Passenger Sway bar end link...



Passenger Tie rod end bushing..

 

it'll buff out.

got replacements, yet?

 

ohh... maybe i shuld replace mine..

 

irony lol. i got a crapload of engine work done on my 3rd gen a few days ago, and he inspected everything. i guess my front swaybar is completely gone, and the endlinks and stuff are gone. he said my front tires are wobbling half a inch and they have bad wear

and he said one of the parts i need you can only get from junkyard cars now

 

Buying Pass. Strut cuz that's been dead for awhile..now I have a job to fix the stuff I need..

Gonna get the MOOG Endlinks, and thinking about the Tie rod end bushings..I wanna replace them both but I'm thinking if I should just replace the Tie rods as well while i'm at it...and hopefully I didn't wallow out the hole where the endlink goes into the control arm because now I can physically move the endlink back and forth..which isn't a good sign.

 

You can get every part and bolt need here.
http://www.courtesyparts.com/maxima-...94-c-1610.html

 

thanks for the link, i'll check the list he gave me to see whats fully wrong. my front wheels wobble so bad that the tires i bought 9 months ago are already wrecked

 

so heres the list of all the ish thats wrong

- oil leak
- inner tie rods
- missing swaybar mount
- central arm bushings
- one partially seized rear brake caliper

 

Should I even bother with the list of things wrong with my max...lol

- Oil leak (underbody coated with oil build up (especially passenger side)
- Power Steering leak (leak on Rack&Pinion) -- at times during autocrossing the powersteering will fail then engage again almost simultaneously
- TIRES!!!
- Passenger Strut
- EGR Valve sticks open..so especially when the engine is warming up, it surges with speed increasing
- Catalytic converter might be bad...
- Swaybar Endlinks
- Tie Rod end bushings
- Lower control arm bushing(s)
- Power lock timing unit
- Rear Pass. side window motor fails almost every time it's set down
- Transmission mounts need replacing
- Rear Spoiler is literally hanging on by just one mount..all the rest have rusted/dry-rotted out

 

I would love for that list to be at cero or close to..

but that probably won't happen..as I'm really saving up towards another car..I'm just trying to make sure my daily is SAFE to drive

 

You're not alone. That's why I'm still swapping stuff off my donor car.

 

Ordering parts when I get paid so I should be updating this thread soon hopefully. Just hope I can get 2 days off in a row to fix it so I can have one day to fix (one back up day in case something goes wrong and/or get it aligned!)

 

looks like that pass outer tie rod is shot. look at the angle of the top compared to the stud going through it. I'd check it for play. if you can feel any play, then it's done. I bet that thing is toasted just from the angle in that photo. But I've been wrong before (not often, but it happens! )

g'luck!

 

i have a power steering leak as well, but the guy said its not bad enough to replace everything to just keep an eye on the fluid level. somebody (guessing the previous owners mechanic) mixed coolant with tapwater as well, and the calcium in the water and stuff frigged up my radiator a bit

my door lock timer died a year and a bit ago but i havent fixed it yet lol. i'll check Courtesy to make sure i can get all the parts, if i can just fix my suspension and the leaks i'll be set

 

there are a lot of parts you can get used or from parts cars.

I think for a little money you can send James your door lock timer and he will send you a fixed one.

You can get a used window motor or regulator and take a chance on that.

are you sure it's your EGR and not your IACV? Those can be cleaned out.

 

Really? That would be awesome!

Eh, the regulator/motor thing isn't as much of an issue since most of the time I don't have someone sitting back there

and well my idle doesn't surge or dump or anything like that but when I apply part throttle and accelerate (again it's most common when the vehicle is warming up -- I usually let it idle for at least 3 minutes before I go anywhere, even in this warm climate) but after I've been driving for a little while it doesn't do it as frequently or even at all. It's like it'll increase, flat spot, increase, flat spot (all while i'm applying the same amount of throttle) and my TPS is good so I know it's not that

 

Question:

I noticed the Tie rod ends on my car are much diff. than the MOOG ones

Moog set which does not carry the same curve in the middle of the tie-rod end..would that affect vehicle characteristics since it's more "direct" ?

I somewhat doubt it but just wanted to ask before I bought them.

 

Me too tho the point, I need a new power steering pump, hoses, and it leaked all over my lower control arms. Another CC charge on the MAX


Also on the funny note, this Nissan sales guy think the VE30DE engine is a myth (saying Nissan only have VG and VQs for Maximas) and VG30E have Dual Overhead Cams.

Learn the Maxima or don't say anything at all.

 

fukc and people here in online ads selling 92-94 SE (VE30DE) say "has the 300zx engine". VE were only used in 3rd gen Maximas for the 3 years, and VG's are the 300zx engine

 

QFMFT

 

Question bump

 

The curve shouldn't make a difference. Just make sure you get it aligned and should be just fine.

 

ok cool that's what I figured, thanks!

 

what's this...




NEW PARTS!

 

... gabriel strut? srsly?












........srsly?

 

it's what I have on the other side. No complaints here. and it's just to give me something that isn't dead.

and it's Monroe.

 

ive gots a suspension question. my control arms, end tie rods, and ball joint came in the mail today, but the thing is i want to replace those and the struts/springs in one whack. i should have had the struts a month and a half ago but every Tokico seller has waited a week or two before telling me they never had the set in stock. im down to the last option of dropping $750 shipped on a set of Koni's, could those take a 2" drop on a 3rd gen? thanks

 

yes.
but you run into geometry problems.

 

like camberwise? my mechanic said he could work the camber out, or is there more to it?

 

should have included the link, these Koni's

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Koni-...item439e763650

 

that's what i meant.. for shame!

yea. while it's true that your mechanic can fix the static camber (ie, camber while the car is sitting still on level ground) the problem with struts, and why they are garbage, is that you only have one control arm.. and therefore can't really control camber through the full range of motion worth a crap.

you want the gamber to go more negative as the suspension compresses, more positive as it extends, to compensate for body roll and shear forces against the sidewall. if you watch a pickup truck or Ford panel van with blown shocks on the highway, you can actually wtatch the wheels camber in and out as the nose bounces over the road. That's cuz they have dual wishbones in front, with a short arm at the top and a long arm at the bottom, so the top arm pulls in at a faster rate than the bottom arm, hence the camber change. see how that would work on this setup? upper control arm angles in alot faster due to being shorter, and pulls the top of the knuckle inward toward the frame as the bottom pushes out.



however since on struts, the top is a 'fixed point', all you have to adjust the camber with is the control arm at the bottom. and as soon as the control arm starts pointing up... you start gaining positive camber under compression which is massively massively bad for cornering and stability, and just as bad for tire wear because you are basically riding on your sidewalls around turns. And i can tell you, based on crawling underneath nc90gxe's car with intrax springs, that his control arms are already pointing waay up on a 1.7" drop. you can see it in this pic.. you gain negative camber up until your control arm (yellow on the left, yellow/teal on the right) goes level (just like they show in the pic), then once it starts pointing up, you go back towards (and into) positive camber (not shown in pic) as the cosine of the arm (ie distance horizontal to body) decreases as theta (angle) increases.



about the only way to combat that and have negative camber even under compression is to add a huge amount of caster angle (which isn't very common on FWD cars), a huge amount of kingpin inclination (which you are kindof limited by your strut tower location on that one, plus it hurts turning radius after a certain point) or a huge amount of static negative camber (not so great for tire wear when you're going straight)

 

Got the new endlinks and strut in! Rides soooooooooo much smoother! Been awhile since I've felt that in my car.

Pics of process. (coming soon) It was kinda stupid that factory ones were 14mm and 12mm then the MOOG ones were in standard size for the lock nuts and we could "use" a 15mm but it was slightly off.

Bought a drill for my job, Harbor Freight, and it did pretty good on helping us compress the spring but couldn't get the job done to initially get the strut to knuckle bolts undone..had to crack em loose then zip it out

 

you're lucky your endlinks are normal.. the ones on the honda require an allen wrench and an open ended wrench. basically the 'bolt' portion has a hex hole in the end that you put the allen wrench into, then tighten the nut around it. so you can't just use a ratchet, and you have to wait until it's almost fully tight before you can torque it or else it'll just spin. ghey, amirite?

and when are you getting an e30 in real life instead of just having it as your avy?

 

 

 

 

wait after all that you reused your stock strut mount?

 

it was definitely not intentional..I didn't take as close of an observation of things before deconstruction as I should have..but I needed the car driveable by today so I could make it to work so I just put it on there.

 

Also, I'm getting an E30 or a 240 in a couple months. Gonna slap some tires on the max and call it good so I can officially start saving again. I was neglecting a much needed fix because of lack of funds..now that won't be the case.

 

Don't drive too long with the sway bar mounts like that; they should be perpendicular (T), vs Y-ish.
won't hurt for a short time, but adjust it soon.