Regaining your balance

As you get older, it is somewhat common to lose your balance to some degree.

If you were born with good balance, you were probably a good gymnast or athlete of some kind. As you got older and your athletic prowess began to diminish, did you notice that it had a direct relationship to your deterioration of balance and you slow down to compensate?

Old cars have the same characteristics. In the ‘30s and ‘40s, carmakers began to improve their methods of balancing moving parts to make them more efficient. This still was very miniscule to today’s technology.

One of the big reasons modern cars obtain more horsepower, speed, longevity and smoothness with smaller engines is because of more precise balancing. Incidentally, Cadillac was one of the foremost pioneers in this field.

In our older cars, the balancing they had could easily deteriorate from uneven carbon and sludge buildup, which in turn could cause uneven wear on certain moving parts and on and on ad infinitum until most power and efficiency went by the wayside, causing more fuel and oil consumption.

To illustrate this point, you are all aware of the fact that an unbalanced tire not only causes vibration in the car, but it will wear out very quickly. At 60 mph, a 700x16 tire is spinning at about 660 RPM while your engine is at about 2200 RPM. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure what can happen to the surfaces of moving parts when even a little bit of “out of balance” exists.

By the same token, the more perfectly balanced an engine is, the less work it has to do, resulting in more power, smoother running, longer life, better fuel economy, cooler running and many other things that increase the pleasure in driving your old LaSalle or Caddy.

So much for the problem…let’s talk about solutions. There are many things you can do to help the balance of your drivetrain without taking the entire engine out of the car, but to get a really good and complete balancing, it should be done when you overhaul the engine, out of the car.

Most precision balancing should be done by a professional machine shop that specializes in balancing all of their machine work. The complete balancing of engine components will generally cost about $200 after all the machine work is completed. They will need the crankshaft, camshaft, all of the rods, bearings, pistons and rings, as well as the flywheel, front pulleys and dynamic balancer (if so equipped).

The clutch assembly will usually be done by a shop that specializes in clutches and the complete machining and balancing of this assembly will usually cost an additional $175. If you are doing your own restoration, except for machine work, you want to make sure your component parts of the engine are thoroughly cleaned and/or sandblasted prior to going to the machine shop; otherwise solidified carbons and sludge could affect the actual balancing process and throw off some of your expensive balance work.

When you reassemble your completed engine, don’t make any additional modifications, Your main pulley and dynamic balancers should be painted before the balancing. You should also clean all of the threads on this assembly as well as the rod cap bolt holes. Check and replace bolts and washers, if needed, prior to balancing.

Other balancing you will need to do is the fan-and-pulley assembly. This is probably one of the most common causes of engine vibration and one of the most easily cured. Usually a good cleaning and painting after complete disassembly will cure most of the imbalance. Uneven painting of the fan blade can cause considerable vibration.

You can usually bench balance the fan assembly in a vise by finding the heavy side and adding longer bolts and/or washers and/or nuts on the light side. You can also use a small amount of plumber’s putty on the inside crevice of the pulley for finer balancing.

By the way, check your fan belts and replace them with good quality new belts. I know a fellow that spent over $3,000 on an engine overhaul and balancing and then still complained of bad engine vibrations. When I examined the car, I found an old fan belt and the fan badly out of balance. After about an hour of work and new belts, the engine was as smooth as a Swiss watch at all RPMs.

If vibrations occur only while driving on the road, then it can usually be cured by a simple tire and wheel balancing or having your driveshaft and U-joint assembly balanced by a professional drivetrain specialist.

You can now enjoy your old LaSalle or Caddy on a vibration-free cruise.

As far as losing your own balance: As you get older, I have found a corrective cure for that. It helps to have a good, stiff martini or two in the evening. It doesn’t really help me regain my balance, and I still stumble and fall, but after two martinis, I really don’t give a damn.

See ya next month.

—Walt