waterzap

The old problem of engine vibration.

What would be the best way to track down vibration problems?
My 67 Toronado has a bit of vibration at idle. Not much in Park, but definitely when I put it in drive. Smooths out again when I start driving faster. But sitting at a light, there is definitely a lot of vibration again.

Thinking of disconnecting the fan (if it’s a clutch problem), and the other accessories. Plug up all the vacuum ports on the manifold (including brakes). Any way to figure out if the harmonic balancer might be bad? What else could it be? Could it be something in the transmission? Seeing most of the vibration happens when I am in Drive. Might add. There is a loud clunk when I put the car in reverse...sometimes. Usually not in Drive.

oldcutlass

Is there any noise associated with the vibration?

waterzap

No. No noise. No clanking.

oldcutlass

Does the engine run rough, missing, shaking, etc?

waterzap

It used to. But then I upgraded to HEI. New plugs, new wires, and now the distributor. Runs far, far better. Ordered vacuum advance from Napa, not using the one on the distributor. Also transferred the original springs. Tested to see if the wires fire, and they all do. The other peculiarity about the engine is that there seems to be a lot of smoke and oil coming from the crankcase vent. When I put the hose from the crankcase vent into the air cleaner assembly, you can see the oil in there after a drive. The PC valce is also new and plugged into the carb. Carb was rebuilt by Mountain man fuel systems. Starts up easily. Has me stumped. Engine was rebuilt by the previous owner. Maybe they messed something up? If I can just eliminate things.

waterzap

I probably want to plug up the pcv valve too. Make sure there are no vacuum leaks there. However unlikely, as everything is plugged in correctly. I dont know about the engine, but the previous owner did mention when I showed him the car after a few months, that the engine is vibrating more than it used to.

waterzap

So found the problem. The fuel pump was going. After I replaced the pump, the car started and ran 100% better. Starts right up now. First time I started the car, the idle went up by 200 rpm. Took it for a spin, and feel so, so much nicer.

oldcutlass

Glad you found your problem. We would not have gone in that direction by your description.

waterzap

The only reason why I changed the fuel pump is because that’s the only thing I had not changed. I had changed everything on the spark side.
The car starts up and runs better. Also no more oil coming from the valve cover breather. Also used to ping like crazy. Just could not set the timing right. If I set the timing where the engine ran better, it would ping. If I set it where it would not ping, the engine would shake so much in idle. Was driving me crazy