In the middle of 5-lug/300zx brake conversion - Need Help

[Alch]

Already posted this in several tech forums but i'm trying to get a good response and i don't know whate forums are normally frequented.

This will be a pretty long post. Your assistance/advice would be very much appreciated. See pictures at the end!

So, for the past several hours/days my brother and I been doing a full 5 lug conversion, front 300zx brakes, new rotors, and new wheels. You get the idea.

Well, the rear section took forever. After reading several walkthroughs we were under the impression that to remove the hub we would have to take the spindle out to get the hubs off. After realizing that we were not going to get the spindle off of the ball joint without severely damaging it we bolted it back up, took the braker bar to the hub bolts, pulled them out and we were ready to go.

Earlier and after looking at the condition of my struts and driving for a several months with some little 'hoo'ing noises and shredded strut boots we also decided to change the struts out on all four corners.

Back to the rear end. We removed the struts and spring assembly, compressed the spring, installed the new strut and then went back to the car. We bolted and torqued the whole spindle assembly and links back together and then through in the new strut and spring. Got everything torqued down, installed new rotors and reinstalled the caliper with new pads.

Finally we had all of the rear end put back together, raised the car off of jack stands and on new, 5 lug, hyper black 5zigen FN01R-c 17 x 9 " +15 wheels. The rear end looked great, the new struts gave the car a much firmer feel and we called it a day. However, while we knew that the car needed an alignment i think it's current condition needs a little fixing before i drive it to the shop. The toe in on the passenger rear wheel seems severely turned in (not at right angles or anything, but noticeable if you look at it). Is this something that I can adjust with the help of the FSM or should i be fine driving it up to an alignment shop?

Secondly, everywhere we went we were unable to find boots for the rear struts. We were only able to find front strut boots. So if anyone has any ideas on shops where i could order new boots i would really appreciate it. Clear Lake Nissan, which is located in the Houston area said they could 'special order them for me.' Of course, knowing a dealership they wanted $70 a piece!

That's the end of the rear end. Everything's in order, all that needs to be done is purchase an extension fo rmy torque wrench so that ican torque that huge 36mm bolt onto the rear axle along with the cotter pins, cap, and minute things.

Now, here's where it gets fun. The front end seemed like it would be easy.

Break loose the lug nuts, jack up the car, remove wheels- and so on.

We unbolted the old weak single piston brakes for what's to come (4 pot z brakes). pulled off the hub, removed the hub cap, unbolted the front hub bolt. (looks really really tiny in comparison to the rear nuts. They're 32 mm if you're keeping track.)pulled the driver side hub off with easy.

Next we went to the passenger side and did all the same stuff, except the hub wouldn't slide off. Bring in the big 3 armed jaw puller and pulled off the hub. One problem. The passenger side hub 'exploded' so to speak and left some of its seized remnants on the spindle. To my dismay they will not budge. A heat gun did nothing to the rings, 'bolt braking' solvents haven't seemed to do too much to them either. I've yet to just try soaking it over and over with WD-40 and see if that penetrates after a while. Will try soon.(SEE PICTURES POSTED AT END OF POST)

Currently, I'm stuck with no way to continue and finish up my project. I don't know if the spindle is shot and if i'll just have to buy a new one/one from a junkyard and unbolt the ball joints and put on a new one to continue or if there's some way to work these things off.

Secondly, assembling the front strut/spring assembly has been a pain. I've been unable to compress enough of the spring evenly to fit it onto the new strut, but i believe the guy we know at a local shop could assemble them for me easily so this isn't as big of a problem.

Synopsis:

In the middle of 5 lug and 300zx brake conversion. passenger front hub/bearing died on the spindle leaving remains, which are keepingme front installing new 5 lug hubs/bearings. Need assistance/advice on how to get these things off. Left to go is finishing the front suspension/hub/brake assembly, and installing the new 300zx master cylinder.

PICTURES

Picture 1 Picture 2 Picture 3 Picture 4 Picture 5 Picture 6 Picture 7 Picture 8
Modified by Alch at 3:53 PM 8/8/2005

[Alch]

Bump. Any ideas out there?

[AZhitman]

Yep - Is that an S13?If not, disregard this post.

You need to swap out the spindles anyway (if it's an S13) and use S14 spindles. You'll need some S14 lower ball joints, and you'll need to drill out your strut mounting holes to accommodate larger (S14 sized) bolts (which you can get at Ace Hardware).

Struts are far easier having them preassembled (compressed / swapped) by a shop.

[frsh13]

If this is for an s13 i posted a whole thing on how to do it in a similar thread about a month or two ago after i did my whole swap. For the front you cant just use the hubs...as the hub/spindle is one part (unlike the rear). So unless you are using GTO Attain hubs you must get s14 spindles. To accomadate the s14 spindles you will need a set of s14 ball joints. Then you will have to drill as AZ said. Since our struts are desinged for the s13 spindle and the s14 spindle has a larger hole the strut holes must be drilled out. Not that hard if you have access to a drill press. I forgot the size drill bit but i only had to drill out a little on my KYB AGX. If you want you can check out http://www.importnut.net they have a lot on the 240sx 5 lug write up.

[Alch]

Sorry, forgot to mention. It's an 1995 s14.
Modified by Alch at 10:26 AM 8/11/2005

[AZhitman]

Then it would have been easier to get the spindles and hubs together...

Looks like you need a new spindle bro.

[S14-NEO]

well for starters the dust and water sheilds are going to have to come off in order to install the new Z rotors. Second, if you have or know of someone with an air power cut off wheel you can very easily cut in an angular fashion all the way through the remaining race on you spindle with little effort. all you ahve to do is cut one smalle slice in it to remove the pressure. once you do that it can be removed very easily with a hammer and a flat balde screwdriver. Have had to do it many times when i worked at nissan . lemme know how it goes

Mark

[Hijacker]

I have a feeling that that inner race may have borked the spindle. I would get a cutoff wheel and cut it off, like Mark suggested, and then inspect the spindle to see how messed up it is.

[Alch]

Now, i really wish ihad an air compressor. More work will continue today.What exactly holds the dust shields on? Are they necessay/helpful? I was considering just cutting off the surrounding lip and bending the shield back a little, but if i can completely remove it, I would like to know how.