Vacation - Pt. 3

So after I got that strut cartridge housing out of my strut tube section I had to try and salvage the tube housing. After being heated and hammered on in a vise for several days I expected the part to be out of round and badly damaged.

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As you can see the walls are scored and the inner lip got pretty beat from hammering nails into it.

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Determined to solve this problem while putting forth as little effort as possible, I came up with a plan.

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I call it the "Jack Sander". lol.

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All you do is take a threaded rod and wrap sandpaper around one end of it.
And then stuff it in the tube and jack it up and down furiously until the inside is clean as a whistle!

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Works great!

I was very happy to see that after removing the rust and burrs from the walls of the tube, my Tokico Illumina strut cartridge was able to slide freely in without hangup.

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It appears to have been measured and cut perfectly! (Thank god) More info on that process later.



Moving on to the steering rack. As some of you might remember I pulled the steering rack out of the car with the outer tie rods still connected. My silly little propane hobby torch couldn't heat the nuts enough to get them to break free.

Well the end all resolution to that appears to be my new friend Mapp Gas!

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I loaded my steering rack and the tie rods into my vise and heated it until it was smoking.

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This little nut didn't stand a chance.

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Flip and repeat. Make sure that you remember that one side is reverse threaded.
The steering rack threads out and upward away from the tie rod.

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After checking my steering rack out I wasn't able to find anything wrong with it at all. Just needs a new pair of boots, a cleanup, and some new grease and she'll be up and running.

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Into the bush for these guys.

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Vacation - Pt. 2 - The Stuck Strut Cartridge

The first major issue I was forced up against over my vacation was a stuck strut cartridge.

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When disassembling my suspension, this one front strut tube was the only one that I had any issues with. We banged on it, heated it up with my new Mapp gas torch (do not do this is your strut is not already blown), and beat the ever living piss out of it from every angle.

Then we tried the hoist.

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I laid the hoist on its side, trapped the strut tube under one of the legs and started pumping.

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I actually had to sit on the thing because it was starting to bend and lift there was so much pressure applied. Even with the chain pulled tight enough to play it like a guitar string, it still didn't budge, and frankly we were afraid of what would happen if it did at that point. So we moved on.

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Later, since I was cutting and sectioning the struts any way I decided to measure out the cut points and try to cut the strut tube and the whole strut cartridge in half, hoping that it would break the cartridge free.

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That turned out to be wishful thinking.

I ended up driving out to Harbor Freight at a total loss for how to get this effing tube out, and came back with this BAMF.

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A 12 ton hydraulic press.

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While I was there I picked up a round hunk of metal to stuff through the tube and push the stuck cartridge housing out.

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Didn't work.

Not terribly upset though cause I only spent $100 on the press and now I can do my own wheel bearings. lol.

After completely giving up from hammering on this mother fucker for upwards of 6 hours, the nice little old lady that runs my local hardware store gave me the solution.


Nails.

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As you can see in the picture I just hammered about fifteen nails into the strut tube separating the cartridge housing and satisfaction was achieved.

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Tough Guy was very proud of me.

Now I can finally finish my suspension build!

Vacation - Pt.1

So as some of you know I have been on vacation all week working on my car to try and get it ready for the summer, which at the time of me writing this is 63 days 6 hours and 28 minutes away.

I have received a bunch of parts, and done a ton of work over the last week, pulling at least 6 10 hour days completely dedicated to my car's completion.

I am going to post all of my progress in chronological order, but since I have a major case of A.D.D. it is going to seem like I am all over the map.

So first things first, my sweet box of parts arrived from Motorsport Auto. (http://www.thezstore.com)

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I got new boots for my steering rack since mine were a distant memory.

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New Three Five "555" ball joints (overnighted) from Japan.

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The G-Machine tension rod bearing kit. This kit allows the tension rod to pivot instead of flex where it meets the frame. Many Z car owners have had issues with the tension rod breaking under stress. This eliminates that issue and provides more range of motion over the stock rubber TC bushing.

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And the MSA Bump steer spacers for 15" wheels.

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I have one completely sectioned and assembled strut housing for my Ground Control coilover kit.
All the parts are measured, cut, and stripped for the rest but i am waiting on my buddy Bruce to help me weld the rest of them up.

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I don't trust my welding skills with my life yet lol.

Many more updates coming daily.
Stay tuned.

Body Filler

I owe you guys a zillion updates.
But in the mean time here is a dope picture of my epic body filler job!

More 510

If you couldn't tell I've been extremely busy with work lately so the Suspension build write up is on hold.

But the good news is that John hit me with a few more pics of his 510 today.

From F*CK FAKE SH!T

From F*CK FAKE SH!T

From F*CK FAKE SH!T

My Z has a man crush on this 510.

Thanks for the pics John!

Ultra Legit 510

John from CA hit me with a pic of his absolutely STUNNING 1973 Datsun 510 last night.

From F*CK FAKE SH!T

Repping the F*CK FAKE SH!T decal no less!

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Perfect. He swapped in an S14 SR20DET Blacktop that shines like justice under that hood.

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John, this 510 blew me out of the water man.
Major props on the amazing style and build quality.

One of these days, my ride may be so lucky.


-=F*CK FAKE SH!T=-

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Suspension Build (Teaser)

This weekend my buddy Bruce, of Bruce Bruce Professional Welding Incorporated, LLC. stopped by and we hacked through getting all of the measurements together, cutting out the proper sections, and constructed one 100% successful strut tube.

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Much much more to come as I get the write up together.
This will be a multi part post and will include all of my measurement and assembly detail.

I love this crap.