New owner of a restored series 2 and here's a video of the long haul driver dropping it off at my house.  It made an odd clunk as the wheels climbed the curb so I had him roll up a few times to capture it.  Can anyone point me in the right direction from this video?  Is this something to worry about?  I haven't even driven it yet, just arrived yesterday and raining so I can't tell if the suspension is suspect.  

 

 

Edited March 15, 20214 yr by Richie G
Smaller Video

Is the clunk coming from the front or rear?

Edited March 15, 20214 yr by Mark Maras

Mark to me it sounds like the front.  More on the passenger side but the driver was thinking he heard both sides equally.  Not sure if you could tell from the video but the sound was right there kind of behind the wheel.

Looks like a nicely sorted car...     The sound is not normal, and you may have to get it up on a lift and start moving things such as ball joints to find it.

One thing you can check easily on the ground are the rack bushings.  Open the hood and observe if the rack moves up and down when you turn the steering wheel a little in each direction.  Might need a helper to observe the passenger side.

Hopefully its something minor and easily corrected.

Or the tension arms from the lower control arm. Proper name is currently escaping me...

lower control arm inner bolt. See if it pops while making slow full lock turns. Make sure that inner bolt is tightened to spec.

top strut nuts.

both can make odd noises like this.

Edited March 15, 20214 yr by Dave WM

On bumps I usually find sway bar end links can be an issue.

I’ve also found that when the giant nut that holds the strut inside the strut tube loosens itself it will make a similar sound. Usually this can be heard at higher speed over bumps. 

Edited March 15, 20214 yr by heyitsrama

I agree with one of the glad nuts being possibly loose as the culprit.   Zup had that happen on one of his rear struts a couple of years ago.

14 hours ago, Patcon said:

Or the tension arms from the lower control arm. Proper name is currently escaping me...

Compression rod, but T/C rod is the common name.  It sees tension or compression when the wheel is pushed back or pulled forward (edit - actually vice-versa).  The video does fit that part as a possibility since it happens when the wheel hits the curb.  They're known to break also.

The nut in the back could be loose.  p.s. you can see it and reach down and grab it, from the engine bay.  It's right there.

Edited March 15, 20214 yr by Zed Head

1 hour ago, Zed Head said:

Compression rod, but T/C rod is the common name.

What ZH said.

I experienced the same thing, hit a bump and heard a clunk sound. My TC rod nut (bushing end) on the passenger side backed off for whatever reason. Retorqued and all was good. Hopefully its that simple for you.

 

I have removed both of those compression rods (one at a time) on my 280ZX, while the front end was on ramps, to change those compression bushings.  Once I got the two bolts on the strut base loose so I could remove the rod, it was a project in re-installation to get the rod into position where those two bolts would go back in.  A fair amount of prying, grunting and linguistic lubrication was required.  I'm not sure whether putting the front up on jackstands (so no load on the front tires and struts) would have been better or not.

Edited March 15, 20214 yr by Pilgrim

58 minutes ago, Pilgrim said:

I have removed both of those compression rods (one at a time) while the front end was on jackstands, to change those compression bushings.  Once I got the two bolts on the strut base loose so I could remove the rod, it was a project in re-installation to get the rod into position where those two bolts would go back in.  A fair amount of prying, grunting and linguistic lubrication was required. 

I had the same issue the first time.  The second time I learned that with the suspension loaded they go right in.  Wheel's hanging = almost impossible, wheels up = easy.  You can reach the nut from the side of the car, underneath, even a lowered one, or from the engine bay, with the car on the ground.

Edited March 15, 20214 yr by Zed Head