[TPR] Riddle me this... noise, shocks and weirdness

[David in Durango]

First thing, disconnect (one at a time) the shock from one end.  You should 
be able to find the source of your problems.
after that, it only takes money . . .

good luck.

David
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Asa Jay Laughton" <asajay at asajay.com>
To: <tpr at teampanteraracing.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 26, 2011 8:14 PM
Subject: [TPR] Riddle me this... noise, shocks and weirdness


> First day of Autocross was today.  Test & Tune, practice and blow the
> cobwebs away in the head.
>
> So I know the Pantera needs a new alignment, now I know it even more.
> But that's not the real concern here.  Some of you may recall I was
> chasing an interesting clunk in my front end a while ago.  Well, it's
> never really gone away.
>
> The steering rack bushing has been replaced, and it sure feels solid.
> All bushings and ball joints have been replaced in the a-arms.  Now here
> are the interesting parts.
>
> When I visited Dennis Quella week before last, I walked through all this
> with him,  Then he asked if I had original shocks on the car, which I
> do.  He then mentioned there are some internal "bits" (as Mike Drew
> would say) that "break" if the suspension is left hanging on the
> shocks.  This is the position most of our cars are in when we are doing
> a lot of work on them for extended periods of time.  (listening Frank)
> I tell him I have original Telecars on the Pantera.  He says he can't be
> sure, but I might want to check that out as a source.
>
> Fast forward to today.  About my fourth run on the course today, I start
> hearing a nasty thunk anytime I radically change direction, like in a
> slalom.  I'm starting to get worried now.  Did I break an a-arm tab?
> Did I break a sway bar mount?  What!  (yea.. it's driving me crazy)
>
> I get home and just got back from inspecting the front end.  Wouldn't
> you know, everything looks -solid-.  But wait for it...
>
> I push down on the front bumper and... nothing.  No movement.  So I pull
> -up- on the bumper and get about three inches... and it -stays-.  I then
> do the hip hula with the front fender and can't get any weird noises.  I
> push the bumper down... it goes about three inches and stays.  I do the
> hip hula on the fender and get all kinds of nasty noises... apparently
> from the shocks?
>
> Okay, so I'm Mr. poor boy here, yea yea... you've all heard that sad
> story.  A kind soul sold me what they thought were Konis, which weren't,
> so I subsequently sold them because I couldn't get them rebuilt in the
> states (turned out to be a foreign brand).  So then some kind soul sent
> me a set of "practically brand new" Telecars, which looked in worse
> shape than those already on my car.  Swapping a couple of them didn't
> seem to make the noise go away and I really can't say I'd prefer
> swapping another set of Telecars.
>
> <sigh>
> so..... does anyone out there have a set of known good shocks they'd be
> willing to "loan" me for about a month so I can determine if this is
> really the root problem or not?  I'm sure you can probably get them
> packed in a Large Priority Mail Flat Rate box (it's how I shipped those
> off brand shocks).  I  hate to beg.  If I had more Pantera people close
> by, it probably wouldn't come to this.
>
> More highlights from today...
> - I was the first person to "spin" on the course today, it was actually
> a bit of fun even though I took out a few
> cones.
> - I totally -ate- a cone on exiting a bus-stop gate... so much so that I
> brought it all the way back to grid.  On the upside... the license plate
> is much more aerodynamic now.  :)
> - The car ran -great-!  The bit of tuning I did late last summer seems
> to have made runs a lot smoother.
> - The new graphics look awesome.  Photos to come later.
>
> Alright, who wants to loan me a set of shocks?
>
> Asa Jay
>
> -- 
> Asa Jay Laughton, MSgt, USAFR, Retired
> &  Shelley Marie
> Spokane, WA
> ******************************
> http://www.racingagainstautism.com
> http://www.teampanteraracing.com
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>
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