I think he said there was a little bit of play in the gear box and loose rocker arm? Anyway, $207 but can't get parts til tom so we left it.

 

Loose pitman arm maybe? Are they going to align it also.

 

Yes aligning as well. Guess I will have to wait til its done to say for sure what it was. The steering was a lot more sensative than any other car ive driven.

 

Anytime you have play in any of the steering componets the car will wander. It over reacts to the driver and it will follow the ruts in the road.

This is why I always advise getting a trusted mechanic to check out any used car. A mechanic would feel play in the steering after driving the car only a few hundred feet. I am glad it was a easy fix, these cars are noted for cracking the frame right at the steering boxs if you bump a curb just right. That can be a huge expense.

 

I would of sold it if big expense. I'm not a big fan of the 3rd gens or at least not yet. I dont think any of us have got attached to this one yet. We are determined to fix the wrecked one

 

I hope you mean to use the good parts off the wrecked one. I saw the pics. Nice un-wrecked bodies sell for less than a $1000. For a pro to get that car repaired right could easily take a 100 hours in a fully equip shop. If a novice tried to repair that car he could spend 300 hours and still not get it right. Putting that much effort into a first generation is one thing because a solid shell can be worth 10K but when you got non-wrecked cars going to the crusher that much work to "save" a body just makes no sense.

Find a Non-wreched Z with a blown motor for $800-$1000 the same year and just swap your engine and trany over. Two weekends and your done. Sell the left over parts for $400. You can barly buy a the supplies to do a nice paint job for $600. The other nice part about repair a car that had a blown motor is the clean car fax. So it will be less work, cost less in parts and be worth more when done. Check out the link in my sig for the 93 body I bought with a 6 speed trans. I paid $1500 for the car but the 6 speed and the rims were worth that alone.

Take your time looking for the new body. It took me 5-6 months of looking before a found a garage kept, dealer serviced car with a blown motor. I looked at so many cars that were just all used up. They where going to need everything. I installed the motor in my 96 3 years ago and so far my litte 3800/5 speed has been one of the cheapest car to drive I have ever owned.

 

It was the idler arm. He said it's better but still not perfect. I'd have to drive it to see the difference.

 

There should be no way to align the car if it still has play in it. Noramlly an idler arm would not require an alignment since it is just a support. It will cause play in the steering but it should NOT take the wheel very far off center.

 

They put that on, adjusted the gear box and did alignment. Steering wheel is straight now but I dont know about how it handles because I haven't driven it.

 

I mis-spoke. If the play is coming from the steering box that car could be aligned. If the play is coming from a suspension part and they claimed they aligned it find a new mechanic. Here in PA if the steering wheel on a car has 1/8" of play it is considered unsafe. What that meants is if you can move the steering wheel 1/8" back and forth without the tire moving it will fail a safety inspection. Also if it is the steering box the car will still feel sloppy but it should not wander or follow ruts in the road. Long story short, unless your taking the car to the track a little play in the box is not a safety issue as long as it is normal wear on the box.