanted to do as much as possible today, and that's what i did. for all other works i need to buy special tools, or help from a machine shop or garage.. But im happy with todays result of 2 hours of work:

1) Started to unbolt the suspension damper nuts (wrong tool i know, but didn't have tools so big..)

 

Surprise, surprise: Found these Belgian-made Monroe aftermarked dampers in the rear:

 

and these Tokico where in the front (genuine maybe? don't know..). Will replace all dampers anyway.. :)

 

2) Hammered out the rear wheel studs then (Sorry for the blurry pic)

 

3) Started to unbolt the Front brake disks fron the wheel bearing (as you can see - a lot of spiderwebs. they' haven't been in use for a long time :D)

 

and removed:

 

4) after hammering out the front wheel studs (sorry, forgot to make a picture, same as rear) i started to remove the rear drum brake slave cylinder (or what this thing is called):

 

 

and finally - all the stuff out!! :D You can see i wasn't able to remove the suspension damper on one side, even if i soaked it in penetration oil through the night and resprayed today. Will need to buy a 51mm wrench tomorrow so i can handle this soon.. stay tuned :)

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Hi there. Just placed an order for this lovely genuine brand-new Kakimoto 3100 Valve cover over at Kakimoto japan a few days ago. Sadly they told me they don't have it in stock and will only start to produce a small amount again if they get about 10-20 orders. So if anyone is seriously interrested (this thing costs about 1000$ shipped) and has the money, please let me know. if we get enough interrested people together i'll contact you all with more information! Would be great!! I really need this :)

 

 

 

 

More information on the kakimoto site:

http://www.kakimotor...ineparts_l.html

[Wide14u]

its coming apart really nice

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Today i went to the local tire shop which is owned by an older guy who was a rallye mechanic in an old MINI rallye team years ago and has a quite cool collection of small old UK cars.. sadly i forgot to take the camery with me.. anyway. While i tried about an hour to remove the center rear wheel bearing nuts with ne success they where able to remove it within a few seconds with a rattle gun at (at full torque setting :D). Great :)

 

Now on the other hand even they wheren't able to remove the front suspension damper nut (you remember, that one that was stuck) i've tried a few different things like heating, soaked it a few nights in penetrating oil and mounetd the nut at my work bench, nothing worked. the guys at the shop didn't have big enough tools big enough either, so they recommanded me to go to a truck shop who might have bigger tools. Ok - i'll do that on monday. tomorrow i'll be off to some interresting "red bull race day" - expect a full feature on my blog (http://www.JDMjunkies.ch) :)

And that's what i did yesterday - nothing important, but saves a bit space on the shelve :D

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Let's start yesterday: i took the stuck front suspension to a local Bus-Garage and they didn't have a 51mm wrench either, but they hat some serious big tube-wrench and a very strong looking guy there, so he was able to upen up the stuck nut in no time :)

Last suspension damper now removed:

Today i decided to continue with the rear wheel bearings, but after i removed the center lock nut:

and these nuts (i think they only secure the rear shield):

i wasn't able to remove the bearing so i decided to ask and take a look at the Manual before i use that hammer again and destroy something :)

So i decided to switch to the fun part: Remove the rubber bushings from the control arms:

Before:

removed the Screw and heated the whole rubber stuff with a little propane-torch until it began to burn on its own:

After that it was no problem to remove the inner Metal-sleeve with a plier. And after the inner sleeve is removed it was no problem to remove the rubber-bushing with a crappy screwdriver. Not the most proffessional method but works fine :)

I decided to keep the outer sleeve there at the moment, because it seems that some aftermarket bushing kits require the genuine outer sleeve installed so before i decide which bushing-kit i use i save them. if i don't need them i'll cut them out.

Ded the same at the rear:

will need to do the same procedure on the moustache bar bushings, but i saved that job for another day :)

And that's how i ended up today - soon ready for a sandblast and powder-coat job:

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Yeah, the little grease monkey got back to work today, and he was able to get a lot done - so im really happy with today's progress. but i'll let the pictures talk:

1) Removed the rack & Pinion top rubber seal and the lower grease reservoir stuff:

next i removed both grease reservoir drain plugs:

then the two spring-rings that hold a little bearing down:

and ended up like this, beacuse i wasn't able to get the both end-links off #@ç#!"*ç% :-)

 

2) Second i started with the moustache bar bushings. Before:

Burning:

And both sides removed :)

 

3) Step three on today's 2do-list was the most difficult stuff, because i've never done anything like this before. but thanks to Alex from the http://dirtys30.blogspot.com/ Blog's tips it was quite easy! Thanks mate :)

Hammered out the stub axles with a copper hammer (a brass hammer was recommanded, but none of my tool shops had one. but copper is also soft and worked fine with no damage on the threads). after a few hard hits the stub axles came out fine:

then i took away those drumbrake inner shields:

next i removed the inner rubber seal (was the most difficult task, but worked fine with a tube-plier (what we call it here :D):

So that's what you can see now:

Inner wheel bearing (underneath that rubber seal, view from other side):

And the outer wheel bearing (on the stub axles):

Used one of those cut-apart spindle pins to hammer the inner bearing out, worked really well :)

Out it is:

and that's how i ended up after 2,5 hours work. not bad i think. despite the fact i have no idea what im doing here and never have done anything like this before :)

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Today i started with something simple:

1) Disassembled the part that is called "Link mount brace" in the service manual:

Before:

 

After:

 

2) A few days ago i bought this Bearing removal kit (Trennmesser-satz in german) on a local online auction platform for about 100$ so i had to try it :) (Oh and also bought some cleaning pads i will use soon..)

 

Set up:

 

Installed:

 

And... tadaaaa: Both rear outer wheel bearings removed - Great tool!!

 

3) Now decided to remove the front inner wheel bearings.. Before:

 

removed the rubber seal (simplest way is to cut it appart with a wire-cutting-plier)

 

take out the bearing then:

 

I left the bearing races in there for now, will do that later... and how it looks after when that ton of grease is removed:

 

4) removed both rear axles (whas quite a bit of a task because those nuts where REALLY stuck)

 

5) continued with the rack and pinion assambly. loosened the lock-nut and removed the ball joints (not sure if these spot-welds are factory made - anyone knows this??)

 

figured out the steering rack base was broken at where the rubber bushings are mounted:

 

And that's how i ended up today:

 

Now i don't want to take too much more apart otherwise i loose the overwiew over all those parts. so i made a big order at MSA a few days ago and also still waitingi for some parts from japan. still have to decide about the suspension setup but i'll try to refurbish and assemble all the parts im sure they will be used again as soon as possible. so i can store the parts ready for install when needed - still need to collect a few parts. :-)

[DARIN 510]

Only problem with the group buy for the kakimoto valve cover on Ratsun is that everyone on here is a bunch of cheap assess.

[JDMjunkies.ch]

@ Darin, hahaha - ok - thanks for the Information then :)

 

Spent about an hour with my Dremel-tool today. Bought a set of different whire-wheels and wanted to clean up the outer bushing shells at the moustache bar and the rear suspension arm bars.. Worked pretty well, but still needs some work...

before and after:

 

.. because these old rubber stuff inside the shells kept killing the different wheels in no time:

 

Will complete this work before inserting the new bushings.

Ordered a lot of stuff these days for my suspension / footworks rebuild.. so more News soon again :)

[unhh]

I've been lurking the forums for a couple of weeks, and this thread in particular has convinced me that I want a Datsun project car. (Too bad I need a usable daily driver first.)

[JDMjunkies.ch]

I've been lurking the forums for a couple of weeks, and this thread in particular has convinced me that I want a Datsun project car. (Too bad I need a usable daily driver first.)

 

Thanks mate :) Just keep your goals in mind then you can acheive everything. That's what i did. i own three cars now and all of them are very rare and have a long, expensive and complicated story to tell. but who cares. i wanted it, i did it and im pretty happy with what i achieved, and don't regrett anything. so my advice: Just do it when you have the opportunity :)

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Got a little package from Japan at my door today. this time it was some soon-to-be-rare (because out of production since a few months) adjustable tie rod endlinks by http://www.nagisa-auto.com/ in Japan. Top quality stuff! looks and feels great :)

Top: old genuine Nissan end-links// Lower: New adjustable NAMS links

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Got a few tasks completed here and there today, so finally it feels like im ready for a suspension rebuild now. just waiting for a truckload of parts and soon i'll get many of these parts to the sandblasting and powdercoating company :)

1) Took the trusty cut-apart spindle pin as driver and hammered the bearing races out:

 

outer bearing races removed:

 

and the inner one too:

 

And a family photo :)

 

As you can see those races have some wear and it was kinda good idea to replace the bearings and races:

 

2) continued with the rack and pinion assembly: Tried a few things but then figured out the most easy way to remove the pinion is just to mount the steering link back to the pinion and pull it out:

 

So here we have the rack and pinion stuff disassembled - DONE :)

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Damn, those guys at MSA / Zcarparts are really fast. Ordered last friday in canada and today the package allready arrived here in switzerland - great :)

So this is what i got today, more parts are ordered, so hopefully i'll get more parts delivered soon:

 

Delivery includes:

2x Spindle Pins

2x Spindle Pin lock bolt

2x Wheel bearing lock nut

2x Ball Joints (Japanese aftermarket) + Lock nuts and pins

8x Wheel bearings + bearing races

4x Wheel bearing rubber seals

[ptown green]

Hey man nice job with this car! Your doing it the right way this car will be more than ready for the road!

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Hey man nice job with this car! Your doing it the right way this car will be more than ready for the road!

thank's mate, im trying my best :)

[DARIN 510]

And your using the best quality parts made either its by nissan or it's made in Japan. Best way to go there, I think there was someone dumbass on ratsun that said he wanted to put all American made garbage on his car. What a fucking idiot. But I can tell your car is going to come out really nice. Your doing a full ground up resto on your s30. Can't wait to see it finished. But don't you think your getting a little ahead of yourself? Your taking every nut and bolt off and you haven't started on the body yet.

[JDMjunkies.ch]

And your using the best quality parts made either its by nissan or it's made in Japan. Best way to go there,

thank's for the Input. Im a die-hard JDM fanatic and i've been in the Import scene for a few years now and have good contacts to japan. So that's just the only way i like it :) The plan is to make this car differ from the other great z-builds by using all these rare special parts sourced from some hidden japanese workshops. Some people think im an idiot when you can have the same quality for half the price, but at the end it's what makes this build so special (i think :D)

 

I think there was someone dumbass on ratsun that said he wanted to put all American made garbage on his car. What a fucking idiot. But I can tell your car is going to come out really nice. Your doing a full ground up resto on your s30. Can't wait to see it finished.

After i've seen so many different ways to "restore" a car i feel like anyone can do how he want's to, but at the end a guy who know's will know what's a well restored car and what not. im not doing this restoration for anyone - im doing it for myself and i dont want anything then the best :)

For my first "build" many years ago i only used cheap ebay-parts and only made it looking good. i ran in so many troubles caused by these mods - since then i only use quality parts and try to make it "the right way". i just had to learn the hard way :)

 

But don't you think your getting a little ahead of yourself? Your taking every nut and bolt off and you haven't started on the body yet.

well yeah - im a bit worried too if i ever can puzzle t his car back together :) but i tried my best to photo-document every nut and screw and bolt i removed. Also i tied all parts together that belong together, marked them with stickers etc.

I made this because i want to have all parts from the suspension powdercoated and replaced in one step. and that's what i do next. then i can assemble all this stuff back together and have a full suspension/Footwork setup ready and restored in my shelf to put back on the car as soon as the body is done.. And yeah - i think it will be pretty fun to puzzle all the parts back together :D

[JDMjunkies.ch]

1) Today i decided it's time to check what's really wrong with my Z and if it's possible to get it back to original condition. now i'd like to show you a little comparison between original Z and my car:

Rear end on my car:

 

Now compared to another (rusty) Z i found on the internet:

- Blue: Top rear panel is missing as well on mine and in the picture above...

- Yellow: The hole for numberplate-lighting has been closed on mine..

- Green: the lower mounts for the Number-plate panel have been removed on mine:

- Pink: I've talked about it before: They welded in some other taillight-panels into the originals..

 

2) Now i got a new replica rear top panel a while ago:

 

as you can see also the lower mounts for the upper panel are missing on my z (pictures from the same rusty car as above..)

 

What's wrong else?

There has been a lot of Patchwork "rust hiding" in the front wheel housing as well as a lot of really ugly welds:

 

More wrong-ness? of course :)

I've been told by someone else that my rear fender wasn't "round"... took a closer look and - hell yeah! someone did a really bad job when fixing the codrivers side rear fender:

 

and finally - the floor pans:

Someone just welded in som flat metal pieces istead of replacing it with replica floorpans or anything like that:

On the left side (front) you can see the flat metal piece, while in the rear (right side, behind the seat rail mount) still the genuine floor panels seem to remain.. it seems like the original floor panel still remains underneath the flat piece in front. so i will need to cut it out first and see what's below.. argh!!

But at least i feel like it's not a big problem to get it back to genuine condition as no parts have really been destroyed or something.. :)

 

 

2) decided to put in two new shelves into the garage, way cleaner and better organized now:

 

3) And while cleaning the garage i found a bag and wondered what was inside, and - haha - found a set of drumbrake-pads and springs from the Z i thought where missing - great :)