well, after 2 weeks, $400+, 2 calls to Summit, and about a dozen trips to the parts store, the carb and intake is finally done. the elco actually runs halfway decent now... at least it can get out of it's own way, and it doesn't deisel when i shut it down anymore. the fun part was when the kickdown cable was jammed inside it's housing... gotta love working on cars that have been neglected for umpteen years, never a dull moment.

quick question: could someone point me to a reference that will help diagnose driveline/rear-end/axle problems? on the way home, i noticed a strange "thunk" sound/feeling when i leave from a stop. my mother was following me and she said that it looked like the rear end twitched a little when i left a stop, also. i'm fairly sure that the axle bearings are shot, they're originals, after all... but i want to see what else could be wrong before i do anything. any pointers would be appreciated.

later,
Dean
'71 El Camino: slowly coming together and falling apart at the same time.

Axle twitched? The last one I seen do that had a rotted frame ('79 Cabellaro) Hows the rear bushings?

quick question: could someone point me to a reference that will help diagnose driveline/rear-end/axle problems? on the way home, i noticed a strange "thunk" sound/feeling when i leave from a stop.


A "thunk" when accelerating from a stop might be a rear suspension problem. Maybe an upper or lower trailing arm bushing is shot, or several body bushings are deteriorating. Crawl under there with a flashlight and look around. Have someone (that you trust) bounce the rear as you watch.

:mrgreen:

Have you checked your universals?

I crawled up under it this morning before work and noticed a bit of wetness around the left side of the differential. I didn't notice any cracks or anything, but I was trying not to get too dirty before work and all, so I didn't get a real good look all around it.

Haven't check the u-joints. Didn't get home until 10 or so last night, and it wasn't the right time to be looking at the car. How exactly do you check the u-joints? Sorry for the elementary question...

Thanks,
Dean

I've checked them in the past by having someone put the car in forward then reverse while I'm looking underneath the car from the side. I was not under the car at the time just looking from the side. The driveshaft will spin some doing this. Maybe 1/8 of a turn max (really should not be much). If it moves more then that or you hear a good cluck doing this one or both are shot.