The vibration continues

[jdsgallops]

Ok went to the Shop today and had the car aligned. It seems better but it's still there so I dropped off the old flywheel to be resurfaced. My mechanic friend that worked at the shop I took it too said the only time he has seen a car vibrate like this one does is when he put the wrong balancer on an old build he did.

So it looks like i will be pulling the tranny. Better judgement is telling me to do like Steve said and test one thing at a time. So the question is how do I start the car with the tranny pulled since I need to have clutch disengaged(i.e. neutral saftey switch) and tranny hooked up to do that.

[Greg@GLD]

Hmmm.... think about that for a sec John... With the engine not supported by the trans, it's going to be hard to get any guage of what is happening because it's going to be able to move around more.

I know when I put my tremec in I got the wrong flywheel from Brothers Perf, and the engine vibrated so bad it was unreal.

This car does not have solid motor mounts, does it???

SFI balancer. Get one. ;)

[drag79stang]

Easy enough to 'jumper' the clutch switch, and get it started.
I just wouldn't start it without a flywheel on it. (remember, it's part of the balancing act).........:>)

I know I"ve started many an engine with just the flywheels/flexplates on, just to hear them run/break them in, etc. etc. Only reason you need the bellhousing on, (at least in my cases), was to mount the starter..........

Good luck. :>)

[drag79stang]

OH, and I've seen quite a few vehicle with either the wrong flywheel on them, or flywheels/flexplates mounted wrong. Vibrate like a mutha. And then again, some were 'speed'rpm' oriented. But when they vibrated, THEY VIBRATED!!!!!

[Greg@GLD]

Steve, when mine had the wrong flywheel it was like engine was blown- it was shaking so badly that you could not even rev it...

[Greg@GLD]

test

[drag79stang]

I can believe that. Worse one I ever felt/rode in, was a 350 chebbie a friend put together. He put a 400 flexplate on it. 2500 rpm, it'd literally bounce you out of the truck. (el camino).
EAsy fix, and one that never got repeated, but still. We even went so far as to pull the oil pan and inspect the bearings. (it shook THAT bad).
Yeah, it can be scary...........
Littler ones can make you feel like anything from a secondary ignition miss to a surge, and everything in between. (just takes years and years of doing it, and alotta luck)........P>)

[jdsgallops]

I may try to run it with the trans out and clutch off just to verify the clutch is notthe problem.

Here is a question. The vibration I am having doesn't sound as severe as what most of you are saying you had in this situation. IMO it looks like the engine has been out of my car before. What if it has and was rebuilt, with balancing done at that time. Then when I put the different flywheel on, which was used and balanced to a different engine, it became out of balance, and even more so with that flywheel being balanced to the other engine.

I picked up the original flywheel from the machine shop today and was looking at it and noticed something peculiar. I am currently looking for a pic of a stock one to see if there is a difference. I might be on to something here I am not sure.

[Kristin]

i know that when we put the solid motor mounts on my car it vibrates like a mother! but not too bad when you're just out cruising..........when i get on it, i cant even see outa my mirrors........that's the only thing that i noticed, but it's a HUGE difference! very rough.

[bobtodd]

I've got a vibration in my car also that I am going to start trying to figure out. It seems to be speed related though, and it's in my drivetrain. I get up to the top of fourth gear or if I'm cruising down the interstate in 5th gear I get a bad vibration through the shifter. You can hear it through the shifter...and my rearview mirror is just a blur. I know this isnt good on my car so I'd like to find out what the problem is. Can rotors ever be out of balance and cause a vibration? I thought about jacking the rear of the car up and working my way towards the tranny. Pulling tires, running through the gears..pulling driveshaft, running through the gears, etc. I did have the rear tires jacked up once and I seemed to have some slack and clunking that sounded like it was coming from the transmission whenever I let off the gas and got back on it. I'm interested to hear what you find out.

[drag79stang]

Every rotating assembly/piece on a vehicle emits/transmits a different 'tone/vibration'.
There are many ways to diagnose/find these problems. Some quite time/money involved.
If it's a speed related concern, (and not rpm), start with easy things. (i.e. tire balance/wheel straightness, etc. etc). Also, if those check out ok, then I'd possibly be looking at axle straightness, driveshaft, u joints, etc. etc.
Now, when you've just replaced a bunch of parts, and it DIDNT vibrate before you did that, you either have to re-think your install, or question the 'goodness' of those parts you installed. (i.e. flywheel/clutch, etc, etc).
I'd get into the 'science' of finding out exact vibration noises, but there's notenough typing room.
:>)

[Jamie5ltr]

I wouldn't mind getting seeing you get into the science of vibrations :D.

I got alot to learn yet about fixing cars and some vibrations still stump me.

As for the feel I know what you mean. You just develope the skill to know what does what. Like the 2 out of round tires on my car. Didn't feel them when I put them on the backbut when they made it to the front it felt like I was driving over rail road tracks.

[jdsgallops]

Bobtodd your vibration sounds like the one I was trying to get rid of before I installed all the new parts and got this one. In searching for an answer on another board for that vibration I was told this. A vibration around 50mph is usually a wheel.(I had this vibration and I do have two rims that are not perfectly round and the rims had not been blanced at all! 4 rims with no weights on them. Car drove better with them on, but not a real noticeable change.). A vibration around 90mph, which would be when you are at the top of 4th, or bottom of 5th if you have gears, is usually a U joint. Sure enough when I pulled the driveshaft on my car the front U-joint was almost froze solid. I would check here before you do anything else, as to pull the drive shaft is as easy as jacking up the car and loosening 4 bolts. I would put a good chunk of change on that being your problem. ;)

Steve could I be onto something here with the flywheel balance then if one has been balanced to a different engine/rotating assembly? I forgot to look for a pic of a 100% stock flywheel. Anyone have one handy by chance?

[bobtodd]

Thank you for the info! How does a U joint freeze up? I guess I've never really gotten under there and messed with them ever. I've looked for play in them and they seem solid...no movement. I'll definately try changing them out though.

[jdsgallops]

U joints are not quite a sealed bearing design. After a while the grease that is in them just plain disappears from what I have seen. You can get u joints that have a nipple on them so you can keep them lubed, though they ae not as strong as ones without. So it is just a common wear item that needs to be replaced. Your car is over 10 years old and has how many miles on it? Probably just needs to be changed. To me it was just an excuse to get an aluminum driveshaft, which most everyone says takes care of vibration issues after a gear change. If you just want to change them though it is relatively easy and doesn't take much time.

[drag79stang]

If you've exhausted all the other possibilites, for your vibration concern, yes, the flywheel, (if it's been custom balanced with a different engine combo), could make your concern.
Worse case scenario.........getting rotating assembly rebalanced. Best case scenario, just having ..........well, there is no real best case scenario. Probably replacing the flywheel, or if it's possible to have it 'unbalanced', so it's 'like stock config'/weighted..........

U joints have been misdiagnosed for as long as they've been around. They freeze up, and will cause everything from just squeeking to bouncing your ass right out of the car. They're simple enough to test, (unless you want to go thru the trouble of taking them all apart, which 99% of the time ends up trashing them anyway).
They should articulate smoothly, (no ratchety feeling), thru their motions. No slop. If you can see dust/rust, coming out, (well, hell, if you could, they'd be junk anyway).
Cheap/inexpensive enough. If your vehicle has originals in it with 100k, I'd say toss in a new set anyway. It deserves it.
But.....................only after you've finished 'repairing' diagnosing the other vibration concern. :>)

[jdsgallops]

Here is a pic of the flywheel I took off the car, after it has been resurfaced of course. Does anyone see what I am seeing? And if so do you think that is my problem?

[Jamie5ltr]

Am I seeing things or is the starter gear on that thing messed up?

[jdsgallops]

your seeing things. you are talking about down by the UPC code on the box i guess. your sorta close. look at the hole spacing on the flywheel. doesn't really matter much now as I don't have the ability to work on the car. :(

[Jesse James]

Did the distributor ever get replaced? j/c.

[jdsgallops]

actually yes it has. :p