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I have the Noltec camber plates on stock struts right now, I don't see any reason why any camber plate wouldn't work with stock struts.
I believe different brand struts have different size OD ends. When i got my ground control ones i had to specify what struts i was using so they could include the appropriate spacers. I also remember something about needing to machine the strut ends for certain combos.
Also, where did you get your Noltecs? Do they still make them?? Got a link?
I believe different brand struts have different size OD ends. When i got my ground control ones i had to specify what struts i was using so they could include the appropriate spacers. I also remember something about needing to machine the strut ends for certain combos.
Also, where did you get your Noltecs? Do they still make them?? Got a link?
Got them from a friend, unforunately they are no longer made/only available in Australia. They came with 2 sets of spacers for the bearings
Finished up replacing my wheel bearings, also replaced the rotors and brake pads at the same time. Just got done breaking in the brakes so I was paying more attention to that, but I'd say replacing the wheel bearings was worth it. It's an easy job assuming you have a bearing packer and a race driver/punch. I used a fish scale I bought online to set the pre-load on the bearings. It's scary how little is actually holding your wheel on!
Here are my impressions: Seems like there may be less play in the steering, maybe ~1mm or so. Hard to say, could be in my head, so don't quote me on that. In general I think the steering feels a bit tighter and more responsive, and I feel like I have better road feedback. Maybe it's all in my head though. The wheel bearings that were in there seemed nasty, but hard to say whether they were bad or not. Since I was already replacing the rotor too, I didn't bother taking them out to examine. Will have to drive the car some more to make a final assessment though.
Okay, took the car out again today. I don't think any steering play has been removed, seems about the same. However, the steering feels much tighter and the feedback feels better. The car is getting nicer and nicer to drive everyday. I also figured out what was causing the car to pull to the left when braking. The driver's side drum cylinder is leaking quite badly. While the shoes still move, I think they're getting covered in fluid and basically not braking how they should. I ordered the part and will be replacing that. Interestingly enough the pulling had nothing to do with the front suspension.
Next step are polyurethane bushings and lower control arms!
Not exactly an item in my original list, but I installed some Federal 595 205/60-13 tires on my car yesterday and the improvement to the steering is significant. Took a nice drive through the mountains this afternoon and the steering feedback and response is much improved. The steering has a nice weight to it and feedback from the road is much more noticeable now. It's a bit heavy in the tighter turns, but honestly that's half the appeal of an older sports car in my opinion. The steering is really a joy to use through the twisty mountain roads.
I did notice on a few turns I got what sort of felt like a vibration from the front wheels, trying to figure out if it was just the steering misbehaving, more feedback from the new tires, or starting to lose grip due to the roads which were quite wet.
Well hopefully tomorrow I will get the rest of my suspension in, I doubt I'll finish though. Laid everything out today:
I will be cutting the bushings out of the control arms to put in the polyurethane. Does anyone know the correct orientation for the polyurethane bushings?
Well I'm finally done with everything on my list, or most everything that is. Today I finished up with the following items: new lower control arms (with new ball-joints obviously), polyurethane lower control arm bushings, polyurethane tension rod bushings and the Racing Beat front sway-bar. The install for these items was time-consuming, but really not difficult at all. Before purchasing this car, I had never really worked on a car, but now I've had the whole front suspension off of my car and know how everything works and goes together, which is really satisfying. I went for a quick drive this evening, so I'll have to do some more driving to get a better idea, but the changes are very noticeable. Every little bump or change in road surface is communicated now, the ride is not harsh or anything though. I didn't really notice a change in steering feel or feedback, but the road where I drove the car has really only gradual turns, so I'll have to get the car into the mountains to re-evaluate this. The car turns-in very quickly and there is very little body-roll at all. Over bumps the car hardly moves at all, and seems very poised and firm.
With regards to the install, everything was pretty straight-forward, and like I said, really wasn't too difficult. The "bushing-bracket" for the sway-bar is too small to get over the bushing supplied, so I hit the bracket with a hammer enlarging it a tiny bit, at least enough to get it over the bushing and installed onto the sway-bar bracket. Getting the tension rods attached to the control arms and the endlinks attached to the control arms required jacking various points of the suspension up, because they sit too far apart once everything is taken off. I wanted to try installing the sway-bar without clearancing the frame-rail. There are no clearance issues on the passenger side, but the bar is definitely touching the frame-rail on the driver side. I'm unsure if I want to take it off and actually clearance it. There are not sounds of it grinding or anything, I think someone mentioned that this can create some handling issues, what would they be? The car felt quite good, so I'm trying to figure out if it's worth the effort. I don't mind doing it, but I wanted to try first without cutting anything. The odd thing is, the front end of the car "feels" like it's sitting higher now. It's not, you can get out and it's clearly at the normal ride height, but it feels higher while driving. My guess is the polyurethane bushings do not sag as much so it appears to sit higher while driving, I don't know. Anyone have any ideas?
Overall on-center play is now 14mm. That's a little over half an inch for those of you following at home. I'm pretty happy with this, and there's certainly no reason to adjust the steering box, the play is well within the factory specs. The steering feels linear and smooth, well weighted and is a joy to drive through the mountains. On-center feel leaves a lot to be desired, but the steering is so good everywhere else, that it's really not worth complaining about. I'm really happy with the changes I've made and the car handles really well and is a ton of fun to drive. All in all, the most noticeable change was actually the tires. Everything else wasn't that bad. The bushings and sway-bar was the second most noticeable.
Sorry if this has already been covered, but after doing everything else, using really heavy gear oil in the steering box helps a bit. I mean forget what the workshop manual specifies, as heavy as you can find.
Im currently using 140 weight diff oil that i had on the shelf.
I dont know if there is a similar product on the US market but there is this stuff https://www.penriteoil.com.au/produc...id_products=90 which is basically a self levelling grease.
Sorry if this has already been covered, but after doing everything else, using really heavy gear oil in the steering box helps a bit. I mean forget what the workshop manual specifies, as heavy as you can find.
Im currently using 140 weight diff oil that i had on the shelf.
I dont know if there is a similar product on the US market but there is this stuff https://www.penriteoil.com.au/produc...id_products=90 which is basically a self levelling grease.
I'm glad you brought this up. I've been wondering about this for some time. Realistically the oil in my steering box is 30+ years old. I can't find a ton of evidence of people changing the oil on our cars. I've read about people having success with changing to a heavier oil with different cars, but you're the first I've seen to mention it. I really want to try this. It may just be my imagination, but sometimes I feel like the steering gets better as I'm driving the car. Maybe it's the oil heating up? Maybe it's just going between rack and pinion and recirculating ball, which both have different feels and require you to drive differently. Regardless, how does the heavier oil improve the steering, reduce play, increase responsiveness? I'd like to know if anyone else has had luck with doing this. I have no problem pumping the oil out of the steering box and putting some new oil in, I just don't want to go to the effort if it has no effect. I've heard the stock oil weight is too thin though, and leads to faster wear. If you look on the Datsun forums, seems to be a lot of people changing the oil.
It might be a placebo effect, but i think it does help. I'm no engineer, but i can see no reason why a set of gears that are under a fairly high torque load and virtually no rpm should have thin gearbox oil. I would almost consider just packing it with axle grease if i could be assured it wouldn't "cavitate" or fill back in as the cogs turn.
It might be a placebo effect, but i think it does help. I'm no engineer, but i can see no reason why a set of gears that are under a fairly high torque load and virtually no rpm should have thin gearbox oil. I would almost consider just packing it with axle grease if i could be assured it wouldn't "cavitate" or fill back in as the cogs turn.
Supposedly, you can get some newer oils / greases that have additives in them that will reduce wear as well. Probably something they would not have had when these steering boxes were originally built. I see no reason not to try and maximize the life of the steering boxes, since at some point we will run out of good steering boxes. I'd imagine somewhere, someone could re-manufacture the sector shaft with better than OEM strength, but I don't know of anyone who does this.
My theory is the thicker lube helps dampen the slop, as well as a bit of extra protection against wear, but I'm probably completely wrong.
I'd be looking forward to hearing other's opinions on this too.
You guys were totally right about clearancing the frame rail for the larger diameter sway bar. At the extremes of steering travel or tight mountain turns, the sway bar hits and the steering turns in much faster and in a non-linear way. It's not really unsafe, but the "binding" is pretty nasty. Once I install my springs / shocks I'm going to clearance the frame rail to remove this. I'm glad I experienced this directly, but yea you guys were totally right, should have listened
04-12-16, 12:27 PM
