Took my 1937 Ford coupe out for a test drive today. The front wheels shimmy so bad that I had to keep it below 30 mph! Then the 430 Lincoln motor runs horrible unless I floor it. Gonna leave it be for a few days, try to get some ambition to see what's going on. And I thought it was nearing completion.
Made a comment to my girlfriend last night at the parts store (part packaged wrong). "This hobby is really pissing me off these day's".
You did the smart thing- walk away from it for a while.... You'll get it and you will be proud of your accomplishment.
Hard to tell from the pic, but it looks like too much toe out on the front tires. And those tail lights? Not feeling any love for them is all I’ll say....
The wheel shimmmy could be not tight enough on spindle nut or caster camber check check. The motor again go through everything. I’m sure you know the drill by now if you been building hot rods.
Chasing gremlins is a process. My 1st trip out of the garage with my new truck build netted me a list of about 10 things I needed to address. The 2nd trip out netted about 10 more smaller things to address, but those were easier to fix. After about 2,000 miles, I still have a few things to do (will have to wait until spring for now) but now it drives so nice, it was well worth the frustrations of those first few trips with what seemed to be the never ending lists. When you build them from scratch, there are things you just don't know exists until you drive them. You can't fix what you don't know exists. Hang in there, it will be worth the effort when you get in it and everything works great. Gene
Take a break then go back and carefully check the toe (a hair in is better than out) and caster (6-8 deg) more caster can make it more likely to shimmy. Check for looseness in the steering box, and all rod ends also the king pins and wheel bearings. Sounds like the engine has an air leak. Make sure that the carburetor is tightened down properly using the correct base gasket and all vacuum ports are plugged. I’ve been known to forget to plug a vacuum port on occasion.
Common problems we've all had. A good (4 wheel) front end alignment and a SoCal steering damper. If you're running an Edelbrock carb, and it's been sitting around for a while, that 10% ethanol fuel tends to plays havoc on (gums up) the low speed idle curcuit.
I used to set toe in/out by eye just to get my car on the road. Some people use the old string method which works if you have two people. I ended up seeing this from another Hamb member and purchased one. It truly is a one man operation, very easy to use. (It does run around $200, but I have used it so many times, I have gotten my money out of it, plus loaned it out many times. It will do caster and camber as well. Another great tool is pictured just for caster and camber. Purchased it from Speedway and it has worked well for me. I think it ran around $70.
It happens to any of us who resurrect a car from the ground up. My maiden '59 Ford run of about 40 miles... one of the shift levers was flipped. I had 1st, 2nd and 4th gear. We jacked it up, saw a rear tire loose... that was scary, how did I miss that?
It was late...and I guess my reply was too simplified. What I was suggesting is a professional alignment machine that uses a rear axle reference (for tracking) to set the alignment...as apposed to home made/home garage methods.
No problem Also, the other advantage to a professional alignment is, they can usually identify any hidden frontend problems (king pins, tierod ends etc.) as they make adjustments.
If you built from scratch and it was perfect in every way with no gremlins, what you do for entertainment? I fought these for three years after getting my avatar on the road, and still have one pop up now and then. Gremlins are educators for me, I learn something every time one shows his nasty little head.
I did look at the coupe today. As for the engine running like sh t, I checked the gap and found it had worn the rubbing block and the contact surface was pitted. So I cleaned the points up with some fine Emory cloth, set them at .016". Now it runs really good and sounds like a 430 with the 428cj grind should. The severe shimmy was a little harder to find. I set up 4 stands and strings to measure the toe. It has 3/4" toe in! So I will reset it tomorrow. I then jacked up the front axle and adjusted the brakes. They were too tight. Then I put a stand close to the side of the tires. I found the right front wheel is over 1/4" horizontal runout. I do have a new wheel to mount the tire on, but I will probably just switch it with the rear wheel to see if it helps. Thank you for all your help. Wish I could buy you a beer!
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