‘71 Skyline Hakosuka

Suspended Suspension + Repainted Parts

On the last post I ran into a braking issue and the front pistons not compressing. I started to look into the Techno Toy Tuning (T3) Micro Big Brake adapter, calipers, and rotors so they will clear the 14” Watanabe wheels that I already had. I reached out to Josh at T3 and showed them some photos. Josh said the Hako conversion kit would not fit because the lower part of the strut is from a Kenmeri. The other option was to convert the whole front assembly to a Datsun 280 ZX. As I took the strut out to reuse the spring top hat and camber tops I tested the shocks and they were blown! I guess I’m going with the T3 280 ZX conversion then.

Kenmeri Axel
Koni front coilovers – Front spring rate 255 lbs
Datsport camber top – Victory 50 Strut Bar
Definitely reusing Datsport camber tops
And definitely reusing these top hats
Blown Shocks
Kassie overseeing the cleaning
Ball Bearing on the Spring Hat

Here she sits on jack stands. Maybe for awhile until I get the complete front suspension parts and the rear control arm bushings from the previous owner and some other goodies shipped from Australia.

Had to drop the rear control arm bc because I couldn’t get the axle nut off
Taking the control arms to Ali to remove the axle nut
Axel nut removed
Now the drum brake housing can come off
Needed a make over and re coat
This was a pain to knock off the paint and rust
Datsport 510 Race Springs – 1100 lbs rear spring rate
Springs damaged and cracked the rear control arm
Big B Brandon sealing up the crack and smoothening out the cuts
Grinded the ends to prevent from tearing into the rear control arms again
Subaru STI R180 differential
STI differential to Hako half shaft axle
Stewart Wilkins R180 stub axles to STI diff
280 ZX half shafts?
Changing the rubber bushings to polyurethane but shocks seemed good still
Masked off for respect
Ended up using brake caliper spray since I had a can laying around

Sourcing out bushing was trial and error. They obviously didn’t have a catalog to pick out Hako parts so I had to take dimensions. All I have to say is thank goodness for Amazon free returns. I read good things about POR 15 and it seemed like a more permanent coating so I went with that. 2 stage prep and double coats for the lower control arms and the half shaft axles.

Degreased and Metal prep
Half shafts now matching in paint protection
Found the closest match spring isolators to prevent metal on metal rubbing.l
Might as well re coat the exhaust
Not sure that was happening here but there was black overspray so I polished it out
Half way through
Used high temp matte finish

The order from T3 has been ordered and now it’s a waiting game. Order included front coilovers, 4 lug hub, micro bug brake kit and adapters for the front and rear. A fresh new suspension set up, can’t wait to drive it!

Jan Lim

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