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Engine/Flywheel Woes

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destryrideagain

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Hi everyone! The past week I took out the ol 4 speed trans to get ready for a swap. There had been vibration issues for some time, I was thinking maybe related to clutch/flywheel/or a bearing(s) in the transmission. There was a semi big vibration at idle depending on cold or hot weather, and then once getting to a certain RPM around 35 to 40 mph it's bigger and then flattens out after that, as in vibration is gone. Since I had the trans and clutch out, I started the 235 with just the flywheel attached, the vibration was still there, although not as big and getting stronger at the same RPM range, then flattening out to no vibration at higher RPM. Here is more food for thought, I had never been able to time the engine properly to the ball on the flywheel! Why? Because it never showed up in the timing housing, but the blue spraypaint side did show up in the timing hole,that you see in the picture I have attached of the flywheel. Before timing it, I had taken it to TDC with the valve cover off, and plopped the distributor in and got it running, timing by ear. By looking at the flywheel you will notice that the blue spraypaint is 180 is from the ball timing mark. This leads me to believe that either the person who did this before did not set up the timing gears right and spray painted the other side of the flywheel to get in the ballpark area, or I am 180 degrees out with the distributor, thus contributing to the vibration due to timing issues. I will say that the valves are due for adjustment! The front seal leaks quite a bit, which could have faulted the balancer and motor mount. Other Possibility is that the flywheel is out of balance. What is your suggestions, questions, and other concerns? I do have a vacuum gauge hooked up, very little movement around 20hg, which indicates to me that valves need to be adjusted, but no big timing issue.

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8rZK8Mh4f1UWnBYQnpnXzRiQWM
 
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Correct me if I'm wrong because it's been a while since I've dealt with a stock steel fly wheel since mine is aluminum but could it be that the fly wheel is installed incorrectly and is 180 degrees out causing the engine to be out of balance or am I completely off base and are these things doweled and only go on one way? Like I said it's been awhile since I have had one of these apart...Also when you took it to TDC were both valves closed on the compression stroke when you dropped in the dist.? And the rotar was pointing to #1 and you wired it 153624? And last, you checked the flywheel bolts to see if they were tight? Also another thing to check is make sure that your harmonic balancer is tight and not walking around on the end of the crank....Big Tim :cool:
 
Big Tim! Thanks for the reply. Yes, the stock flywheel has 3 dowels on it, as far as I know it can only go on one way. I looked at the flywheel and there is no evidence of it being balanced. Tim, I did the valve distributor deal some time ago, I don't recall if both valves were closed on compression, I will say that the Rotor was not pointing towards #1, but of course the plugs 153624. The flywheel bolts were tight when I took them off! had to use the breaker bar on all of them. I have not checked the balancer yet. Also remember the vacuum gauge is not showing any indication of any timing issues.
 
destryrideagain said:
Big Tim! Thanks for the reply. Yes, the stock flywheel has 3 dowels on it, as far as I know it can only go on one way. I looked at the flywheel and there is no evidence of it being balanced. Tim, I did the valve distributor deal some time ago, I don't recall if both valves were closed on compression, I will say that the Rotor was not pointing towards #1, but of course the plugs 153624. The flywheel bolts were tight when I took them off! had to use the breaker bar on all of them. I have not checked the balancer yet. Also remember the vacuum gauge is not showing any indication of any timing issues.
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I would try rotating the engine to TDC with both valves closed and see where the flywheel ends up
 
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