Werner's 1300 '69 4-door

[Nerius]

You actually made my joke better

[Nerius]

Winter is coming and that's a good excuse to do some work I've been planning to do.
I've read the thread on Ratsun about the 280zx strut conversion, and by now I can dream the words datzenmike had written.
The struts have been laying nearly 2 years and slowly I've been collecting parts to do it all.
I knew it would be a bigger job, but I have underestimated some parts. Right now I'm not finished with it neither.
I'll just show some pictures and challenges I've bumped into.

First, dremeling the spring perches of the zx struts.

the start

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cleaning up

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Then, taking out the original struts. Of course dealing with quite the rust, that was okay. But the screws which hold the dust cover in place couldn't be saved.
Had to use a small press to detach the steering arm from the outer tie rod end.

original strut

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I've painted the strut for extra horsepower and just made a small comparison between 510 and 280zx. Meanwhile, I've also changed the oil in the 280zx strut. Had to buy a big wrench to get the seal open.

510 and 280zx

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Dremeling the perch of the 510 strut

510 spring perch removal

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So I've installed the split collar on the zx strut. Had to find out the Dutch word for split collar first before I could order it somewhere.
Then I installed the 510 spring perch on the ZX strut, however, my wee brain didn't think about the thick anti gravel paint. So forcing the perch screwed that up. Considering time and frustration I just shrugged, laughed, cried, drank and proceeded going forward.

I've sawed of one coil of the spring for a higher spring rate.
I had a maddat camber plate still waiting for installation. I understood it wouldn't do a lot with a stock coil, but I still wanted to put it together. So here is the eventual thing.

le strut

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A couple of things which didn't go as I planned though:
- I wanted to change the control arm bushings. However, this is a '69 car and the bushings I've ordered weren't the same. Mike Yarn already explained this to me. For now I'll just leave it.
- I wanted to change the sway bar end links. These were stuck for life. After finally removing them from the control arm, installing the new one is very difficult. It looks like they are a bit shorter, but this might be due to the layer of oxidation on the sway bar. I'm not done fighting it yet.
- Funny how you collect parts from everywhere but you only get 98% of it all. For example, I got the zx struts and the brake calipers, but not the bolts to attach them to each other.
- I'm going to use the zx steering arms, due to the new zx ball joint and all reasons I've read in the past on this issue, and they are quite shorter compared to the original arms. That means the tie rods need to be adjusted and everytime I look at them, I really wonder how I'm going to get them loose again. I might buy a new setup. But also here, I'm not done fighting it yet.

cliffhanger.

[Nerius]

The fight with the struts is over and I have both installed.

Left strut

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Right strut

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I love the stance and the better spring rate. Although after the first test drive I did rub a bit and I wanted a tad bit more stiffness, so eventually I've cut half a coil more to get what I wanted. The body roll is also less but to get the feeling I want, I will need a good sway bar. After checking the shipping prices to Europe, I might put that on a hold for now.
Yes, the struts make the track width narrower, as more people have stated. To make it visual (which works better for me) here is a comparison.

Original strut

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280ZX strut

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I've tried to do a bit of the wheel aligning myself to get it drivable and it really sucks, so I have to bring it to a nearby garage soon. Still proud I got the tie rods loose hehe.

Anyway, here is how it looks with the new struts.

Side view

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Next step is to computerize stuff.

My buddy came by and wired a new fusebox in. It took him a whole day though, but now the car is ready for an ecu and fuel pump. I still have to wire the lighting and horn relays through it, but it all works for now.

Fusebox

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Another (small) step was to install the pulley with the triggerwheel my buddy made. The original crank pulley wasn't ready for it. I used a breaker bar and had the car in gear with the handbrake on. That didn't work, the car just rolled backwards. I even put in my girlfriend who was pushing the brakes and that didn't help.
So as a last resort I've jammed the breaker bar to the floor, took out the spark plugs and cranked the engine. It was very easy for the starter motor to get the nut loose.
Now I could finally compare the two pulleys with each other and in all honesty I was worried that the new one wouldn't fit, but it did!

Stuck for life

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Comparing with the replacement

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Looks good

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That will work fine for the sensor

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The 7th of May there is an oldtimer meeting at the Zandvoort circuit, so I will prep and paint the front left fender to make it a little bit more decent. Always good to work towards a deadline

[iceman510]

Looking good. '

What size front sway bar are you thinking to put on?

[Nerius]

Looking good. '

What size front sway bar are you thinking to put on?

Nothing too drastic, I'm not going to race with it, maybe autocross. I want fun handling. Do you have any advice?

[bertvorgon]

A 3/4" to 1" bar would be a good choice if you can find one. That alone will help decrease
understeer just by the mere fact it will help eliminate some body roll and hence weight transfer to the loaded front tire on a turn.

FUTOFAB sells a 1.125 diameter bar also.

I run a 1 1/8" front but also use #300 inch/lbs front springs.

[Nerius]

Thanks for the tip Keith.
I was also looking at Maddat. For me the shipping cost is an important part which I can't ignore.

[iceman510]

Nothing too drastic, I'm not going to race with it, maybe autocross. I want fun handling. Do you have any advice?

No specific recommendation. What Keith says is probably on target. Do you still have the stock bar, which is maybe 17mm? I might have one around here, but I will have to check if it is the stock size or something larger. It might be 19mm.

I have a 1"+ bar here, but that is going on my '69.

[Nerius]

Do you still have the stock bar, which is maybe 17mm?

I'll have a look! But I'm quite sure it's stock.

[Pjackb]

This is nice , would you mind sharing a bit more détails on the parts used ?

Thanks

[Nerius]

This is nice , would you mind sharing a bit more détails on the parts used ?

Thanks

I'll try I didn't do this myself.
The pulley is from my L13 with a trigger wheel which was laying around somewhere. He used a lathe to make everything fit. The thermostat housing is OEM but modified to fit a sensor for the ecu.
Not sure what brand of sensors are used for water, rpm and such. The holder for the rpm sensor was fabricated. If you need specific names I'll be happy to always ask.

[Pjackb]

Thanks , That's helpful

[Nerius]

No specific recommendation. What Keith says is probably on target. Do you still have the stock bar, which is maybe 17mm? I might have one around here, but I will have to check if it is the stock size or something larger. It might be 19mm.

It seems to be 18mm, could be 17mm with 1mm rust though

[Nerius]

It's been a while since I've posted an update, and when looking through my pictures on my laptop it looks like I didn't do that much even if it doesn't feel like it. I can only dedicate Sundays to the build and due to my responsibilities for my sport (kendo), 50% of my Sundays are spent on that. So things which need time to acquire skill take even more time and I try to figure things out as fast as I can to make progress on the car. This also refers to the fact that I have bought a welder and I had to fix some nasty rust holes in the floor. There are rust holes everywhere on the car, but I thought I would start on the floor as it will not be (very) visible for the outside world. If I screw up, it's not that bad.

I didn't realize the floor was that bad until I drove through some heavy rain coming back from an oldtimer meeting at Zandvoort circuit. The whole carpet (or what's left of it) was soaked.

Lightweight floor

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I've replaced the metal under the gas pedal and near that left drain plug. It was really a trial and error thing and I learned a lot. Clean the metal, use a clean mass, voltage, patience. I always want to get the car ready to drive as fast as I can, as I've seen cars being on jack stands for too long, this influences my patience though. But hell, first time I tried this, so it can only get better I guess and there is enough inspiration to be found on this forum.

Eventually I got everything fixed and I ended up putting some rust protection and dynamat on it, case closed.

no holes

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Ow and my significant other is an artist and is trying out some urban sketching. I think it's going quite well (although she doesn't think so):

urban sketchy of me trying to fix the floor

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Did some work on the engine as well. The EFI conversion is slowly starting now.
After seeing some beautiful examples on insta, I've decided to install the wasted spark coils to the strut tower on the sparkplug side.

wasted spark coils

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One thing I was keen on getting installed was the coolant temperature sensor for the ecu.

housing for coolant sensor for ecu

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I always thought I was near overheating on the highway, but apparently I was scared for nothing. The original radiator is doing its job very well, at least at 100 kmph.


Back to the ignition. I had to make my wires myself and I used MSD products including the crimping tool which went really well. So with the sensor installed to read the rpm we were ready to go.

wires installed

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sensor installed

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That didn't go as planned, the signal for rpm wasn't getting to the ecu well. This was easily solved by soldering an extra resistor in. Also, weirdly, the ignition wire on the first cilinder couldn't be used for the timing light. Very strange. The fourth was working fine.

A bit of fine tuning and the engine was running fantastic. A lot better than with the mechanical ignition.

tunerstudio goodnessssss

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I removed the distributor so that looks a bit more cleaner for me. I will clean up the wiring when I've installed all sensors, or maybe later when the injectors are installed, I don't know yet. I rather have it working then worrying about the aesthetics.

distributor delete

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I will end this post with a picture of me in front of the dime. I got interviewed by a newspaper for a small column about car lovers. The guy misspelled my name but the experience was nice. I really didn't want to pose as a cool guy, but the photographer asked me to put my chin up towards the sun. So, I'm sorry I look so cool.

cool car, cool guy.

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[iceman510]

Love the sketch. That style is nice and reminds me of the children's books by Peter Spier.

It's ok to look cool when sharing the frame with a 510.