Feb - Aug 2011 Finish Front and Rear Axle

I purchased ROTA RB wheels and even with deep lug nuts they were only catching a few threads.  I purchased new wheel studs that are clearly longer.

Since the front pass was already on, I removed the hub and pressed the old studs out and pressed the new ones back in.

With the new studs on it was time to finish the final steps to get the wheel on.  I installed the brake hubs.  

Connected brake hard lines and flex line from the brake block.

Loaded brake pads and locked them in place with retainer.

Wheel on.  Great fit and I like the look.

Repeating all steps for the drivers front side.

Just like the pass side, with clean and or new parts assembly is pretty easy and looks great.

Cleaned up the steering box.  The Roaster early cars had this worm gear box, and later cars had a recirculating ball box.

Steering box in and filled.

Did the brake pads and wheel for the driver's side.  Ready to connect the two sides.

With the steering arm and pitman arm on it was time to connect the two with the center link.

With the basic alignment of the wheels, I locked the front link in place.

The final step was installing the comp sway bar.  This was another piece from DatsunParts.

All of the rear suspension parts will get the same treatment as the front; clean, Blast, POR or Paint.

Post blast cabinet all pieces look great.

Primed and painted with a Gloss Chassis black.

Suspension pieces ready, now I need to do axles and carrier.

The axles are held together with a press fit collar.  I have read to limit the times you press on and off, so I cut the collar close and snapped it with a chisel.

The backing plates were dirty and rusted and had a few dents.  These need to be generally straight as the hub fits inside the outer lip.

After cleaning I straightened all dents and rounded the lip back out.

All pieces ready to assemble axles.

New axle seals.

Spacer for bearing and backing plate.

With backing plate and bearings in place I slide the collar on and used my press to lock them down.

Same steps for other side.

Brake adjusters were rusted solid.  I soaked them in Evapo Rust for a few days.

Post soaking, I polished the adjuster lugs, and the adjuster operates smoothly. 

Too big for my blast cabinet, but it needs to be cleaned.

Some foaming engine cleaner/degreaser combined with wire brushes and elbow grease cleaned it up.

Carrier primed. 

Painted with the gloss chassis black. 67 1600 daily driver out for summer driving.

To start the rear, I installed the scroll brackets for the rear springs.  The Roadster has a basic live axle rear end.

I bought Roadster Comp rear springs so to install them I bought Deans new spring pads.  You can see old vs. new.  The center alignment spacer must be retained form the old pads.

The pads fit right into the sandwich plates that are held in place with large u bolts.

I removed the smallest spring plate to reduce stiffness just a little.

Connected leaf spring to rear scroll.

With both springs hanging I attached the carrier to its locating pin.

To finish up I installed comp bump stops. Final step is u bolts through this set up and ending at the rear shock mount.

To finish the rear axle, I lifted the springs into place and installed with the carrier's special purpose bolt.

Rear shock installed.

The 67.5 and later cars had a torque bar on the rear axle to reduce axle wind up.

To install the assembled axles, I need to install the inner seal for the bearing...

Just like the previous step, the differential needs to be installed so the axle splines engage the spyder gears.

After the new seal was in, the driveline adapter and the castle nut lock it all down.

With the axles bolted in I installed the rear brake cylinders and the e brake arms.

Adjuster installed and brake dust boot.

New brake shoes.

Brake drums on.

Rear wheels...rolling chassis.