I need some answers please, I have a 53 Ford customline that I just recently did an T5 swap in. Which I used a J&S hot rod asylum kit (adapter plate, throw out bearing sleeve and input shaft bearing) and a cLutch disc from speedway. Since the swap I have developed a vibration. From idle up it gets worse......in gear or not. Feels like something is out of balance. So I removed the inspection cover and started it and didn't see anything that appeared loose or out of center. So before I go any further, I have a couple questions. is there anyway the flywheel and or clutch pac was balanced and I didn't install them back in the correct orientation? If not any suggestions? A couple of notes.....we removed the flywheel to install the bearing, and we also deglazed the clutch surface. Thanks for any help, Mike
If they weren't lines up right , it wouldn't work at all . You also will not get the trans installed either . You really should have the flywheel resurfaced or that new clutch is going to chatter on on for sure . If you are using the original flywheel the rule that part out . It will have to be the clutch disc or pressure plate being out of balance . Remember most all parts come from china now and the quality really isn't the best anymore . Have you checked the vibration with the the trans off to rule the trans out ? I would try that as well . If it makes no difference then you either have a bad pressure plate or clutch disc . You can remove the clutch disc and start the engine to see if that was the problem . If it goes away then the disc is bad but if it doesn't then the pressure plate is out of balance . Let us know how you make out . Retro Jim
My buddy is into flatheads and he always has the flywheel balance before installation. He said most he finds are out of balance.
Yup, Flywheel AND clutch pressure plate are bolted together as an ***embly, then balanced. There are three positions you can bolt the pressure plate to the flywheel , Id say you have one of the two wrong ones..check if there are punch marks that correspond on the flywheel and pressure plate, hopefully the last balancer would have done this, and you can easily line it up right. Also ,Flathead flywheels are neutral balance, so as long as the flywheel and pressure plate are balanced together,and lined up as they were when balanced, it shouldnt matter which way the flywheel goes on (it can go on in one of two ways). I dont think you mentioned replacing the pressure plate in your post, obviously if it is a new pressure plate you should take the whole thing off and get them balanced together again.
could you explain "pp needed moved"? did you use the bolts that have shoulders on them that fit tight in the pp holes? these shoulder bolts help locate the pp for a more exact fit. maybe you already knew that... just say'n...jack
Please explain further-- did you rotate the PP to a new mount location? Were you able to do it with the motor and transmission connected together or did you remove the trans?
The clutch and pressure plate will never be aligned the same way twice, when you disengauge the clutck the pressure plate turns with the flywheel and the clutch plate doesn't not turn at the same speed or doesn't turn at all. If you had the flywheel off it probably should have gone back on the same way it came off. This is not always the case but it is a good idea.
More details... After removing inspection cover and loosening clutch.....was able to remove all of the pressure plate bolts. During the process of removing the shoulder bolts, I found a balance mark on the flywheel and pressure plate. It was easy to rotate the pressure plate to align marks and bolt back together....I also put some grease on the throw out bearing while I was in there. Started it up and brought the revs up and no more vibrations.
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