Major body mount WTH???
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 4,435
Likes: 9
From: Kalamazoo Mi
Major body mount WTH???
The case of the missing body mounts....
(talking about the rubber body bushings when i say mounts)
A bit of back story on this car, it is single family owned. My mom bought it new in 1980 and sold it to my uncle in 1992. He hardly ever drove it and it sat in storage in South Carolina for most of that time. The car has NO rust let alone rot still even has the yellow marks on the frame and floor pans.
So the whole time it was in the family it has sagged to the left by about 7/8th my mom remembers this bothering her when it was new even. My dad has always said it was because the car was built by "a guy with four kids, who drove a Datsun and didnt give a s#!^"
Anyway i am putting in a new engine and going through a big overhaul with it this winter so i figure i would replace the body mounts. I jacked up the drivers side body and was able to get at #1 and #4 no problem. when i felt under the body for 2 and 3 all i found was a big pile of shims and NO MOUNTS! Not even the remains of any mount bushing. I checked it out with the bore scope and couldnt see any even marks where they were. It looks like the car was sitting on the shims on 2 and 3 from the factory.
Well i put the new mounts on and lowered the body back down and now #1 and #2 dont contact by about 1/4 inch on #4 and 1/2 on #1!!!.
i did not run into this problem with the pass side.
It looks like i have some fun with shims in my future, has anyone run into this problem before??
(talking about the rubber body bushings when i say mounts)
A bit of back story on this car, it is single family owned. My mom bought it new in 1980 and sold it to my uncle in 1992. He hardly ever drove it and it sat in storage in South Carolina for most of that time. The car has NO rust let alone rot still even has the yellow marks on the frame and floor pans.
So the whole time it was in the family it has sagged to the left by about 7/8th my mom remembers this bothering her when it was new even. My dad has always said it was because the car was built by "a guy with four kids, who drove a Datsun and didnt give a s#!^"
Anyway i am putting in a new engine and going through a big overhaul with it this winter so i figure i would replace the body mounts. I jacked up the drivers side body and was able to get at #1 and #4 no problem. when i felt under the body for 2 and 3 all i found was a big pile of shims and NO MOUNTS! Not even the remains of any mount bushing. I checked it out with the bore scope and couldnt see any even marks where they were. It looks like the car was sitting on the shims on 2 and 3 from the factory.
Well i put the new mounts on and lowered the body back down and now #1 and #2 dont contact by about 1/4 inch on #4 and 1/2 on #1!!!.
i did not run into this problem with the pass side.
It looks like i have some fun with shims in my future, has anyone run into this problem before??
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 7,666
Likes: 1
From: Where it's always hot as Hell-South Louisiana.
St. Jude Donor '07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13
Last March I bought an 80 model out of Missouri. It has 32k miles. Once home I see it is "leaning" about that same amount on the drivers side. Replaced the front coil springs/shocks and the rear leaf . No help. After measuring the frame-to-ground on all sides, the frame is NOT the problem. I did find the body is 3/4 inch higher on the frame on the pass side, than on the drivers side. It appears there are too many shims on the pass side. I will replace the body mounts soon, and install the correct number of shims at that time.
It must have been built on a Friday afternoon before beer time? Interesting that you have the same problem and you have an 80 model also.
It must have been built on a Friday afternoon before beer time? Interesting that you have the same problem and you have an 80 model also.
