MattL

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions, all. I'll dial down the damping as suggested. In the meantime, I'll get a photo of the ride height for reference. 

Thanks for the photo above, too. It makes me feel much better. 

To clarify the no-pads state I mentioned: I had removed only the upper 2-Dot pads, but put vinyl tubing on the first couple top coils in its place. I left the bottom perch pads in place. 

I recently replaced my stock springs with H&R Sports. I also removed the 2-dot pads in the back at the same time. The result was a way-low rear-end that felt like it had no travel whatsoever in the springs. Very harsh. And goofy negative camber. The other night I took the springs back off, and put the 2-dot pads back on. At the same time, I made sure my Koni Yellows were adjusted alike, at 50% rebound. Now the height and camber look much improved, but the ride is still very harsh, like it's bottoming out all over the place.  

Here are some shots of the springs after the second installation:

On stands, freshly installed:

(The springs looked too compressed to me, once they were installed.)

Back down on the ground:

Should the springs be that compressed? Are those just dead coils? Or do I have them in upside down or something?

If I'm just being a wimp with my harshness complaints, that's fine. I'd just like to be reassured that all is right with the (rear suspension) world. 

Thanks,

Matt

PM sent in re the 3.64. 

Thanks, SoM! 

(And great footer quote!)

Talk about timing! RussTii is selling a 3.64 LSD from an early E21 in the classifieds section. Does anybody know if that'll be a clean swap for a '76? 

I would be interested in the 3.64 unit, assuming it's a fit for my '76. Researching now. My understanding is that it would be a fit for a '76, but do you know?

This is all excellent info, input, and intelligence: just what I always get here. Lots to consider, now that I’m well-equipped. Thanks, everyone. 

In this, the latest installment of "Matt The Newbie's Carnival of Sounds" I learn the scraping sound coming from the passenger side of my 76 is my differential. Pinion bearing, to be precise. It would be a lot of work to rebuild, so I guess I'm in the market for an LSD a little earlier than expected. I still have the 4-speed transmission, but I hope to go to a 240 or 245 5-speed if I can find one in my area. 

I've searched the forum and read all the comparisons between the 3.64 and 3.91 ratios that I could find. Given the scarcity of these things, I don't know what I'll be able to find (and/or afford). Since I'm planning to go to a 5-speed at some point, though, it seems like the 3.91 is the one to search for, right?

On 4/5/2019 at 10:54 PM, jlb said:

 

This looks great - I'm hoping to do basically the same thing to my bumper-deleted car. Do you have any pics of what the brackets look like before they were installed? Or is it really just as simple as a straight piece of 1.25" tubing jammed into the stock bumper mounting holes, with a light attached to the end of it? I'm holding out hope that I won't have to much more than buy some tubing, cut it to length, and drill a few holes as needed...

Okay, Jib, here are a few more shots of my brackets. Not too much to them. 

21 hours ago, jlb said:

 

This looks great - I'm hoping to do basically the same thing to my bumper-deleted car. Do you have any pics of what the brackets look like before they were installed? Or is it really just as simple as a straight piece of 1.25" tubing jammed into the stock bumper mounting holes, with a light attached to the end of it? I'm holding out hope that I won't have to much more than buy some tubing, cut it to length, and drill a few holes as needed...

Thanks! Yeah, that’s pretty much all there is to it. I’ll try to get some close-up photos when I get back in town, but my general approach was to ditch the swivel mount that came with the lights entirely. That meant cutting out some notches in the aluminum for the “hole” part of the light base to fit into, then drilling through for the “pin” bolt. To mount to the car, the aluminum really did fit snugly in the rubber sleeve. Once I got it cut to length, i just used the existing mounting bolt holes in the engine bay (one per side) to mark the aluminum for the mounting bolt holes. Beyond that, I just spray painted them black and filed a notch in each “pin” hole (so the bolt would fit snugly and not spin). Easy peasy. If I’d had the budget for those beautiful Koogleworks mounts (look them up if you haven’t seen them) I would have just done that. But this was easy, dirt cheap, and came out well. 

Mine are just Hella 500s, mainly there to cover up the holes left when I excised my diving board. But I like the look, and love the POWAH. Also, 1-1/4" aluminum tubing fits perfectly in the rubber sheathes left behind by the bumper mounts, which made mounting the lights a cinch. Got the inspiration from Nomad's blog. 

12 minutes ago, jrhone said:

 

To me the rear is good and the front is too high.  Lol.  Also wheel diameter matters.  I would plan on fine tuning it once you have the final wheels on it if those are not them.  

I'm definitely with you, aesthetically. I love the way the height of the back looks. But the negative camber in the back really is silly looking, and I'm sure it's not good for the handling or tire wear. I hope to eventually get some 14" wheels on there - Alpina clones or E30 basketweaves, maybe - but that's probably a ways off, budget wise. So in the interim, I figure putting the pads back on is a good idea. As for the front, yeah, I was hoping for more of a drop, but unless I'm wrong, shortening the struts would be the next step. Too much work and money! And handling is definitely priority #1. 

My car won't look like this for long, but I wanted to post here to document the setup.

Front: Koni yellow inserts, H&R Sport springs, no spacers. 

Rear: Koni yellows, H&R Sport springs, no pads.

I removed the deteriorated rubber pads all the way around and used vinyl tubing on the spring ends instead.

The rear is too low, and as a result the camber is bananas. I'm going to put my 2-dot pads back on in the hope that scales it back a bit. 

Today I drove back home after taking my 76 the 2 hours up to North Jersey to see a friend. Pleased with the performance. The shifter went a little loose, but that's due to me not tightening the tensioner thing after rebuild. I'll fix it tomorrow. 

Update: Mr. Tire wouldn't touch the car. I guess that's to their credit. So, before trying to limp home, I jacked it up to take a better look at the corner in question. (No jack stands, so it was going to be a very "shallow" dive.) It took me a minute to realize that the wheel was slightly wobbly! Two of the lug nuts were very loose, and the other two were being convinced to follow. I guess I didn't torque everything down correctly in my haste to get the car on the road. Who's got two thumbs, and a life-saving lucky break? THIS GUY!!! Whew! Lesson learned: check, then double-check all bolts and nuts after any project! I should go buy a lottery ticket.

I'm going to recheck all the wheels tonight, as well as oil the distributor and grease the "point rubbing block", per the nudge above. (Thanks, Mint.)

I think that should just about wrap up this episode of "Matt the Newbie's Carnival of Sounds!" Thanks, everyone. The help and input is very sincerely appreciated. 

1 hour ago, '76mintgrün'02 said:

If that squeaking is indeed your distributor, I'd put that at the top of the list of noises needing to be addressed.

Yeah, it definitely is the distributor. Besides replacing it, what would constitute addressing it? I was thinking I'd just oil it up, but that doesn't seem like a "top of the list" -caliber remedy. 

Well, after adding what little oil I had on hand, I took the car out for a drive to Pep Boys for some 20W50 and got a "video" in the parking lot of the engine warm. It's definitely much quieter than I remember, which is a relief, and clearly what you all expected. Feel free to sling all those "told ya so"s my way. There IS still a grinding sound, but it's not really audible over the squeaky distributor. 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/RAiN4sEbHwdWva7j8

On the way home, a new, nastier gremlin appeared. A knocking sound started all of a sudden in the rear left. Sounds like a piece of rubber hose tied to the left axle, slapping the bottom of the car. It started relatively quiet, but very quickly (within 300 yards) became more pronounced. It's definitely rotational and road-speed-dependent. Hard turning would alleviate it, as would GENTLE acceleration. As soon as I depressed the clutch, it would come back. Keeping just a little bit of gas on at very low speeds would also shut it up. As soon as I hit 15 or 20 mph, though, it would be back, no matter what the clutch and accelerator were doing. It got very loud and insistent, to the point that I feared driving any further, and left the car at a local Mr Tire in which I actually have some moderate trust. At the very least they have a lift: I've spent enough time on my back in pools of brake fluid this winter to last me a while. Hopefully they'll get it up on the lift and inform me that it's nothing serious, and certainly nothing expensive. ? Fat chance. I'll probably post this as its own topic, but any ideas? Maybe a CV joint? 

In any case, thanks for all your help and suggestions with the first of my noise-related panic attacks. Onward and upward.

All great suggestions! Thank you! I’ll get out there and get a warmed up, exterior video tonight. Tried last night but there were some monsters keeping my daughter up. Had to regulate. 

I'll keep that disconnect-and-isolate tactic in mind, Simeon. Thank you.

Thanks for the comparison vid, Mark. I still think mines pretty cacophonous, but that does make me feel a little better. (I love the sound of that sidedraft, by the way.)

Mike, thanks for the idle info. When I read "idle speed screw" I practically kicked myself for having forgotten that. Obviously I haven't done anything with the carb, yet. It's a Weber 32/36, though. I took off the filter housing and noticed that there's a pretty substantial gap between the housing and the carb itself. A few mms all the way around. The hole for the carb looks to have been cut out by hand...with a butter knife. No gasket or anything. 

I'll check again, maybe tonight, but I think the idle comes down to around 1k when it's warm. 

Scoob: Yeah, there's definitely a metallic-y sound. That's really the sound that's most unnerving. I'll add the timing chain/oil pump chain to the checklist. 

I've never done a valve adjustment myself, having only had the car for less than a year. I have the previous owner's receipts, but they only go back to 2015 and don't show an adjustment. 

...they did replace most of the exhaust (including resonator and muffler) with an all-new stock setup. The exhaust header looks original to the car. I've inspected it pretty closely from above and below, and haven't found any holes. Those actually aren't rust bubbles on the nose but rather plastic hole plugs, painted pastellblau. (I removed the reflectors.) The body is very solid, especially for a 40-year-old East Coast car. My departed 1974 taught me that lesson. 

Thanks for all the input. It's much appreciated. 

I'll take a video of the motor running warmed up/choke off. In the meantime, I can say that I'm definitely not comparing it to my more modern cars. It's difficult to tell from the video, but the motor really is super loud. Tough to hear anything less than a shout over it. 

A big part of the noise sounded like a grinding or wearing, as opposed to untamed exhaust. Now that you mention it, though, Hal, that could be something loose too. 

My checklist so far:

1. Gasket between down/midpipes

2. Idle (Jets? Dizzy?)

3. Loose exhaust components and hangers

4. Fan/Belt

5. Alternator

6. Engine-related noises--loosely adjusted valves, partially blown-out exhaust manifold gasket, vacuum leaks around the intake manifold etc.

With the motor running, it's probably impossible to hear any of those individually, obviously. There's just too much noise. But I'll go through that list with it off. I'll also get a video of it running warmed up. Thanks, all. 

Thanks, Scoob. The choke is on in the video, but you're right: the idle is pretty high regardless. That's a jetting issue, right? 

My motor is REALLY loud, even at idle. It sounds like a throttling wood chipper. Or a prop plane. Looking for some ideas/things to check, and as always with me: don't worry about hurting my pride with suggestions that seem basic to you. I have a long way to go before I reach even novice stage with this stuff. 

I hope this video link works:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Mp4hVzyffSKTRmbs9

That's at idle, just started up. When it warms up and the choke switches off, it gets a little quieter, but not much. I don't remember things being this loud when I bought the car last summer, but that's no guarantee that it didn't. I've had it off the road for the winter and some replacements/upgrades in the brakes and suspension, but it was loud when I put it away in the fall. I haven't done anything to the engine at all since purchased besides add a couple quarts of 20W50.

Any ideas? I'm not big on the idea of driving a Stuka around. 

That is a fantastic video and a sweet sound. Nice car. I’ve got a little more to do than new fuel, but I’m similarly “itchy” to get moving. 

Bump for spring. 

Thanks for the responses, everyone. I’ll bump this thread periodically in search of more locals.