kaibiagi

Hey everyone, just looking for some advice on this problem my cars been having. 1976 280z, the steering will make a pop/clunk noise when I turn either right or left. It will only do this when the car is moving, and only at low speeds as far as I can tell. (It totally might do it at high speeds but i havent turned the wheel enough for it to do so at high speeds). If I turn the steering wheel from lock to lock while the car is not moving, there are no problems and everything functions normally, no matter whether the front wheels are on the ground or in the air. I have already replaced front wheel bearings (NTN), outer tie rods (Moog), ball joints (Moog), sway bar bushings and end links (poly), tc rod bushing (rubber) all other bushings are poly and in good shape. I don't think its the inner tie rods because it only happens when the car is moving. I'm thinking maybe I could have somehow fucked things up on the swayer (although it looks fine), so I might try to take that off completely and see if that affects anything. The other thing i could see it being is a loose bolt or something somewhere causing this, because there have been many other things loose on my car causing me issues. Anyone got any other ideas/advice? It could totally be something obvious that I'm just overlooking somehow. Other random thing: does anyone know where this blue wire plugs into and what the fusible link looking things are for in this picture? They are under the driver side dash and I can't find where to plug them in. My dash lights don't work and I'm guessing this is probably why. Can't seem to figure it out by looking at the wiring diagram.IMG_8650.pdf Thanks for the help!

It 100% fits completely normal. It honestly seems to make makes more sense to have it that way because the then the LCA-Ball joint bolts are facing downwards instead of up like they are with the corredt orientation. But yeah, there is no forcing anything, it fits right up like normal like that. I ended up installing the ball joints the regular way (on top), as shown in the FSM. And as for the stuck tie rod that was my original problem, I went to Harbor freight, bought a 36 inch pipe wrench, and put my feet on it. Got it to come off relatively easily that way. Threads werent corroded or damaged at all, it was just ridiculously tight. Thanks for the help

The first picture,MG 7884, is how I've seen it installed in other peoples youtube videos and how I think it is installed in the FSM. The baseplate is on top of the control arm. The second picture, IMG 7885, is how it was installed in my car on both sides. The baseplate is on the underside of the control arm and the ball joint sticks through the hole. I have not seen this anywhere else Everything seemed to work fine, except for a clunk when turning at low speeds. I believe this was due to the tie rod though, unrelated to the ball joint. I just figured I'd replace the ball joints anyway while I was there since they are cheap.

FSM was the first place I checked, I just wanted to double check since the picture is kind of difficult to see whether the baseplate of the ball joint is top or bottom. It looks like its on top but I'm not 100% sure. I'm assuming that its supposed be on top and the whoever did this previously is just a dumbass, because I've seen a lot of stuff on this car done wrong. Somehow the wheel cylinders in the drum brakes was put in upside down and backwards and it still worked, so when I went to replace it I was super confused.

Also, are the ball joints supposed to go on top of or below the control arm? Every video I've seen has them on top of the control arm, but on my car they are below and sticking through the big hole for some reason. Is this just some previous owner dumbassery or is that ok? 1976 280z.

Yeah, nothing up there is rusty, so I'm not sure why this is so stuck. Maybe someone stronger than me just absolutely cranked on it last time, or used red loctite or something. I'll try using my heat gun on it, and if that doesnt work I'll probably get a propane torch. I'm hoping I dont have to take the whole steering rack out, but if it comes to it, it comes to it.

I've been fighting this outer tie rod trying to get it off for like 3 hours. Everything else has came out pretty easy so far, but this has been impossible. This is the drivers side, and yes I know that it is left hand thread. I've been trying to turn it clockwise to remove it, but I've tried both directions and it wont budge at all. I've been using a crescent wrench and 22mm, one on the nut and one on the tie rod. Sprayed the shit out of it with PB Blaster. Anyone have any tips on unscrewing it? Please tell me there is a simple way to get this off and I'm just an idiot.

Oh yeah, I’m not expecting a full on diagnosis. Just wanted to see if anyone had any other ideas before I pulled off the intake and exhaust manifold. I’ll probably buy a new gasket just in case and use the copper stuff too. Thanks for the help

Hey everyone, I had a thread a while ago about the same issue on my 1976 280z with a relatively recently rebuilt L28 with round top SU carbs but it's still reoccurring and I wanted to start a new one because it's been a while. I have adjusted the valve lash, replaced the spark plugs, and gotten the carbs slightly better tuned. After replacing the spark plugs the first time the sound went away, but I think this may have been a coincidence and it just randomly happened to not be making the noise at that time or it was quieter because the choke was on and I didn't hear it. Adjusting the valve lash did not seem to make a difference and most of the valves were perfectly in spec and a few were just barely off. I didn't see anything obviously wrong under the valve cover. I think the carbs are tuned in roughly the right area just from checking spark plugs, but they are definitely not like 100% dialed in. The car was running very rich prior to this. The noise seems to quiet down when the engine is warm and when the choke is on. I'll attach some videos of the car cold with the choke off (IMG_7122), warm with it off (IMG_7123), and warm with it on (IMG_7124). As you can hear, the noise is definitely loudest in 7122. I have used a stethoscope and I can't really seem to find the noise. My best guess is somewhere along the exhaust manifold or headers, but the exhaust always makes noise obviously and I can't tell if it's just normal noise I'm hearing or the pinging. The sound is not coming from the block, valve cover, or head as far as I can tell. It definitely seems to be coming from the drivers side of the engine. I'm thinking it may be a leak from the exhaust manifold or headers, but the engine was rebuilt a few hundred miles ago so the gasket must be new. I might just tighten up the nuts a bit and see if that does anything. If not, maybe try replacing the gasket. It's driving me crazy trying to find out what it is, anyone got any ideas? If you have any other questions/info just ask me and I will provide it. I can take more videos tomorrow but I won't be able to this weekend as I am going camping and won't have my car. Thank you for the help. IMG_7122.MOV IMG_7123.MOV IMG_7124.MOV

Title. I've been looking for a steering hub adapter for my 280z but they all seem ridiculously expensive for a tiny little adapter. If anyone knows of anything a little cheaper, please drop the link for me. I can't seem to find anything. Thanks!

IMG_6845.MOV For some reason, the lower spring on the driver side drum brake keeps hitting the hub as it spins. I put the spring so it's kinda sitting on the little metal plate above the wheel cylinderIMG_6844.HEIC, where it will not hit the hub, but it just keeps falling off. It'll stay there for a second, but when I hit it or put the drum back on it just pops off. This is how it was installed before I replaced the brakes, and it is the same on the other side. I did not have any issues with this before, nor with the other side. I've attached a video and some pictures of the problem. Anyone else had this issue, and if so, how do I fix it? I'm just about at my wits end with this. IMG_6845.MOV IMG_6843.HEIC

update: replaced spark plugs and sound went away.

Sounds like a project for this weekend. I'll take a look under the cover, see if anything is obviously wrong. Haven't done any of this stuff before, so I may come back for more help but I imagine all this stuff should be in the factory service manual and on YouTube. I'll probably add some more pics of what's under the valve cover if you guys have any more insight. Thanks for the help.

Only thing I've done recently that is engine related is attempt to tune the carbs. I definitely did not do a very good job and will take it to a professional to do it better, but I can't see that having caused this and it wasn't doing that when I finished. I have not touched timing or anything else. It was running very rich before I touched the carbs and it still is, I don't think my efforts changed much. Engine was rebuilt maybe 300 miles ago by a professional shop (PO had that done), and has been running totally fine until I started it up at the time I took the video. Has been sitting around mostly the last month since I have taken ownership as I have worked on other areas of the car, and unknown how long before that. Doubt it was anything super long though for such an old car. It is a 1976 280z, so L28 with round top carb conversion. The sound definitely seems to be coming from the top of the engine. I haven't looked into it with a stethoscope yet, but that much is clear to me. I can definitely pull the valve cover when I get the time and take a look. Is the gasket reusable? Let me know if there is any other info I can provide that would help.

Engine seems to be making like a pinging sort of noise at idle. It's around 800-900 rpm in this video, and I shut it off after in case it was damaging something. The carbs are definitely way out of tune, and I think it's been running very rich. What could the sound be coming from, or is it something not to worry about? Thanks IMG_6798.MOV