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I was out of town for a few weeks and had my car at a local garage i had do some work for me before. i installed an eibach pro kit at was going to reuse the factory WS6 struts,got a phone call saying they werent any good,and like any other fool i just said go ahead and grab some good base level struts and throw them on.

now the front end of the car wobbles a bit up and down under hard weight transfer like going over an overpass on the highway or a dip in the road. when you push on the fender downward on the passenger side it feels squishy like factory springs and the drivers side feels rock solid as it should.

now im not talking about something very drastic here,im talking about a wobble that only an enthusiast would notice. nonetheless it is very annoying and unsafe,the car was going to be autox'd but i wont until this problem is solved.

here are the pics of the uneven strut mount bolts,at least 1in difference in height through the tower,yet everything underneath seems to be lined up fine. also the body shows no sign of collision.

thanks for any help guys,

Mike

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg84/scaled.php?server=84&filename=camerazoom2012070618453.jpg&res=landing

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg513/scaled.php?server=513&filename=camerazoom2012070618454.jpg&res=landing

Wiggle the two front axles with your hand for starters..

base model car with open diff,the above posts about it being a cv shaft are likely correct. that exact problem happened to my VR4 (same car but all wheel drive). front shafts arent very expensive and can easily be swapped in an hour with hand tools.

The reason I assumed it was an expensive price is a few years ago when I built another car I had it tuned 3 separate times by a reputable tuner in Chicago for 250.also, other price quotes ive had from IPS have been downright insane.

Anyways, the car has a very solid 70k LT1 with headers and full exhaust,8.5mm msd wires, mild cam of unknown origin...supposedly a comp cams 503 but unsure since it was already in the car (the reason mail order tune is impossible) stage 3 clutch,stock gears.

450 isn't out of my budget, hell I don't have a budget,I just don't want to be ripped off.I just want a good tune to last me until I get my LE2 package and some 4.10s, then I'll get it retuned

I tried to search but the search option won't work on my Droid.

I called IPS and they quoted me $450 to dyno tube my car. I figured that price was a direct refection of their self view, so...where should I take my LT1 TA

So,heres my update.

I bought a 98-02 aluminum driveshaft from Rick who was kind enough to meet up with me at Jegs this weekend and school me on these cars a bit while in the freezing cold.Thanks again Rick.

That being said,i didn't get the shaft in.It was just downright too damn cold this weekend,but on my way to polaris the car stopped missing for a few miles and i was able to run up to "65" mph with absolutely no vibration,on...or off the throttle,which leads me to believe there is no drivetrain problem whatsoever. Shortly before my exit the miss started again,resulting in bad vibration again. Ive had a few vehicles in my life with ignition issues but never had one shake like i'm running 100mph with a flat tire before now. It's very strange,and the car tear down starts this coming weekend,rain or shine.

any ideas?

Ill get the car up on stands on the street in front of the house this weekend (funnnnnn) and start wrenching on it.thanks to all you guys for the input on the problems ive got,ill post again when ive got some new info.

Rick im gonna send you a pm about that shaft.

From what I've read that aluminum driveshaft is a direct replacement.being such a big upgrade I'd likely buy it anyways. Now, let's say worst case scenario I have to have the rear end rebuilt, where should I take it to have that work done? And even if it is only u joints I'dfor sure buy that shaft you have Rick, how are the joints in it?

The opti is an OEM unit recently installed by the cars previous owner.

....and if there IS play? What does that mean in terms of what is worn/broken,and forgive me for being such a needy twat,where should i get the parts and what all parts should be needed?

I'm only asking this now so the next time im in town for a few hours i can try and bust out a quick repair.

Just working this through in my head. The easiest thing to start with for the vibration is tires. Might be worth getting them balanced to rule that out as a possible culprit. Also the LT1 cars came with steel drive shafts and GM had problems with balance on them. The solution was to replace them all with aluminum drive shafts.

 

As for the miss, I've learned never to trust an Opti, even if it's new. I'm not saying it's your problem, but just because it's new doesn't mean it can't be the problem. I'm working on a miss with my LT1 Impala SS and the next step is to replace the cap and rotor again with an OEM version instead of the MSD version I bought last time. If you want to try and ignition module and coil at some point we could probably work something out on a weekend when the weather warms up a bit.

Rick i'd be open to trying that if we could do it on a day before the beginning of March.

Let me start by saying that Rick here has had a good bit of experience with these cars. An opti is a logical place to start looking for your miss, but without a scan tool to look at its signal you are limited to just putting on another to see if it's bad.

 

Tires don't vibrate from an alignment dumbass, they vibrate from poor wear, bad balance, or a broken belt.

 

It sounds more like a driveline vibration which could be a few things, the driveshaft is a good place to start, but make sure the pinion isn't getting loose as I've seen this numerous times.

I am at 99% certainty that it isn't tires,i just pulled off the stocks and swapped to C5 17fr 18rr last weekend and the issue there still remains. How would i check to see if the pinion is loose? Yank on the yolk? pull the cover? Ive never had a diff apart in my life.

As far as the ignition problem goes should i just scan the car and post the results? Id really hate to drop 300 bucks on new ignition parts if i only need 1 wire. Not trying to be a tight ass,just trying to save cash for new heads/intake

So as the title says i have a 97 trans am with a 6 speed. I'm an over the road trucker so i dont have much time to get the car in the air and poke about. Hoping i could get some pointers from you guys/gals.

First off,the car is low miles,well maintained and in excellent shape.That being said the car vibrates the faster you go,starting around 60mph.Whether you are in gear or out of gear it is fairly consistent.When do press the trottle down slightly it does go away somewhat but not completely,also when i let off completely,while in gear it shakes more than other times.I automatically assumed ujoints are bad but with the crazy rearend setup on these cars that im not used to im not sure.

Second,the car seems to have a miss 3/4 of the time.has a brand new Opti and new plugs and wires,i figured i had a wire burn on the headers.At low rpm i can put it to WOT until about 2500 and then the miss starts again. When it does miss i have not even half the power i should have.

Being a trucker with no free time i also need to know where i can take the car to have the work done.Be it a shop where i supply the parts or someones garage where i buy beer/pay you and help so i can learn more about these fbodies.

thanks for any info you all can offer.

Welcome. Nice solid intro. I feel like I've seen that dually in the background of the pic a lot around town.

thats the guys house that i bought the car from,took the pic a moment befor i got in and drove it away.it was down in south bloomfield

Yea,thats why i bought a muscle car,i need the torque to carry my ass away from stop lights.

but no,its my last name,ive gone by it since the Army some years back.