desertdatsuns.net

Major work on my Scarab in progress.
Swapping diffs (3.36 LSD out, 3.9 Quaife in


Swapping rear brakes: Willwood discs out, stock drums with Hawk shoes going in. Tired of not having the handbrake. In FL wasn't a big deal, here in the mountains it's a little different!


Since I had to pull the stub axles, may as well replace inner and outer bearings:


Val's in San Diego with her sisters for a week so had to figure out how to break the axle nuts loose:

Used my barbell bar as a lever and bought a 40" 3/4 drive breaker bar with impact socket. Too easy!

While the struts are out, freshen up the paint:


and replace the worn out Bilsteins with KYBs. Look at the difference in shaft sizes! I've had KYBs on the 240 since 1988 and have been happy with them. Hope they're still as good.


And finally, swapping out the 280ZX tripod axles and companion flanges for the stock halfshafts and companion flanges.

Once all these changes are working well, gonna spring for the Futofab CV axles. Those are a bolt-in so that should go easy and will handle the HP much better than stock.

Anyway, trying to make the most of the "stay at home" period.

Look nice

Nice work Bob!!! Thanks for sharing your pictures and progress. Love hearing about the progress, and hoping we'll get a bit more participation if enough of us begin posting up again.

I've been working at home on my Roadster, but nothing as ambitious as what you're tackling. I'm almost done bending and installing new hard brake lines from the junction block on the rear axle, to both rear brake cylinders. Spent a good part of the day practicing my double flaring skills, but finally got it down pat. I've also taken off the rear taillights, reflectors and nameplates to wet sand out the bad runs in the rear panel when the car was painted 5 years ago. Finally drove me crazy enough to get it done. Next up is having a new frame bracket welded on so I can hook up the tramp rod for the first time, running from the rear axle to the frame. The welder seems to think I will notice the difference, though axle wind up would probably be more pronounced with the bigger engine.

Randy,
I enjoy doing brake lines now that I've got the Eastwood flaring tool! Gotta do all the lines on the wagon.
Sanding and buffing, great forearm workout! Ugh.
May snow here tomorrow so I'll be doing only inside stuff: press inner axle bearing & seal, install KYB strut cartridge, install spring and strut and stub axle. And if it's not too cold, do the drum brake on that side. And if I still have time, start on the other side banging out the inner bearing and seal.

I installed LED "bulbs" into my H4 headlights a bit ago. 12,000 lumens. I thought I'd better aim the headlights before I did any actual night driving so I got out the Factory Service Manual. At 33 feet the focus of the high beam should be about 5 inches lower than the center of the lamp for height. I also checked to see that they focus straight ahead. It was a little tricky getting everything "square" - then the focal points were easy to mark out on that paper. You can't see the "X"es on that paper because the lights are too darn bright.

I finished off the rear suspension refresh/mods yesterday. This is the cleanest it's looked under there since I've owned it.





Installed the MSA T/C rod kit with the nylon & aluminum on one side. Those rubber boots are a real pain!

With the softer KYB struts I was getting some tire rub on the right side so I had to do some clearancing with my grinder and flap disk. Good thing it's fiberglas. I ran masking tape along the wheel well opening to get a clear indication of where the rub was. It took a couple times to get it just right.

Once I finished the Scarab work I spent the rest of the day swapping the front struts and one CV axle on my wife's Murano. Pretty straight forward except for pulling the CV axle. Had to resort to my slide hammer with vice grip adaptor to finally get it out.

I think I'm gonna take a break from wrenching for a few days.

That’s looks really nice under there. Great work. Funny, I spent the morning replacing a rear differential on a customers Murano. Can’t believe how small they are.

This week has been very productive for me. Been concentrating on the wiring on my wife’s 510. All lights including including turn signals and flashers are done. I’m using anAmerican autowire 22 wiring harness. Very nice setup.
Also got the supercharged VG33 fired up for the first time. Still have a long way to go but pretty exciting hearing the motor fire in the car for the first time, especially with open headers.

Sounds like you've been busy. I'll have to check out that wiring package, I'm gonna need to replace the harness on my 510 wagon. How about some pics of your project?

Rob,

How are you managing hood clearance for the VG33er? That engine should be insane in a 510. You will have to call it Torque monster. lol