I'm having the similar problem in my DD. I just a complete set and it seems my caliper is sorta sticking and causing wierd noise and some vibration in the front. I'm confused because a caliper is simple. a seal and dust boot... WTF!

Anyway, after looking at new calipers I found this.

http://s7d9.scene7.com/is/content/GenuinePartsCompany/1233306pdf?$PDF$

My kit had new stainless flex lines and I bled the system well. I've never had a problem with the proportioning valve in any car I've ever owned but, could this thing be it? Maybe your problem too?

 

when you eliminate all possibilities, whatever remains, no matter how unlikely, must be the truth... good advise for fixing cars actually.

i can think of three possibilities.

the first is that it is, indeed the REAR brakes. drums like to pull, and the self adjusters never work.

number two is a bad brake hose, i rather think these are new, but if not, the German ones fail on the inside, so it acts like a check valve, and you can get pulls from the hose not being a hose sometimes. the Japanese ones fair much better..

three, its the work of one James Moriarty!

 

You just clashed vulcan and holmes? Idk whether to curse you to hell with the wolves or buy you a nice romulan ale

 

what?

 

Ok i thought you were doing a star trek/sherlock holmes reference but apparantly not

 

lmao, wouldn't be the first time i made a reference by accident, where is the star trek part? are you saying Sherlock Holmes, and Spock are the same person? that is an intriguing theory

 

IIRC, the engineers now employ individual rear braking for yaw control - I would have to suspect that one of the rear drums is not working correctly. The front disc do 70-90% of the brake work, so you are only seeing the effects when under heavy braking.

 

Star Trek Part is the first part, Spock in star trek said that a couple times, and IIRC Sherlock Holmes Alter Ego is James Moriarty

Let the geek slams begin!

 

Professor Moriarty is actually a charactor from Star Trek: The Next Generation starting in the episode "Elementary Dear Data".

I have the entire ST: TNG series on DVD.

 

Allow me to interrupt the Holmes trivia contest with a few updates.

Good news or bad news first, hmmm?

OK, bad.
When my windshield was installed, I had prepped the area before he came by removing all the trim.
Thought I was doing him a favor and anyway, I wanted to refurb the side seal trim while it was off.
When he arrived I showed him the pieces, explained how they fit and showed him the issue we would face (this ain't my first front glass rodeo) with the wider generic trim he'd be using.
Basically, the L-shaped cap/trim pieces at the top corners won't slide over the wider rubber piece without trimmage and I said I'd take care of it after I'd beautified the stock parts and was ready to install them.
For some reason, he cut the top rubber seal so short that the side trim won't even reach, there's a 1" gap on both sides.
Yesterday they sent a new installer who said he couldn't easily fix it, the whole piece of glass has to come out and he wasn't willing to try until he had a backup windshield on hand, in case it broke.
Supposedly they are searching for a replacement but I'm guessing this will turn into a clusterfuck of recriminations and delays.
Oh vey.

Good news (kinda)...
As we trial fit the Prelude seat(s), two things became apparent- we going to lose headroom with any seat we try and our steering wheel was way too close to the driver.
Headroom will be dealt with (and subsequently, lived with) as we get serious about the mount and normally we'd just get a Momo wheel and hub, but finances don't allow for that now.

So I decided to use bits and bobs to make my own hub assembly and surprisingly, it's going well.
The major machining work is done and it looks like the new assembly will be about 35mm shorter than the current setup, which is a major change to a critical touch point.
The only remaining hangup is fitting the horn button which for a variety of reasons is proving difficult. In fact, a center mount horn button (I'm using a stock Momo button and trim ring) may not be possible at all but I can't tell without the car present to check.

The only other concern- which I'm completely ignoring- is that unlike the Momo hub, mine has no "crumple zone", it ain't moving in an impact, your chest will lose that battle.
Living dangerously, one day at a time.

 

But The Truth is Out There. I know, because I Want to Believe.

 

OK, now I'm waiting for some Archer quotes.

 

lol! i think Spock may have been quoting holmes, unless that time travel episode was real...

i swear i had something for this?

 

Not bad, I was expecting a Danger Zone reference.

 

Quick pics after first full assembly:




Normally the horn button is flush with the face of the wheel but in my case the hub was too short (the end of the shaft and the nut fill that space), so I made a 3/8" spacer to raise the horn button away from contact.
Now we're discussing whether the wheel center should be black or silver.
I'm leaning towards black myself...

 

When I was pulling every last bit of trim off my car years ago, that is how my windshield got a chip that developed into a foot long crack. The top rubber piece was obviously caked in there. I had to give it a little tug and voila! Chip and crack.

 

The windshield saga is ongoing but at least, not stalled.
I'm ordering a OEM Mazda top rubber trim strip and we'll see how to graft it in when it shows up next week.

The steering wheel is a qualified success, more about that later (like a couple of days).

Our first work day in a long time was excellent.
Weather wasn't awful and we got the Honda seat mounted in the Z.
On the driver side anyway, and that's the hard one.

Sigfrid had the vision and made it happen, nearly to the end I was still skeptical.
But it's bloody great.

Now, to be sure, these are not the final seats we'd like to have. We can do better and as money and opportunity allow, we shall.
But for now their flaws (mostly aesthetic) pale in comparison to the better support and position and we've come that much closer to getting the ergonomics finalized.
S. is going to work on the passenger side this weekend and we'll meet up again next week to get some hardware we need and pull some seat belts from the yard.

Pics then.

 

I'm pleasntly surprised to announce that Sigfrid got the passenger seat mounted (well, "90%", according to him)and it was much easier than the driver side. The cat hump in the trans tunnel is on the driver side in the Z and required some sledgehammer persuasion for our seat swap.
Supposedly (and I have no reason to doubt...), they sit square and at the same height, look OEM according to S.
Again I'll emphasize that we hope to get better seats eventually but these are so much nicer than the stockers that the shortcomings are easily overlooked for now.
Just need seatbelts.

Meanwhile, I struggle with the steering wheel.
My preference is to use some OEM wheel, as opposed to the theoretically simpler option of aftermarket and hub. Remember that I've used Lexus switchgear, so a Z-specific hub doesn't automatically work either- the TS cancel and horn slipring must be adapted.
What kills me is that I have a mint condition Nissan branded wheel that would perfectly suit our dash/seats but I cannot see a way to make it fit the Z. At least not with our tooling and fab capabilities.
I've begun wondering how difficult it would be to swap out the entire column assembly to get us a more common spline/diameter shaft that would accept more wheels.

Meanwhile, I've been dithering away on the FC engine.
I could install it now if I needed to but as long as the installed engine keeps going (Good girl!)
and the state doesn't drag me in for an etest next month, I'd prefer to continue playing with the intake and gather more money for some fun stuff.

Weather has been exceptional (in the 60's), so at least we've not been suffering too badly as we work.

 

Sigfrid and I plan to meet at the yard later this week to find seatbelts but I was passing by this morning and decided to get a head start.
Got distracted immediately by the Holy Grail or the junkyard...a beautiful, near mint OEM steering wheel. Wheels and seats are exceedingly difficult to find in good condition, this may be the nicest I've ever run across...the lust was intense and swift.

I tried this a few years ago and purchased the special tools required to remove VAG wheels, so I was prepared even.

It's off a 1999 Audi A4 and checks all the boxes for an OEM steering wheel...thumb *****, fat rim, leather and three spokes. I thought it was so perfect that initially I figured I put it on my FC and then adapt the Speed6 wheel I have to fit the Z, but that seems like too much work and I'll begin by trying to make it work for Sigfrid. If I'm careful, I can make it work later on the FC...assuming the Datsun mod fails.

Horrible pic follows:

 

What is that pockmark on the bottom spoke???

 

I think there was some sort of 3D badge thingie stuck in that recess...t'was gone when I got there.
Pretty sure it was factory, just don't know what it was.

There were a few more Audis in the yard and I'll check them next time.

 

it might have had an S4 badge there? or such like. audi has some equivalent to the BMW M badge too

 

Well, the machining of the Z Momo-type hub is finished and it's bolted to the Audi wheel, ready for a test fit.
The hub is fit from the inside of the wheel instead of the rear, which should move the wheel closer to the dash, further from the driver. I'm hoping for about an inch...the ergonomics improve and the column switchgear moves back also, hopefully eliminating a gap between the clamshell trim and the dash.

I have conceived, and have the parts for, the turn signal cancel and horn functions, but haven't made them yet. There was a 1" tall boss cast around the center of the Audi hub, which I had to remove but need to sand/grind flush...and all my tools are at Sigfrid's. Once that's done and I have a flat surface to work with, the rest is cake.

I couldn't help but think about adapting this wheel to my FC as I labored to make it work on S.'s car and played around with my collection of wheels (now down to five) to see what was what. Looks easily doable if I sacrifice the Mitsubishi wheel I ran long ago, cannibalize it's center section. In fact, I think it'd be way easier than what I just did.

I'm going to keep an eye out for another A4 wheel but as I said before- good wheels are super rare in the yard. I mean, consider all the conditions you want to meet: I want black, preferably leather, no glaring cosmetic flaws, fat rim w/ thumb ***** and an intact airbag/center pad. I'd guess that in a normal year my yard might see 20-30 Audi A4's, so my donor pool is quite small.

And yes, I could just Ebay or CL the wheel but I walked out of the yard with this piece for $37 complete and I'll not see such a deal anywhere else.
Because poor.

 

I prefer the term industrious, in your case that is. You always seem to find some gems while hunting the yards.

 

Thank you, very kind.

The Audi steering wheel is indeed, a gem.
I met Sigfrid at the yard today (only his second time there) and test fit the wheel...which is perfect. The interior is really starting to come together.
Now I can finish up the mods to complete the swap (TS and horn) and will take it over Sunday for final install.

We were at the yard to get seatbelts and ended up with a set from a Honda.
I'm not convinced they are what we want but are certainly a start. Many times I find you need to just get something in place before you can see how to optimize the result.
In our case we have the stock mount points and few- if any- alternate options.
Our upper mount is on top of the strut tower and the retractor reel lies horizontally.
Turns out, the Honda reel is meant to sit vertically and the inertial lock only works in that orientation.
Learn something new every day.

I think we'll go back and look at rear seat setups...I think their reels might be better for our application.
No big deal, the pair of belts (w/ receivers) was $13.