Bruce's '72: 2008-2009

Updated 10/20/09

2004-2008: The Vibration:

In case you haven't read the history of my Nova, I developed a vibration immediately after replacing the brake pads in the fall of 2003. I didn't turn the rotors at the time, the only change was the pads. The next drive revealed a relatively violent vibration or shaking from about 55mph to 70mph. I assumed something went wrong during the brake job so I replaced the pads again and had the rotors turned. No change. Then I bought two new rotors. No change. I had all four wheels/tires balanced. No change. I replaced the u-joints. No change. My neighbor was a tire guy and he said he thought my wheels might be bent. I got a couple spare wheels from Craig (my 2QuickNovas cohort) and had the tires mounted up and balanced. No change. I borrowed four wheels/tires from a friend to eliminate my wheels/tires from the equation. No change except for the indicated speed at which the vibration occurred (the borrowed tires were smaller in diameter than mine) which tells me the vibration is related to road speed rather than engine speed, which lead me to believe the culprit is in the front end.

I've not done anything with the front wheel bearings during this ordeal so I should replace those as well, just in case. If those don't change anything, I think I'm down to front end components, none of which seem loose or worn, as I completely rebuilt the front end in 1997 and since I haven't driven much since the fall of 2003. It's still pretty fresh, or should be. I've probably got 40,000 miles on it since the front end rebuild.

To summarize 2004-2008: very little Nova action has taken place due to this damn vibration!

2009

Here it is, already 2009. I can't believe I've put so few miles on my car over the past five years, but it's a sad reality. I don't think the car even moved during 2008.

2/10/09 - It Runs!

I've done a full rebuild on the Holley #4777 650 double-pumper (it had sat for too long and both accelerator pumps were stuck). I had it running last week but it'd only run above 1800rpm, as if there was no idle circuit at all.

Craig (the other of the 2QuickNovas guys) suggested there might be some crap in the circuit or that maybe I had used the wrong gasket somewhere and a passage was being blocked. I pulled the carb once again, removed the base, and sure enough, I had the wrong gasket between the base and the main body and it was completely blocking the long channel on each side of the base. I swapped out the gasket and now it runs well. Not great yet, but well. Considering how long it's been since it's run for any length of time, I'm happy with it. It's not been on the road since the fall of 2007 and I think the gas in the tank is probably from about 2004.

I also washed the filthy thing for the first time in way, way too long. It really needs a good cleaning and wax job!.

2/14/09 - Wheel Bearings, Spindles, and Springs

I had some time today so I jacked up the front end and started poking around, looking for any possible sources for the vibration. Nothing. Everything is very tight. That's a good thing, but I sure wish I could have found a bad tie rod or something to easily point out as the problem. Oh well. One thing I did notice was that when grabbing each of the front tires by the top and bottom and rocking them, there was some noticeable play there. I took off the wheels, calipers, and rotors and the bearings looked fine, but after a quick cleaning I found something not quite right with the spindles. The driver's side is shown at left, passenger at right.

Seems to me the driver's side inner wheel bearing's inner race is spinning on the spindle. There's some black stuff adjacent to that clean, shiny band, too, which I think is baked-on grease thanks to the additional heat created by the spinning inner bearing race. Just a guess, but it seems logical since the passenger's side bearing's inner race doesn't appear to be spinning on the spindle and there's no baked-on grease on that side. The bearing itself seems to be in good condition.

My plan is to remove the baked-on grease and see how much damage has been inflicted on the spindle. If it's significant, I'll replace it. If not, I'll try new bearings and see what happens, mostly because bearings are a whole lot cheaper than spindles. If I need new spindles to fix the problem I'll do it in a heartbeat, but I'd hate to buy new spindles only to find out they had nothing to do with it.

I mic'd the spindles and they're both slightly worn and out-of-round. I guess 37 years and 220,000 miles can do that. Certainly could be contributing to what I hope is a bearing problem.

10/8/09 - On The Road Again?

Man, February turns into October awfully quick! Nothing happened with the car during the summer, but I've now replaced the inner and outer front wheel bearings, races, and inner seals. I took it for a test drive and....I think the problem has been solved, or at least a Band-Aid has been put on it. I'm elated at the possibility, but kicking myself for thinking way back in 2003, "I guess there's a slight chance it could be the bearings, but they're not that old so I'll skip it and try other things." Idiot! That was Stupid Decision #1.

Stupid Decision #2: Not replacing the spindles while I had the front end apart this summer.

I had consciously decided that since I knew my spindles were suspect I'd replace them regardless of whether the bearings solved the problem because even if that occurred, I was concerned that temporary use of bad spindles might wreck my new bearings. That was a good decision. Not following up on it was a bad decision. Now I need to order spindles and take my front end apart, again, to install them.

I'll do a little more driving this weekend to make sure it drives okay, and then order up some spindles and tear back into it. Sure, it's approaching mid-October, but I could still conceivably get a couple months of driving in before winter.

Oh, one more problem (what else is new?): my accelerator pumps are stuck again, or at least not squirting. The levers seem to move fine, at least some, but nothing comes out. This is getting frustrating. Sure, I didn't drive it all summer, but it sat for less than eight months. I'm hoping old gas has something to do with it, or else I may have to fight this battle every spring. I'll pull off the fuel bowls and see what's up. At least it doesn't need squirters to run.

10/11/09 - Back in Action

Accelerator pumps weren't stuck, the squirters were just gummed up. Five-minute fix. Put about 60 miles on it since the repair and it's 90% better, but still not totally solved. There's still some mild vibration around 60-65 mph and it already seems to be getting worse the more I drive. I'm sticking with my bearing/spindle theory, though, and I've got new spindles coming in this week. I'll replace the inner bearings again as well, just as a precaution.

I also made another decision: I'm tired of the pin-on hood. The quick full-access is great, but it's not worth the hassle of having to completely remove the hood every time I want access, and I've slightly damaged my vinyl roof a couple times because the roof is the only place to put my hood when it's off. I even had the hood slide down and chip paint from my fender. Not only that, the pin-on alignment has never been great and it's caused another annoying squeak as the hood moves relative to the pins. Enough is enough. I removed the rear hood pins and bolted the hinges back on. Ahhhh, much better. At least until next time I'm upset because I'm having trouble working around the hood hinges...

Oh, and the unthinkable has happened! I was at a friend's house over the weekend with my Nova and when I was leaving my wife told me to do a burnout on the way out (gotta love her!). It wouldn't happen. WTF? Granted, the air temp was about 38 degrees Fahrenheit, the car had been sitting for about five hours, the carb has no choke and is out of tune, and the car basically hasn't been driven in six years, but still. Can't even turn the tires? I swore to myself that will NEVER happen again. Embarrassing! I'll be ordering up a line-lock and spending some quality time with my carburetor very soon.

Now, could someone please make it stop snowing?

10/12/09 - Cheap Big Brakes?

Last night I very nearly pulled the trigger on buying the parts for the "Cheap Big Brakes" upgrade made famous by David Pozzi. Basically you use a factory drum brake hub and slap on mid-'70s Corvette 12" rotors (technically 11.75" x 1-1/4") and use mid-'70s half-ton pickup calipers (to accomodate the extra rotor width), then modify the caliper bracket to relocate the caliper mounting holes 3/8" outward (not radially). Discount Brakes has stock-replacement rotors for under $40 each and calipers are under $40 each including the core. Throw in some good pads and I'm under $200 to upgrade to 11.75" x 1-1/4" rotors (upsized from my stock 11" x 1" rotors). The increased diameter gives more surface area and better leverage, and the thicker rotor offers better cooling.

Maybe next year. I did order some stuff from that Website for my other car on 10/14, so we'll see how quick they are and what the quality level is.

10/15/09 - New Spindles

The new spindles have arrived! Imagine my surprise when I opened the first of two spindle boxes and found two spindles inside. Apparently they're sold in pairs. Oops. Hope it doesn't cost too much to ship a pair of spindles back. Anyway, now I just have to find some time to get them installed.

10/15/09 - New Air Compressor

Thanks to a find by a Nova listserv member, I ordered up a generic-brand, factory-remanufactured 3hp, 60 gallon, 165psi, 2-stage air compressor from Harbor Freight for $160! I figured it would have been at least $100 to repair my existing compressor, so an extra $60 for more pressure and more cfm...works for me.

10/20/09

I tore the front end apart again and got the old spindles out in about 70 minutes. Not too difficult except for removal of the bolts that hold the spindle to the steering arm. I mucked up one of the bolts and one of the nuts, but I chased the threads on both and they're ready for reinstallation. Unfortunately the bolt holes in the spindles seem to be a hair too small, even after wire-brushing the bolt shanks. That's where it sits now, and I'm debating whether to pound the bolts through or try to drill out the spindles slightly. Pounding them through would make for a very snug fit, obviously, and snug is good when it comes to front end components. However, it'll make it VERY difficult to remove them later when I'm fighting the tight fit as well as rust. I hope to do the Cheap Big Brakes thing over the next year, which will require removal of one of the tight bolts to pull the caliper bracket, but I'm leaning toward pounding the bolts through.

I got the new spindles mounted up to the ball joints and the passenger's side is ready for final torquing of the spindle bolts. Driver's side is nearly there as well.

I really, really, really don't want to replace the front bearing races again, but I think it's the only choice. The vibration still exists after about 150 miles and is slowly growing worse, which tells me the bearings might be getting damaged. Again, why didn't I replace the spindles last time around?

By the way, the parts I ordered from discountbrakes.com on 10/14/09 arrived in three separate packages on two different days, the last of which was 10/20/09. Six days for shipping is average, and not a problem if you're prepared for it. Also, paying $15 total for S&H on two brake drums, a set of shoes, two wheel cylinders, and a hardware kit is pretty good! The bad news is now I have to replace the drums, shoes, wheel cylinders, and hardware on my daily driver.

 

Here are the specs for my car in 2009:

My Engine:

When blown:

The Rest of the Driveline:

Chassis and Suspension:

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Copyright © 2009 Bruce Johnson and Craig Watson