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Z31 Suspension rebuild - with pics
I'd posted this up over on the other Zcar site....these sites just aren't as active as they used to be, but hopefully this will be useful (or at least entertaining) to those contemplating a suspension rebuild on their Z....
This stuff has all been posted before I'm sure, but here's my experience with this project. Parts List: (prices do not include shipping charges) Amazon List: Moog Lower Ball Joints - $55.64 Moog Tie Rod Ends - $45.64 Moog Variable Rate Rear Springs - $43.99 KYB Front Strut Cartridges - $72.80 KYB Strut Boots - $23.86 KYB Strut Mounts - $42.54 KYB Strut Bearings - $23.86 KYB Rear Shock kit (bumpstops) - $41.21 KYB Rear Shocks - $76.80 Prothane Total Kit (bushings) - $144.68 From MSA... Cuzco Strut Tower Brace - $214.95 Parts store stuff: Duralast Ceramic Brake Pads front and rear - $61.98 Remanufactured Rear Calipers - $159.98 (after core return) Timken Front Hub Grease Seals - $11.38 Upper and lower OEM rear coil insulators - $100 One pair of OEM rear control arm bushings (because I inadvertently cut them out of one of the A- arms before realizing I needed the sleeves - $32.82 Grand Total: $1152.13. Add sales tax and shipping to all this stuff and it's north of $1200. So I started with a rust free 1985 300ZX NA car with 104k on the clock. This is a dry AZ car. For you guys who do this job on rusty cars, that's all you. I wouldn't even try it. Here's the initial parts pile. Not everything is there.... http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5008.JPG Old rear setup. All bone stock with sagging springs and a set of ancient Monroe shocks, one of which was completely blown out. http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5009.JPG Check out the awesome rotten bumpstops http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5010.JPG Disassembly started. I did the rear first because it looked harder. I was right. http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5011.JPG To remove the rear control arms there's a section of hard line attached to the arm itself, and the soft lines need to be removed from each end. Turns out I had a seized caliper on one side, and the rubber dust boots were shot, hence the need for new calipers. I was thankfully able to find the last set in Mesa, AZ at an O'Reilly's. http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5012.JPG One side gutted, sans shock. The upper shock mount has to be unbolted inside the car. The rear speaker grill and speakers need to come out to get to the mounting bolts. I found it easier to drop the whole mount rather than just the shock, and then reassemble as a unit. http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5014.JPG Arm is out! Pay attention to the bolts you take out. The inner mount has cam washers on it to set toe when the car gets aligned. http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5015.JPG After applying much fire to the rubber bushings, I was able to push out the inner sleeve. I learned as I went that if I'd burned it longer, it would have fallen out. I used a 1 lb Coleman propane cylinder with a torch head to do the bushing burning. http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5016.JPG So I have done bushings before on leaf spring setups, and you always had to remove the inner sleeve as well. Not so for the Prothane kit (whoops!). So I had to buy a couple new OEM bushings so I could salvage the sleeves. The rubber had to be burned out of these as well. http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5017.JPG So here's an extra step that I did on the first arm that I didn't have to do on the second. Pressing the new sleeves into the arm. That took just about all my little 12 ton press had! http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5018.JPG Nice shiny new rear sway bar end links from the Prothane kit. Note the cracking on the OEM rubber bushings. http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5019.JPG So since I naturally have ADD (ha!), I figured I already had the rear speakers out, and popping off the door panels isn't that hard, so out with the old stock Hitachi 20w paper speakers and in with something that sounds much better. These are a good match to the Alpine 50w x 4 head unit I have. http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5020.JPG So the stock rear spring seats were shot, so a call to Motorsports procured me some NOS pieces.... http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5021.JPG What do you think....Was it a good decision? http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5024.JPG Same for the shock bumpstops.... http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5022.JPG Rear shocks assembled and ready to install http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5023.JPG Passenger side arm back in the car with new bushings http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5025.JPG New rear coil. These Moogs were physically shorter than the stockers, but because they're progressives, the first 3 coils are more tightly wound and don't compress as much under the weight of the car. I gained back a couple inches of ride height with the new springs and have perfect camber now. It's sad that the springs were $44 and the new rubber pads cost more than twice that.... http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5026.JPG Closer to being fully assembled.... http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5027.JPG |
A note on the half shafts....they don't necessarily have to come out, but getting them out of the way makes it a lot easier. There's 6 bolts holding them to the outer flange, and plan on these suckers being TIGHT! I had to use my foot to get them broke loose...To remove from the diff, a prybar works to pop them loose. To reinstall, you need to smack them into the rear diff (a dead blow hammer works well, and monkey them around to get them to bolt up to the flange. It's easiest if the control arm is up in its compressed position when doing this rather than hanging all the way down.
Here's the shiny new rear ceramic pads... http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5028.JPG Fully assembled. I would end up removing this caliper and putting on new ones once I discovered the one on the other side was hosed. I don't believe in replacing a single caliper....if one goes bad, I replace them in pairs. http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5029.JPG OK, learning curve out of the way. I moved on to the other side and burned the bushings out and left the sleeves! http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5030.JPG New bushings installed in driver side rear arm. Use the supplied grease liberally. A vice works well for squeezing them in. Then have fun getting that sticky nasty grease off your hands..... http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5031.JPG Now fully assembled with new shiny calipers.... http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5033.JPG http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5034.JPG http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5035.JPG And finally, here's my junk pile from the rear half of the car. http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5032.JPG So, the next day I tore into the front. Doesn't take long to gut the front. - Remove the caliper first. I used a piece of wire and hung it from the fender brace out of the way so it wasn't hanging on the brake line. You'll need to remove the retainer clip on the strut housing to free the soft line from that. - Break the tie rod jamb nut loose. - Remove the hubcap, cotter pin, retainer, hub nut, washer, and slide the rotor and bearings off all as one unit. A repack is a good idea since you'll have it apart. - Remove the sway bar - Use a BFH to hit the spindle where the tie rod end goes through to pop it loose. Some guys like to use a pickle fork for this, but I never do. - Remove the tierod end from the steering rack - Unbolt the lower Control arm - Remove the 3 nuts underhood to drop the strut, steering arm, and control arm with ball joint all in one chunk and move to your work bench. http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5036.JPG http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5045.JPG http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5044.JPG I didn't get pics of separating the steering arm and control arm from the strut. On the bottom of the strut there's 2 17mm bolts to remove the steering arm from it. Once you do that, you need to separate the steering arm from the ball joint. I used a ball joint press for this. Be careful when you do this...there's a lot of energy stored in that press when it pops loose and it can shoot it across the garage! Once that's apart, remove the snap ring on the top of the balljoint, and press the balljoint out of the control arm. http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5046.JPG Time for more fire....Burn out them front bushings. http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5037.JPG To hone out any remaining rubber, I used a rudimentary method of a dremel with a cutoff wheel and pulled it back and forth inside to smooth up the inner sleeve. There are better tools for this, but this worked. http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5048.JPG New ball joints need to be pressed in. If you don't have a shop press, most auto shops will do this for you for a few bucks. Once in, put the snap ring on, then the grease boot, and then bolt the steering arm back on. Also install those nice new pieces of Urethane. I used my vice to push those in. http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5041.JPG |
Now onto the strut rebuild.
Spring compressors are a must for this job. Air tools make this MUCH faster. Do note that this is the most dangerous part of this job. Make sure the compressors are hooked firmly to the spring. If they pop off, there's a lot of energy stored in that spring and it can break hands, fingers, wrists, arms....don't attempt this unless you're confident you're able to do this correctly. http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5040.JPG The strut disassembly and reassembly is pretty straight forward. Once apart there's a big nut on top of the strut housing that holds the strut cartridge in place. Thankfully mine wasn't rusty and I was able to remove with a set of channel locks, but a pipe wrench might be a better tool if it's stuck real good. A replacement nut comes with the strut cartridge, so once it's off, it can be chucked. http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5039.JPG Cartridge removed...only one side was crusty like this. The other wasn't. Weird. http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5038.JPG You don't have to do the strut mount, but I'd recommend it. Note how collapsed my original is compared to the new one. http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5047.JPG So, time to put it all back together again....pretty straight forward. http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5042.JPG http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5043.JPG Sway bar goes on last.... http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5050.JPG http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5051.JPG So of course I have a junk pile from the front of the car too! http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5049.JPG My final touch was the addition of the Cuzco strut tower brace. Hey, it looks cool, and these cars can all benefit from stiffening the chassis some. http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5052.JPG Put the wheels back on, bleed the brakes, and get to an alignment shop immediately. My alignment specs all came in perfectly. The car drives great. No more rattles from worn tension rod bushings, no more wonky rear camber issues, no more rear bottoming, and cornering is nice and flat. Finally a few shots of the car sitting on all its new parts. http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5053.JPG http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5054.JPG http://www.piratepathy.com/desertrat...d/DSCN5055.JPG |
Such a marvel to look at. Great documentation throughout the process.
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Thanks. Night and day difference on the road.
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Dang, you do nice work! :icon_super: :038:
Tell me, when do you think you will be in my neighborhood? |
Loved the show!
I was so involved feels like my hands need a good washing! |
Originally Posted by zxguy1986
(Post 339276)
Dang, you do nice work! :icon_super: :038:
Tell me, when do you think you will be in my neighborhood? |
Hah did not know z31s weren't coilovers in the back!
Very nice work tho, shiny! |
Originally Posted by Skully
(Post 339282)
Hah did not know z31s weren't coilovers in the back!
Very nice work tho, shiny! Having blown out shocks doesn't help either...lol |
3 Attachment(s)
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Nice. I went with mostly stock replacement stuff from KYB. Then again, I have a slow N/A car....:020:
Interesting weld job on those LCAs....Hope that proves strong. I do like the idea of the rigid tension rods. |
Thanks for all of this...
I am finally turning my attention back to my Z after letting her sit for so long. This was already at the top of my list and with all you put here, I'm just that much more prepared for this.
I'll clearly have to find a shop to press in those bushings but that seems like a must if you follow the ole 'while I'm in there' mentality...which I certainly do. |
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