Totalled's rebuild thread

[Totalled]

Well, something's up with the engine. As I rev it, it shakes the car, like it's out of balance. I only changed three things that could affect that.. The harmonic balancer, flex plate, and I also changed out the connecting rod bolt nuts. I'll try the original balancer first... they other two mean the engine is coming out. I have to weigh the ARP nuts compared to the originals... They feel slightly heavier.. Though I don't know if it's enough to cause this great of a shake.

 

[jbojo]

Well, something's up with the engine. As I rev it, it shakes the car, like it's out of balance. I only changed three things that could affect that.. The harmonic balancer, flex plate, and I also changed out the connecting rod bolt nuts. I'll try the original balancer first... they other two mean the engine is coming out. I have to weigh the ARP nuts compared to the originals... They feel slightly heavier.. Though I don't know if it's enough to cause this great of a shake.

Bummer. Hopefully its an easy fix and the motor doesn't have to come out again.

 

[mach71351c]

Sounds great. Hope you don't have to pull the motor.

 

[csgt428]

Hi Totalled, I probably should keep my mouth shut as you sound like you know what you're doing, but my money is on an out of balance/incorrect flexplate. You probably know that the later....after 77-8 sometime? SB went to a 50 something oz vs 28.5 oz balance. I doubt the front balancer would do it if it's really bad.

Just my 2... and hopefully I'm WRONG :s On the plus side if it IS the flex plate you could leave the engine more or less in place and just pull the tranny back a bit or drop it if necc... bolt on the new flexplate and start your engine to check for balance befor pulling the whole works.

Grant

 

[c9zx]

Well, something's up with the engine. As I rev it, it shakes the car, like it's out of balance. I only changed three things that could affect that.. The harmonic balancer, flex plate, and I also changed out the connecting rod bolt nuts. I'll try the original balancer first... they other two mean the engine is coming out. I have to weigh the ARP nuts compared to the originals... They feel slightly heavier.. Though I don't know if it's enough to cause this great of a shake.

It is not the rod nuts. Chuck

 

[Totalled]

The ARP rod bolt nuts weigh 0.6 gram more than the ones I removed. So, 1.2g more per rod. Enough to cause noticeable imbalance? As I rev the engine, I get a throbbing vibration that increases with RPM thought the chassis, similar to a bad u-joint at highway speed... bet sitting still.

I ordered the TCI flex plate and pioneer dampener for 28oz imbalance. I am going to swap the stock dampener on first, since I have a weep out the side of the water pump and have to pull the accessories off anyway.

 

[csgt428]

Well, something's up with the engine. As I rev it, it shakes the car, like it's out of balance. I only changed three things that could affect that.. The harmonic balancer, flex plate, and I also changed out the connecting rod bolt nuts. I'll try the original balancer first... they other two mean the engine is coming out. I have to weigh the ARP nuts compared to the originals... They feel slightly heavier.. Though I don't know if it's enough to cause this great of a shake.

It is not the rod nuts. Chuck

+ 1, I'm with Chuck... not the rod nuts/bolts. It's the flex plate or .... an over weight piston (NOT!....doubtfully). Did you have the engine balanced? Well,.. every time it's happened to me (OK, once) the flex plate/flywheel was the problem.... I hear you on the 28 oz flex you bought but mistakes happen and incorrect parts are often sold....I think you got an incorrect flex plate. It's not that hard to find out.... You don't even need to pull your engine.

 

[Jim and Jutta]

Pat, that's a bummer, hope it turns out to be something as easy as a loose motor or tranny mount but I'm not sure either of those would cause the vibration you describe.

 

[Totalled]

After months of being pulled to other projects, I got back on this today. I swapped the stock dampener on, and it seems to not shake more as rpm increases. I'm gonna run it. The two dampeners for comparison. The new dampener on the left seems to have a larger weight than the stock one, though it is listed as 28.2 oz imbalance.

 

[jbojo]

Good to hear Pat. Maybe the rubber in the old one was bad. Hopefully you'll be driving her again soon.

 

[rocket366]

My money is on the dampner!

Although the last motor I had balanced they wanted the piston rings I

was using and what do they weigh?

I doubt the nuts are the problem however.

 

[Totalled]

Tweaked the alignment of the passenger door. It shuts better, and the window seals better now.

Got the fenders, hood latch support, and head light extensions in after that:

Fitting sign is fitting:

 

[Totalled]

Got the bumper brackets straightened, and installed this weekend.

The aftermarket headlight extensions are a quality part, but the buckets on them are shit. They are thinner metal, so the tabs the adjuster screws go into, bend, and, they are stamped with the locating slots for the bulbs 90 degrees rotated, so the "top" of the bulb is rotated to the right 90 degrees... So I had to mess with restoring my originals. But it's down to the small things. Grill, bumper, caltracs, front swaybar, and some interior.

 

[jbojo]

Looks good Pat. It'll be on the road on no time now.

 

[Totalled]

Found another quirk in the repo headlight extensions... the threads for the grille mounting screws are a larger diameter than stock... I'll have to pick up some backing nuts.

The '73 bumper is a HEAVY pig... Almost too much for one person to install on their own.

Going with H4 conversion lights.

As I suspected, front ride height ended up too low. Gonna pull the springs and install the 1" spacers I got in case of this.

 

[jbojo]

Yeah those bumper are really heavy. I used an ATV jack to install the bumper which worked out really well. You would think that when they make repro parts they would at least use the same HW sizes. Looking really good, when do you think you'll be taking it out for a test drive?

 

[Totalled]

If I can get out to work on it today, probably next weekend. I think I have a sinus infection. I worked through it yesterday, but have the chills today.

 

[hyena429]

Lookin awesome man!! When you are done, come on over and help me with mine hehehe jk

 

[73429mach]

Looks really nice. You said the front sits to low, just curious what springs you have, stock or 1" drop?

 

[Totalled]

620 coils which = 1" drop, and global west negative roll suspension, which drops the upper A arm and nets another inch drop. NPD and other venders offer a urethane spring seat that is 1" thick to raise a front end back up when a 620 coil is used with an upper arm drop.