Clunk elimination has begun, with pics

[Zedyone_kenobi]

update:

I received my half shafts from the shop and apparently the ujoints were in pretty bad shape...the guy told me that they looked to be starting to score the inner races they were so bad. Funny is I did not feel any slop at all but he showed me how there was some. Guess it never hurts to get an expert on it. So half shaft ujoints are all new!

Had to build a shed this weekend, so I was not able to do any Z work. Bummer. I did get my mustache bar clean and found my old brazing torch. So those stock bushings are living on borrowed time.

[Zedyone_kenobi]

Update:

I have cleaned and painted the mustache bar, diff, halfshafts, crossmembers, and bolts. So things are going well.

I did find time to get the urethane steering coupler installed, which meant I was able to get the steering rack bushings done as well. I installed my ITG air cleaners, and modified my Black Dragon air horns to fit them properly. So the front of the car is darn near complete except for some vacuum hose reconfiguring I need to do.

I am on hold as the transmission mount I received does not fit my car. Its a little off, see my thread on this elsewhere, but long story short, Black Dragon is going to ship me back a new one immediately. I am very happy for their customer service. They handled the problem VERY fast.

So I will post pictures up soon. All the parts are cleaned and ready to install. I will say that my rear diff was critically low on fluid when I drained it. I don't see how it lasted at all. Seems that you just need to check everything when you buy a used car.

[Zedyone_kenobi]

before:

after:

pardon the blurry shots, did not properly focus.

American Shelby 500's 14 x 6 if anybody wants them, make me an offer.

I have some spots I need to touch up on some of these parts, namely the half shafts, but I can do that after I get all the nicks on them during installation.

My new tranny mount shipped out today, so I should be in business soon.

[Zedyone_kenobi]

Bad news, I received my tranny mount again from Black Dragon and it was wrong again!!

I ended up ordering a NOS one that Arne pointed me to off ebay. Still cheaper than MSA, so what the heck. Halfshafts should go on soon, and the back end will be done. Just waiting for a transmission mount, and I can start driving her again!

[Zedyone_kenobi]

Well my tranny mount from ebay seemed to do the trick. I got my driveshaft back from the shop with new ujoints installed and had it balanced. Not sure it was completely necessary, but it was one of those while I am at it type of things. The running gear is competely hooked up and ready to roll. All that is left to do is hook up my vacuum lines to my ITG air cleaners in some manner and she will be back on the road after a total refresh.

Summary of work done in the past two months:

New Steering rack bushings

New Poly steering coupler

New Tranny Mount

New Front Diff Mount

New Poly Mustache Bar Bushings

New U-joints in the half shafts

New U-Joints in the Drive shafts

Drive shaft balanced

All bolts cleaned and anti seize applied

All parts sanded, primed and painted chassis black

Diff fluid changed

Tranny fluid changed

ITG air cleaners with custom modified air horns installed

New fuel filter

All New vacuum hoses

It was a lot of work, but I cant say I did not enjoy it. Looking forward to stretching the old girls legs again.

[Diseazd]

Don't forget to let us know if it's gone!

[Zedyone_kenobi]

Oh, I do hope for a good result!

[five&dime]

Any word? Is the clunk gone?

[Zedyone_kenobi]

I have one of those blessed days MOnday where my kid will be at day care, and my wife will be at work and I will be at home with the car...<sigh> what bliss!

I managed this past weekend to screw up my ITG air cleaner backing plates drilling holes for the vent tubes from the carb. So unfortunately, no answer yet. But the car will be driven Monday! And I will report back then.

I have new ITG backing plates coming from MSA, and finally found the right hardware to handle all my vacuum tube needs. Pics to come soon.

The Z will be rolling in time for Veterans day!

[Zedyone_kenobi]

Shes Alive!

Today my Z fired back up to life. It was pouring outside, so I refrained from driving her. Initial results are hard to quantify. I am optimistic. The clunk if its still there is much quieter. I will know more when I get a chance to drive it around for a while. I cannot wait.

I would love to drive it to work this week one time.

But its was good to hear her breath again. SU's make a nice sound un-muffled.

And finally, she is resting back together. We have made her stronger, we had the technology, the time and determination. Most of all, we had help, from the people on this website.

I salute all who were able to help me through this process.

[Diseazd]

Zedyone.......I think you may be going in the wrong direction with your diff replacement. Check out what Yellow Jedi said....It wasn't his u-joints or diff mount...he replaced those twice....when he finally replaced all rear bushings the clunk disappeared! My guess is his problem was the four rear control arm bushings...remember the u-joints, driveshaft and diff mount aren't the only areas under stress in the rear. The wheels and tires are trying to twist the control arms apart! If the four large bushings aren't installed correctly or have been worn from high torque runs over the years, you can have metal to metal contact or severe movement on either side of the bushings. However like previosly mentioned in this thread, they must be installed properly. Loosen the large bolts on the forward and rearward side of the bushings then take the caps off (2 small bolts on rearward cap, diff bracket capping forward bushings) When finishing the job, tighten the large 4 bolts only when rear wheels are under weight of the car. Clunk elimination is part of Z ownership.....good luck!

Zedyone-Sounds like a little doubt in your last reply. If all the effort doesn't fix the problem try the above. It fixed mine, and you can do it in less than an hour!

[Zedyone_kenobi]

Thanks D.

I need to drive it again to see what she is going to do first. I was going to replace those bushings since I already had the front diff crossmember off. So it would have been very easy to just replace the rears.

We will see.... I will write back later to let you know how she drove.