Wynona the wagon's resurrection!

[HRH]

Started up the wagon yesterday. Ran it for about 30 minutes while I changed the oil in the Subaru. Good to get the fluids moving. Pretty sure I'm going to need to super flush the radiator, and possibly replace it. I'm thinking about doing the same aluminum radiator I put in the z car. It was reasonably cheap and works wonderfully. I think it will fit the Maxima core support, but I'll have to do some checking.

And holy crap, I just thought about getting another RB20 to squirrel away to build a monster, but shit, when I bought mine 4 years ago or whenever, they were 1500 bucks and that was with a tranny! I just checked fleabay and they want 5200 for the same shit now!! Unreal. I'm betting someone around here has a core I could build with all new parts. I still have the front clip from the other wagon I cut up, which would be super nice to test fit some stuff.

[Laecaon]

Prices for everything have gone up. CAs used to be under 1k now, 2500 easy.

At this point, KA-T makes the most power per dollar sense if staying Nissan.

[HRH]

Yeah, I'm thinking if things keep going that way I'll be doing a Vortec 5.3 build a lot sooner than I think.

[Laecaon]

The used car market is on fire, but like 2 or 3 years ago Draynor bought a Camaro, ripped the engine and tranny out, sold the shell for what he bought it for, and sold the engine and tranny for what 500 over what he bought the whole car for.

[HRH]

Finally got around to shortening the axleshaft tonight. I decided to shorten it and test fit it for c-clip operation before I send a final length to Moser to make me some custom axle shafts. I was going to go with c-clip eliminator kits but it adds quite a bit of expense on and really if it's good enough to hold the V8 power of an explorer there's a good chance I probably won't break a c clip anytime soon.

Weasel was helping.

Also the harbor freight chop saw is pretty damn weak for cutting through axle shafts. It did it but wasn't happy about it. Probably need to get better chop saw at some point. on the plus side I finally got my welder figured out. as it turns out a lot of it's grounding issues and actually the stinger was loose where it comes out of the hand control. Tighten that up and put it back together and with the proper amount of grounding it actually welds decently. Only took me about 11 years to figure it out, lol.

[Laecaon]

Is this the HF abrasive disc cutoff saw? Its crap. Utter crap. I have one.

Everyone is using the Evolution brand Cutoff saw. I have switched to just using my portable bandsaw for cutting anything.

[HRH]

I think it is, I got it many moons ago, but it's definitely harbor freight. Works for light stuff, but anything heavy, yeah, it's super weak. Think I need to pony up the dough and get a good one. I'd love to have a bandsaw, but no place to put one.

[HRH]

So the good news is on the first time willing this thing together I got it right on. it's about .005" to .010"difference from the other side. I'm going to call that close enough. Which means now I can send off to Moser for new custom axleshafts!! I do need to attach a straight edge to the ends and remeasure just to make sure it matches what it's supposed to match, but that's not a huge deal. I may just ship motor the axle shaft and tell him this is what I need but in Datsun bolt pattern and new.

I was trying to figure out how to check the clearance Clarence, and realized I still had a set of snap mics laying around. Super handy for this since I didn't have any inside calipers. put the straight edge held against the end of the axle tube and then measured from that to the flat section of the hub flange.

[HRH]

Ordered the custom axles today! Was actually easier than I was anticipating. Called Moser, had my measurements, they took them, said they would ship out next Tuesday! The also have dimensions of all the axles from whichever vehicle was sourced. I hadn't measured the passenger side, but that was unchanged, so it didn't matter. We'll see in a week or so how it turns out. Crossing my fingers. I measured about 4 dozen times, then added .010" for the amount I was off, and I can always grind a little off the end if needed. Should be dead nuts perfect if I measured it right.

[Laecaon]

Any reason for Moser over Dutchman?

[HRH]

Mosers site was a little more professional and I called them first. I don't think there's anything wrong with Dutchman. I know that's where the Datsun guru sent the roadster axle for resplining, but it was a couple of day turnaround for Mosier and I thought well heck why not?

[flatcat19]

Dutchman is a NW company; Meridian, Idaho.

If I have the option to support local business, I will.


Fuck your turnaround time, go pick it up after work and be home in time for snuggles.

[Laecaon]

Yea, It's Dutchman 100% of the way. Professional website means they spent money there. Dutchman still has line cards. They are old school cool. Pirate4x4 is fairly NW central, and Dutchman is all I ever see any of them going with for the average Joe.

[HRH]

Dutchman is a NW company; Meridian, Idaho.

If I have the option to support local business, I will.


Fuck your turnaround time, go pick it up after work and be home in time for snuggles.

Well, aren't you testy Keith? Lol. I don't care, there are two places that offer the services, I chose the one in the midwest or whatever. They were nice on the phone, they took my order. Damn, a brother's gotta defend where he buys parts from now? Shit, don't buy anything from NAPA or OReilly's or Autozone then, only shop from Motion Auto, it's a local WA business!

Oh, and Moser's in Indiana, and there's only one. So that makes them a local business, just not here. Don't fall off that high horse!

[flatcat19]

Never. No other way to properly look down at the peasants.


Moser though? You sound like a Chebby owner..Got that MSD catalog at the ready?

[HRH]

You're damn right I do! And the Summit catalog too!!

[HRH]

Got a present from Moser yesterday, woot woot!

[HRH]

The good news is the measurements were spot on. But I am curious. On the cut side, I added .010" just to have a little extra if I needed to fettle something. The passenger side is the uncut side, it measured right up with the stock shaft. My end play with the diff pin installed on the passenger side (stock) is .042", whereas the end play on the driver's side (my shortened side) is only .019". Figuring in the extra .010, that means it would have been at .029", which is only .012 off the passenger side. As far as I can tell, it should be fine, but I'm curious if the large gap on the passenger side should be duplicated for expansion during heat/load. It is double the amount.

Going to call my master tech buddy who is going to set up the rear end with me tomorrow and get his opinion. I think it will be fine, but two heads thinking the same thing are always better than one.

[HRH]

So buddy says .025"-.050" is usually the range of acceptable for c-clip axles. I'm a little tight on the one side, but he also made a good point, I don't have the new LSD center section in either. Bascially I need to get the axle all set up with the new guts then take measurements again. After it cools down tomorrow I'll start on that.

[HRH]

Had my master tech Buddy (my old roommate, he actually works at our other shop now) over today to help set up the axle. It's not terribly hard on a Ford 8.8, but it's definitely helpful to have someone around who has done a ton of rear ends. The first issue we had was I broke one of the cast shims on install. This diff was super tight, which is good, but also annoying. So then we had to take it back out and build shim packs that came in the bearing kit.

Luckily for us, the second go round turned out perfectly! The backlash was right at .010". Then we installed the axle shafts and they were way too tight. Going to cut .020" off each end where it hits the cross pin. Not much off, just enough to get to the .025" tolerance.