Go Back   Zmods.org Forums > General Discussion > General Z Discussion
User Name
Password
Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 01-31-2006, 11:17 PM   #1
canyoncarver
Ancient NOOB
 
canyoncarver's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Cali
Car Specs: '93 Nissan 300zx
My Garage
Posts: 158
Send a message via AIM to canyoncarver
Poor Z

I put new shocks and o2's on a guys Z this past weekend. I started out figuring it'd be a 4 hour job. Then I could get off to that Z BBQ in Oxnard, CA.

Things started off bad. Once we got the car jacked up and started taking off the lugnuts, the impact wrench starts going duh duh duh duh. I was like "oh shit!!!!". We broke the lugs loose before jacking the car up..... And they're getting tighter as we unthread them. All of the front lugs came off tight, and on the last one, the stud broke off. Another fine job by those over-eager tire guyz with their 200 ft-lb impact wrenches.......... and then they always make it a point to go back and click the lugs with their torque wrench set to 100 ft-lb. .......... yuuuupppp, thar taait.

Anyways, on to the back shocks. They're the hardest with all of that plastic that has to come out....... and the 2+2 is even more of a pain. The car already has aftermarket springs, so I know it's been worked on before. The easy part is getting the shocks out, changing the springs over to the new shocks and putting them back in. Left one goes in fine. Right one goes in, we go to tighten the top nuts and snap. The damn stud breaks off the top shock mount. Now what do we do? Crap, pull it back out. Re-compress the spring and take the mount off. I end up drilling out the broken stud and just putting a bolt in. It's held in place by the rubber spring dampener. So, while I let the guy put everything back together on the rear shock, i go finish cleaning my car. He gets it all back together, we go to put it in, and he forgot to align the studs on the top mount with the ears on the bottom. Back to the workbench to compress the spring again to align the studs up. Finally we get the rear end all back together, 3-1/2 hours later.

So much for the Z BBQ, I won't get there till 3:pm. It started at noon. O.k., the fronts have to be easier, I'll be done in time to get to the LAZ32 meet that starts at 3:pm.

Off to the fronts. They come out of the car just fine. Compress the springs just fine. Go to loosen the nuts...... ain't happening. We wrench and we wrench till the flats on the end of the shock are rounded off. We vise-grip the shit outta the shaft.... no budgy. I try every grinding / cut-off wheel that I have to reach in past the spring and cut the shock shaft......... nope. I end up having to take the die grinder and cut the nut in half to get it off. How the hell that nut was rusted on like that, I'll never know.

One front down, one front to go. Off to the local auto parts first. Hopefully they have the wheel stud so we don't have to go another 25 miles to the next closest auto parts store. Luckily, we get the only one they have, and it's the right one.

Back to the other front shock, I get the new stud in while the guy grinds his nut in half. All goes well from there. Surprisingly, replacing the o2's takes all of about 20 minutes. By then, it was a 7-1/2 hour job..... too late for the hour drive to the Z meet....... time for a drink instead.
Offline:   Reply With Quote
Old 02-01-2006, 02:57 AM   #2
McLarenF1Kid
Senior Member
 
McLarenF1Kid's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Spartanburg, SC
Car Specs: 1994 300ZX NA 5spd, Onyx
My Garage
Posts: 111
Send a message via AIM to McLarenF1Kid
Re: Poor Z

Dude pat on the back to ya! I feel you on this. I helped a buddy install lowering springs on his Scion TC. I did the front in an hour. Off to the back........yeah.......the whole thing took 6 hours to do. Needless to say, I feel your pain.

Nice job though.
__________________

5'3" in the Z in Spartanburg, SC
Offline:   Reply With Quote
Old 02-01-2006, 03:05 AM   #3
Twisted Six
Administrator
 
Twisted Six's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Salem, MO
Car Specs: A Few
My Garage
Posts: 336
Send a message via ICQ to Twisted Six Send a message via AIM to Twisted Six
Re: Poor Z


j/k

Good to see you here too!

Suspension work is soo much fun!! Rule of thumb though... Never, and I mean NEVER let anyone put an impact driver anywhere near your car. I always make them do it by hand, period.
__________________
'If you tolerate this, then your children will be next'
Clicky for info
Offline:   Reply With Quote
Old 02-01-2006, 03:10 AM   #4
McLarenF1Kid
Senior Member
 
McLarenF1Kid's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Spartanburg, SC
Car Specs: 1994 300ZX NA 5spd, Onyx
My Garage
Posts: 111
Send a message via AIM to McLarenF1Kid
Re: Poor Z

^I swear that is the ULTIMATE smiley.
Offline:   Reply With Quote
Old 02-01-2006, 12:40 PM   #5
Spyder Z 15
Big ass super mod
 
Spyder Z 15's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Riverside, CA
Car Specs: 1990 auto 2+2 Black on Black
My Garage
Posts: 355
Re: Poor Z

Damn. I hate when something should take like 1-2 hours and it ends up taking 4-8 hours. Frustrating as hell.
__________________


spyderz15 : Doctors think my daughter will be 6'1"
TT2by2 : WTF
TT2by2 : look at it this way tho
TT2by2 : nobody will mess with her
spyderz15 : i better sharpen scissors so I can castrate teenagers
TT2by2 : LMAO
TT2by2 : then how will she make you grandchildred?!?
spyderz15 : immaculate conception
TT2by2 : LOL
Offline:   Reply With Quote
Old 05-07-2006, 05:46 PM   #6
sandplasma
Member
 
sandplasma's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Chicago/Champaign
Car Specs: 1993 Nissan 300ZX NA 2+0
Posts: 21
Send a message via AIM to sandplasma
Re: Poor Z

I've been there. I believe my spring installe took about 10 hours due to not having the right tools and going around to people's houses to get things I needed. It was an interesting day.
__________________
1993 Nissan 300ZX 2+0 NA - Sold 6/30/07
1993 Nissan 300ZX 2+0 TT - Bought 8/25/07
Offline:   Reply With Quote
Old 03-11-2009, 01:20 AM   #7
drewtiss
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 35
Re: Poor Z

Quote:
Originally Posted by canyoncarver
I put new shocks and o2's on a guys Z this past weekend. I started out figuring it'd be a 4 hour job. Then I could get off to that Z BBQ in Oxnard, CA.

Things started off bad. Once we got the car jacked up and started taking off the lugnuts, the impact wrench starts going duh duh duh duh. I was like "oh shit!!!!". We broke the lugs loose before jacking the car up..... And they're getting tighter as we unthread them. All of the front lugs came off tight, and on the last one, the stud broke off. Another fine job by those over-eager tire guyz with their 200 ft-lb impact wrenches.......... and then they always make it a point to go back and click the lugs with their torque wrench set to 100 ft-lb. .......... yuuuupppp, thar taait.

Anyways, on to the back shocks. They're the hardest with all of that plastic that has to come out....... and the 2+2 is even more of a pain. The car already has aftermarket springs, so I know it's been worked on before. The easy part is getting the shocks out, changing the springs over to the new lakewood shock absorber and putting them back in. Left one goes in fine. Right one goes in, we go to tighten the top nuts and snap. The damn stud breaks off the top shock mount. Now what do we do? Crap, pull it back out. Re-compress the spring and take the mount off. I end up drilling out the broken stud and just putting a bolt in. It's held in place by the rubber spring dampener. So, while I let the guy put everything back together on the rear shock, i go finish cleaning my car. He gets it all back together, we go to put it in, and he forgot to align the studs on the top mount with the ears on the bottom. Back to the workbench to compress the spring again to align the studs up. Finally we get the rear end all back together, 3-1/2 hours later.

So much for the Z BBQ, I won't get there till 3:pm. It started at noon. O.k., the fronts have to be easier, I'll be done in time to get to the LAZ32 meet that starts at 3:pm.

Off to the fronts. They come out of the car just fine. Compress the springs just fine. Go to loosen the nuts...... ain't happening. We wrench and we wrench till the flats on the end of the shock are rounded off. We vise-grip the shit outta the shaft.... no budgy. I try every grinding / cut-off wheel that I have to reach in past the spring and cut the shock shaft......... nope. I end up having to take the die grinder and cut the nut in half to get it off. How the hell that nut was rusted on like that, I'll never know.

One front down, one front to go. Off to the local auto parts first. Hopefully they have the wheel stud so we don't have to go another 25 miles to the next closest auto parts store. Luckily, we get the only one they have, and it's the right one.

Back to the other front shock, I get the new stud in while the guy grinds his nut in half. All goes well from there. Surprisingly, replacing the o2's takes all of about 20 minutes. By then, it was a 7-1/2 hour job..... too late for the hour drive to the Z meet....... time for a drink instead.


Yeah. I used to think that replacing the o2's is just easy as your replacing your tires. I never tried it by myself lol.
Offline:   Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump




Zmods.org | Z32 Restoration & Tech © 2003 - 2022
Powered by: vBulletin Version 3.0.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 09:19 AM.