Historically, the number 13 has been considered to be unlucky. Most hotels do not have a 13th floor. My neighbor has the house number 6666, which probably means no one from China would buy the house. Such is the power of superstition. However, when it comes to finding out why the Bluebird, my 1962 Pontiac, shimmers like a pole dancer at high speed, the number 13 is very beneficial. Let me explain.
On a recent round trip between Monument, Colorado and Rosie’s Dinner with the 11 o’Clock Club street rods, the Bluebird ran nicely on the state highway at about 50 mph. On the return trip on I-25, it did the pole dancer thing at high speed jiggling its hood, as well as the water in the bottle holder. Now this was actually a discouraging sign. I had a new aluminum balanced drive shaft installed, and the pinion angle properly set. The brand new Michelin tires had been balanced twice, so why the vibration? Did Bill miss on the driveshaft balance, OR did Discount Tire miss on the balance, OR is there a bad wheel or loose motor mount, AND how the hell am I going to find out?!?!
Time to go to Jerry Price in Castle Rock and ask for his help. Jerry is a master technician who has “been there and done that” several times. His son Dusty essentially built the Bluebird working in my garage. Jerry has a vibration analyzer that will tell what is causing the vibration. I imagined a plug in electronic box with sensors attached to the frame plus a cable to a laptop.
Then we would see some dancing waveforms, which Jerry could interpret, or maybe he needed a shake table like I used for vibration testing at the Aeromedical Lab in New Mexico.
I was surprised when Jerry came out of his garage with just a small black box in his hand. He said, “I’ll drive,” as he simply placed the box on the console with no need to plug it in. After he started driving, the little white mechanical fingers in the box started vibrating. Each vibrating finger has a number associated with it. It looked like something from the 19th century.
After he blew off a frisky Ford Raptor that challenged the Bluebird at a stop sign, he started looking at the vibrating fingers in the black box. Within a minute, Jerry said the vibration is caused by unbalanced tires. “The meter finger at 13 Hertz indicates the primary vibration frequency. That is a sure sign that the tires are imbalanced. Go see Todd at Elway Chevrolet, and ask him to balance the tires.”
Todd Terri, the Service Manager, has been very helpful to me in the past. The LS3 engine, six speed trans, and the computer were all new, over-the-counter purchases at Elway. Todd said he had a balancing specialist who could conduct a road load balance of the tires on the special balance machine. I left the Bluebird with him; when I picked it up and drove it, it did not feel like the same car. It was as smooth as my Cadillac. I asked the mechanic what he discovered. He said one tire was off 2 oz. and another was off 2.5 oz.
So this means no more pole dancing by the Bluebird. It will now be a smooth waltz. Next up – if I can just get the emergency brake to work. The beat goes on . . .
Merry Christmas