STarting to STand on its Own

The weekend was good to people whose cars are not yet ready for the season (aka slackers, aka G-Fab's 240sx Division). Good thing we love our cars.

Earlier this month, we swapped out the clutch in the car. It was a Centerforce something or other, and it disintegrated upon removal. The ST car now has an Exedy OEM clutch, that has proven better that its tired predecessor.

The weekend was upon us, and we had 2 weeks till the car makes its debut. While PJ was busy doing big things with the brake shields (taken off our junkyard find), I decided it was important to have tail lights that didn't double as water bottles. I was lucky enough to get a junkyard car that, with the exception of the mold and grass growing in it, was still kind of full of stuff I'd need for ST.

Notice my red socket set (a Christmas gift from the Pandas), to match my red car. I'm such a girl sometimes....At least it works well, and has nearly everything I need to dis-and-reassemble my car, with the exception of a 19mm wrench. Of course, an 8, 10, 12, 14, 17, and 19 mm would be all I needed anyway. All this other stuff is just extra fluff. Who needs a 7/16" wrench? Not I, said the Pie.

Note to self for the next time I have to do this. Observe the black goop. That ish does NOT come off. And it's toxic. Live dangerously, I say.

Meanwhile, PJ installed the entended wheel studs and swapped the the dust shields, since the ones that came on the car were cut for z32 brakes. The junker had been r(e/u)sting on them, but we were able to fix them for now. New ones will probably be ordered before Nats, because I think these will disintegrate. Even my new(old) lugs are red! But if only Nissan had gotten it right the first time. 4-lug is SO passe. And there are no good wheels with good offsets that look good. Sigh. With a small spacer, the Blitz wheels we picked up off NICO will be ok for daily driving and local events. I've never owned a car with 17's before!

Todd Kean (my co-driver for the season) came to help out, so while PJ was doing studs (that sounds bad, doesn't it?), we set to installing the strut tower bars. They look nice, but man. What a PITA to install with the interior still in there.

Many nuts were lost in this process. I actually need to keep the 13mm wrench in my toolset now, since we couldn't find any spare 12mm nuts...it will be interesting to hear them rattling around when we take her out for an inaugural lap.

I have to say, I love having a fastback. I could totally sleep in there if I needed to.

Once we were done with that, it was pretty interesting to see thec ar all set up and stuff. It's still filthy and needs things, but it's getting there, and I'm getting really excited for the season.

One thing I am a bit concerned about is the front bar. It barely clears the engine, which seems to sit a bit high. There are washers as spacers in there for now, but we're going to have to either hack up the mount and reweld it so the bar is higher, make the engine sit lower, or buy actual spacers. I think PJ will vote for option 1, but a combination of options 1 and 2 will most likely be our best bet.

The next thing we will have to do (besides installing the new power steering pump, which should arrive tomorrow) , is get some seats and brackets that will fit both 6'+ Todd, and just under 5' me.