De-rattling an ERA

[DanEC]

Small rattles probably aren't a big deal in most side pipe equiipped open roadsters. I'm not sure my car is going to be a great amount quieter with undercar exhaust as the Spintech mufflers are suppose to be pretty loud.

But while I'm in the process of assembling my car does anyone have any good examples of rattles or annoying vibrations that you had to fix or fight on your ERA - and if so where and what did you do to fix them?

One I've already noted is the hood prop rod in the nylon clip. I think I'm going to see if a small piece of the thin, self-adhesive felt ribbon I found will stick to the recess there or around the rod. I have lots of self-adhesive felt, self-adhesive rubber gasket and other stuff that I can apply liberally where needed.

One advantage of getting older is that my hearing is not as good as it used to be. My old cars that were once rattle traps are sounding tighter and tighter every year on their own.

[vector1]

only rattles on mine is the sidepipes where the primaries slip into the collectors. were bolted with 2 bolts per collector and they rattled, replaced these with 1 spring per primary tube and has helped except for one or two where the slip fit has a considerable gap, i have a tube expander to use on these to make the fit better whenever they come apart. mine is not era though.

[Grubby]

ERA makes a solid car. No rattles that I can hear on mine.

John

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by DanEC

Small rattles probably aren't a big deal in most side pipe equiipped open roadsters. I'm not sure my car is going to be a great amount quieter with undercar exhaust as the Spintech mufflers are suppose to be pretty loud.

But while I'm in the process of assembling my car does anyone have any good examples of rattles or annoying vibrations that you had to fix or fight on your ERA - and if so where and what did you do to fix them?

One I've already noted is the hood prop rod in the nylon clip. I think I'm going to see if a small piece of the thin, self-adhesive felt ribbon I found will stick to the recess there or around the rod. I have lots of self-adhesive felt, self-adhesive rubber gasket and other stuff that I can apply liberally where needed.

One advantage of getting older is that my hearing is not as good as it used to be. My old cars that were once rattle traps are sounding tighter and tighter every year on their own.

13 years old still no rattles here..........My last one was 18 years old and the only rattle was due to the drivers door latch coming loose.

Bill S.

[wolf k]

Ditto, solid car, no rattles. There isn't any way your going to hear that hood prop rod as is.
I do have some creaking in the windshield. I believe it is the glass moving in the frame. It is minor.
Was concerned how long grease would stay in the front suspension poly bushings before they would start squeaking, I modified mine with zerks prior to assembly.

[Silversmith]

Sometimes I hear a rattle in the right front almost like a suspension part. No wait; it might be a flashlight or such in the glove box! Some of the roads in New England can have some supprising bumps! Or mabe, it's just my hypersensitive ears when it comes to this ride Even @ her age, factory roller ERA's are solid

[Jeff Frigo]

Mine is twenty years old, not one rattle or crack in the paint.

[ERA 778]

I eventually found one squeak - it was the steering coupling rubbing the clamp on the lower radiator hose. Could only hear it in low speed maneuvers - like parking. It was due to my inattention, I guess. Just moved the hose and clamp around a bit. Also the door latches rattled a bit until I got the shimming right.

With a side exhaust car, it's almost impossible to hear any small rattles! I probably put way to much time and effort into "soundproofing" my car now that I think about it.

Good luck with your build!

[Murky781]

Just turn your ERA supplied radio up and they all go away!

[Dangerous Doug]

I assembled my own ERA (implication: any rattles were my own fault)

I had a "clicking" noise coming from my front brakes. Turns out the Camaro calipers I was using have a "trick" to the brake pads. You need to put a small punch deformation on the pad metal where the pins contact so there is no slack. This fix is straight out of the GM repair manual for 70's Camaros. OR, you could do what I did and buy some Camaro SSBC brake calipers that kick ass. These are much better anyway. The Camaro brakes use one large piston so you have to push a LOT of fluid through. The SSBC brakes use two small pistons and you gain a nice, solid feel to the brakes.

I had a rattle from where the metal tunnel is near the down tubes in the interior. Used slotted rubber grommets on the down tubes with the tunnel slots in the grommet slot.

Minor "squeak" noise from the passenger side. Tightened the latch screw on the door. No squeaky no more.

Forget the radio: Drive fast and loud and the wind buffeting and exhaust noise will cover any rattles or squeaks.

DD

[ERA 778]

I put a lot of effort into a radio as well. On the road you can barely hear it at all and can't possibly enjoy the music! It's just useful for when you're parked - like cruise-ins and when working on the car!

[DanEC]

Originally Posted by Dangerous Doug

I assembled my own ERA (implication: any rattles were my own fault)

I had a "clicking" noise coming from my front brakes. Turns out the Camaro calipers I was using have a "trick" to the brake pads. You need to put a small punch deformation on the pad metal where the pins contact so there is no slack. This fix is straight out of the GM repair manual for 70's Camaros. OR, you could do what I did and buy some Camaro SSBC brake calipers that kick ass. These are much better anyway. The Camaro brakes use one large piston so you have to push a LOT of fluid through. The SSBC brakes use two small pistons and you gain a nice, solid feel to the brakes.

DD

DD - I do remember reading about the brake clicking. I haven't installed the brakes yet so I'll try to attend to that. By the way - since you built your own car did the front rotors come with bearings and seals installed? I pulled one out today to install and surprise - nothing in there. So, that started an unsuccessful hunt for the wheel bearing and seals.

Sounds like I just need to pay careful attention to assembly and the squeaks and rattles shouldn't be a problem. Thanks everyone.

[Fullchat289]

I've been doing quite a lot of work to my car over the Winter and just now on the home stretch, getting closer and closer each day to getting it back down off the stands.... Throughout my ownership, I've had this most annoying "squeak" coming from (I thought) behind the dash someplace that would occur during low speed operation on uneven surfaces (stone driveway), and over bumps/expansion joints. So, while I was taking my cooling system apart, I came upon a aluminum-to-aluminum contact point that when bumped with my fist, sounded just like the the squeak coming from behind the dash... It happend to be between the filler panel at the front of the hood opening that the tabs on the back of the radiator slot into. What follows is a crappy cellphone photo description of what I'm talking about and how I saught to correct it. Jury is still out as to whether I've achieved success, but I'm fairly confident..

This photo shows the filler panel at the front of the hood opening. On the left of the panel, you can see the little slot that accepts a tab on the front, top side of the radiator:



This photo shows the tab on the front top portion of the radiator before I wiped it off. You can see that there is a little residue present from the aluminum-to-aluminum contact:



To correct this, I added a very thin strip of adhesive-backed foam rubber that I purchased from McMaster-Carr. I would recommend doing this step when getting to the point of installing your radiator if the 427 set-up is the same as it is on my 289 - I'm not sure why it wouldn't be from photos I've seen:



This pic shows the foam rubber in place:



One final photo showing the foam rubber sammich. No squeaks coming from this area again..:



My hypothesis is that with the ease of sound travel through solid objects, the squeak coming from this area made it's way through the frame and my subsequent perception was that the origin was somewhere behind the dash. I can tell you that I also had the dash out of the car over the Winter and there is nothing back there (save for downtubes to tunnel aluminum already mentioned) that would create the annoying-to-me squeak I was hearing.

Hope this helps you or someone else. I'll probably add this to my "ownership log" for #2124 once I confirm for sure the squeak is licked.

- Allen.

[DanEC]

Allen - great tip. Thanks. I will definately take care of that when I put my radiator in. I think I have a roll of that same foam gasket material from McMaster Carr if it's 1/8 inch thickness. This is the kind of lessons learned I was hoping for.

Thanks again.

Dan

[Fullchat289]

You are welcome, Dan. When I first read your thread over the weekend, I figured I better post this one up b/c it sounded like an experience/finding you might be interested in.. Good proactiveness on your part, btw.. Really looking forward to seeing the finish of your car..

Also, the adhesive foam rubber I used was more like 1/16" in thickness and an 1" wide. I ended up splitting it down the middle to make a 1/2" wide strip.

- Allen.

[Bobcat]

Dan ... without reading the whole three ... do you have the ERA IRS rear , and therefore , the large front rotors ? Mine has the Sierra calipers and the pads rattle with every bump . Per Sierra , they have .050" clearance all the way around as those calipers/pads are intended for competition and the clearance goes away when they really heat up . Don`t know if there is a cure as I don`t want to bind them up when I track the car .
I do have an issue with the steering universal joint ( I think ) where I get a slight popping sound with the car at rest as I turn the wheel back and forth .... Maybe some play as everything is tight and no bolts loose .

Bob

[DanEC]

Bobcat - I have the Jag rear. I had heard about rattling pads in the front Chevrolet brakes but nothing I remember on the Jag inboard brakes.

Just a thought on your steering wheel - I have a 66 Corvette that I restored years ago and I was getting some obvious looseness and kind of a popping when I worked the wheel back and forth. After months I happened to be looking at the spokes on the wheel and the hub and realized there was a barely perceptable movement between the two. I pulled the horn cap off and discovered the last time I had the steering wheel off I had forgotten to cinch down all of the screws that secure it. It was just loose. Two minutes with a screw drive and that problem was solved.

Thanks

[Silversmith]

Dan is the engine you are installing in you street roadster a FE bored out to a 460 or a 385/460? If it is a 385 series; hows to clearence thing looking, hood, headers. etc.?

[DanEC]

Silversmith - it's a stroked FE. Keith Craft originally told me it would be a 460 but after we calculated it, it's really a 459 ci. I never corrected it. Don't have the engine in the car yet but I have a 63 427 low riser, dual-quad intake on it. Shelby ran duall-quad low risers on their street cars. As far as I know it should clear the hood fine but until I get it in there I can't be 100% sure. ERA said a medium riser intake would definately not fit without a hood scope. I'm using ERA's headers. I think the stub-outs from the head are the same as for the sidepipe exhaust. They have a 4 into 1 collector that sweeps back to run undercar exhaust. I don't anticipate any problems with them.

Dan

[Quik289]

Only one rattle in mine, and it's not ERA's fault. The car is very solid. The glass in the Raydot mirror I mounted on the dash rattles. The glass in the other Raydot is fixed - no rattle. The one on the dash must be defective.