Stanley

Got the driveshaft and diff mount installed today. Also new rear wheel bearings. Noise (the ratcheting noise that I posted about, a month or so ago; it was occasional at first and got worse and frequent) and vibration are gone. Also the car feels smoother somehow on the road. Old wheel bearing were loose, mechanic reported. He found some new grease smeared around but none in the bearings. Diff mount was worn and weakened but not totally shot, think I replaced it when I bought the car. Silky smooth now, feels faster, but probably imagining it. Brake upgrade next week. Heard the mechanic telling other mechanic cause of the noise. Forgot to ask him later but heard something about "needle bearings". I first thought the noise was coming from the left front wheel. But I duct-taped a little recorder under the fenders, one at a time, and test drove it. I wasn't coming from there, but I never could hear where it was. Thought the vibration was from right rear wheel, also wrong on that one.

The noise and the vibration sound like at least two separate problems. Maybe there's a loose bolt somewhere. I'd like to fix one thing at a time and test the car before doing anything else, but I'm not telling them to do that, it would take way longer. A lot of the work is stuff I've been planning to do anyway, like brake upgrade and heavy duty U-joints. There's still more left for someday.

Ordered a new driveshaft with oversize Spicer's. This is getting expensive, but it's probably not a bad idea to replace those old parts.

According to the manual there's an adjustment for the parking brake. Looks a bit tricky, though. Wonder if the rally Z's have a mod to improve the hand brake. Seems like it might be handy. Back in the 70's, my mom got a new VW bug. I found that using the handbrake helped me break the back wheels loose, so I could get around the dirt road twisties faster. Sorry mom!

OK, picture worth 1000 words. But the new Moog U-joints I bought have the snap rings on the outside. Will the still work?

Are these replaceable? Don't see snap rings. Thought they were up to 1975.

Yeah, diff mount shot, ordered a new one.

73 Z. Vibration is noticeable after 35 mph and gets worse with more speed. I'm staying off the freeway until it's fixed. Sounds like a tire going flat at 50 mph plus. Got the wheels rebalanced; tire shop said they were balanced ok anyway; made no difference. The new U-joints haven't been installed yet. A few weeks ago I had a shop put new front wheel bearings. Supposedly they also installed new lower control arm bushings and greased the rear wheel bearings. This was after I reported various noises that started after they installed new front pads and turned one rotor. The noises just got worse after they worked on it again, and the vibration started soon after. A different shop is doing the new work.

I was advised to have the driveshaft (propeller shaft) balanced after putting new U-joints, which is scheduled to happen this week. There's a new vibration last few weeks that may or not have to do with the U-joints. No vibration previously, and the driveshaft hasn't been altered or dropped, so balancing seems unnecessary to me. But maybe I'm wrong.

Ordered the R4S all around.

Time to undo previous crap brake job; putting new everything front and rear. Shop will do it while I try to finish jobs and make rent money before the 1st. Not a lot of options at part store. Ordered Stop-tech semi-metallic pads about $30 for front at amazon, trying to find something to match for rear shoes. MSA has some rear shoes (valley, they said, couldn't find online) for $70. Local store has Wagner premium PAB-411 for $27. Autozone has Duralast about $20. NAPA TS-411 also $20. Raybestos NLA. Went to Porterfield site, they have a bunch but I guess it would be R-4S 411 shoes for $99 and R-4S front pads for $70. Considering all the cylinders, drums, calipers, etc. I ordered, plus labor, not so bad. Never race officially except test 'n tune, but want best stoppage for freeway and twisties.

Or MS Paint.

I was afraid of that. It will have to wait a week or two until I can catch up with the work, but I'll grease whatever needs it and remove the fingernails and dust. The belts look like they're in good condition. Noticed the shoulder belt doesn't give any side restraint unless it's cinched really tight. It needs tension on it to stay in the adjusted length, so you need to adjust it after fastening it to the lap belt. Is there a way to make it stay at the adjusted length? Also the shoulder belt won't stay locked to the lap belt unless it's cinched; I put a rubber washer over the connection fitting which fixed that, though.

The stock seat belt on the driver side of my '73 is sticking. Yesterday about 12" of seat belt was hanging out of the retractor, wouldn't go any more. Pulled it a few times and it came out, but I let it retract. Then tried about 100 times, it wouldn't move. After driving a while, stopped, pulled it once, and it came out. Hooked it up and stuck a comb in the slot on the retractor, so it can't retract. OK for now but not very good. Couldn't figure where it retracts to until I read this: http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/45114-retractable-seat-belt-restoration-for-my-1972/?hl=%2Bseat+%2Bbelts A good write up, but I hope there's an easier way to fix it. Not much time to work on the car right now. Borrowed a '72 body manual but nothing there about seat belts. Don't seem to have a knack for removing and reinstalling plastic panels.

A Porsche mechanic? Just drive !

Found the receipt from the brake job couple months ago, they put pads/shoes all around but only turned the right rotor. Guess the left one looked OK. Maybe that's it.

Thank you, some good ideas. I'll try the shake test. I'd think a bad hub would be a more continuous noise but maybe not. Brakes were grinding because a pad or pads were worn out. Maybe the pads went out after 15K miles due to lots of stop and go driving. Had to go to a job in Bellflower today, about 20 miles on the surface and 50 on the freeway, round trip. It did the ratchet sound after about 2 blocks, again after 10 minutes, and that was it, nothing the rest of the way and back. So it happens maybe once every 100 applications of the brakes. The brakes work well, no pulling to one side, usually no noise. I may have heard it once more, back in town, but much quieter, could have been another car. It happens during applying the brakes, mostly at low speed it seems. As you slow down the clicks slow down. I stopped by the mechanic's, he thinks a pad is sticking occasionally due to a slightly warped rotor. He doesn't think it's serious but I don't like it. Maybe I'll install new rotors when I get paid. I had a sticking caliper (different sound, intermittent but not clicking as I recall) the previous time, and replaced them. The other frequent little squeaking sounds have gone away since installing new bearings last week. It's probably OK to rule out anything that would require a coincidence. The ratchet sound is exactly the same with the old and new bearings. It didn't do it before they put the new brakes, instead there was the usual low-pitched grinding sound every time the brakes were applied.

Yes, card on the wheel is the sound.

It's not fixed. After not driving a few days (out of town) took a trip for groceries, same ratcheting sound occurred briefly, didn't repeat. Shot wheel bearings were coincidence. If not brakes or wheel bearings then what?

Maybe a new condenser to protect the new Nissan points. I'd get the cap and rotor from Nissan, too.

It was the wheel bearings. When I did my front brakes in 2008, I replaced the outer bearings, but just greased the inners, since it seemed like too much work. So they were toast. Glad I didn't try to do it myself. All better now.

Made a right turn, slowed down, went over a bump in the parking lot, and after about 50 feet a fairly loud, metallic ta-ta-ta-ta-ta noise started coming from the left front wheel (or maybe suspension). Was going slow and opened the door so I'm sure it's left front. The noise continued until I parked. Jacked it up and spun the wheel both ways - nothing. Didn't see anything wrong under the car. Took a short drive, all ok and couldn't repeat the noise. About two months ago I had the front and rear brakes done (front left was grinding) by a shop that has done good work for me before. (I'd done the front brakes myself about 15000 miles ago with new rotors and calipers from MSA.) They put new pads (whatever the parts store had) and machined the rotors. Everything ok. Two weeks ago, after hearing some occasional noises under the car I took it to the shop to lube it and check; they replaced control arm bushings that looked bad. No time to work on the car until next week, wondering what to look for when I take the wheel off.

Looked some up, reviews aren't great for most of the 12 volt ones. I like the vacs at the self-serve carwash. Super suction, and since a dollar only buys 5 minutes, it motivates me to work fast. No attachments, though, unless you bring your own.

There are some maintenance chores that could be tried for the AT, before taking it to a transmission shop. You'll need a small torque wrench to adjust the bands to spec in the manual. It might need a new modulator, not expensive. On mine, the short rubber hose (from the steel vacuum line to the balance tube) was shot and came off a number of times, causing a problem like you describe, until I replaced it. Suggest pull the trans cooler lines at the radiator and idle the engine until it pumps out all the old trans fluid. Then pull the trans pan (there's no drain plug), clean it, clean or replace the screen, and adjust the bands to specified torque per FSM or Chilton's. Put a new gasket. Just pulling the pan will not change the fluid, since about half of it will be trapped in the torque converter. When you start it up you can't drive for about 30 seconds until the torque converter fills up. It would be nice to know how much ATF it takes for a dry transmission, must be in the manual somewhere.

I like this one. http://www.controller.com/listingsdetail/aircraft-for-sale/NORTH-AMERICAN-P-51-MUSTANG/1944-NORTH-AMERICAN-P-51-MUSTANG/1369599.htm