nolant178

Awesome build! My car currently has an SBC and the plan is to go LS based in the next few years. Let me know if you're gonna be at any local shows or meetups, I'm new to Las Vegas as of October of 18 (my car is still back in the midwest), would love to see some Z's in the area!

Messaged both of you!

Hello all! For sale is my 1974.5 260z in the below condition, located in the Chicago Suburbs: Chassis has 42XXX miles Small Block Chevy 350 Motor: Rebuilt ~5000 miles ago, including a .30 bore over. Quadrajet Carb (Performed by previous Owner) TH350 Auto Trans Open R200 differential, replaced leather diff band with a Polyurethane top mount, and PU mustache bar bushings (self installed, from an '83 ZX) New half-shaft U-Joints (Self Installed) 4 new all-season tires (under 500miles on them, purchased/installed March 18) New front wheel bearings, Front brakes including rotors, pads, re-manufactured calipers (self installed) New Carpet and Upholstery, Original Headliner is in perfect condition (performed by previous owner) Fuel tank has been boiled and sealed, New SS fuel line, new OEM replacement fuel pump (Professionally performed/installed) Replica Fender Mirrors (self installed) Original 14" Aluminum Mags - polished New Floor Pans - (Professionally installed) Minimal body rust - Only on the edge of the fenders - bubbling under the paint. "Pantera" style hatch installed - Original hatch included (needs touch-up paint) Extras: Master PU Bushing Set (energy suspension), Original Mirror, 4 Piston front calipers I've been promoted at work, but have to relocate. I've decided that I will sell the Z to simplify the change, and due to lack of space. I'm asking 11.5k, obo.

I've successfully installed the r200 in my Z! This is the most involved project i've done to date, and it went pretty well! I had a few hang-ups here and there, but overall the installation went very smoothly. Much to my delight, and expectation - the knocking noise is gone! I was finally able to put some time behind the wheel to see what other issues I'm dealing with. I also attempted to fix the speedo reading. I swapped to a 24 tooth speedo driven gear. My readings are closer now, but still need to be adjusted, I may just get a GPS speedo and be done with it. My first weekend of cruising in the car has been great! So many people love the car, they are asking questions about it, taking pictures and videos. I knew it wasn't a super common car in the Chicago area, but damn people really love it! I'm excited to finally be on the road (for now haha...)

So I've recently swapped my diff to a 3.7 r200 - I wound up buying a 24 tooth driven gear for my trans - it is CLOSER, 45 reads 50, 63 reads 80... ultimately i'll be using a speedhut gps speedo. I did buy the JTR book and it covers many of the other gauges, so I'll be working on that and will post updates!

As of about 15 minutes ago, I've ordered all of the parts I need including an r200 to install into my car! They should all arrive sometime during next week. This weekend I'm going to drop my diff out of my car and take it apart to see how much damage I've done. I'll be attempting to sell anything that is usable. After I take my diff out, I'm also going to replace the u-joints on my drive shaft, and inspect my Trans and Torque Converter for potential issues, since I'll have relatively easy access to them! I'll try to take pictures as I go.

I hadn't even noticed that... wow! Good eye! And I see what you're saying. I won't be able to test any further until the new diff is in, but this'll be a good time to inspect the trans and flex plate as well.

Alrighty, making progress! I cracked the diff open, and found some broken teeth! I may be the most excited person to ever find a busted diff on their car... but I think my issue is finally found. I'm currently trying to find everything to do the r200 swap, Ideally I'd go straight for an LSD, but may get an open diff to start out and swap to LSD later on for budget reasons. You can see bits of broken teeth sitting in the bottom of the housing! And look at how dirty that fluid is. New diff time!

Do you have a 280z mustache bar by any chance?

My plan keeps shifting, as they do. Tonight I'm gonna open up my diff and see what's going on in there. If its bad, I'm gonna start sourcing parts to do an r200. I realized that STI's can run the r180 because only 60-70% of the power is going to the rear at any given time... I'll be sourcing parts now!

I wanted to make sure I understand: You're suspecting that an issue in my TC or my AT is transmitting excess motion to my diff, where the noise is manifesting? I'm asking questions because I'm getting a lot of info from a very helpful community and I want to make sure I'm understanding everything, not because I'm doubting anyone (in fact I'm extremely grateful to have people so willing to help diagnose!) So it was my understanding that the u joints exist so that the diff and trans can move independently of one another without causing issues - could this be a drive shaft u joint gone bad after-all? And also, if there was an issue with the TC, wouldn't there be something noticeable while in neutral? Currently I can put the car in N and rev it to my heart's desire. My final question is in regards to the diff being small. I've read that its small for the 350, i've also read that auto trans are easier on diffs, also the r180 LSD seems to hold up fine in the STI, which seems to have comparable torque to many SBC 350's.

The sound is distinctly coming from the rear, not the Torque Converter or trans. The video I posted is close, but the location is wrong. I think what's going on is I've broken a tooth (at least) on my ring or pinion gear in my diff. I'm gonna crack it open over the weekend and see what I can find out. If that's the case, I'm going to look at doing the R180 lsd swap from an STI. I'll post pictures of the diff when I crack it open to show you what I find!

This makes an unfortunate amount of sense. I did notice that after having the rear of the car lifted for a week and a half I found a puddle of ATF under the car. Looks like I'll be checking this out! Thanks again, you're extremely helpful!

I've been slowly replacing the U Joints in my car to remove this rhythmic clunking noise. I started with the half-shafts thinking they were the most likely culprit. I finished those last night and took it for a test drive fully expecting to hear the noise still... and I did. At the recommendation of @NewZed I took it to an open parking lot and did some testing. First I held the brakes and gave it some gas (not enough to burn rubber), and found that I could hear the noise even when the car isn't moving. Next I drove in tight circles in both directions at the same speed - the noise was consistent in both directions. I think this means its something to do w/ my Drive Shaft - so I'm gonna try replacing those U Joints next to see! The lack of difference in tempo/volume when going in different directions tells me its probably not the diff, which is encouraging! If anyone reads this and has any other ideas as to what it could be let me know! To diagnose this noise I've: Checked under the car for any loose bits/exhaust hangers etc Replaced worn mustache bar bushings Replaced half-shaft U joints Hoping its the drive shaft U joints that resolve it at this point, otherwise I'm worried I've exhausted my current troubleshooting ideas. Thanks for reading!

Yeah, I definitely need to replace bushings all over the place. I bought a polyurethane master set, and have already replaced the mustache bar bushings (I thought that might be the source of my sound...) I'll get some pictures of the rear set up. I currently have the half-shafts out for u-joint replacement, so I have lots of room for pictures Thanks for all the good info. I'll have to start sourcing these parts!

That's a very nice way to diagnose that, thank you! I'll have the u-joints on the half-shafts replaced by wednesday, hopefully. If the noise still happens at that point, I'll have to use that to determine the cause. If its the differential itself, I'll 100% be upgrading the R200. From my understanding i'll need the diff itself, a mustache bar from a 280z or zx that had an r200, the rear diff cover from a 280z or zx, and the stub axles, which would then attach to my existing half shafts. does that sound correct?

Hi NewZed! It actually already has a V8! I was thinking with the Auto trans the r180 might hold up ok. I've been looking into the R200. I got the broken side plate for about $35, shipped, so fairly cost effective to replace! I want to do the R200 swap, i'm a total rookie when it comes to working on cars so as easy as it may seem to others, it has me intimidated a bit!

I've been slowly replacing the U joints in my car. Some of them were quite tricky to press out... especially the ones on the wheel side housing of the half-shafts. The flange is not flat, so it's difficult to press them without the whole unit popping out of the press, quite dangerously. Oh well... nothing a little grinder cant fix! That'll get that pesky old u-joint out! I'm not mostly waiting for the carrier to come in, and I'll just zip her back up! Hoping to be on the road soon!

I've started the process of replacing the U Joints in my car. I currently have the driver's side half shaft out and have the u joints removed from the shaft.\ The issue became more apparent when my buddy Tim came over. We cautiously put the rear on jack stands and nervously turned it on and gave it some gas. There was a definite vibration coming from the rear, probably one of the half shafts. Unfortunately I wasn't quite sure on how to remove the half shaft and wound up breaking my driver's side differential side retainer. I was lucky enough to find a replacement which is currently on it's way, thanks to @z240! I'm gonna be working with my buddy Anthony to replace the u joints in the half shafts. Once the retainer arrives, I'll get it all reassembled and hopefully my noise will be fixed! If the noise still persists... I'll do the u-joints on the drive shaft as well... beyond that I'm worried that its my diff.

^ Jim here was able to help me out, thanks all!

Thank you! I'll post over there and hopefully be able to get one!

Hey All! I've had a strange clunking noise coming from the rear of my 74 260z, so I thought I'd replace the U Joints. I found a thread on zdriver with instructions on how to remove the half-shafts. I opted to remove the 5 bolts that hold the axel to the differential and use some leverage to pry it all out as my first attempt and it went poorly. I wound up breaking the flange that the 5 bolts screw into in labeled "unscrew these bolts?" in the photo below. My question is: What is the name of that plate/bracket/flange so I can replace it? I have done some research but can't quite figure it out... I thought it might be the "Differential Pinion Flange" from RockAuto but I wasn't sure... any ideas on what this part is and how to source it? I'll try to grab some photos of the damage as well. I was eventually able to remove the half-shaft by removing the bolt in the middle near the u-joint, by the way. Definitely how I'm doing the other side! Thanks guys!

Yeah, the noise is rhythmic, only when I'm NOT (coasting or braking only) on the throttle, at speeds above 25MPH. The speed of the noise as well as the volume of the noise increase and decrease relative to speed. I did toy around with the u-joints previously. There is some minor play in the driveshaft joint at the diff, as well as the driver's side halfshaft on both sides. The play is very small, so small that you can only really feel it, not so much see it. I think my next step is to replace all my u-joints and see if that helps. Thanks for the ideas! I was pretty disappointed after replacing those bushings last night, only to have the noise still occur

Gahhh! So I replaced the mustache bar bushings, but my noise is still present. I neglected to service the control arm bushing that was mentioned by jhm and am regretting it... I'll probably have to pull things apart again to get there. So my problem still exists, but its not like those bushings didn't need to be replaced, so it wasn't a total waste of time/effort. I'm going to try to record a video with the noise tonight to post and see if someone is able to help diagnose. At this point it could be the control arm bushings as previously mentioned, or maybe a u-joint.... or could be my diff is bad... idk.

Hey there! That's exciting to hear about the block and the hatch. The hatch has been growing on me, but I haven't put the stock hatch on it yet to compare! I had actually heard that about the TC rods, and was going to get the OEM rubber bushings for that! Scary stuff... And it totally looks like all the wiring in the car will have to be addressed at some point. Its functional for now, but not elegant by any stretch of the imagination. I'm not great w/ electrical stuff, so I'll likely be enlisting the help of others with that! I look forward to continuing this build! Thanks again for the info!