This weekend was one of those eye-opener, learned-something-new kind of
weekends. I'd been concerned that there was still too much vibration in the
Austin A35 even after spending the extra money on a balanced engine. I
checked the run-out on the drive shaft and decided to take it in to be
checked. The local driveline shop charged me $51 to straighten and balance
the driveshaft. Turns out it was both bent and waaay out of balance. How
some PO bent the driveshaft on a car that generated a whopping 38HP, I'll
never know.
On bolting it back in and test-driving, the change was huge. ALL vibration
gone, I can now get up over 50mph and still hear the radio. From the size of
the weight they had to weld on to balance it, and looking at the weights they
added to both the Morris and bugeye driveshafts I had them do over the last
few years, I presume that factory balancing of driveshafts in the 50s wasn't
all that carefully done. If you have vibration that gets worse with each MPH,
consider having the driveshaft checked and balanced. In my case, it was the
biggest change I ever made in a car for $51.
Modifying a Morris manifold and swapping on an old 1.5" SU the next day seemed
to double the HP for $0 which was nice, but I couldn't have enjoyed the extra
HP without a balanced driveshaft.
Regards,
Glen Byrns
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