Couple quick questions.. Are 2-piece driveshafts any smoother than a 1-piece? How about aluminum? And will a driveshaft from a LT1 or LS1-powered F-body fit in my V6 model?

Hopefully tomorrow I can finally start digging into this thing.

Thanks!

 

You mentioned that your mechanic feels the torque arm is jury rigged at the transmission end. Make sure the proper bushings are being used wherethe torque armconnects to the tail shaft housing.

 

Camaros are strange cars.

I had a similar problem in my Camaro. Basically a noise that seemed to echo thru the car. Low pitched rattles, rumbles, etc. I was convinced it wasn't my drive train, shocks, tires, brakes, compressors, etc. I checked into various senerios and decided to try sub frame connectors and a shock strut tower brace. To my surprise, the noise is gone, and the vehicle drives like a totally different car. Not sure which of the two did the trick. This particular car has T-Tops.

Not saying this is the cause of your problem....but just pointing out how non intuitive the solution might be.

 

Mine has t-tops as well.

I tried adding and removing weights from the torque arm last night and running trials (seeing if the suspension was resonating) but it didn't really have much effect. A different mechanic said he'd be willing to look at the diff for free, so that's probably what i'll do next. The subframe connectors are tempting, though, if they can make the car feel more solid.

The bushing at the transmission end looks good. The connection at the rear-end is what was welded.

 

I love a good challange but there comes a time when you can spend more money trying to figure out what is wrong then it would cost to replace the whole thing. I have been looking into a rear end upgrade for my 96. I want a posi and rear disks. I found in may area I can find Z28 rearswith 50-60K miles on them for $300-350. I can find higher miles ones for $250. If you doeverythingfrom the trans back it could cost you less the $400 and its a pretty easy job, plus you get the upgrade.I think the driveshafts interchange, the upgrade is very common.

 

Any experience with aluminum driveshafts? Do they really smooth things out and/or give a tangible performance increase?

 

It really isn't going to make anything smoother. It will probably give a slight performance increase, but nothing too noticable.