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Hi everyone,
I have read that the adjustable shocks were intended to be rebuildable using a no longer available rebuild kit. I'm gathering up information before I plunge into tearing my daily driver apart to experement. I've been an avoid mountain biker and have spent the last 10 years rebuilding shocks of all kinds and automotive shocks are built the same internally (actually, auto shocks are much more simple), and rebuilding simply comes down to finding seals that fit and getting the oil weight correct to achieve the damping you're after.
First, does anyone have some pictures of a removed cartridge? I'm curious to see the entry point and how the actual cartridge is supposed to come apart if indeed they were designed to be rebuilt using a kit (it is possible they have to be CUT open).
Second, does anyone have experience trying specifically on Z31 ADJUSTABLE cartridges? I know for a fact non turbo cartridges don't come apart already.
Thanks for your help. -
The insert cartridge is a plain gray cylinder, it's held in by a gland nut with a complicated seal arrangement, a rebuild would consist of an entirely new insert and/or gland nut… I'm pretty sure it's all NLA anyway.
Any reason you don't want to just get koni or bilstein inserts? -
The plain grey cylinder is the actual damper unit which I'm interested in taking apart as it's what contains the valve assembly.Originally posted by G-E -
I'm currious about this too.
I ran across a 10 year old article in the break room at work about rebuilding old shocks with thicker shock oil to stiffen them up.
It was in some british magazine where they were building cars entirely out of junkyard parts.
Right now the DD is a GLL with the factory adjustable shocks that are blown and I have a set of SS springs I'd like to put on it and keep the electric adjustment parts working.Life's short
Go fast
Have a blast
Leave a good looking corpse -
If you mean the adjustable suspension that came on the turbo cars, as I understood it they haven't been made in a long time because some kind of fluid that was in them that made them work was deemed toxic by the EPA, so Nissan had to stop production of them.Prius… because Pretentious wouldn't fit across the back of the car…
Cheap, Fast, Reliable - pick any two
My 1986 Turbo Build -
I had a fully working OEM adjustable suspension in my 85t. Removed everything to go with something else.
Tell you what, $150+20 shipping and its all yours. You can experiment all you what for not a lot of $$$
I removed the front struts from the inserts and packaged up everything in a couple of boxes.86na - BlueZ
Shiro #366 - Kouki Monster
85t - Mr Tickles -
Curious if you had any luck....? -
No one's done it because they were not meant to be rebuilt, only replaced and replacements are NLA for at least 10 years.
1988 300ZX Turbo, Shiro Special #760
1988 300ZX Turbo Automatic (wife's car)
1991 Hard-body 2WD
http://zccw.org/zccw/?page_id=1215 -
Theres a couple pics on my facebook somewhere of the inserts apart. Mine pretty much fell apart upon removal so i dont think itd be hard to get them apart. Iirc the top cap was crimped on somewhat.
"Beer is proof that god wants us to be happy" - Benjamin Franklin -
I'm sure it's possible, the only question is whether seals and things are available to do it, someone should disassemble one and make a list of all the parts that need replacing… we can then crowdsource solutions, matching up o-rings and such
The "toxic" chemical is probably cadmium -
Something somewhere is bound to work for a rebuild… seals and fluid. Figuring it out is gonna be a royal pain in the ass though.Feedback- viewtopic.php?f=18&t=19840
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There are reference books available at bearing and seal suppliers (probably in PDF nowdays) that will provide the part numbers, dimensions, specs, etc. of virtually every brg/seal ever made plus interchanges. Most often engineers will design a part to suit an existing brg or seal, rather than spec a custom size. Cost difference=$$$. A Fafnir ABC brg often will sub for an SKF, Timken, or Skoda. Same holds for seals. A National ABC seal will often sub for a Chicago Rawhide XYZ seal of the same dimension.
Brgs are built to a class (#1>#7); higher # is better (and priced accordingly). Manufacturer is minor: SKF class 4=Nippon class 4.
Seals are made in bunan (rubber), viton, and rawhide (Yep!)
O rings come in a zillion sizes. A,B,C, etc.,# 1;2;3 etc. SAE, Metrics; dimentionals. And sold in rope coils for diy installs made to fit.
86na
88t
machine build/rebuild-master -
You'll just have to experiment for yourself, and see if the info newisone pans out.
S30's have more info on doing what you want to do as they used to have a nissan motorsports package that did the same thing. It had new shock oil, new seals and new springs.
I actually did it on my 260z. I used engine oil and re used everything else. It was a cheap experiment when the shocks I bought didn't fit and my car still had the original shocks. The driver side held up for quite a while, but after 2-3 months of random daily driving they leaked out past the worn out seals. I refilled them once, and if I put it back on the road before I do coilovers, I'll refill them again.
The 240 or 260z FSM has the exact procedure to fill and bleed the shocks properly, I would check that out as well.
~Alexsplatter fake blood on fubar'd quarter and roll out.
pedestrians=mobile clipping points -Benedict on PurePontiackid's 280zx -
It's very do - able. You just have to replace the seals which are camshaft seals , don't recall the dimensions off hand something like 35 mm ID x 52 mm OD x 4 mm height . There are two of them inside the nut . You also have to refill the shocks with hydraulic fluid , ATF works perfect and will create a shock that's stiffer than stock, again don't recall the exact amount but I think it was 190ml.
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