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Vibration..... for 2 years.

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jbickhart

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Discussion starter · #1 · (Edited)
I've had my car together for 2 years and still have not solved a vibration issue.

2002 LS1 / T56 swap.
8.5" 10 bolt rear

At any speed over 45, I get a moderate / severe vibration. It doesn't matter if I change gears, declutch, turn corners, turn engine off, apply brakes.... doesn't change the vibration. The vibration is most severe with light throttle....just enough throttle to maintain speed. WOT or closed reduces the severity slightly.

I have either replaced every part of the car that rotates.....
wheels / tires
brakes
driveshaft
rear axle housing and axles
differential carrier / gears / bearings
wheel bearings (x4)
transmission professionally rebuilt
rubber and poly transmission mounts
u-joint working angles 0-5 degrees

Any suggestions? I love '68 Camaro's but hate mine.
 
#2 ·
Did you use the complete drivetrain as pulled from the '02 Camaro? If you replaced the clutch and pressure plate or flywheel you wouldn't be the first to get one that was out of balance. I put a Sachs kit on my new engine and the builder installed everything and tested it.

Is it solely speed related or can you notice it at around the same RPM or even sitting still with the trans in neutral? How is your pinion angle versus your transmission angle?
 
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#3 ·
Place the car on its own weight on tires and measure driveshaft to trans angle and compare to the driveshaft to pinion angle; they should be within 0° to 1° difference.
 
#5 ·
Perfect! I need to set up the pinion angle on my 50 tonight!

Let us know if your 68 was out!
 
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#7 ·
get an angle finder and post the diff, driveshaft AND trans angles. the trans/differential is as or more important than the driveshaft to diff angles.
I just fixed my ls1/4l60 drivehaft vibration yesterday.. my pinion angle was 4* too low and my trans needed to be spaced up .5" :beers:
 
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Discussion starter · #9 ·
Thanks, everybody.

I have measured trans and different u-joint angles with the socket / digital level technique. I built a different trans. x-member so I had the ‘room’ to shim the trans up / down A LOT. I have tried angles from 0-5 degrees and the changes didn’t affect the vibration.

The car is lowered 2” or so, so my driveshaft is running uphill on the way to the axle. I have a 2 degree pinion angle shim that I have used “both ways” to adjust the pinion angle and I have tried many combinations including setting is parallel to the transmission output shaft. None of the combinations have changed the vibration.

I’m just about ready to pull the trans out again and remove the mainshaft / output shaft. Either replace or put it between centers to check for runout, but I can drive with my hand on the transmission case (I haven’t patched the trans tunnel hole yet) and it doesn’t seem to be vibrating significantly.

Clutch / Flywheel are new, but the vibration is unchanged even when coasting with the engine OFF.
 
#10 ·
Take the driveshaft to a drivesahft/axle shop and let them straighten/balance it.
Max runout on each end of the driveshaft is 0.010".

Pinion and trans should be parallel to each other.
 
Discussion starter · #11 ·
I'll check runout on the driveshaft, but I've had 3 different ones in the car without any change in vibration. All were new / balanced and the last one was built by a well respected vendor, Denny's in Buffalo.

I think I'll be pulling the mainshaft / output shaft from the tranny this weekend, but it's a ton of work just to inspect a shaft!
 
#12 ·
Are you wearing out any transmission output yokes or tailshaft bushings? Check for any wear on just one side of the yoke. I had a problem like this and it was a twisted/bent transmission output shaft. Another sign of this is that the yoke won't easily slip all the way forward on the splines.
 
#13 ·
jbickhart said:
I'll check runout on the driveshaft, but I've had 3 different ones in the car without any change in vibration. All were new / balanced and the last one was built by a well respected vendor, Denny's in Buffalo.

I think I'll be pulling the mainshaft / output shaft from the tranny this weekend, but it's a ton of work just to inspect a shaft!
Click to expand...

I wouldn't pull it. You can get a magnetic base dial indicator from Summit for under $30. Stick it somewhere and set the point on the yoke tube, zero it, then with the car in neutral rotate your driveshaft by hand and see what your runout is. If it looks off, then pull it and see what's up.
 
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Discussion starter · #14 ·
I'll pull the trans output shaft seat and check for wear..... good idea. I have already had a dial indicator on the rear of the shaft and the slip yoke and T.I.R was less than 0.005" (some of that is just the roughness of the shaft). I even pulled the rear housing off the trans and did the same thing on the shaft a few more inches forward....less than 0.003" runout.

My problem is, I have already replaced everything. It's always possible to have replaced parts with other 'bad' parts, but not very likely, and I have never noticed any change in the vibration.

I'll try adding an extra exhaust hanger on each side to stiffen the long straight sections.... maybe something is exciting a vibration in the pipes??
 
#15 ·
I have a 10 page pdf file that deals with vibration solutions. Shoot me a PM and I'll email it to you. It's too large to attach directly to this post.
 
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Discussion starter · #16 ·
Onovakind67,

PM sent. Thanks

I still need to hang plumb-bobs from the centerline of the balancer / transmission yoke and differential yoke to see if I"m lined up that way, but I honestly can't think of another thing to check out.
 
Discussion starter · #18 ·
I bought the wheels / tires mounted and road-force balanced from TireRack. The other set I tried on the Camaro had been running on a friends car for years without issues.... I didn't notice any difference in the vibration with 'em.

thanks again.... I'm stumped.
 
#19 ·
Someone mentioned running up the engine in neutral to see if the vibration presented itself. Did you try that? I know this is a longshot but any possibility the rear axles are bent? Are you able to tell if it coming from the front or the rear?

alan
 
#20 ·
Thanks for the file Mike,I'll see if any of it helps me.

Steve
 
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jbickhart
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