I have a brother who bought a 1983 Camaro (made a post earlier in the week about it) and we have had a bunch of steering components installed (to this forums advice) and it hasnt yet fixed a perculair problem with the car.

I mentioned in my earlier post that we experienced this "Strut lockup" where the struts would collapse and the rear end would shake violently after going over bumps in the roader. (struts were shot!!!!) but now the car is continuing to do this even with new monroe's front and back.

When we go over a bump over 40 mph, the rear end feels like its trying to shake off. It does not happen every time, only every now and then, Granted now the shaking is NOT NEAR as intense as it was before we changed the struts. But it is still quit noticeable. Its just a sudden shaking that goes away when you brake and the speed dips below 40 it usually smooths out and continues just fine.

Its totally in the rear end, Before we changed the struts in felt like the rear wheels were getting a little air, now it just feels like some violent and near uncontrollable shaking untill you slow down. I am at a loss, I searched all over the web and could not find symptoms that matched mine exactly, so since it is a camaro I thought I would ask the experts.

 

check the tires for balance and even wear.
could be a bad belt in one of the tires.
swap out the wheels for another set if you got them, just to try.
also get under the car ( on a anlignment lift if you can that way the wheels are on the ground ) and use a prybar to try and move the arms at thier bushings, check the mount at the tranny as well.
something is loose or moving around!

 

Is that feasible that it could be a tire? One tire looses air and we know it needs changing, but I didnt think it could cause such an extreme vibration as that.

 

Could be driveshaft issue.

 

if your own shoes are worn or you get a rock in them ... don't you start to limp or sway when you walk???

tires are what is touching the road and need to be soo perfect to give us the ride we want.
lucky that is rare then that tires even have problems.
but you just said the majic words ... losing air for a while ...
running the tire low puts all the strain on a part of the tire not meant to flex that much so it breaks down ... fast!!!
if you take that tire and measure tread dept around the tire and side to side, you'll probably find a spot that is got much less tread, might even seem to be buldging and have cracks in the rubber! hint hint.

but the tire is just the start of the bouncing, the extra bouncing is the deflection in all your bushings and mounts letting things move around more than they should. like when the shocks where also gone.

 

Well, i took it to a tire shop (discount tire) and they ran all sorts of tests on the tires, looking for cracks and bumps etc etc. All the tires are actually fine even the one with the leak, and they patched it up. They told me they could not justify trying to sell me a set of tires because the ones one there are newish and fine.

While it was on the rack i took the liberty of looking for play in the rear suspension. It was super tight, no play at all. Im at a loss on what could be causing this. So now I need to check the tranny mounts and drive shaft, but I dont believe it could be the drive shaft as, when i look underneath, it appears to be fine.

I dont know if this is a non issue or not, but while I was there a man told me that my car has been raised almost 6 inches from stock height. He said he has owned several jeeps and problems arise when you raise them.

Could this cause the problem for me?

 

holy smokes ... just the back is raised ?
how did they do the lift?
i've had this exact complaint on a sunfire convertable ( ha ha ha not quite the same )
and i never saw the end result because it was only at the shop for alignment check and advise.
i found the same things as you are sayng now ( but not lift ) and checked his tires too
but ... i just gave him the same advise i gave you and told him to replace his 216 000 km shocks first!!!

 

if it is raised, then that is the issue. the pinion angle on the driveshaft is too extreme, causing binidng, thus causing the hopping. fix what ever the idiot before you did and see how it goes. and do you have any pictures? i want to see this

 

Uh, a Camaro raised 6"? You'd know if it was raised 6", it would be like getting in and out of a truck.

It's very possible someone jacked up the back for an old muscle car look though, and as mentioned it could be messing with the pinion angle.

Does it feel like side to side or up and down movement? I would take a good look at the panhard bar and cross support. The panhard bar is responsible for keeping the lateral movement of the rear axle in check. If the bushings are shot or the bar is damaged (or missing!), you'll get what you are experiencing.

Sounds like you're getting the equivalent of "death wobble" in a solid front axle truck or Jeep, but in the rear.

 

Okay, I had a friend with a 3rd gen Camaro (1990) park next to time to get an accurate measurement on how high it has been lifted. And whoever said that 6" was extreme, you were right. It has been raised roughly 3 inches from original height. The front is the same as the rear in height, so I dont know if the pinion angle could be affected. Oddly enough the guy mentioned the "death wobble" and said it sounded eerily similar to that.

Im taking it to some transmission specialist tomorrow to get it looked at. I would get pics but its nighttime :-( and I am generally running around ALL day hehe. But, since you asked, Ill see what I can do :-D

PS: Its high enough I dont need jacks to change the oil hehe