Hey, not new to the forum but this is my first topic! Any help with my problem would be greatly appreciated as I am pulling my hair out!
Right, around 3 weeks ago I was on my way to a lake (yes my fishing gear fits in the Z!) and bottomed out on a track, pretty hard... I was only just moving in 1st, so had to be around 5mph at the time, but it stopped me dead. There was a lump on the track, which hit the left side of my car, there is no damage to the sump etc but there are scrape marks and a hole in the nearside cat's heatshield. The cat hasn't got a hole in, as far as I can tell. I jacked the car up and held my hand over the hole in the shield, no pressure at all.
Hitting this lump in the track ruined my exhaust, it took the centre section away from the flange where it meets the back box. So I have replaced it from the Y pipe back with a Scorpion system, hoping this would get rid of this squeal... But it hasn't! I now how a squeal that is coming from the lower end of the engine, I can barely hear it from above, but it is loud when under the car! I have checked by belts, and these aren't causing this noise. Over the last couple of days a knock has started too, it sounds like the exhaust knocking the bottom of the car, but the exhaust is solid, there isn't enough travel for it knock!
I am stumped! Has anyone else experienced this sort of noise before? I have recorded the noise in case it helps, video is below.
The noise is louder when moving in 1st and 2nd, and usually appears around 3,000 rpm more than anything.
Please help if you can, this is bugging the hell out of me! I have had the car 3 years and never had a problem, i'm not used to it being broken
http://youtu.be/NP0F6RCyoV4
Thanks in advance for any help and advice!
Rob