The alternator and starter are stored safely till the time has come to install 'em. So today I spent most of my time disassembling the front and 240SX rear calipers as much as possible. The 240SX rear calipers are simply rotated out using a pair of pliers. Front calipers required air pressure to be driven out. Fortunately one of the guys had a small air compressor that I could use. No problem doing so for the RH caliper. The force that the pistons were pushed out with was just amazing - you wouldn't wanna have one or more of your digits sandwiched! But still there's quite a few guys having gone thru that experience :) Common sense and RTFM does help you know.
But on the LH caliper, one of the pistons was seized up. Not much of a surprise looking at the state it was in. Assuming it was due to rust, I'd already reconciled myself to the idea of having to buy a new caliper.
But then I noticed that it was the piston at the side of the brake line connection (in the upper pic on the top side). Rather than applying air pressure, I simply inserted a small punch and drove the piston out :) It came out without too much effort and fortunately it wasn't as badly rusted as I thought it'd be. Polishing with 1200 grit paper cleaned up most of the grease/rust. This Z must have had some really bad (as in 'none') braking performance. No wonder the pads look like new :) Glad that's sorted out.Up next is sandblasting the calipers, have 'em powder coated followed by re-assembly.
Last week I got a great deal from my fav supplier smokin-geez on this set of (LH) door parts :) Great as in $25 for the whole set! Buying a set of NOS would cost at least triple that. Next couple of weekends will be spent cleaning and fixing the roof of the shed, and fixing my daily driver which needs a new wind shield.
