On my 63 country squire there is a very rhythmic vibration from about 1000 rpm's through 1500 or so then it comes back in the 2000 rpm range but smoothes out after that as I'd expect from some sort or lower end imbalance. This is a stock 352 with stock cruise o matic. I've ruled out ignition and compression/ valve train issues as I've had both valve covers off recently and did a compression/ leak down test. It idles very smooth too with no noticeable "chuffing" from the single exhaust. Im sort of moving in the direction of the crank pulley but I don't think I'm dealing with a spun balancer but maybe just worn out rubber? The only visual indication I see of this is a piece of rubber sort of sticking out where it's vulcanized to the pulley. This is my first FE so I'm still learning but certainly not my first old car. Just wanting to see how much that pulley has to do with engine balance/ harmonics. Doesn't seem to be much meat on it.
Not sure if anyone can tell but there's a small flap towards the bottom sticking out. I'm****uming it's also 62 years old. haha
I’ve got a 1962 and the rubber doesn’t bulge like that could just be a difference in the way they’ve been made
Send it to the Damper doctor in central California for rebuild and balance…There’s also the Damper Dude in the same general area….
I doubt its the dampner, they are "0" balance.More likely sacked out engine mounts,or something fouling against frame.
I meant to put my jack under it this evening while running to lift the engine up slightly and see it made any change, the mounts look good but then again they could be some chinese replacements. Not sure on when they were done but they don't look like a burned marshmallow like most old mounts.
On these cruise o/ 352 combos was there a pilot bushing for the torque converter in the crank or was the end of the crank machined to receive the protrusion on the torque converter? The manual doesn't explicitly say there is a machined dowel for automatics, it covers manual trans obviously but didn't see anything with regards to automatics.
No bushing. The convertor indexes directly into the crank. And I've seen much rattier dampers than yours run with no issues. As long as it spins true it should be OK.
Does the vibration happen in gear, when driving, or just sitting in neutral and bringing the revs up? When you say rhythmic, I interpret that to indicate something is hitting a natural frequency resonance and generating a low frequency, high amplitude vibration. That would most likely come from a drive shaft or a tire imbalance, hence my first question. In other words, can you give us some more details to help narrow down the source of the vibration?
Yes, initially I had an extension housing bushing that was really worn out. The vibration at certain speeds was enough to make the dash rattle. I replaced that and what I am left with is a vibration I can isolate at idle, in neutral and also feel when at various speeds. I didn't have a chance to mess with it any but I did drive it today to run some errands and this morning when it was cold (cold for FL, 50s) the vibration was much less pronounced. I'm just thinking out loud here but perhaps the engine mount rubber was a little stiffer. Perhaps one or both of these mounts are bad, I just haven't had a chance to mess with it yet.
Did you try taking the belts off as suggested? The engine driven fan is a great big lump that I could see giving you your problem.
I had an annoying vibration in my 57 T-Bird. It wasn't severe, just annoying and it happened at 55 - 60 mph. I played with many things to find the source and found it by accident. Someone in the past had installed a flex blade fan. One of the T-Bird suppliers came out with a clutch fan setup for the early Birds. After installing the clutch fan I found the annoying vibration was gone.
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