strange problem, need help!!

[BarryK]

took the '65 out today this morning and everything was fine. came back home and washed the car for a show this afternoon than it sat for about 2 hours. When I took it out again to go to the show the car felt very strange and different.
When hitting the gas the rear end felt like it was jerking a little to the side and the same thing if I let off the gas very quickly. Also, instead of feeling very secure on the road whenever i went over any bump or unevenness on the road it felt like the car was floating all over the place. Kind of like the body was shifting on the frame or the whole frame shifting on the suspension.
Additionally, funny noises started to happen. at times, but not all the time, if i hit the gas quickly or let up on the gas quickly i could hear something like either a trhumping or like something underneath was hitting something else. Also intermittently, at times when making a turn it could hear a louder single hitting noise like something was definately hitting something. seemed to be more on left turns than right turns but it happen during every turn, just sometimes.

It gave me such a bad feeling driving like this that i only made it about 5 or 7 miles down the road before turing around to go home again.

i looked underneath the car (like I would know what to look for. :confused )
but couldn't see anything obvious.
I did check the tightness of the 4 leafspring mounting bolts and retorqued them to make sure they were nice and tight but it didn't take to much on them as they weren't really all that loose. I also checked the tightness on the differential mounting bracket since we had to add a few shims there about 2 months ago so I wanted to make sure that bolt hadn't loosened.

after checking those rear bolts I drove the car again but the problem is still there.
i'm now scared to drive the car not knowing what could be wrong and I don't want to risk damaging anything.

Please, anyone have any ideas on this??

One of my neighbors suggested it could be a broken C-clip on one of the rear yolks?? he said that involved a fairly hefy teardown on the rear to get to it so i really hope it's nothing too serious like that!


Barry

 

[attret00]

Do you have knock-offs. One may be coming loose.

 

[studiog]

Hi Barry,
Sounds like it could be anything from loose lug nuts to a dif problem to bearings, u joints, etc. I wouldn't drive it till you have someone check it out. Right now it may be minor but if you keep driving you might do more damage as I'm sure you know.

 

[BarryK]

Do you have knock-offs. One may be coming loose.

no, the standard wheels.

 

[BarryK]

Hi Barry,
Sounds like it could be anything from loose lug nuts to a dif problem to bearings, u joints, etc. I wouldn't drive it till you have someone check it out. Right now it may be minor but if you keep driving you might do more damage as I'm sure you know.

i know, i'm afraid to drive it now except straight to the mechanic's shop.
I just wish I had a starting place to have them look at the car instead of wasting money having them have to go over everything because we don't know where to begin looking.
As you say, it could be anything!

To me it's really strange that it was fine during one drive than just went bad so suddenly and out of the blue as soon as I got into the car the next time. I never heard anything happen during the first drive to explain how it could have happened and i wasn't doing anything I could explain why something would go wrong like racing it or driving it hard.

 

[IH2LOSE]

Barry
I almost didnt want to look into this thread.Talk about a bad run of luck.

Dont give up hope we will get you in the correct direction.

Trailing arms

These are the bars that run front to back on the car.They are attached right in front of the rear wheel wheel well and are about 2 feet long.and goe backk to the center of the wheel.You want to check where they attach by the center of the wheel and see if there is any rust there,or if your shim pack fell out.

STRUT RODS

These are the steel rods That go from your thrid member to the trailing arms.They are what make the alignment of the in/out of the tire.See if the are loose ,not connected bent,broken.See if the strut rod bracket is loose.

You also want to check up by where the third member connects to the frame,I cant find a picture of it by if you look at the top of the third member its alarge structuar peice of steel that goes from side to side on the car.See if that is tight in place to the frame or if its not connected to the third member correctly.Can you get it up on some jack stand and post a bunch of digital pictures of every thing under there so that we can look for some wear marks or some thing to try and pin it down to something.


PS the above pictures are from zip products on line catalog .
http://www.zip-products.com/Corvette_Early/assets/html/homepage.asp?
This is where I have been getting some of my parts from

 

[IH2LOSE]

Definately see If you can take some well lit photos of the bottom of the car and post them

 

[BarryK]

Barry
I almost didnt want to look into this thread.Talk about a bad run of luck.

Dont give up hope we will get you in the correct direction.

Trailing arms

These are the bars that run front to back on the car.They are attached right in front of the rear wheel wheel well and are about 2 feet long.and goe backk to the center of the wheel.You want to check where they attach by the center of the wheel and see if there is any rust there,or if your shim pack fell out.

STRUT RODS

These are the steel rods That go from your thrid member to the trailing arms.They are what make the alignment of the in/out of the tire.See if the are loose ,not connected bent,broken.See if the strut rod bracket is loose.

You also want to check up by where the third member connects to the frame,I cant find a picture of it by if you look at the top of the third member its alarge structuar peice of steel that goes from side to side on the car.See if that is tight in place to the frame or if its not connected to the third member correctly.Can you get it up on some jack stand and post a bunch of digital pictures of every thing under there so that we can look for some wear marks or some thing to try and pin it down to something.


PS the above pictures are from zip products on line catalog .
http://www.zip-products.com/Corvette_Early/assets/html/homepage.asp?
This is where I have been getting some of my parts from

Hi Larry

you didn't want to look at the thead, but i sure didn't want to have to write it!

it seems to always be something else with this car everytime i turn around.

i'll check when you listed and i'll see if i can get the rear of the car jacked up somehow to get some pics underneath. The only jack i have is the one from the car and it's in such good shape i think it's a new reproduction. not sure how comfortable I am using a reproduction of a 40year old jack design but maybe my neighbor has a good jack. if i can get any shots i'll post them.

When i looked under the car yesterday it didn't notice anything obviously standing out as broken or falling down. I check the tightness on a few bolts but it is so tight to slide under the car without it being jacked up or on a lift it was difficult to get to most things for me. going under her from the rear (damn, that sounds kinky!) is the only way but i BARELY can slide under the spare tire holder and impossible to do anything from the sides as the sidepipes just come down too low.

I'll just have to dig up a good jack even if it means having to go out and buy a hydrylic one.

as for rust that you mentioned, the car had a complete frame-off just before i got her and you could eat off the underside of the car. it's gotten a bit dirtier since than with my driving but there sure isn't any rust!

One thing i did notice while looking under her yesterday is that while the shock, struts and everything else on the rear drivers side area around the wheel is still nice and clean the same area on the passenger side rear wheel is looking all greasy and dirty - like it might have a grease all over it from somewhere and the grease is attracting and holding onto dirt from when i'm driving.
i'm wondering where that grease is coming from.


BTW, this is not only my first Vette, but my first "old car". is this string of problems normal and i need to learn to expect issues everytime i turn around or did I just end up with a dude of a car here??!!
maybe i need to sell this thing and find another.

I can't see me doing that though. i love this car as does my wife. The car is named BABY because she IS our baby! but still the frustration lever so far is getting a bit much

 

[IH2LOSE]

Barry no offence to be taken here.

But with any old car there are some problems exspected.But if the car has had a frame off this should not happen unless it was put together wrong.

There are always some bugs to shake out after completing a car and hopefully this is what your doing.

Me personally will not drive any of my collector cars with out having it up on a lift to do a saftey check in the beging of the season.I encourage every one to do the same.

the grease can be telling us there is a problem with the bearing assembley or that you have a weeping caliper.

Look for any rub marks around the half shafts or on the fiberglass around it.

DONT go under the car with the original jack unless you have jack stands to support the car.

If you have axcess to a jack and jack stands get it up off of the suspention.Remove the tires,and see what kind of play you have in things

 

[BarryK]

Barry no offence to be taken here.

But with any old car there are some problems exspected.But if the car has had a frame off this should not happen unless it was put together wrong.

There are always some bugs to shake out after completing a car and hopefully this is what your doing.

Me personally will not drive any of my collector cars with out having it up on a lift to do a saftey check in the beging of the season.I encourage every one to do the same.

the grease can be telling us there is a problem with the bearing assembley or that you have a weeping caliper.

Look for any rub marks around the half shafts or on the fiberglass around it.

DONT go under the car with the original jack unless you have jack stands to support the car.

If you have axcess to a jack and jack stands get it up off of the suspention.Remove the tires,and see what kind of play you have in things

i agree, with a frame off i shouldn't be having all these problems!

i'll have to go get a jack and buy some stands and than i'll be able to get some pics and check things out better underneath.

looks like i'll have to wait a bit though because i had to return my company car and right now the vette is my only car here as my wife took her car to work. i'm still waiting to get a new daily driver for myself

 

[Tyler Townsley]

Check the front diff mount. Sounds like it may be loose or the cushion has flattened.

Tyler

 

[youwish2bme]

Barry, You

 

[BarryK]

Check the front diff mount. Sounds like it may be loose or the cushion has flattened.

Tyler

do you mean that big kind-of triangle shaped mount with the big rubbery snubber on it?
gee...sorry for all the techinal terms here! :eyerole

if that's what you are refering to I did check that and it's nice and tight.

 

[BarryK]

Barry, You

me WHAT??!!
I didn't do anything, really i didn't! it just started this problem all on it's own!!

 

[BarryK]

with all of the problems i've been having with BABY ever since I got her, does anyone here know of someone that performs exorcisms on cars?
i'm beginning to think I may need to do that.....................

 

[berky2500]

I would look at the strut rods first. Are the bushings intact? Play in the strut rod bushings and or mounting eyes causes torque steer. When you accelerate the rear of the car wants to dance to right, when you let off quick, it will dance to the left. There are, of course, other things that can contribute to or cause this.

This is my experience from the rear end of a 73, basically the same as yours. The strut rod mounts at the diffrential (strut rod bracket) were assembled incorrectly in addition to the bushings being worn. If your camber adjusting bolts are loose or broken, that could also allow this motion.

Other possibles are half shaft, rear differential, or anything else that allows side to side motion of the rear end. If you can get it on a jack, pull the rear tire towards you and push towards the differential, you shouldn't be able to feel motion.

 

[Tyler Townsley]

I love it when someone talks so technical.LOL But yes that is what I was talking about. When you let off it will pull down and cause symptoms you discribed if the bolt is not tight.

 

[MoeJr]

The car had a frame off resto? Check to see if one of the body mounts is loose. Posiible it could be and causing the car to shift going down the road.

 

[youwish2bme]

Barry, sorry man, my computer server sometimes kicks me off and I don't realize that my post was not complete. I think the jist of my post was that you are now the primary mechanic of this vehicle you may want to invest in some tools. There is nothing that you can do to this car/vette that will hurt it. If you do you learn from you mistakes as we all have. I started last year in the same boat that you are.. Sears sells a 1/2 ton jack and two jack stands for around 100.00. Also they have an excellent set of tools in a plastic 4 drawer set for around 200.00 right now. Get ya a good jack and stands and post some pics and I'm sure there will be someone here on the great CAC that can help.. Just be careful man.. use the jack stands b/c the best jacks can fail.. I like to use 4 stands and place the jack under the front cross member to take some of the strain off the front end.... I guess I too need to go buy another set of stands so I can support the front of the frame at the ends when I have it up like that... Dave..

 

[BarryK]

I would look at the strut rods first. Are the bushings intact? Play in the strut rod bushings and or mounting eyes causes torque steer. When you accelerate the rear of the car wants to dance to right, when you let off quick, it will dance to the left. There are, of course, other things that can contribute to or cause this.

among other symtoms my car is doing, this is one of them so I'll check those strut rods.

thanks!