Black Jack: Vibration diagnostics. Not making foxtoberfest

Yeah, but also not ready for this year.

I've packed up flywheel & clutch, and will swing by a machine shop tomorrow. If they can knock balancing them same day, then I can maybe put everything back together again. Long shot... fingers crossed.

Not sure I understand. Wouldn't jacking the trans just stress the connection to the bell or the trans mount?

Mustang5L5 said:

When i had a vibration I couldn't find, it ended up being a dead injector. I was driving around on 7 cyl without even realizing it. Still ran damn strong like that.

My point is don't overlook something simple

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Did that show up on a cylinder balance test? I did that and got no errors.

Yeah, I hear you. I remember that gold HPM crossmember from back when I had a TKO, which at the time was essentially just a 3550 with a 26-spline input shaft. This was before the TKO 500 and 600 came along.

I guess what I don't understand is why you were experiencing the vibration in neutral, especially if it was still present with the transmission in gear and the clutch fully depressed. Regardless, I'll eventually work through all of that.

I do have the equipment to measure driveline angles, and I've set the engine, driveshaft, and pinion angles with the Stifflers crossmember installed. In fact, it's the only crossmember I've ever used with the T56. What I haven't done is recheck those angles since installing the driveshaft safety loop. The loop added approximately 1/4" of plate above the transmission crossmember, so I removed roughly 1/4" of spacer to compensate. I didn't measure it precisely, though, so it's certainly worth revisiting.

First things first, though. I need to get this pressure plate checked out.

My regular machine shop said they couldn't balance it without the complete assembly. I called another shop, and I'm actually on my way home now to pick up a neutral-balanced flywheel because they can't do it with my 50 oz imbalance flywheel.

I really don't think the flywheel itself is the problem, unless the three locating dowels are somehow misaligning the pressure plate. After I get everything back, assuming I'm no longer racing the clock to make it to Foxtoberfest, I'll reinstall the pressure plate by itself and see if the vibration returns.

If the shop finds the pressure plate out of balance and can correct it in time for Foxtoberfest, I may just put everything back together and hope for the best. I'll make a quick attempt to check and adjust the pinion angle, but I won't have much time to get carried away with it. That can easily turn into a multi-hour ordeal.