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mws
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Posts posted by mws
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^That's what I was thinking.^
Me too... My first thought was a hard part of the suspension let go, letting the steering knuckle move back under acceleration. Upper or lower control arms or their bushings being number one suspects. Maybe a severely damaged ball joint could be a suspect as well.
Since the "tie rod" assembly (center link and TRE's) is in front of the knuckles, having the knuckle move back will effectivel shorten the "tie rod", pulling the wheels into a toe in condition.
Definitely a "no more drive until diagnosed" issue in my book.
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Just a side note: With your compression as it is, it would be very unlikely you holed a piston or severely bent a valve. If you had, the compression should have been much lower in that cylinder.
So the old heads may be quite salvagable!
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The FAR more important factor is WHERE...
Ask around for the most reliable, conscientious, and accurate shop in your area.
Hints: It will NOT be the biggest shop or the cheapest shop...
Alignments are like sex... Pretty much anyone can do it, but some do it better. And you will appreciate the difference.
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Check out CIPA Mirrors "Blind Spotz" pn 08101 mirrors. These are stick ons for '96-'99 Chevy pickups, but by rotating them 90 degrees, they are a near perfect fit on the lower inside corner of our pathy mirrors (the section where you normally see your rear tire).
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Mine went in very well - no issues at all. Perfectly aligned, nice snug fit.
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I know it will never have quite the output of an MPFI engine, by design. But it is soft.
As I drive it and check things out, I suspect the cat is pretty plugged up. It is a little softer than my '87 which has over 200K, and the engine in the '88 is a japanese pull out with under 100K and the Thorley headers. It has this little itty-bitty Magnaflow glasspack and is still quieter than my '87 with triple pass Dynomax turbo style muffler. That tells me there must be a serious restriction somewhere.
A new cat is on order and should be in this week. I already have a new Dynomax muffler and will run 2.5" pipe just like the '87.
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As B can attest to, the suspension in TransworldMoto's '88 with 200+K miles was nothing short of knackered. It bobbed and weaved and wandered and pretty much required 100% attention to keep going where you want. The lock-rite in the rear just exacerbated the situation. Rolling on and off the throttle resulted in a quaint 3- dimensional jig. The front lower control arm bushings were so far gone the shock body was slamming into the UCA - actually wore through the wall of one shock.
But I see only the potential, not the reality, and bought it!
After 3 full days of very sweaty and dirty effort, I have replaced:
- All 10 bushings in the rear suspension with Nissan OE bushings. Only one of the originals had really come apart, but it was enough to let the rear axle steer itself. These puppies take a LOT of effort and technique to get out. You must have an impact hammer, bushing cutter, and a lot of patience. Propane torch, files, and grinders came in handy as well.
- Front lower control arm bushings were replaced with OE bushing. The old ones were TOUGH to get out. The new ones were tough to get in.
- Poly bushings for the tension rod. Had to fabricate new bushing cups as the old ones were hogged out and destroyed.
- Rough Country UCA's with Poly bushings
- Replaced all 4 ball joints with Moog
- Replaced front wheel bearings, rotors, brake pads.
- Hurled the Rancho 5000 shocks as far as I could and installed Rough Country/Heckethorn 8000's.
Still waiting for the L&P steering kit to arrive, but already it is AMAZINGLY better! A little slop in the steering, but the truck handles like an absolute dream. Like it is brand new (which, in effect, it is).
Total cost: About $600, 55 hours of sweat (it was over 100 degrees), and only a tablespoon or so of blood.
But what a great project to make a tired old truck feel like a completely new and SAFE truck!
Next project: Body de-lift. Cutting down the 3" lift blocks to about 1.25". Thats more than enough to clear my tires.
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UCA's and shocks are in. Both get A+'s!
I heartily recommend BOTH! And what Clay said turned out to be spot on. A credible sales person.... wow. I love it! I will not hesitate to do business with them again.
The 8000's give more damping than "stock" replacements sized for smaller road tires, and feel about perfect for 31x10.5" tires on steel wheels. If you go bigger than that or add a whole lot of weight to your rig, the 9000's may be better for you.
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shocks
in The Garage
UPDATE: I finally got to drive around with the Rough Country/Heckethorn 8000s on the front, and I LIKE them! Very much!
They keep the heavy 31" STT tires on steel wheels completely in control, but NOT harsh. Comfort and control. PERFECT!
I WILL be adding a set of 8000's to the rear as well.
I give them 2 thumbs up!
PS: the 9000's are quite a bit stiffer for those who like hard rides.
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I have a pair of front springs out of a 4.0L (I6) Jeep something sitting in front of me (thanks, Red!).
They have just under 8.5 coils, but it appears Red already cut the pig tail off.
The springs are just over 17" long.
The wire is .54 to .55 inches in diameter
OD of spring is about 5.25", ID is about 4.00"
Data points:
I did a bunch of mixing and matching and confused up the data points, but youmay still be able to glean some useful insights.
The '88 came with thick (.58") progressive JGC coils (not sure what model or color code) with pigtails already cut off and Rancho 5000's. Too firm for my taste. Nowhere near as bad as a Cherokee with add-a-leafs, but not as comfortable and compliant as I'd like. So those went on to the '87 going to the nephew who considers it a Cadillac ride compared to the aformentioned heep. With the same mini spare inside, small sub box, and 40lb tool box, this provided just under 1.5" lift.
On the '88, I installed the JGC I6 coils I mentioned below with the same Sears Roadtamer shocks I've been using on the '87. Straight rate, .55 wire.
Stiffer than stock for sure, but still very nice and compliant. Feels ideal to me! No noticeable loss of lift compared to the other springs, so again about 1 to 1.5" lift.
And yes, the Air-Lift bags are still in there for heavy loads or extra lift! I do need to make a spacer so they become effective sooner.
Bottom line: I think the JGC I-6 .55" wire straight rates could be the best option unless you regularly carry very heavy loads or like buckboard ride quaility. If you need more lift, add a spacer.
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one more guinea pig reporting for squeak patrol duty...
I used the NEO watercraft grease on the Rough Country UCA bushings and Energy Suspensions lower control arm "tension" doughnuts. So far, so good.
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The blower is pulling some current but no motion? That would likely indicate shorted wires in the blower. If the wires were shorted to ground, they would flow very high amounts of current and blow fuse.
How much current is it pulling?
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Yes, mws, I do account for the coeficient of friction and the break free energy by rotating it slightly and observing the drag...
B
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There should be a little play in the differential - the yoke can turn back and forth a couple few degrees.
But there should be NO rotational play in any of the u-joints.
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shocks
in The Garage
comfort? but i like my back realigned with my ranchos........ no need for a chriopractor..... run max air in yer tires n WOOOOOOOOOOOO yo can have an adjusting good time -bounce- You kids...
I'm too old for that now. Rancho's are fine shocks (and American made!), but the 5000's are still using the 80's approach to offroad shocks. Make them so stiff they can barely move. If you watch any form of offroad racing, you will see that they are finally learning from the motocross guys:
Stiff is slow, compliant is competitive.
The ideal set up keeps the wheel in control, but allows it to move as freely as possible to stay in contact with the surface. The ideal setup bottoms out (softly) every now and then, and tops out (softly) every now and then. The WP suspension on my KTM is a prime example. It rides as plush as a Cadillac, but it takes humongous bone breaking hits to upset it. 100% in control, but unbelievably comfortable. True, shocks of that caliber cost well in excess of $500, but they are worth it.
I'm hoping the Rough Country/Heckethorns 8000's I'm putting on my '88 prove out to be a good compromise between cost, comfort, and control. I should have the right front rebuilt and together this weekend and will be able to test it out in a couple weeks.
My '87 was running some Sears Roadtamer shocks, and they are amazingly good with the 255/70-16 road tires on alloy 16x8's - very comfortable but always in control. But just a little soft for the heaaaaavy 31x10.5-15 Cooper STT's on steel Rockcrawlers.
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I used the poly bushings that came with the Rough Country UCA's and used Energy Suspension poly donuts on the rear end of the front lower control arms (tension rods) - mainly because they were cheaper than OE. Oh, and ES bump stops as well.
The front bushing on the front lower control arms, 100% of the rear control arms and panhard rod, and all sway bar bushings remain OE rubber - as I prefer. They were about $12 to $16 each as I recall. New rubber bushings are much stiffer than old, rotten, torn up rubber and my experience is that just replacing them with OE replacements gives unbelievable improvements in suspension control and feel. Literally makes the vehicle ride like it was brand new again. As it should!
In looking at the thin sections of rubber used by Nissan, I predict they would be so close to poly in stiffness that the only significant way we could tell a difference is in noise.
I think there would also be benefits to use poly bushings in the upper (inner) rear control arm if the truck is modified to provide significantly more suspension travel in the rear without lengthening the arms. The relatively short arms require the bushings to twist quite a ways, and that would be hard on rubber bushings.
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So we spent the weekend rebuilding the suspension and steering on my newer (Transworld's old) '88 pathy with something over 200K miles. Desperately needed it. Replaced all 10 bushings in the rear, and all 8 up front. Most with Nissan OE parts. And most of the rear bushings in the '87 at the same time.
So is it just me, or are the stock Nissan bushing a complete bear to remove? I've done Chevy's, Fords, and BMW's over the years (nothing makes an old vehicle feel better than all new suspension!), and none required the degree of force and borderline violence to remove the old bushings that this critter required. They merely laughed at the effort applied by the 12 ton arbor press - which popped 3/4 ton Chevy and BMW bushings out in 5 seconds.
I had to resort to using my industrial grade IR impact hammer with a bushing splitter bit and a WHOLE lot of encouragement and cursing to get them out. Basically shredded the shells (cut them lengthwise) to get them to budge. Like 5-10 minutes of constant hammering per. All the joints in my arms STILL hurt from the hours of impact hammering. And my ears are still ringing...
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Just did my '88 this weekend and have a tip:
The same allen (hex) wrench used to remove the locking hub (6mm?) was PERFECT for turning the lock ring. Slip the short end of the wrench into one of the holes and turn. Once the long arm hits the hub, additional twisting easily rotates the lock ring. Slick as you know what!
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shocks
in The Garage
RC shocks are made by them for them and used to be called Heckethorns.
Both the RS5000 and RC9000 are verrrry stiff. Some of us call it "harsh" or "uncomfortable" unless you have very heavy wheels/tires.
If you don't like your teeth rattling, consider the RC8000's. They actually allow suspension movement over freeway expansion joints.
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What's your goal - to have the bumper protect the vehicle without adding too much weight, or to have it completely dent and nuclear explosion proof?
Using all 1/4" or 3/8" plate will pretty much assure it never dents, but it will be unbelievably heavy.
Myself, I'd rather keep it lighter and let a few "trail trophies" appear over time. If bad enough, I could always replace some panels. I'd rather have dents than an extra 100 pounds out in front of the wheels....
With a design similar to this in mind:
http://www.ryangee.net/nissan/bumper.htm
I will most likely be using 1/8" (maybe 3/16") wall square for the main body tube with reinforcement at winch mounting , with the lower panels made from 1/8" plate. Yeah, they will dent if slammed into a rock, but I don't care. The mounting brackets will be 1/4".
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Also the upper control arms, sway bar, and driveshaft.
I think it would be OK to soak the fasteners. Me? I took apart and repaired what I needed to, wire wheeled the bolts, and then put it back together and installed it. After it was in place and torqued, I did the MC, MR, and POR-15. That way, the exposed parts of the bolts are fully coated. Also serves as a thread locker.
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Click at spark plug? As '88 said, remove the plug wire, CAREFULLY check it for holes or cracks (even a tiny pin hole can allow arcing).
And then check if the plug itself is tight. If the boot is OK, I bet you'll find the plug is loose!
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And I also suspect the standard studs would be quite adequate when using headers. But I will still be swapping to the ZX turbo studs anyways...
But if you have a time, dollar, or convenience crunch and want to use bolts, you should consider temporarily finger tightening a couple of your old studs (well cleaned, of course, and a couple drops of oil would be good) into the end holes to get the headers started. Then install new bolts from the neighborhood store on the inner holes. Once those are in, remove the studs from the ends and replace with the bolts.
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Strength wise, both will be quite adequate.
Convenience wise, it is usually easier to use studs on at least on the outer most ends. They will help hold the gasket in place and serve to guide the headers into place.
If using all bolts, trying to hold the header and gasket aligned while starting the first couple bolts can be a bit, umm, frustrating.
What Happened?
in The Garage
Posted
And of course, posting pictures of the various suspension components will let us use our combined experience to help you diagnose!