From Smoker to Sssssmokin’!

[AliK]

On the engine front, I’m pretty convinced it’s coil related as there is nothing else left to check or change and I did leave the ignition on by accident in the hour plus that it took me to get the valve lash adjusted. That may well have burned or weakened the primary windings. So at some point during this COVID isolation, I will throw in an old coil that worked fine previously and see if that fixes it.

For now, I’m preparing for the other jobs I need to do and it’s been a session of tool making this afternoon. Next job will likely be a transmission oil change.

Not having a square drive for the transmission drain plug and having become a skinflint, I made a drain plug removal tool from an old coach screw.

The square hole of the drain plug measured 13.1mm and by another happy coincidence so did the coach screw head ...

I cut it just on the shoulder of the thread ...

The body had a 7.65mm diameters which with the shamfer on the shoulder worked perfectly with the M8 die.

Then I added some nuts. If you notice, the first three align such that a 12 point spanner can fit over the first 3 and be engaged on the middle two but not the final one.

This allows me to press up while under the car and spread the load across the middle two nuts. It “should” spread the load on the thread, the nut edges and not undo them as there is a nut each side not being turned.

Tomorrow, I plan to make one for removing the square fill plug.

The driver’s side wheel has movement when grabbed top and bottom. So I need to get on with the wheel bearing job soon (it’s not legal and I guess it’s changing camber as I drive, which I can’t imagine is safe when pressing on).

There is a great write up on the link below:

http://atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/rearwheelbearings/index.html

Not wishing to modify my neighbour’s home made slide hammer, I made a bracket from what I can only describe as a piece of ironwork from the George Stephenson days of BT. This came from the fascia on the house and in the distant past would have held the telephone cable.

By a great stroke of luck all the holes are 11mm separation and 10mm centres. So I drilled each hole out to 12mm and the fit is perfect.

Next, I took an exhaust clamp and gave it a flat bottom. With a bit of BFI (brute force and ignorance) I got her to fit the existing holes on the slide hammer.

It fits the hubs utterly perfectly now ready to start the next phase of BFI for removing the stub axles. If home schooling EVER affords me more that an hour at a time!

The yellow zinc nuts are only acting as spacers!

 

[Huw]

Nice work on the drain and filler plug home made tool. Oh btw a 1/2 socket extension on a breaker bar work just as well...... just saying.

 

[AliK]

Nice work on the drain and filler plug home made tool. Oh btw a 1/2 socket extension on a breaker bar work just as well...... just saying.

Funny you should say - that thought did occur to me but given it’s 12.7mm v 13.1 I didn’t want to risk damaging the drain plug and besides, it got me away from the kids for half an hour! Having said that, I walked back into the house to the sounds of excruciating screams as my eldest had decided that the best way to stop his younger brother annoying him was to sit on his head and bounce! [emoji849] I fear one of the kids won’t survive the isolation period!!!!!

 

[AliK]

Huw 1, Ali 0!! Just before kiddies’ bed time, I handed them off to the wife and set about the gearbox oil change. Needed nothing more than a 1/2 inch drive to undo the drain plug and a 20mm (or was it 21mm?) socket on the square fill plug.

The drain plug was still magnetic but had signs of some of those gear crunches on it. Jon 1, Ali 0.

This is the same thing cleaned up, for perspective ...

This is what came out ...

1.7L came out and just under 1.8L went in. At least I know I have no major leaks anywhere.

I made up one of these ....

It worked beautifully like this ...

I then went for a quick drive to the garage to pick up some milk and to test it. I have to say, it feels less slick than before and less willing to smoothly go into gear. Feels a little like a hollow victory but at least I now know it’s a dead easy job and no sticking plugs. ! I will give it a few hundred miles, if it’s still the same, I will refill with Swepco 201 as [Mention]Albrecht[/mention] recommended. Alan 1, Ali 0!

 

[atomman]

thats great idea with the funnel dude

 

[AliK]

thats great idea with the funnel dude

Thanks Garry - it worked like a dream and all I had to do was be careful on the last pour to not put too much in. I lay under the car watching and as soon as it started to drip out of the ‘box, I plugged the hose with a bolt and put the fill plug back in.

 

[nospark]

Another option is to use a " large plastic hydroponic syringe" .Type into ebay if the link doesn't work

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Large-Pl...467987?hash=item4680507813:g:~VQAAOSwTZ1XoBpV

The gravity trick with a funnel might not be as easy on the differential oil fill. I,ve used the syringe method in the past.

 

[AliK]

Another option is to use a " large plastic hydroponic syringe" .Type into ebay if the link doesn't work

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Large-Pl...467987?hash=item4680507813:g:~VQAAOSwTZ1XoBpV

The gravity trick with a funnel might not be as easy on the differential oil fill. I,ve used the syringe method in the past.

Nice suggestion - thank you!!!

You know, even with the transmission oil, after the first small pour, I realised how thick it is and put the bottles in a bowl of tap hot water and it helped male it a little less viscous. I definitely will get one of those syringes as they would be very handy for all kinds of things as well as the diff oil! [emoji106]

 

[Albrecht]

I then went for a quick drive to the garage to pick up some milk and to test it. I have to say, it feels less slick than before and less willing to smoothly go into gear. Feels a little like a hollow victory but at least I now know it’s a dead easy job and no sticking plugs. ! I will give it a few hundred miles, if it’s still the same, I will refill with Swepco 201 as [Mention]Albrecht[/mention] recommended. Alan 1, Ali 0!

It might be the rings. I'd check the rings. The rings wear out on these things you know. There are places where you can buy new rings. So I'd certainly bear in mind that it might be the rings. If I were you. Rings. That's them. Rings. There's a lot of it about at the moment. The lumpy bits wear off the rings.

Doorbell. Big white van outside. Might be my Ocado delivery. Oh, hang on...

 

[AliK]

Started the job I’ve been putting off and thank goodness I did!!

Out came the hugely useful lift and up went the Z with her bottom indignantly up in the air.

It took an hour to take off the flange bolts as they were solidly rusted into the holes.

The companion flange nut would not move for love nor money. Even after grinding the flat part away with a dremel.

My neighbour kindly sterilised and lent me his giant length of pipe he used for this sort of thing on his rally car. A rather sizeable tug while being careful of the fuel tank and the nut let go.

Surprisingly 3 square hits with the slide hammer and the shaft came straight out. There wasn’t as much grease in there as I would have expected and liked to have seen.

I was rather shocked to see the heat marks on the spacer. I would assume it must have gone over 500 degrees to get those marks and maybe the lack of grease would go some way to explain it.

My puller was quite a bit too short so I improvised with a bit of steel strapping (if that’s what it’s called), bolted the flange / hub back onto the wheel, got my eldest to walk in circles with the breaker bar and it worked brilliantly!

I cleaned up the rust, treated with Jenolite and painted it all up before sacking up and putting it in the freezer @ -24c. After three hours or so, I stuck the bearing in the oven at 70c for half an hour.

Then I grabbed the axle and bearing with thick gloves, put them onto a fence post off-cut and put the bearing over the top. The bearing with a very light tap just fell past the first part of the axle and was home with just 3-4 taps of the hammer on the axle stand improvised tool. No press required! You can see the frost on the axle / hub even after the work was done. The cooled axle and heated bearing method is stunningly effective.

As a matter of interest, the FSM says you need a “drift” tool to slide over the axle and drive the centre of the bearing home. By a very happy coincidence the inside diameter of my axle stands is 34mm and did the job perfectly.

Also of interest, the brand new bearing taken out of it’s Timken box has SKF stamped onto it!

This was all too easy so far. I lathered up all bearings with EP2 grease and put the inside bearing in first, using a bolt and hammer to drive the outer part of the race. Then I put in the shaft and with a wooden block over the studs gave it a good 2-3 light smacks of the hammer to drive in sufficiently to get the companion flange nut on. So far so good. Then I realised that my torque wrench is not gonna cut the mustard. So I did it by “feel” based on how hard it was to take off and the wheel wasn’t as free turning as before. I next borrowed my neighbour’s digital one but that only is calibrated to 200nm and the spec says 186-220lbft. I managed to register 217nm (170lbft) and the wheel still turns freely. Ran out of time.

Tempted to leave it there but I may have a look at if I can hit 260nm that puts it around the 190lbft mark.

It really went way smoother than I had imagined. So now I will start the other side and see if I can get it done in a half a day instead of two - famous last words!!

 

[Alphabettispaghetti]

did you do inners also?

 

[AliK]

did you do inners also?

Of course!!

 

[Rob Gaskin]

Well done. I reckon those heat marks on the spacer are from the manufacture process.

 

[AliK]

Well done. I reckon those heat marks on the spacer are from the manufacture process.

Thanks good to know - thanks Rob. It would make sense especially as the shaft itself isn’t damaged

 

[toopy]

Amused me to see a little 'Z' on the head of those wheel studs!

 

[AliK]

Amused me to see a little 'Z' on the head of those wheel studs!

Me too! Very unexpected and cool!!

 

[AliK]

Adding a link to the other thread to keep my history in one place ....


https://zclub.net/community/index.p...-bearing-replacement-on-my-260z-solved.26848/

 

[AliK]

Emboldened with the success of the O/S bearings, last weekend, I decided to do the other side. Not because it needed doing but because I have the bearings and I’m a tart.

This is now one of my favourite Z jobs!!

So what could possibly go wrong?

This time I decided to time myself as total time was 3 days but actual time worked was way less, so here goes for anyone wondering how long things can take once you have done it before.

40 mins: Jack up car on the seesaw lift, get out the tools and remove wheel. The exhaust silencer also had to come off to provide access

10 mins: ro remove half shaft bolts

Too much time to de-rust but a bowl of lemon juice, salt and overnight soak worked wonders!!!

From orange coloured bolts to this ...

30 mins: grind out the flat on the nut and faff about with breaker bar + scaffold pole to remove the blessed thing! I have never before seen the breaker bar flex!!!

5 mins flat to slide hammer out the axle. 3 square hits again and she let go.

About 10 mins tapping out the inner bearing

15 mins with bearing puller and a 7 year old actuating the breaker bar telling me about the benefits of “Obsidium” in Minecraft!!

Too much time with a wire wheel brush, Jenolite and paint. Doesn’t count as part of the job itself

2 hours of freezer time at -24c for the axle and inner bearings + 30 mins of the inner bearing in the oven at 70c.

4 mins flat getting the inner bearing on and a lot of foul language while waiting to defrost as my hand stuck to the frozen shaft of the axle.

40 mins getting the inner bearing home as I did it in the dark with a head torch and couldn’t figure out why it was sticking out so much.

This home made tool on the wheel side make things really easy! Yes it’s off my fascia which I just replaced !!! But the hole separations was 114 mm!!!

10min: took off 1mm from the inner grease seal this time - it seem that it has a soft edge that is very easy to remove evenly with a Stanley blade .

10 mins fussing over making sure the seal went completely home.

30 mins to lube and re-inset the shaft+ torque up to 201lbft.

Pre-load test = 600g although with a bit of spinning the axle about for a coupe of mins it dropped to 400g.

30 mins Putting it all back together.

So in total around 4 hours (if you exclude freezer time and rust curing / painting time). Now I wonder how much faster a mechanic would go at around £75 -£100 per hour?

The previously seized self adjuster I had reconditioned works perfectly now. Ask me how I know for sure? A numpty called Ali pulled the hand brake without the drum on. At least It proved as a good test!

The brake pedal is way firmer with the rear brakes properly adjusted now you gotta go some to lock up the front wheels. I suspect the rears were very below par previously.

Mr Huw very kindly sold me his old inner flanges so next up will be a diff transplant with a lot of carb faffing in between!

 

[jonbills]

its a UK car isnt it Ali? you don't have half shafts.

 

[AliK]

Oh, so what are they called!?