Just put in my subframe spacers

[dubstyles240]

Well my spacers came in the mail today from specialtyZ. I had em in within an hour, its not even worth doing a write up on, because theres nothing to write up! its like.... jack car up by diff, unbolt subframe support bolt, place spacer on stud, replace bolt. repeat 3 times.

anyways, it didnt solve my problem of the clunking rear end. it helped it a little bit, but its still there. I guess ill just have to wait till I order my VLSD and alum. driveshaft. Those should take care of it I would think. I'll replace the diff. bushings while I'm at it.

I'll let you know if my car handles any better once I drive with em on for a few days.

[navysnail]

the "clunking rear end" is probobly due to a diff with a moderate ammount of "play" in it. how many miles do you have on the car?

[dubstyles240]

100K

the diff does have some play in it, like i can grab the driveshaft and turn it back and forth like a 1/4 - 1/2 inch.

u think its just due to old age?

[navysnail]

yes, it is probobly age. the teeth in the gears get spaced due to normal wear and tear but it may have been accelerated by old/contaminated/low gear oil in the diff. i have aprox. 130k on my '90 and have never noticed it but i wouldn't worry about it anyway. if you want, you could try a junkyard or look into new pinion/ring gears, but that could get expensive, so unless you have money to burn, i would leave it. also, do you notice the noise only when changing speed/rpm or is it constant?

hope this helps

[Big Red]

I had the clunking in the rear end in the Camaro and thought it was the diff, it turned out to be a half-shaft and bearing failure on the passanger side by the wheel.

I know it's a different car but if you jack up the rear end and in nuetural, turn either rear wheel and hear a rough sound comming from either wheel you will save yourself the cost of a new diff.

[dubstyles240]

i thought it may be the half shafts, but they turn smooth, and I dont hear any noises coming from them.

yes, i only hear it when im changing speeds or shifting.

[book-ends]

Is the specialtyZ subframe set that you got the four piece set? I was looking at that, but then I was turned on to the eight piece sets from Kazama..........

[dubstyles240]

yep

[navysnail]

i would say that it may be time for new gears/diff. the clunking sound is the play. when you accelerate, it spins a little, teeth on gears in the diff engage hard, you hear clunk.

[JNM240]

Does this clunking noise only happen going forward? I get a pretty obvious clunking in reverse occasionally and thought it might be differential related. But it never does in going forward.

[barrigas14]

might want to look at bushings around that area.

[chandler]

im still looking for replacement subframe bushings, i want a whole urethane set and the collar set, ahh well just have to take time and look for them

[barrigas14]

get them from Nissan...might be a alot more but at least you can get what you want.

[chandler]

they just have the factory ones though

[AceInhole]

http://www.splparts.com . just get the solid bushing replacements.

[nismostate]

Are you guys talking about a clunking sounds that last about 2 or 3 seconds after shifting gears? I always thought it was coming from the transmission because the stick vibrates when accelerating. I just thought I needed new transmission mounts. I have 203k miles so I am about to do the swap soon.

[dubstyles240]

no its a quick clunk from the diff.

[Jookmasta]

how much were the spacers? what website?

[dubstyles240]

they were 60 shipped, http://www.specialtyz.com they are the Dupree 300ZX subframe spacers

[nismostate]

are those for the top and bottom? 60 shipped sounds like a good deal. I checked up on zilvia.net gb and T3's(techno toy tuning) 86 shipped for both top and bottom. Last i checked, the gb is still up. Grab some before it ends!

[dubstyles240]

just for the bottem ones, its all you need.

also, i experienced a LOT of squeaking from the rear end every time i started from a stop, or went over a bump.

so i took everything back off today and threw some grease on the bushings, then put the spacers back in. its silent now, i love it.

[Jookmasta]

i think im confused. can these spacers correct offset issues or are they just for stiffening?

[raging panda]

Wheel spacers correct offset, nothing to do with subframe.

The sub frame spacers can go either on top or bottom to realign your subframe to react to different situations, they are meant to change the angle that your subframe sits at, not directly meant to stiffen it up. You can get the collars which go on top and bottom on all of them, but those are different from spacers, they are meant to totally stiffer the old bushing. You can also get replacement bushings for your subframe which may get rid of the clunk. I found that http://www.splparts.com has all those parts, go look there for descriptions of the different sub frame parts.