Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Almost there...

So after the last post I picked up a set of Z31 300ZX wheels for very little money. What I didn't realize is that they require a very proprietary Nissan lug nut. My dealer quoted me $22 per nut. After asking around on the bluebird forums, I discovered that there is an alternate nut that works perfectly. The part is 40224-R4670 and is apparently slightly shorter than the 300zx part. They are also available in an open head design (that was previously used on Nissan trucks). That part number is 40224-S2771.

I also discovered why the control arm "pins" (bolts) were my least favorite bolt. Three of them were either slightly worn on the threads or slightly warped, causing the bolt to be stick within the bushing's sleeve. The bolts are still available through Nissan parts as the rear control arm "pins".

Once I figured all that out I bolted up the 300zx wheels before installing the calipers. Looks good! I got the calipers installed and realized that the wheel tapers in and does not fit over the big wilwood calipers. The older design I mentioned in the last post may very well have worked since it's smaller, but this one did not. I ordered two 15mm spacers from this site and the wheels fit very flush, especially with the 215/60/15 300zx tires:
So this basically wraps up the rear suspension rebuild, which consists of the following:
  • New diff gasket/fluid
  • Poly diff/mustache bar bushings
  • Poly crossmember bushigns
  • Poly spring isolators/bump stops
  • Suspension Techniques rear sway bar
  • Rear disc brakes with 300zx rotors and wilwood calipers.
Here are a couple more Pictures of how the build came together.
The mustache bar has no internal sleeve and shortened Z car mustache bar bushings

You will absolutely need 15" wheels for this combo.

Last steps are to finish plumbing the front brakes (removing the stock proportioning valve and running new hard lines for the front brakes) and then it should nearly be road worthy. I've also got a set of used Toyo R888 205/50R15 tires on the way for the autocross season. It'll be 13s on the front and 15s on the back for a while...