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Hi.
My car has some vibration at 1500-3000 rpm. At idle the engine is shaking pretty much from side to side. The vibrations are there also at park at the given rpm, so its probably not the drivetrain. The type of vibrations are unmistakable, so it shouldnt be so difficult to find the reason, but I havent found it yet. There was also some vibratin on the old 352, but that was another "kind" of vibrations
Here is a little story what changes that has been done with my Galaxie
Last winter, the upper part of the 390 in my 63 Galaxie was disassembled. Lifters, pushrodt valvespring and seals were replaced. Summer 2015, the enging was ticking loud, but now the ticking is gone. Also a new harmonic damper (powerforce) and a 600 cfe summit racing carb were installed. The old damper was not good
2-3 Years ago the car got the 352/Cruisomatic replaced with a 390/C6 from a 67 Mustang. The crossmember had to be removed rearvard some inches using steelplates on each side using this sketch found on another forum. The bolt holes for the C6 on the tranny mount had to be enlarged sideways
The engine has FPA Tri-Y headers and new dual 2.5" exhaust, had to grind of a small metalpiece of the chassis to avoid one of the headers to touch the chassis, which could cause some vibrations
But some strong vibrations are still there, maybe a little bit different than last year
Could it be unbalanced fan, worn timing chain or maybe something wrong with the engine/tranny mounts?
Som hints about what the reason could be would be great
Last edited by 1976kjell (August 20, 2016 6:39 am)
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That's a tough one to diagnose on the internet, it could be so many things!
Since you replaced the harmonic balancer, I'd start there. Make sure it is the correct one for that engine, then check if it's installed properly.
Another place to look is the engine mounts. Use a long pry bar to see if they are broken or loose.
Are all cylinders firing? Does it have a vacuum leak? Is the firing order correct? Bad plugs, wires, distributor issues? Good compression all around? Could it have an internal engine problem? Is the flex plate/torque converter in balance?
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Off course I dont expect to get a 110% correct answer here, but hints like you have given me some of now Boogyman and experiance is great
The engine mounts and tranny mount were also replaced when the 390/C6 was installed, so they shold be fine, but I had to make one of one bolt on the mount a bit shorter, so one of them has the possibility to be loose
Tihs is the damper that was installed that is for FE engines but the bolts may be loose, in spite that they were tightened
The compression was measured on all cylinders last winter, and it was ok , but not 100% equal on each cylinder
Firing order is correct an its firing on all cylinders. Ignitor 1 is used and the rest of the ignition system, (dist, wires, plugs) is pretty new. Actually the engine works and runs very fine, except the vibrations
Last edited by 1976kjell (August 20, 2016 6:43 am)
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If you can get it onto a lift, check for engine/ trans to body/ frame interference. You should be able to pass your hand between anything. Did the damper go on pretty easy? With the engine running it should have zero run-out. I always torque them and the instructions should have a torque value.
Remove the belts and see if the vibration persists, you should know right away. Another remote possibility is a too-tight valve. This causes a shake you can feel at idle and the engine will have a visible rock to it.
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A lift is not available right now, but maybe in the end of the next week. The damper was easy to install, but I have to admit that I didnt was very accurate when I tighted the damper bolt. 70-90 lb ft is the correct torque. I doubt the damper is the reason but Ill check it. The engine got new pushrods, tried to measure them with a digital caliper, but they were too long, just as the old ones. After comparing the old ones with new ones, I concluded that they are pretty equal in length. The new are hollow ones