Today’s project was getting an alignment and swapping out a rear wheel. I had bought one off eBay but it was off on color and restored with some heavy clear coat plastic or powder coat?

I found a couple of wheels in original condition so swapped that out and had the shop balance both rears too. That’s the first step in chasing down very slight vibration in the rear/drivetrain. Taking it for a freeway run later, however already huge improvement in steering and centered feel.

They didn’t touch camber, is that fixed?

 

Okay investigated the vibration high speed issue over the weekend and took a poor man’s runout gauge (a.k.a. a coat hanger) to check the rear axles and they look good and the flanges are not bent or leaking so the bearings seem fine. Now I need to adjust the calipers as the pedal height dropped so I think I am learning why people despise these

Went to inspect the driveshaft and both the U joints feel tight and the weights are still welded on to it. I noticed some play in the output shaft where I know there is a bushing in the cone where the slip yoke goes in but it’s not severe and the car only has 93,000 miles on it.

I spoke with the guy from Summit today and he mentioned it’s probably best to take the driveshaft off and have a local shop look at and balance it. I’m on the fence about just buying and replacing the driveshaft all together with an aluminum one and open to hear thoughts and suggestions from folks as I’m assuming the driveshaft shop will just offer to replace the U joints and balance the shaft. Also I finally tackled changing out the rear differential gear oil as all of the work is up on YouTube -

 

Replaced the driveshaft and big improvements in accelerating and smoother shifts however still have vibration on the highway. I’m at a loss and going to do the transmission mount and guess only thing left is the rear axle bearings. Adjusted the rear calipers but have one hanging up from time on drivers side. Additionally sounds like the upper shock mount is loose, explains why the seat post was off when I got the car. The joy of wrenching continues....

 

Have you checked your torque arm bushing? I’m in the process of swapping mine out with a poly unit. It caused a driveline vibration at 55-60mph. It’s unlikely considering that sound your car made seemed to be near the brakes/rear wheels.

 

Thanks @Reddragon88gta

Didn't touch the torque arm bushing, I'll check that along with the lower control/trailing arm bushings on the rear end too...

I've got three things going on -

1. vibration at highway speeds 60-80mph enough to shake a dash a bit (wheel bearings/trans mount/torque arm mount?)
2. rear drivers caliper sticking after hard braking? Think this is the sound in the video...
3. upper shock mount I suspect as can hear it going over bumps, my 83 Camaro ripped out the body mount with KYB Gas-A-Just shocks back in the day

 

Finished changing out the rear calipers and put the bolt back on the rear drivers shock, still blown away how this just completely came off???

Still need to take it on the freeway but a 70mph drive down the PCH was promising....

 

Good to hear, hopefully you got rid of that noise. My driveshaft is back in, made sure to tighten the clamps up slow and even. No more noise or vibration on mine, new U joints did the trick.

 

Nice to hear @Reddragon88gta yeah the noises are all gone. Welcome to the aluminum driveshaft club!

 

Its a good club, mine actually came with one from the factory...only knock is trying to find a non greaseable U joint for the axle end, I wound up settling with a greaseable MOOG.

 

Still troubleshooting and did the transmission mount as it was cracked and beginning to split apart. Helped calm the amplitude of the vibration but hasn't taken it away.
Open to hearing opinions from folks on the next steps as stumped

 

Took the California IROC up the winding Pacific Coast Highway US1 all the way to Paradise Cove which is where they filmed the Rockford Files. It does nice but the vibration is prevalent from about 65-75 mph and then around 80-85 mph it smoothes out and feels more like a harmonic.

There is a slow clunk that feels like a slide forward and backward at low speeds. My suspicion is the torque arm bushing is probably tired and I'm probably seeking perfection too.


I ran across this in the shop manual which is also interesting -

 

In your videos the torque arm bushing looked good IMO, easy way to check is safely jack the car up, have someone else hop in, start the car and change the gears with foot on the brake while you are underneath looking at the torque arm bushing. If you see the torque arm moving around/jumping when gears are being changed you have your problem.

Klowny69 on YouTube has a good video on this, the car he was working on had almost nothing left of the torque arm bushing and it moved a lot when the gears were changed with the shifter.

 

That's a good video, that car is missing a chunk out of the bushing and yeah mine is no where near that. I'll setup the GoPro under the car and do that as being under the car running gives me the *******.

I'm leaning towards doing the rear axle bearings next as pretty cheap for a set with seals.

 

I don’t blame you for not wanting to be under a running car, I had a shop try telling me my torque arm bushing was bad. I don’t know if the guy didn’t realize the factory is a 2 piece design or what but the rubber looked good(nothing like that trashed one in the video)l so I left it and no issues. I know have a poly one on hand just in case.

Those axle bearings you mention may be it, I wonder if they became messed up from sitting so long.

 

Thanks yeah I'm with you on the torque arm bushing as it's a two-piece unit. I can see probably about an inch of the driveshaft (the end going into the tail shaft of transmission) and torque arm leaving a visible mark by shifting in and out, both of these are moving front to back or back to front.

The question I have is that okay and normal?

I also had the same thought about the axle bearings sitting around the 25 years, thinking that probably couldn't have been a good thing.

 

Hey @calidude what’s going on?

 

Hey man, chillin and been enjoying the summer and installed my vintage Kenwood cassette deck and speaks

whatcha been up to with yours?

 

Not too much, trying to drive it more than work on it. I may sign up for a local car show, see what kind of feedback I get. Last minor fix was the cap of the passenger side door lock. Old one gave out, so while I had the door apart I sound deadened (Kilmat + sprayed some Rust Oleum Rubberized Undercarriage inside the door) and got a lot of rattles out. Funny most of the rattle came from the mirror housing/motor mount. All back together, and it is so quiet now, very pleased with it.

Did you find and solve your vibration issue?

 

Yeah been driving the crap outta mine too, the trans bushing was shot and the vibe seems to be gone or I don’t notice it. I’m used to driving my German sports cars when you are at 85 and feels like you are going 55, I think years of sitting isn’t a good thing and these cars need to see road time to stay limber. The early version of the 700R4 is definitely a second gear scratch model though, lol 😆

Brakes are working nicely now too, also I’m thinking of putting the H&R springs on at some point too with shock/struts like you. Need to get a paint less guy to push out a small fender dent. Been shopping other suspension parts like torque arms too.

I also bought 3 cans of R12 plus a hose and was thinking of charging the system, I have no idea what I need to do for that?

 

does it have any charge in the system? My 87 had some R12 left after sitting for years...so if its holding a charge, i'd just shoot someR-12 into it. It looks like the compressor was already changed at some point.

If not and it leaked all out..., which I suspect.....you shoulllldd get a set of gauges, and rent a vacuum pump from autozone..the pump is free rental if you return it under the rental. and see if it wil lhold a vacuum before shooting R12 into it.


if it has leaks, then you'll just be wasting that spensiiivvvee R-12!

 

yeah it’s empty, yeah noticed the compressor and a interesting scrap of heater hose holding the line onto the radiator so someone serviced it at some point

i bought some tooling and a special adapter for the high side from the jungle website and golden R12 from fleabay. I’m going to draw it down and see if it holds a vacuum. My mind is debating if I should replace the hoses, o rings and receiver dryer?

 

When I resurrected my R 134 conversion we did new drier, O rings and orifice tube. If the hoses look good your probably OK. One thing to watch out for is junk in the condenser, I was warned about that by the HVAC guy seeing as how my compressor was totally shot and the reason mine wouldn’t work. Mine sounded like it imploded lol.

Also AC Delco compressors were surprisingly affordable for these cars and they were brand new non remans.

 

Yeah I did a draw down of vacuum on the system and it's held for a couple of days without leaking. I'm sure 25 years of sitting everything leaked out slowly...

 

Took out the drier and it’s heavy, discovered that someone had installed the orifice tube in backwards, ugh so ordered a slim long needle nose to see if I can surgically remove it tomorrow.

I’m also missing the heater hose pipe and have searched around everywhere to find one as would be nice to restore it back. My assumption is someone got frustrated and took it out during work on the A/C back in the day as all the brackets on the line were unattached.

 

That metal heater hose pipe makes changing that hook shaped small heater hose a real nightmare as accessibility back there is very tough. But I see why you want to go back to stock with your very original car so I would start a thread in the parts wanted section here and you might get lucky.

 

Thanks and posted something, will start calling around some of the salvage yards tomorrow too. Was successful in getting out the backwards expansion valve. Also cleaned the line set, brackets and the manifold mating surface.

The revised seals are now oval o-rings and that threw me as the older square ones are discoed.

I’m ready to reassemble and reseal.

 

I almost forgot, before calling around the salvage yards give member Firebirddude142 a shot, he has parted a ton of cars and came through almost every time I’ve needed something. Here is his cell (612) 860-2513 I would shoot a text and see what he has.

 

Thanks as he and I are chatting, believe he has something too as I'm at that point of adding that before putting the receiver dryer in. Posted a new video up -

 

A/C is so cold I have to turn it down at times as drove down to Huntington Beach tonight and it works way better than I expected.


I seem to have a new problem as leaking antifreeze at the bottom of the radiator and doesn’t seem to be coming from a hose.

 

Well the radiator is done as the plastic tank is peeing coolant between the front passenger side mid point where it joins with the core aluminum. So time for this -




Seems to be well built, open to hear if anyone has had issues with them? It’s got a checkered flag so it must add more horsepower lol 😂

I’m waiting for the coolant pipe and hose to do the restore too.

 

When I damaged my original this past spring I lucked out and got one of the last brand new GM radiators that my dealer found and had sent to them. I went that route after hearing a lot of the direct fit replacements out there do not fit well or require modification as well as short supply. This looks like an actual direct fit that looks the part and would drop in without mods. Keep us posted on the fit, the reviews seem outstanding and the price seems great. I see they also make a heater core for our cars as well but not a lot of info out there on those.

 

Thanks and will do as the design of this looks identical and is 2 core thickness.

The OE GM part of 52497687 now shows some other design without a curved filler neck and fittings fit the transmission cooler or the left so decided not to try.

Here is the coolant pipe I’m installing too

 

Radiator is out, found some history as looks like Hostess Cup Cakes were 80 cents back in the day also a piece of plastic and remnants of the trans fluid leak. The tank also shows wear it has been leaking.

That new radiator is good fit and identical to original.

Installed the heater pipe and took a lot of patience a trip to Home Depot for sheet metal screws in hex head. The difficulty was tightening the clamps and used a ratchet 8mm wrench. Looks much better without the hose across the manifold.

 

Success and complete with the cooling system update -

 

Buyer beware with the ACDelco remanufactured alternator as mine gave up with a bad bearing after 6 months, replaced it today and cut a new video -

 

you should consider doing a serp belt swap!


Changing the accessories is so much easier! Plus no need to tighten / change the belt later