Hey guys, Im in the process of trying to diagnose a fairly consisitant clunking noise that i can hear and feel throught out the drive train. It appears to originate from the rear end while im about halfway through releasing the clutch during accelleration from 1st gear. I dont think think this is an engine/trans issue, otherwise i would be asking in LS!tech. I was thinking maybe Ujoints, but theres no shaking involved. Im clueless on this one. The car has the original 8.2" 10 bolt, single leaf springs, and a set of generic slapper bars. The shocks are KYB gas adjust.

 

TTT, anyone?

 

Are you sure its not the exhaust hitting when the engine starts to tourqe over? Are you sure that your U-bolts on the rear axle are tight? You should be able to grab the front and rear u-joints and tell if they are shot. If I were to guess I would say exhaust, if its the rear gears you will know soon enough after a few more hard launches.

 

Im pretty sure its not the exhaust, the clunk sounds and feels too solid. The Ubolts a re very tight as well..... How would I know if its the gears themselves? Is this a sign of gear wear, or what? My knowledge of rear ends is pretty limited.

 

Sounds like either u-joints, or gears. Could be something loose in the rear suspension, or maybe even dry clutches in the posi (if you have a posi).

If you are in the Houston area and want a second opinion, bring it by! I would love to check it out (LS1 swap).

We can jack it up and set the parking brake and see what is going on.

 

Thanks tex, I probly wont be in houston for any consistant period of time for a while though. Maybe around thanksgiving .

 

That's cool.. I heading out for a couple weeks anyhow. Drop me a line if your in town.

 

Awhile back, whenever I'd hit a a bumb I'd get a dirty sounding noise from ym suspension. Turns out the leaf springs had completely come off from one side, so they would bounce.

Yours doesn't sound like a similar problem, but it never hurts to check.

 

Maybe the rear springs are weak and it is the slappers making contact?
I LOVE your car BTW.

 

Damn man1!! Im pretty sure thats not my problem, but thats pretty dramatic

 

Good idea! Thanks by the way

 

i would check the c-clips on the axels, when the car is up in the air can you get it to clunk by takin hold of the top and bottom of the tireand moving it?? if so that sounds like a c-clips problem. i had the same thing, only i didn't catch it soon enough and had an axel slide out a good 4-5in... good luck with it, it sounds like a nice car!

 

You sure you don't have something as simple as a broken tranny mount? That can make a heck of a thump when the tranny hits the floorpan on hard acceleration.

 

Sounds like more good ideas guys, I should have enough time to check it out thouroughly this week.

 

My car did this when the clutch started engaging. It was because of a broken tranny mount.

Edit: on second thought, maybe its just the cars way of rejecting the rally wheels