April 2002
2002.04.13 - Is it spring already?
Wow, when did it become April? Anyhow, yes I have crawled back into the garage and started working on the Z again. ;-) I started taking apart the rear suspension, but I couldn't get the strut to control-arm assembly apart. After studying the workings of the system for a few minutes I decided to leave the control arm alone and just lower the strut housing from the top and remove it that way.2002.04.19 - gearbox fluids
So, I disconnected the half-shaft from the wheel by removing the four bolts that connect the U-joint. Then I disconnected the brake hydraulic line and handbrake cable and moved them aside. That done, I was able to remove the three nuts from the top of the suspension housing (inside the car) and lower the suspension enough to get to the top of the strut by pushing down on the brake drum with my foot. Note- this method of replacing struts is not documented in the service manual and is probably not very good for the control arm bushings, but it was fairly easy and didn't seem to hurt anything. ;-)
Next, I was able to compress the suspension coil with a suitable spring compressor and remove the top plate and coil spring from the suspension. (Note: BE CAREFUL if you undertake any work around the coil springs. They scare the hell out of me.) After that it was a simple matter of removing the suspension cap with a pipe wrench and putting in the new cartridge
Re-assembly was almost as easy, except that I had to use the floor jack to raise the suspension back up and align the three studs with the holes inside the car... which took a few tries.
Once I finished the rear struts and put them back together, I decided to finish some unfinished business on the L28 engine I had acquired. I noticed that the cooling hoses, radiator connections, and heat-exchanger connections were different. So, I went about switching them for the ones on the L24. The most difficult part of this job was removing the water connection from the cylinder head that goes to the heat exchanger. It uses a NPT-type threaded fitting that took a large pipe wrench to undo.
This week I'm going to have to order a gasket for the water inlet connection that goes on the front of the engine block.
Last night I drained and refilled the transmission and differential unit with gear oil. To drain each one, you use a 1/2" drive socket extension and a ratchet wrench. The plug has a 1/2" square hole which the extension fits into nicely. It took a breaker bar to get the plug on the differential loose.The refill plugs on both units are the same also. They are plugs with square heads, a bit larger than 1/2". Don't try to use a socket on them, you'll just tear up the corners of the plug. (It looks like someone did this on the transmission plug on my car.) I used an adjustable crecent wrench, tightened down squarely against the sides of the plug. A few taps in the right direction with a hammer and both plugs came loose.
The only hard part was finding them to begin with. :-) On the transmission, the refill plug is about halfway up on the passenger side. On the differential, it's directly above the drain plug but behind the mustache bar. I almost never found that one! Luckily the mustache bar is curved enough that you can get a wrench in there with no real problems. Same goes for the plastic hose I used to refill it.
I also reconnected the halfshafts for the rear wheels, and took the flywheel and rear brake drums to a machine shop today to be resurfaced.