Hey guys! I just got rid of my scrappy '74 Electra and upgraded (downgraded?) to a less scrappy 1963 LeSabre. Never had a car this old before. There are a lot of stuff to work on of course, but my main concern is the weird shaking that is happening. You can feel the whole car shaking when you sit in it, but visibly it is mostly the grill and the radiator. It seems to be an engine issue, because it follows RPM. I thought I'd ask here and see if anyone has experienced this before? My guesses include unbalanced flywheel and bad engine mount. I cannot see any mounts moving though.. Is there anyway to see if the flywheel is unbalanced?
Do a compression test first. Probably a dead banger...Next off would be a cracked flex plate. Check the mounts in gear with your left foot on the brake and right foot on the gas AKA a brake torque. If engine lifts that's the drivers side. Beware: if its bad and you drive it, engine may lift and lock the throttle rod WIDE OPEN... ws
Shouldn't the idle be rough if that were the case? It seems to be running smooth, just a bit fast idle, but that is because the carb gasket is leaking... I think.
What engine you have in your '63 full size car? Seems like it should be a Nailhead, you may be asking in the wrong section? Derek
Agreed. Eliminate all of the simple stuff first, then worry about the more complicated issues later. After checking the firing order and condition of all electrical stuff like wires and distributor cap, bring #1 cylinder to TDC and check the timing mark on the harmonic balancer. If you truly have #1 at TDC, the timing mark will align with the pointer at zero. If it doesn't, the ring on the balancer has slipped and the engine will be out of balance. Another possibility is that the transmission flex plate is indexed incorrectly. It will install six different ways and five of them are wrong.
