Connor280ZX

My bad, they are the stock axles. It doesnt make the sound 100% of the time, but I'd only hear it at cruising speeds and above going up slopes, or hills. It will make the noise regardless of angle. When i get to the top of the grade, i let my foot off of the gas and begin to coast. The sound continues for a good 5 seconds or so, then dies down and goes away. I can hear it knock once or twice when i go over a bump as well.

Wow, i'm in for a new half shaft... I'll try to take the car in this week for that repair, don't want to bust a joint on the freeway. I'll fill the guy in on my alignment issue while he's working in that area.

A bad CV Joint? I had a speculation about it. That wouldn't affect the wheel alignment though, would it? And yes, i'm going to have to invest in a larger jack soon.

Drove it again: I havent mentioned it before, but when i bought the car, a very loud, rapid, clunking/knocking noise could be heard from the rear left of the car when going up a hill, or even a slight grade above 40MPH. I initially thought this was caused by a combination of blown shocks, and a warped brake rotor. I replaced the shocks, and the sound went away for a while. It came back, so i replaced the rear rotors, and once again the sound went away for a while. Now, its back again. Last night, i was going up a slope on the freeway and this sound returns. It comes on slow, then gets louder and it repeats faster. The car also vibrates when this happens. Something has to be broken. Maybe whatever is causing this noise, is related to my alignment issues.

Just checked the torquing on the nuts. Both the rear strut hub mount bolts were not to spec, so I re torqued them. Same with a few shock tower nuts. Zee, I tried my best to check what you said to, but my jack isn't large enough to completely raise the front end, so I can't swap the wheels. However, I was able to remove enough weight to steer them somewhat freely. I checked for play like you instructed, and everything seems tight though I won't know for sure since the wheels never left the ground. I guess id better Invest in a larger jack. EDIT: Just took it for a test drive up to 65MPH and oddly enough, the wobble in the steering wheel has subsided. The pulling, not so much.

Alright, heres the update: I got it back from the shop and what a surprize, they found nothing wrong! I filled them in completely on my issue, but they say there is no problem with my suspension... I dont even think they took it for a test drive because the car was stone cold after they "Finished checking it" and they didnt note down that the car pulls strong to the right, or that the steering wheel wobbles. This annoyed me, but luckily a friend here on HZ, knowing that i replaced the rear shocks myself reminded me of torque specs on the nuts. I didn't have a torque wrench at the time, so i just tightened them untill i felt they were snug using an 8 inch socket wrench. I am going to tighten them up to spec tomorrow, but could this be a contributing factor?

Between then and now the only things that were changed were the sway bar bushings and the tires... I'm stumped on this one. The toe doubled by itself. My car has never been tracked as far as i know. I'm going to place a call to a Datsun repair shop tomorrow. The Owner has worked on my car multiple times, so i guess i'll ask for his opinion on this.

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Just dug out an alignment slip from July after I had the steering rack bushings installed. As you can see, much has changed.

That's some really good info, but this is my daily driver and I'm not quite comfortable getting fab work done on the suspension to improve performance. But I will remember this once I get a track Z car.

The diff oil was recently changed when I had the pinion seal replaced. There have been no collisions on record. The car came with a hood from a '79, which worries me a bit, but that's the front of the car.

Wow, well that opens up a whole new senario... I'm running KYB Shocks, thats it. In the front however i'm running urethane steering rack, and sway bar bushings. EDIT: I just remembered that there's a loud clunking sound coming from the rear left of the car every time i shift. I've gotten used to it, but its been there ever since i bought the car.

I guess this shop i took my car to just plain screwed up. These are brand new tires, and i really dont want them to break-in all wierd due to this alignment, so untill i can get my car in to a REAL shop i'd maybe read into adjusting the rear toe myself, just as a temporary solution. EDIT: Steering wheel now vibrates over 45 MPH.

Yeah, and being highlighted in red meaning its out of the reccomended range. I've had a few problems in the left rear area before. I've had a siezed parking brake cable and a bent/warped rotor (was like this when i bought the car). It also had a 215/70 on that wheel when the rest were 205/70's. Looking under the car all the bushings look good. From what i can tell nothing looks bent, though i've been under the rear of my car dozens of times and never noticed anything that looked off.

The wheels seem to be on very tight. No clicks or creaks when shaking them vigorously. Taking another look at the data sheet, these numbers are starting to bother me. Why would you have 0.44 Toe on the rear left, and then -0.13 on the rear right?

Do you suggest that I jack the front end up and check for play in the wheels?

The reason I had the tires replaced was due to cracking on the sidewalls (they were 9 years old). I didn't notice a wear pattern on the fronts, but I wasn't paying attention to the tread much.

I've gotten my cars wheels aligned three times at the local shop. First time was for replacing steering rack bushings, second time was for replacing the rest of the bushings and this most recent time after replacing the tires. I've gotten it back each time with the car pulling to the right. Holding the wheel rougly 15-20 degrees to the left keeps it straight. Any less, it wanders to the right. I've been using 205/70/R14 tires. Before i bought the car, the ignition switch was replaced. Could someone have put the steering wheel back on the column improperly? Most recent alignment slip attached.

Honestly I have no idea. When I got the car, the a/c wouldn't stay on. It would just click on and off rapidly. We thought it was a refrigerant level issue at first, so we tried pumping some r134 into it... The nozzle on the hose didnt match the one on the low side, which when mated leaked. eventually, we found out that the problem Turned out to be a vacuum leak that I repaired.

Are you certain its not the CSV? If not that, it might be the thermotime sensor. Once the car is started, how long does it take for the engine to stabilize?

Yes, it still blows pretty cold.

I've always heard wierd sounds coming from the front of my car ever since i bought it, but they are getting louder. Leads me to believe its my compressor because i've had refrigerant level issues, and other wierd sounds coming from that area (Scraping, groaning, grinding sounds etc.) which i usually adress with some 3-in-1 oil. So, what do you guys think? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdq5rbYpdiE&feature=youtu.be These sounds can be heard from inside the car when cruising, and louder when the climate control is on.

You could have a few froxen injectors. Your AFM may not be opening as well. Take the cover off of the AFM (Located between the filter housing, and throttle body) And make sure the mechanism is moving as you apply throttle.

Depending upon the condition of your rocker arms, you might be able to run that cam with the stock springs. however you will probably get valve float sooner due to more lift/duration, and you might not be satisfied with how high you'll be able to rev the engine. But on the safe side, I would get new rocker arms with a new cam, or else you can risk damaging it due to the wipe pattern. (My amateur opinion)

I wouldn't push the engine over 7K with a stock bottom end. From what I know, the stock cast pistons can break over 7K.