Warm day- work begins!
04-23-07, 09:51 PM
#1
Warm day- work begins!
After months of brutal, depressing cold, spring has finally sprung and I took maximum advantage of the nice weather.
Since buying my new car in December, I've been hoarding parts and waiting for the opportunity to install them.
This weekend I began.
Bright and early yesterday (Sun.) I put the car up on stands and pulled the wheels.
Crawling under the chassis, I undid the speedo cable and then went into the cabin and removed the gauge cluster (it's sooo much easier with slack in the cable, you see...).
All this in preparation for installing the new Indiglo gauge faces and painting the indicator needles.
The stock orange/black gauges are hard on my old eyes at night and I'm hoping these bluish/white faces will be less taxing. If not, I have another stock cluster I can reinstall.
Whilst waiting for the needles to dry I put in a new fuel filter and lines, spark plugs and wires and cleaned the grounds in the engine bay.
Upon reassembly of the gauge cluster I also installed a Grant mahogany steering wheel- I had one in my 240Z and really liked it.
Cockpit now looks like so...
Should be interesting to see (!!) how that works out.
Next up were the hydraulics...all of 'em.
First was the clutch system- new master, slave and braided steel flex hose.
That was simple and I finished the day optimistically.
Up today were the brakes...again (almost) all new- rotors, braided lines, master cylinder, vacuum booster and rebuilt calipers (stock NA in the rear and upgrade to 4-piston Turbos in the front).
Rear done...
And the front...
.
The front rotors really kicked my ***, almost welded to the hubs and required (seemingly) endless beating from the rear with a brass mallet to break them free.
Never in all my days have I worked so hard to get a set of rotors off a bloody car...I'm guessing these might be the originals and have been getting settled in for the past 16 years, cause they surely didn't want to leave.
Perseverance paid off however and I was on to the engine bay for the rest of the system.
Here's the firewall cleaned up and ready for the booster and master cylinder...
And the rest of the hydraulics installed...
hint...
Installing the booster and master cylinder is not as easy at it might appear. Clearly, the trailing coils and the mounting bracket on the strut tower must be removed (BTW, my 91 NA did NOT have the cluster ground plug/ brass terminal under the coils- instead there was a two wire ground terminated with a ring that went under one of the two bracket bolts. Furthermore, there was a black box, much like the capacitor for the OP gauge- which I also have on the clutch slave cylinder- on the other bolt...go figure) but even so, room is tight.
It didn't seem possible to pre-mount the master cylinder to the booster and weasel them both into position, so I mounted the booster first and the master afterwords. Be careful when threading the three hard lines into the master- especially the front underside one- as they are very easy to cross thread. I found it easiest to start them by hand prior to fully seating the master onto it's two mounting studs.
Even then it's no fun, neither is getting the nut started on the stud behind the proportioning valve but it can be done.
Bleeding was boring but went smoothly and at last I was again on the road.
Tomorrow on the way to work I'll detour to a place that will allow a couple of sustained braking maneuvers and begin to bed in the new Hawk brake pads.
Next weekend I'll rebleed the brakes and should be good to go.
Up next is a Racing Beat catback exhaust but first I have to scrounge up the heatshields that are missing (thanks for nothing, previous owners...).
Since buying my new car in December, I've been hoarding parts and waiting for the opportunity to install them.
This weekend I began.
Bright and early yesterday (Sun.) I put the car up on stands and pulled the wheels.
Crawling under the chassis, I undid the speedo cable and then went into the cabin and removed the gauge cluster (it's sooo much easier with slack in the cable, you see...).
All this in preparation for installing the new Indiglo gauge faces and painting the indicator needles.
The stock orange/black gauges are hard on my old eyes at night and I'm hoping these bluish/white faces will be less taxing. If not, I have another stock cluster I can reinstall.
Whilst waiting for the needles to dry I put in a new fuel filter and lines, spark plugs and wires and cleaned the grounds in the engine bay.
Upon reassembly of the gauge cluster I also installed a Grant mahogany steering wheel- I had one in my 240Z and really liked it.
Cockpit now looks like so...
Should be interesting to see (!!) how that works out.
Next up were the hydraulics...all of 'em.
First was the clutch system- new master, slave and braided steel flex hose.
That was simple and I finished the day optimistically.
Up today were the brakes...again (almost) all new- rotors, braided lines, master cylinder, vacuum booster and rebuilt calipers (stock NA in the rear and upgrade to 4-piston Turbos in the front).
Rear done...
And the front...
.The front rotors really kicked my ***, almost welded to the hubs and required (seemingly) endless beating from the rear with a brass mallet to break them free.
Never in all my days have I worked so hard to get a set of rotors off a bloody car...I'm guessing these might be the originals and have been getting settled in for the past 16 years, cause they surely didn't want to leave.
Perseverance paid off however and I was on to the engine bay for the rest of the system.
Here's the firewall cleaned up and ready for the booster and master cylinder...
And the rest of the hydraulics installed...
hint...
Installing the booster and master cylinder is not as easy at it might appear. Clearly, the trailing coils and the mounting bracket on the strut tower must be removed (BTW, my 91 NA did NOT have the cluster ground plug/ brass terminal under the coils- instead there was a two wire ground terminated with a ring that went under one of the two bracket bolts. Furthermore, there was a black box, much like the capacitor for the OP gauge- which I also have on the clutch slave cylinder- on the other bolt...go figure) but even so, room is tight.
It didn't seem possible to pre-mount the master cylinder to the booster and weasel them both into position, so I mounted the booster first and the master afterwords. Be careful when threading the three hard lines into the master- especially the front underside one- as they are very easy to cross thread. I found it easiest to start them by hand prior to fully seating the master onto it's two mounting studs.
Even then it's no fun, neither is getting the nut started on the stud behind the proportioning valve but it can be done.
Bleeding was boring but went smoothly and at last I was again on the road.
Tomorrow on the way to work I'll detour to a place that will allow a couple of sustained braking maneuvers and begin to bed in the new Hawk brake pads.
Next weekend I'll rebleed the brakes and should be good to go.
Up next is a Racing Beat catback exhaust but first I have to scrounge up the heatshields that are missing (thanks for nothing, previous owners...).
04-24-07, 08:22 AM
#3
The calipers I bought from the classifieds ($60, cleaned and painted) and installed the seal kits myself (kit from Mazdatrix- forgot the price, it's been a while).
Front rotors came from Napa and were $24 apiece.
Rear rotors came from SpooledupRacing and cost $75 shipped for the pair (I think they've since gone up to $85).
For some reason all the local stores (Napa, Autozone, etc.) listed the rear rotors at absurd prices (Napa wanted $175 apiece!) and others (Checker) claimed there was no difference between the Turbo and NA rotors (one is vented the other solid).
Since my car has no street racing pretentions I didn't see the point in upgrading to Turbo vented rotors as it would have required new rear calipers to match.
The master cylinder pricing was equally as confusing- I was quoted anywhere from $225 (Napa and Mazdatrix) down to $90 something for a reman from Checker.
I found a new ("New! Not remanufactured!" prominently displayed on the box) one from IPW (local store in Denver) for just $74 and it included the reservoir but not the brake fluid level sensor ( I just reused the one from my original).
I'm no expert on the theory of brake hydraulics and may have to switch to the larger bore Turbo MC to take full advantage of the 4-piston calipers.
The car stops just fine now but the pedal is not as crisp as I'd hoped- a rebleed may solve this, I've got my fingers crossed.
Front rotors came from Napa and were $24 apiece.
Rear rotors came from SpooledupRacing and cost $75 shipped for the pair (I think they've since gone up to $85).
For some reason all the local stores (Napa, Autozone, etc.) listed the rear rotors at absurd prices (Napa wanted $175 apiece!) and others (Checker) claimed there was no difference between the Turbo and NA rotors (one is vented the other solid).
Since my car has no street racing pretentions I didn't see the point in upgrading to Turbo vented rotors as it would have required new rear calipers to match.
The master cylinder pricing was equally as confusing- I was quoted anywhere from $225 (Napa and Mazdatrix) down to $90 something for a reman from Checker.
I found a new ("New! Not remanufactured!" prominently displayed on the box) one from IPW (local store in Denver) for just $74 and it included the reservoir but not the brake fluid level sensor ( I just reused the one from my original).
I'm no expert on the theory of brake hydraulics and may have to switch to the larger bore Turbo MC to take full advantage of the 4-piston calipers.
The car stops just fine now but the pedal is not as crisp as I'd hoped- a rebleed may solve this, I've got my fingers crossed.
04-24-07, 09:46 AM
#5
Thanks.
The engine bay I've been cleaning as I go (PurplePower FTW!) and the interior was stripped to the bone and reassembled.
The wheelwells got scrubbed a few weeks ago as I took stock for the brake upgrade.
Sadly, the exterior panels have a multitude of dings and dents, one of the previous owners was an aspiring drifter (apparently he really sucked...) the worst of which is a nice big dent in the middle of the passenger rocker panel.
Looking for a set of Turbo sideskirts to cover this up, the fenders, doors and hood I'll replace as I find Blaze Red parts in good condition.
On my way to work just now I also discovered that in heavy rain the windshield (which is cracked) leaks pretty badly...wonder what that's gonna cost?
The engine bay I've been cleaning as I go (PurplePower FTW!) and the interior was stripped to the bone and reassembled.
The wheelwells got scrubbed a few weeks ago as I took stock for the brake upgrade.
Sadly, the exterior panels have a multitude of dings and dents, one of the previous owners was an aspiring drifter (apparently he really sucked...) the worst of which is a nice big dent in the middle of the passenger rocker panel.
Looking for a set of Turbo sideskirts to cover this up, the fenders, doors and hood I'll replace as I find Blaze Red parts in good condition.
On my way to work just now I also discovered that in heavy rain the windshield (which is cracked) leaks pretty badly...wonder what that's gonna cost?
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
sherff
Adaptronic Engine Mgmt - AUS
9
02-24-19 12:09 PM
LunchboxSA22
2nd Generation Specific (1986-1992)
37
10-26-15 10:53 AM