Vibration Woes...???????????

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Cruzin

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Well I have a new ride (73 Gold Duster) 318 / 904 / Disk Brake. I brought her home and have been chasing a vibration ever since then.
A little info first. 1973- 318 engine, SP2 Edelbrock Intake, Eddy 1406 Carb, Full Length Headers, Flowmaster Exhaust. Nothing really special at all. These items were on the car when I bought it. After having it home, I started to go over the car. I noticed I could feel a vibration in the steering wheel and basically felt like whole car at about 900-1k RPM's. It does this in Park, Neutral and in Drive. At idle of say 650 RPM's it tends to be pretty smooth for the most part. But, when you start to slowly raise the RPM's, it starts this hard feeling vibration. But, it is more from the front of the car from what I could tell. I have had alot of excellent help from a pillar of this forum in regards this situation. Beings he can't physically see whats going on makes it difficult and I know he could pick it out immediately if he were here. I have performed all of the following:
1) Checked compression- 140-150 respectively on all cylinders.
2) New, plugs, Wires, Cap, Rotor. Dizzy is like new and electronic. MP from what I can tell.
3) Changed Motor Mounts
4) Replaced Timing Chain Set and installed Tensioner
5) Installed new Balancer
6) Reset the timing at 10 degrees advanced
7) Adjusted the carb to the best I can with what I have.
8) checked to make sure the headers are not touching anywhere and the hangers are rubber mounted.
9) Yes, I looked under the car at the converter to see if there were any weights on the converter and there are no weights.
I just changed the chain and tensioner out yesterday and she still has the vibration. It runs pretty darn well, so I believe it is coming from somewhere else. I have no means of checking the converter or pulling the motor or trans to isolate the problem. One man band here. This could be a bad converter or in the trans. I don't know anything else to check or perform to figure this out.
I don't know anyone local that can help address the problem. I damn sure ain't taking her to some regular shop that does not know mopars. Heck , all the shops that used to be around here are all gone.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Trying not to get frustrated with this....but not being able to drive the car is not fun either.
 
What...??? I thought 318's did not require weighted converters. I better check the block code.
 
Just checked the engine cast code. Appears to be a 74 block.
 
ALL 318 engines were internally balanced. PERIOD.
 
Does it have a clutch fan? I got a vibe from mine on my 383 when it was bad. Also noticed the previous owner had shimmed the water pump pulley and that didn't allow the fan clutch to mate properly to the water pump. (I suspect that was what caused my vide and clutch failure.)
 
Does it have a clutch fan? I got a vibe from mine on my 383 when it was bad. Also noticed the previous owner had shimmed the water pump pulley and that didn't allow the fan clutch to mate properly to the water pump. (I suspect that was what caused my vide and clutch failure.)
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by yooper822

No.. Just a standard fan. No Clutch.
 
check your damper and make sure it is the correct one. check torque coverter bolts make sure not coming out or loose.
 
It could be an internal balance problem, heavy rods? not rebalanced.
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Anything is possible. But I personally would not think that this is the problem. That does not rule out your suggestion.
 
check your damper on front of engine, makes sure its not falling apart or loose and it is the correct one. check torque coverter bolts make sure not coming out or loose and there is no weight on converter
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Front balancer / damper is the correct one and it is brand new. There are no weights on the converter that I could see.
However, I did not try to tighten the bolts on the torque converter.
I suppose I could crawl under there again and check them for the sake of it.
 
Let me re-phrase / clarify the condition I'm observing a little bit better. The vibration starts getting rough at around 900 RPM's. Once you reach 1050 or 1100 RPM's it tends to smooth out some. Like I explained to someone else. If you could feel it, and you were a mopar guy, you would probably be able to diagnose the problem pretty quick. I'm new and this is my first mopar, so I can only go off of some past experience . At first I would have thought this would have been a walk through the park to figure out. But...unfortunately it has not turned out to be that way.
 
Cruzin said:
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Front balancer / damper is the correct one and it is brand new. There are no weights on the converter that I could see.
However, I did not try to tighten the bolts on the torque converter.
I suppose I could crawl under there again and check them for the sake of it.
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While your under there get a pry bar and flex, the flex plate in a couple of places. It could be a cracked flex plate.

Also take a good look at all of the exh system for loose attaching points or rubbing some weres
 
You mentioned it vibrated in Drive, Neutral and Park..

What about reverse... if the vibration goes away in reverse, --

I think, like Badsport, that your engine/trans/exhaust is "grounding". -touching the frame/body. and causing the engine vibrations to transfer to the frame/body ..
 
Ok guys. I'm going to go back out and check all the exhaust mounting, check the car for vibration in all gears, check the flexplate bolts, and look for any cracks. I shall return...god willing.
 
Well.....I checked the exhaust (again). No rubbing , no hard mounting issues. I cannot see much through the small transmission inspection plate opening. If I had it on a lift I might be able to see more. But, I am hearing a rattling sound right at the converter area. I took video for sound. It's not great, but maybe one of the experts can pick out the sound well enough to ascertain what the issue is. I am starting to lean towards a converter / flexplate issue. As soon as I can convert it from my camera to something you guys can see and or hear I will post it. I appreciate all the help from everyone.
 
pull the starter and remove the dust cover. if its scraping the cover you will have a nice shiny spot. covers are also known to crack in the thin section near the starter hole. run the engine and throttle it up and down while looking at the harmonic balancer. look for fore and aft movement, as in excessive crankshaft end play. where do you live in FL?
 
Because its at the same rpm, could be jetting (metering rods on those carbs work off of vacuum) or a vacuum problem (vacuum advance??) Could be something as simple as a "flat spot" in the carb causing the engine to flutter around. If you have a different carb to try, swap out in 10 minutes and see what it does. How about the vacuum advance??? Simply plug the vacuum advance hose and try it. Too often the simple and obvious can be overlooked. Never know when you buy a car the adjustments made by the previous owner...... but I would think a flat spot in the carb would be a prime suspect. Loose torque converter bolts are noisy but usually don't cause a viberation. Touching exhaust would normally find another time to touch other than that particular rpm range consistently. Usually these things aren't as deep as they seem.... usually.
 
pull the starter and remove the dust cover. if its scraping the cover you will have a nice shiny spot. covers are also known to crack in the thin section near the starter hole. run the engine and throttle it up and down while looking at the harmonic balancer. look for fore and aft movement, as in excessive crankshaft end play. where do you live in FL?
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Hi mderoy. I live in the Daytona area. The car is hot right now, so I can't get in the header area to try and remove it. It is a full size starter, not a mini starter so it is a slight challenge to get it out. Heck, I am not for sure if it will even come completely out without dropping the header to be honest.
 
Because its at the same rpm, could be jetting (metering rods on those carbs work off of vacuum) or a vacuum problem (vacuum advance??) Could be something as simple as a "flat spot" in the carb causing the engine to flutter around. If you have a different carb to try, swap out in 10 minutes and see what it does. How about the vacuum advance??? Simply plug the vacuum advance hose and try it. Too often the simple and obvious can be overlooked. Never know when you buy a car the adjustments made by the previous owner...... but I would think a flat spot in the carb would be a prime suspect. Loose torque converter bolts are noisy but usually don't cause a viberation. Touching exhaust would normally find another time to touch other than that particular rpm range consistently. Usually these things aren't as deep as they seem.... usually.
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318...it appears that Rob (RustyRatRod) had me do this before and it did not make any changes. I don't have a spare carb to throw on her. I would have swapped carbs out earlier if I had one layin around. The comment you have mentioned was brought to my attention by Rob early on when I was discussing it with him. It won't hurt to try again and see though. I appreciate the help.
 
Cruzin said:
318...it appears that Rob (RustyRatRod) had me do this before and it did not make any changes. I don't have a spare carb to throw on her. I would have swapped carbs out earlier if I had one layin around. The comment you have mentioned was brought to my attention by Rob early on when I was discussing it with him. It won't hurt to try again and see though. I appreciate the help.
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Sorry, didn't read where Rob suggested these suggestions in the thread, must've been a pm. Maybe somebody removed the advance spring in the distributor causing the advancement to happen immediately?? Just another guess. I will stick to my opinion that it is in the carb until something other than that fixes the problem. Too bad you didn't have a buddy that had a 4bbl on their car that they would let you slap on for a trial.....
 
318willrun said:
Sorry, didn't read where Rob suggested these suggestions in the thread, must've been a pm. Maybe somebody removed the advance spring in the distributor causing the advancement to happen immediately?? Just another guess. I will stick to my opinion that it is in the carb until something other than that fixes the problem. Too bad you didn't have a buddy that had a 4bbl on their car that they would let you slap on for a trial.....
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PM, home phone, cell phone, take your pick. lol
 
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