Hard to believe what was causing annoying vibration

[AnthonyG]

What a Cluster ___! After much aggravation with this Vibration issue. After changing PP and Clutch plate and having the engine out of the car one too many times I consulted Mitch a good guy and fellow Ford Barner of, Mitch's Auto Service Center Mitchsautoservice.com and I decided to try a dynamic balancing of the FW and PP together and installing at his shop using the "pulling rear and tranny back" method instead of pulling engine again. He rolled the torque tube and rear back pulled the tranny and ran the engine while looking at the FW & PP. He noticed the PP wasn't running true on the FW. After taking apart he found the FW had two sets of mounting holes, one set on a smaller dia. for a smaller PP and the other set for the 10.5 in. PP which was what my set-up. The 10.5" PP mounting holes were out of concentric to the center of the FW by over .10" (1/10th" ) and was causing the vibration. Someone must have tried to drill / tap a set mounting holes for the 10.5 PP on a FW originally manufactured for a smaller clutch. and was off center by 1/10 of an inch. This was as delivered on the Flatty I had purchased from a builder turn key. I will have a discussion with the builder. The dynamic balancing of the FW and PP had already been done so the engine is running as smooth as silk now. Who'd of thunk anything like this could occur? Pic is at Mitch's shop. Many thx an kudos to Mitch, I'd have never figured it out without him. If your local to Philly I do recommend him and his shop.

[fordor41]

My buddy has been into flatties most of his life. He never installs a clutch ass'y or flywheel without getting them balanced. I would have thought they'd be good to go out of the box but apparently not. He told me that it is not uncommon to find one or the other out of balance

[FlatheadTed]

xxx,X2

[Ken Crans]

When i was installing my PP and FW, I set up a dial indicator to check run out, i had it running within a few thousandths, but yea.. Some rookie machinist must have done yours and will cause heavy vibration. Glad you got the problem solved.

[Walt Dupont--Me.]

Good find Anthony, that's why I have all my engines balanced including FW-PP I have a lot of wheels drilled for 9in. set up and balanced. Walt

[Mike51Merc]

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After a few years of chasing/tolerating a subtle vibration I finally read somewhere that the original flywheel and PP had factory balance markings (which were holes drilled in each to line up). I never thought of this when I reassembled everything after my rebuild. Sure enough they were out of alignment. The best news is that I realigned them by removing the dust cover, unbolting the PP, and spun it till the marks lined up.

[trainguy]

.100holy cow that must have shook! Imagine what it was doing to your pressure plate fingers and the thro out brg!

[Jack E/NJ]

Anthony>>>the engine is running as smooth as silk now.>>>

So how can you tell it's running now? 8^)

Jack E/NJ

[Mitch//pa]

Originally Posted by trainguy

.100holy cow that must have shook! Imagine what it was doing to your pressure plate fingers and the thro out brg!

Hey Tony thanks for the kind words,
i am glad we were able to help

right on trainguy the pressure plate fingers and throwout bearing face were wearing away. its a good thing Tony didnt use the car or the mains would have been ripped out...

the pressure plate mounting holes on the flywheel were almost a 1/4" off center from one side to the other....

[AnthonyG]

Jack E/NJ, ??? Trust the guy doing the work!