Suspension / ChassisQuestions about your suspension? Need chassis advice?
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I have a 91 Bird 305 tbi car, And I finnaly really got it on the road tonight. I had fuel pump issues, and a clogged cat, but I finished that stuff up tonight. On my first "real" drive, I noticed under hard acceleration that there seemed to be a clunking noise coming from the back, it sounded to me like the passenger side, but I could be wrong. Well I stopped and put one foot on the brake and the other on the gas a brake torqued it a little and it clunked pretty bad. I did search and came up with a post about a bad torque arm and mount. Does this sound right to you all? Also, does anyone know where I can get a complete suspension diagram for this car? Thanks in advance!
Check your trans mount, the torque arm runs from the rear end to the back of the trans. under acceleration it keeps the axle from wraping thus putting pressure on the trans. If the trans mount has broken, your trans can be touching the floor giving off awful noises.
Thing is, it really sounds like its coming from the back, instead of underneath me when in the car. It scared the crap out of my girlfriend, she had thoughts of a youtube video I showed her where a camaro drag car broke his rear end completely off coming off the line. What is back there that would pop that way while brake torqing?
As others will say check the transmission mount, it really sounds like its coming from the rear end. When it happened to me I thought I broke something in back, but it was the tranny mount.
__________________ Current Vehicles:
1985 Camaro [LG4, Headers, Offroad Y Pipe, 2.5 Inch Cat-Back, TH700-R4 With Shift Kit, '95 3.42 Posi Rear, Ac Delete, Smog Delete. Currently in the Works : 350 Swap, Suspension Overhaul.]
1989 Merkur XR4Ti 2.3 Liter 4 Cylinder Turbo
yo dude, its your torque arm bushing. its a hassle to replace, but doable haha, after the bushing install youll be chirping tires instead of clunking? IF you didnt have a gf, youd get hella looks, couple years back i replaced the tranny bushing and the torque arm mount .. Y? B/c had a bad 2nd gear clunk and both was under twenty bucks and dang, its solid. and reliable..typically, the bushing goes bad, if the rear springs arnt removed properly. CHECK THIS LINK. http://s91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...20replacement/ (you might have to cope and paste the link, trust me it works) and also when you grind off the rivets be careful (i drilled them). (http://store.summitracing.com/egnsea...nresults=false) theres different types of bushings, (82-83) types, then the specific kind, had to do with the torque arm end shape, is it inner lip? outer lip, next, get a energy suspension bushing, and get a prothan tranny mount bushing...use thread lock and two nuts to secure it, because the two nuts prevent backing out. i had both stock bushings go out b4 the swap and man, after the swap, i was back in business, no more 2nd gear clunk. if its further back, it could be the following, bad sway bar bushing, bad lca bushing, bad brake install, chipped tooth on the rear diff, check your upper shock mount to make sure it didnt puncture through the mount. oh and a beer helps and most important, i cant stress this enough, always always use a torque wrench. both are need in this install. INCHES and FOOTs. the values are in the haynes manual. every bolt has a specific torque.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!and also i had to use a c-clamp to install the oversized new bushing.. use polyurethane. torque values are the following. (crossmember to frame bolts 40Ft-lbs)(transmission mount to crossmember 25 ft-lbs)(torque arm bracket to transmission 31 ft-lbs)(torque arm rear mount to diff 100 ft-lbs)
Last edited by transam85dudeman; 05-25-2009 at 02:37 AM.
i had a similar problem, except my car had a small lean to the right look. turns out the bottom bolt on the rear linkage stabilizer arm snapped. everytime i hit a bump it was straight metal on metal (loud as hell) . i installed new linkage bolts and works like a charm. no noise or lean. maybe its something like that
wild guess but try the rear shock mount behind the rear seat. i blew mine out and the shock just floats and it would make a pretty big clunking noise. idk i could be wrong< just thowing out another possiablity
Check your spare tire, mine was loose and it mad quite the noise.
Yup I agree. I had this annoying rattling for a while and found out it was my jack the whole time. I have the same exact rattling he's talking about, I think I'm gonna mess with it tomorrow.
.. Y? B/c had a bad 2nd gear clunk and both was under twenty bucks and dang, its solid. and reliable..typically, the bushing goes bad, if the rear springs arnt removed properly. CHECK THIS LINK. 
and most important, i cant stress this enough, always always use a torque wrench. both are need in this install. INCHES and FOOTs. the values are in the haynes manual. every bolt has a specific torque.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!and also i had to use a c-clamp to install the oversized new bushing.. use polyurethane. torque values are the following. (crossmember to frame bolts 40Ft-lbs)(transmission mount to crossmember 25 ft-lbs)(torque arm bracket to transmission 31 ft-lbs)(torque arm rear mount to diff 100 ft-lbs) 
