Well I did my disc brake conversion on my '73 Maverick finally and now everything else is falling apart. I found out the other night that my steering box was loose as hell while I was trying to track down a big vibration. That wasn't the vibration but difinately part of some other problem. I think my wheels are out of balance because when I get up to about 65 or 70 the car wants to vibrate into a thousand piece's. Also sometimes while just barely applying the brakes the wheel will shake back and forth real violently and the 14X7 in. wheels I put on it come real close to hitting the caliper. I had to run an 1/8" spacer to get some clearance. One side still rubs, but very faintly. 1/4" spacers for now should fix that. Start ups in the morning all of a sudden are very rough and smokey now. That happened over night along with the valves making noise now too. When the car is nice and warm and I'm in at a stop it sits there and vibrates like the valves are all out of wack. Also all of a sudden I can't get certain radio stations. The reception is horrilbe. This sucks. I'm buying a '66 Ford F100 this weekend so it's time to park the Maverick and do some major suspension and engine work. The car only has 62,000 original miles on it. The vibration when I step on the brakes has always been there since I purchased it. The car always had just a slight miss to it and it never did have an antenna! Anyways I just needed to vent off a little steam. Respond if you feel my pain, My Maverick is slowing dying.
old mavericks dont die. They just get sick sometimes and need some TLC. A little work here and there, and she'll be good as new!
Sounds to me like a wharped rotor or two, and a vacuum line that isn't connected. My apologies if I am wrong. Take another look at those, and at least it should run better, and stop better. The wheels should fit over the rotors and calipers ok, but I don't know if they are the stock wheels or not. Try a wider wheel, if you can find one. I did the swap, and used the 14" stock wheels for a while, and had no problem. Give those a try. Earl
I was going to say the same thing as earl. Your front end vibrates because of the warped rotors/drum up front or back or both. You car likely vibrates at speed due to unbalanced tires, or bad shocks---could be other things, but those are usually the culprits.
If it's running really bad, that can cause a vibration too. A bad miss can feel like a suspension problem sometimes. FIx the obvious problems and see what else dissapears.
Sounds like the vibration could be a number of things. First off, if you are useing the wheels you had when the car had drum brakes, it will cause a bad vitration when used with a disc brake set up. You should think about changing the wheels. Another possibility is that the idler arm or draglink could be worn out. Jack the car up off the ground about 1 inch so the wheels hang free. Put a bar under the wheel and check to see if the ball joints are worn out. Put your hands on the tire in a 3 o'clock and a 9 o'clock possition and shake the tire back and forth. There should be no play in the wheel. If there is, then the idler arm or drag link are shot. Both of these will cause a great deal of vibration if they are bad. Good luck.
Thanks for you feedback guys. Here's some more info if your curious. The rotors were turned. I have new tie rod ends, KYB shocks and centerlink. The idler arm is in good shape. The wheels are not the original they are centerlines that were on a buddys car years ago, I need to balance them and am doing so tomorrow. I wiggled the wheels with the car up in the air and saw that everything is nice and tight except for the steering box (GEEZ!!) I tightened that down. This car did the same damn thing with the drums, before I changed all this stuff. HAHA, Spark plug wires are NOT cross. I hope by now I know the firing order 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8. The valves do need adjusting. I haven't adjusted them yet because I'm going to rebuild the whole top end and do a cam change this winter. (soon I hope) Just keeping it mild. On the way home tonight I would just slightly put on the brake and the wheel would shake back and forth (an inch or more) very violently. (I'm thinking rotors, but I don't want to believe it). The shake while braking was not consistent every time I hit the brakes though. Also at 65-70mph the hole car wants to shake apart. (I'm thinking unbalanced wheels and yes Charlie a bad running motor) I don't want to believe that the rotors are warped but I'm leaning that way as per my ride home tonight. I think that because with the car up in the air and the wheels off I can sit there and turn the rotors and they will drag in one spot while turning them. Could the guy who turned them really screw up that bad, I mean really, WTF!! I'm pissed, I almost drove my car into a brick wall tonight because the vibrations are unbearable and I'm so uncomfortable in that car with the stock bench seat and all. AHHHHHH!!!!!!! Sorry guys, I guess it's been a long week. The front end of the car sits up too high so I'm cutting the springs tomorrow. I got some new poly spring perchs from work and a sway bar. I will quadruple check everything tomorrow and after I get everything done I'll let you guys know how it's working out. If none of this works I guess I'll have to buy new rotors. Thanks guys!!
wes- first of all...WTF!!!!! your mav is dying!!!!!! i think not. have some beer.. let her sit for a while. absence makes the heart grow fonder! take it one problem at a time but geeeez don't say she is dying! uhhhhh you sell poly spring perches? good luck
Well okay she's not dying. I fixed part of her. I cut the front springs and installed my poly perches. Then I got 245/60/14 BFG tires on the rear. I have 225/60/14 up front. The car was sitting two inches higher in the front now it sits 1 1/4" lower than the rear. By cutting 1 1/2 coils off, it lowered it 3.25 inches. I could of done a little less but I want the rear to be about an inch lower so I think it'll be fine. The vibration I was talking about seems to be gone. I was doing over 80mph tonight and it was running smooth. The only thing that is rough is the motor. I think I have a lifter or two sticking. Yeah I sell poly spring perches. We sell them for the Nova's but they are Mustang perches. They worked awesome!!
Wes; how much are your perches? Can you ship them around the country. This is a good thing to know. What else do you sell for our cars? Let us in on it, and maybe we could do some business with you. Thanks, Earl
Okay, If you want to know I work at ....... well just e-mail me here at wes@classicperform.com and I will get back to you with a price. Let me know what you are looking for and I can see if I can get it!! Thanks, Wes
Megawes, some other ideas the spacers that you are currently running, are they properly seated between the rotor and wheel? Are they warped? Do you have some stock rims and tires that you can use to see if that eliminates the vibration? Second, you indicated that the car runs like **** and the radio isn't working as well. Is it possible that you have an electrical problem such as the voltage regulator, bad alternator or coil that results in a poor idle? As stated above, vacuum leaks would also cause rough idling. When you switched to disc brakes did you go with manual or power? If power, is the booster diaphragm causing your vacuum leak? Just some thoughts
Well, I balanced the wheels and the vibration is gone. There is only a little vibration now and it's coming from the valves not being adjusted right.
