Hopefully going to fix a vibration tomorrow

[Paul]

A few months ago I bought an '89 notch. It's really clean outside, but definitely needs some work inside and under the hood.

I pulled the whole driveline out of it two weeks ago because it had a vibration so bad between 35-3900 rpms that the dash lights would literally go OUT. Come to find out the transmission was held in by three bolts, and the pressure plate was held in by 5 bolts, only four of which were actually pressure plate bolts. Even the crossmember bolts were wrong.

Further, the main bearing retainer on the front of the transmission was wasted (stock one) and the throwout bearing was hanging up. This of course caused the throwout bearing to go out, and a snapped clutch cable as well. Yay.

I bought a new (steel) main bearing retainer from Summit, along with a new clutch cable and throwout bearing. My friend helped me install the new main bearing retainer and set the appropriate preload on the main bearing since I've never done that before - now it's all ready to go. I got a used Centerforce billet flywheel from a friend (which I had resurfaced at a machine shop) along with a new stock Ford clutch. I got all the OEM fasteners I needed from my friend Nic (who is doing the LS1 swap) and found a brand new clutch fork in my closet. (!) My rear main seal is leaking, so I'll be changing that, and I'm going to do the pilot bearing at the same time for good measure.

Anyway, all of this should be happening tomorrow - depending of course on how things go and how lazy I'm feeling. If I can borrow a camera that works, I'll take a couple of pictures and try to post them.

Yay for me - working on cars by yourself blows goats.

Paul.

 

[95Grandtouring5.0]

Take pictures if you can, it's always cool to see progress.

 

[ryclef331]

Yay for me - working on cars by yourself blows goats.

Paul.

YEah...I know the feeling WELL.

 

[Paul]

YEah...I know the feeling WELL.

God I am a dumbass sometimes. :slap: I head out to the garage around lunchtime to start working. I laid out everything I needed for the install, and was missing my clutch fork. I threw the old one out because I "knew" I had a brand new one in a closet. I'll be damned if I didn't tear the whole house apart trying to find it... to no avail.

So for all my good intentions I got as far as having the clutch installed. Wow. Go me. :nonono:


One thing did go right though. A friend told me you can remove a pilot bearing by packing the back of the crankshaft full of grease, putting a clutch install tool in there, and whacking with a hammer. Re-pack and repeat as necessary. It worked famously and only took about 8 minutes. I'm used to the bludeon-it-to-death-with-bigass-slidehammer method and let me tell you this is far easier and less aggravating. Three good whacks with a hammer and clutch tool and it just popped right out.


Anyway, looks like this little project will be delayed another week. Meh.

Paul.

 

[ryclef331]

One thing did go right though. A friend told me you can remove a pilot bearing by packing the back of the crankshaft full of grease, putting a clutch install tool in there, and whacking with a hammer. Re-pack and repeat as necessary. It worked famously and only took about 8 minutes. I'm used to the bludeon-it-to-death-with-bigass-slidehammer method and let me tell you this is far easier and less aggravating. Three good whacks with a hammer and clutch tool and it just popped right out.

I love that trick...