Crazy steering shimmy

[bacarl]

Wow, Rock Auto has half a dozen choices for everything! Why has everything got to be so complicated.

Any reason not to get all that stuff from MSA, Chuck? Does MOOG make/sell better ball joints/tie rods?

[cbuczesk]

Rock Auto is probably much cheaper than MSA. MOOG is really good stuff! There are a lot of choices at RA. You generally get what you pay for.

Chuck

[bacarl]

Gotcha. Thanks!

[Montezuma]

Rack bushing and steering coupler bushing would fix the things you feel on the wheel. Both are simple and easy installs. Ball joints are a simple test but I don't think they are your problem. T/C bushing? Maybe another easy fix. Shocks? maybe another easy fix, thank you Tokico. Remember this about cars: "They are only original once" original cars with low mileage like that are not easy to find and work keeping as original as possible. Also if you modify keep the parts you take off for later reinstall if necessary. What carbs are you running? Beautiful original colored car. Don't forget to get it on the Z Registry.

[bacarl]

Thanks Montezuma, I wasn't necessarily looking for a car this original, but it was pretty clean and much much closer to home than other cars I'd looked at. Also being a single owner car is very cool. I don't plan to change it much from original. I want to see what it's like just put back to normal.

I ordered rubber T/C bushings, but poly rack, coupler and sway bar bushings since that's about all that was available. Also a rear diff mount isolator to see if that cures a clunk. I hate throwing parts at a problem if I don't know exactly what's wrong, but in this case everything is so worn, new parts can't possibly hurt.

The carbs are the original flat tops. They are not good. I'm just running them for now but drivability is poor. I need to go through them, or just swap in some ZTherapy SUs when my funds recover.

The color is original obviously, but the paint is not. It was resprayed in the early 80's, I think. Quality work but it's 30 years old. It's a great 10-foot car but faded and cracking up close. Again, just going to keep it like that for a while. Maybe new paint along with a more extensive refurb down the road. Just need to get it safe and happy and then I'll enjoy it for a while.

Edited June 1, 2013 by bacarl