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Thread: Straight 8 Vibration

  1. #1

    Straight 8 Vibration

    I seem to have a vibration in my engine, or flywheel. This is upon reving or acceleration. The is most noticeable in the low rpms and when letting off the accelerator at idle. The vibration causes the steering wheel to vibrate and you can basically feel it throughout the car. I have had others ride in it and I seem to be the one that notices it most. Maybe this is normal, but I was not around when this car was new. In 2005 the motor was completely rebuilt with new pistons, cam and crank, etc. A .60 overbore was performed and the engine was magnafluxed and balanced at that time. The flywheel was also resurfaced and manual transmission was rebuilt and reinstalled. Yes the motor mounts and transmission mount were replaced as well. I did not rebult the harmonic balancer. Is there anyone out there in Straight Eight land that has had similar experiences or possibly knows of a solution? I read in the shop manual how to balance the flywheel, but can this be done while it is installed?? On the other hand, the engine runs "smooth" and sounds quite, has great acceleration, and is reliable for a 55 year old car. Thanks for the help.

  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by 1953Special View Post
    I seem to have a vibration in my engine, or flywheel. This is upon reving or acceleration. The is most noticeable in the low rpms and when letting off the accelerator at idle. The vibration causes the steering wheel to vibrate and you can basically feel it throughout the car. I have had others ride in it and I seem to be the one that notices it most. Maybe this is normal, but I was not around when this car was new. In 2005 the motor was completely rebuilt with new pistons, cam and crank, etc. A .60 overbore was performed and the engine was magnafluxed and balanced at that time. The flywheel was also resurfaced and manual transmission was rebuilt and reinstalled. Yes the motor mounts and transmission mount were replaced as well. I did not rebult the harmonic balancer. Is there anyone out there in Straight Eight land that has had similar experiences or possibly knows of a solution? I read in the shop manual how to balance the flywheel, but can this be done while it is installed?? On the other hand, the engine runs "smooth" and sounds quite, has great acceleration, and is reliable for a 55 year old car. Thanks for the help.
    I had a small vibration in my 39 Buick, it was the engine and I eliminated with washers on the clutch cover bolts, per the shop manual. Check things like removing the fan belt and revving it up and down, at difference speeds.I dont know how to check the dampener except to shake it to see if its loose, or take it off,it might be that the thru bolts holding it together may have worn or rusted and are loosening. Also the transmission input shaft bearing in the end of the crankshaft may have worn?? anybody else have ideas?

  3. #3

    Thumbs up

    Thanks for the help, when you say "clutch cover" you mean the cover over top (bolted to) the flywheel right? not the "drip pan" underneath?? When I look at those flywheel cover bolts there is a washer allocated to each one. If I add more; did you just do one at a time and then check? How did you keep the flywheel from turning? Sorry for the dumb questions there but just want to make sure I'm on the right page. Jason

  4. #4
    I figured out what the clutch cover is, please disregard in the last post!!! As far as adding washers, there is already one per bolt, how many did you add on the 39?? Do you know if the input shaft bearing is hard to change out. Pretty sure it was addressed in the rebuild. If it is the culprit could it cause issues with the car if left alone? Thanks again, Jason

  5. #5
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    number the clutch cover by each bolt with a magic marker and add a washer to the existing washer one bolt at a time and test run the engine to see if it gets better or worse. work your way around the bolts until you find the light side. It may take a extra washer on two adjacent bolts. Lee

  6. #6
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    If it isn't too much trouble, I would just remove the flywheel, and bring it and the pressure plate to you local machine shop for balancing. When a flywheel is resurfaced it needs to be rebalanced. When we balance a flywheel, first, we balance the flywheel alone. Once that is balanced then we bolt the pressure plate to the flywheel and balance the assembly. The pressure plate and flywheel then are indexed so that it goes back together how it was balanced. It won't cost ya much, and you will be assured you eliminated a possibility in your vibration. Just my 2 cents.

    Janderson

  7. #7
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    Hi 53 Special
    Sounds like it's the harmonic balancer that causes the trouble. Flywheel or clutch imbalance would appear at certain revs, but you note it thru acceleration, revving up and down. And it is the part that was not re-build, with the engine job. You can't see on the outside, whether the HB is faulty, but they can be very rusty and stuck, or springs are broken on the inside. Does it rattle? These things are rather easy to replace (easier than tampering with flywheel or clutch). If you can find one that is known as being good, replace yours and hopefully, the vibration is gone. Should also say that the HB must be OK on S8's. Else, severe crankshaft damage may occurr, at least that's what the shop manual says.

    T-TUBE

  8. #8
    Join Date
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    I'm somewhat of the notion that the harmonic damper is the culprit here as well. The damper on all str8's is a laminated metal plate assembly, and it's not pressed onto the crank nose, it's a slide-on fit, and then the bolt clamps it into place. If the bolt is loose, then so is the damper, the engine WILL run "funny" as a result. Been there, done that. That being said, I don't really know how the damper works. I've cut one apart, there's no moving parts in it, no springs, weights, nothin! Just laminated plates, and they don't appear to move either! So, how it works, beats me. The only thing I can come up with is that with a number of plates, rivets, a bolt, a hub, all loosely assembled, they will all have a different harmonic freqency and tend to "kill" stray harmonics rather than enhance. It is possiable that over 50 odd years, that a damper could become "solid" by way of packing up with dirt, rust, old oils that over time turn into asphalt, etc, the damper could become just a hunk of metal on the end of the crank. The only way to know fur sure, if its working or not, is to get another damper and put it on and test it. Alleycat

  9. #9

    Damper

    As a side note, has anyone tried to fit a modern damper on a S-8 ?

  10. #10

    straight 8 vibration

    On the 50 Buick salt flat car we had a hub machined to accept an ATI Super Dampner, we ordered only the shell from ATI. During our rebuild this past winter we sent it off to be checked out, they said it looked like junk, it has been on the salt quite a few times, so we ordered a new one.

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