So i got the 87 Rock on the road yesterday. Had it in the shop past few weeks after it had been sitting up for the past 4-5 years. Worked on the brake system, had a new set of Falken Ziex 912 tires installed. Changed the oil which was contaminated with moisture buildup (i hope). Tagged and insured it. Drove it to the nearest station, filled it up with fuel and a put some mileage on it. And here's what i've noticed.

I need a new set of shocks/struts, like seriously, no joke. Maybe even some springs if they're not too pricey.

My brake pedal has A LOT of travel, before reaching the braking point, and has weak brakes, even when i stand on them with all ive got. (These brakes have been bleed, time and time again and has been checked multiple times for fluid level.) Every item of the braking system, minus the booster, brake lights, switch, brake pedal, and steel lines, have been replaced. Im beginning to believe that the problem is the booster bleeding/leaking vacuum pressure away and not creating enough assisted pressure to actuate the master cylinder.

My SES light randomly comes on for a short periods of time and off while at cruising speed. Possibly EVAP? This is the least of my worries right now.

Im hearing a noise thats coming from the rear, presumably right rear. A rapping noise that is consistent with vehicle speed. If i make a sharp turn to the left at speed, the noise will become more renown, if i take a sharp turn to the right, the noise will disappear. I'm diagnosing this as rear axle wheel bearing failure on the right rear.

When i got back home tonight after driving a good 20 miles, pulling into the shop i hear a tapping/knocking sound coming from the engine. I popped the hood, thinking it was a lifter, but as i get my ear closer it sounds to be coming from the front/drivers front of the engine. Is most noticeable at idle-1000rpms. Has a tapping, almost rattling noise. Im diagnosing this as the timing chain. I was told once that 305 engines had plastic cam gears that were known to wear out.

Thats pretty much it right now. What ya reckon?

 

"My brake pedal has A LOT of travel, before reaching the braking point, and has weak brakes, even when i stand on them with all ive got. (These brakes have been bleed, time and time again and has been checked multiple times for fluid level.) Every item of the braking system, minus the booster, brake lights, switch, brake pedal, and steel lines, have been replaced. Im beginning to believe that the problem is the booster bleeding/leaking vacuum pressure away and not creating enough assisted pressure to actuate the master cylinder."

Negative here. If your booster was leaking it would do just the opposite. Your pedal would feel very hard and you would have a hard time stopping the car. You may have a bad master cylinder or air in the master cylinde (its hard to bleed out if it gets in there) or even contaminated fluid.





"My SES light randomly comes on for a short periods of time and off while at cruising speed. Possibly EVAP? This is the least of my worries right now."

Sounds like the EGR valve acting up to me. The intermitten SES light at crusing speed is a classic symptom of EGR issues.

Im hearing a noise thats coming from the rear, presumably right rear. A rapping noise that is consistent with vehicle speed. If i make a sharp turn to the left at speed, the noise will become more renown, if i take a sharp turn to the right, the noise will disappear. I'm diagnosing this as rear axle wheel bearing failure on the right rear.

Not really sure here. Your assessment sounds reasonable. May want to check out your universal joints.

"When i got back home tonight after driving a good 20 miles, pulling into the shop i hear a tapping/knocking sound coming from the engine. I popped the hood, thinking it was a lifter, but as i get my ear closer it sounds to be coming from the front/drivers front of the engine. Is most noticeable at idle-1000rpms. Has a tapping, almost rattling noise. Im diagnosing this as the timing chain. I was told once that 305 engines had plastic cam gears that were known to wear out."

You are correct that they started using crappy plastic timing gears in this era. They still hold up for a good while and they dont really make much noise (hence the reason they went to plastic). I'm unfortunetly going to have to say you may want to inspect your valve train.

Best of luck

 

Seriously this car has had about every item replaced that the J65 option consists of. Master cylinder, ( replaced twice, both bench bleed), new GM proportioning valve, 4 new calipers, pads, all 3 rubber lines. It has been bleed repeatedly, i've probably poured in and thrown away ~ 2 gallons of fluid that has been bleed/flushed through this system. Even reached the point i gave up and spent $400+ dollars to have a well renown fellow GM tech tinker with it and still have crappy brakes.

I'll give it the fact that its a 24 years old, and we've got better braking systems now, but there's no way this car came from the factory with brakes this sorry. My foot travels ~6" before feeling resistance and the car beginning to slow. My 81 Z28 with disk/drums stops better than this!

Sorry about the rant/vent.

 

Welcome to the club, Where did you get the Masters from? I went through three from Advance on my truck before I got one that worked!

 

I believe the first one was from car-quest and the second was a GM unit, I coukd be mistaken tho. Seems like I do recall car-quest warranting one for me, so they might both be car-quest units.

 

Replaced your rotors or had them turned? If they're glazed, having replaced everything else will still give u crappy braking.

 

New rotors are now on the list, felt pulsation when braking last night while driving it, so they'll be replaced soon.

 

Upon further inspection of engine noise....

Removed all belts, one at a time, no good. Still tapping/rattling with no accessories running.

Drug out stethoscope, and listened around the intake, oil pan, block, and front timing cover. Tapping/rattling sounds loudest at timing cover. Only sounds that can be heard at the intake/valve cover area, are the injectors firing.