HizAndHerz

You are an inspiration to all of us welding newbies! I'm suprised to see no references to http://www.autobody101.com on this site. There's a great begginer's guide to welding and painting that can be downloaded there. The forums are a great resource, too. Check it out if you have not!

Sounds like you're in the same boat as I am. Have you checked the front diffy mount and the long bolts that secure it? How much play is there when you try to rotate the drive shaft and stub axles? Mine is not really a 'clunk' but more like a 'BLAM!'. I've got a spare R200. I'll probably change the seals and put it in along with yet another new front mount. I hope you find out what's going on with yours.

When I first got my 1978 280z, it had the notorious rearend clunk. The PO had cut up old tires and used them as bushings. Scary. However, after a full Energy Suspension poly bushing set, it still had the clunk. Then I replaced the u-joints on the stub axles since they were a bit loose. The driveshaft had already been fixed by the PO. Still had the clunk. Then I found that the long bolts that hold the front differential mount in place had backed out about 1/8" and were stripped. After replacing the bolts and the differential mount, guess what? It still has the clunk. I've checked the bearings and spindle pins. They look fine. The differential has no excess play. Most likely, it is the struts or strut mount. I'm tackling those, the wheel bearings and spindle pins next week. So, this is all just to say that there are many things that can cause the rearend clunk. I've found several problems but haven't rooted out the culprit... yet.

Edit: I completely rewrote my lengthy post with pictures of the AC-Delco alternator swap that we did to all three of our 280Z's, so I moved the guts to a new thread. See http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=115550