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Proof of Concept - Drum Balancing

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HealeyRick

HealeyRick

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Drove the Outback through some deep snow yesterday. When I took it on the highway today it had a strong vibration throughout the car that wasn't there before, but felt like it was coming from the front wheels. Increased around 60 mph After pulling over and checking the wheels I found a chunk of ice about 2" square that had formed around the inside of the rear wheel. Couldn't have weighed more than a couple of ounces. Pried it off and the vibration was completely gone. Amazing how such a small amount of weight in the rear wheel could cause such a vibration. Reminded me of our Healey brake drums.
 
When the better weather comes, I will conduct a few basic tests to further determine if my newly balanced brake drums (resulting from drilling equidistantly placed drilled holes on one side while welding pieces of metal rods opposite) will improve my cars handling.

Some basic testing I plan to do will be to raise the rear car and check for centered wheels, drums, tires in motion, installation of new drum set screws, making sure drums are as centered as possible, too, etc. These are just some tips mentioned to me by the guy who balanced the drums.

And these are tips he mentioned because my gyration issues have virtually all but disappeared while driving at 60 mph (95%+ disappeared). I feel his work is excellent but even if all my further testing does not satisfy ridding my issues 100%, well, I do have a second set of balanced drums I can try (since I had the second set, figure I get them done, too).

So I hear you Healey Rick...what a few ounces (and maybe less) can do.

Paul
 
That's interesting. I was considering getting my drums turned and I assume they can also be balanced at the same time?
 
nevets said:
That's interesting. I was considering getting my drums turned and I assume they can also be balanced at the same time?
Click to expand...

You'd have to check with the machine shop that's doing the turning, not all are capable of doing it. Hendrix Wire Wheel can do the balancing, not sure if they turn them as well
 
Everything is good with my drums. Come spring, I'll inspect other issues as suggested by my machinist including axle placement, bearings, brakes, body mounts and as I started to mention above. Machinist's shop seems to do it all, rebuilding every exotic car engine as well. Seems to know his stuff. I have total confidence in his work. And he is local to me so that helps a lot, too.

The work he has done has allowed me to drive the Healey at 55-65 with very little or no gyration, hence the 95% satisfaction I'm giving.

But that tiny remaining bit is something I am going to investigate just to see if I can figure the remaining cause. But I can definitely live with it now.
 
Hi All,

After completing my rebuild of my BJ8P1 in the summer of 1989 and installing new 72 spoke chromes, my Healey was as solid as a rock ... not a tremmor at speeds up to and over 100 mph. However, after the first year, the shake began, slowly at first, and then a little harder but no where what it was before. I guess things had settled in which allowed for slight mis-alignments and balancing.

Over the years, I have added another leaf to the rear springs to stiffen them and raise my low-slung pre Phase 2 suspension to clear the resonator on dips, made a jig to balance the drum with the wheel on spin balancers (requiring wheel and drum to be mounted with each other at the exace position when balanced - index line on drum and wheel). and made sure all bolts remain tight and all components solidly positioned.

Although I am an original and enthusiastic owner and love its look and character, I get aggravated at how bad the engineering is in this car and a number of British cars of the day. A cooling system with a porous radiator bulkhead that allows hot air recirculation, a week substructure and integrated frame constructed of internally untreated 15 gauge sheet metal, a live axel rear suspension mounted above the spring that is susceptible to further uneven (side to side) sagging, an engine compartment lacking clear rearward flow that becomes pressurized at high speeds and causes diminishing heat escape, etc.

With all these faults, I still love the car and I guess its because, like most, I enjoy correcting the difficulties as much as I enjoy the driving. Apposed to my Son-in-Law's Porsche, which seems to have little or no faults and just drives perfectly, I have never been at a point of saying my Healey is DONE and nothing more to do … and I like it that way.

Not a complaint but a reality,
Ray(64BJ8P1)
 
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I wonder how the Healey engineering compares with other mid-50's cars. Newer cars should have better engineering, that's why vintage racing classes are based in part on age of the cars.
 
Overall, I think our 1956 Healey 100 compares well with our 1955 Thunderbird. Both the T-Bird and Healey are 'semi-monocoque,' in that they don't have a separate frame. Both have generators, but the T-Bird has a 6-volt ignition system, problematic to say the least (they got 12V in '56). American cars, overall, had somewhat plusher interiors (FWIW). My neighbor's 50s-era--not sure of the year--Mercedes 300 'Gullwing' is light years ahead, with a tubular frame and mechanical FI but, of course, it was and is an 'exotic.' Most 50s-era cars were big, heavy, wallowing pigs so all Healeys handle better. Our '65 Mustang is not a significant improvement, either, though it has an alternator and the interior is plusher. It has really crappy drum brakes. Any car with rack-and-pinion will steer better.
 
The term "muddle through" has been applied to the Brits' approach to many things including politics, warfare and engineering. At the time our Healeys and other LBC cars were at the height of their popularity the English had a substantial share of the import market of not only cars but motorcycles and bikes. Fast forward ten or so years and the Japanese and Germans ate their lunch as they simply made a better product and beat the British at their own game. American cars weren't much better but our industry survived--just--the "import boom" as lots of people wanted big domestic cars, not to mention tariffs and cheap oil, etc.

I think our Healeys reflect the pre-WWII technology that carried into the 1950's and 60's and they were just fine until they no longer were, and by that time it was too late to do much about it.
 
Michael Oritt said:
The term "muddle through" has been applied to the Brits' approach to many things including politics, warfare and engineering. ..
Click to expand...

Fair enough, but sometimes they knock one out of the park (Spitfires, Merlins, the Jag C-Class and of course, Healeys, come to mind). And, they did invent one type of jet engine.
 
Yes, 50's /60's automotive engineering was quite primitive by today's standards. That isn't to say that the those early Brit cars were not innovative, both technically and in design and styling. Think Mini, E-Type Jag, Lotus Elan, Healeys and others.
 
Hi All,

Please don't misunderstand. I do believe that British cars have some elegant and ingeniously creative components and ideas but, in most cased, mixed with some ridiculous counterpoints as well. Think of the rear suspension of the XKE. It is nicely laid out and even incorporates inner mounted disk brakes (as apposed to wheel surrounded) for better cooling. However, I understand from a friend who specializes in E-types, its rear also incorporates 21 oil seals with a built-in probability that 1 will leak.

As I see it, when considering cars of the day, we relate to the British cars we favor because of their character … seldom for their engineering. When I considered the Healey, I saw a very high percentage of Character at an approachable price and with the XKE, Character and Engineering but financially out of touch for me at the time. So, how would you proportion a 1954 Alfa Giulietta Spider or Porsche 356 Roadster, both having quite good innovative engineering and even roll-up windows that seal to a fitting top. Why were these passed over when making your decision?

Again, my decision for trading my Customized 1958 Pontiac Convertible on the purchase of a new 1964 Austin Healey BJ8P1 and passing on an Alfa 2000 or a Porsche 911 and actively keeping it for the next 55 years (this April) so far, was more a match of characters. But I must admit, part of its character was in its not being perfect and has allowed me to contribute.

How much of my choice was also in yours,
Ray(64BJ8P1)
 
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Sorry couldn't just leave it there. In our defence here are a few firsts we muddled thru on:-
Bridge made of cast iron, electrostatic motor, threshing machine, vaccine, incandescent light, steam locomotive, haymaking machine, macadam road construction technique, portland cement (concrete), electric transformers and the model for nearly all modern electric generators, electric telegraph, pedal bicycle, steam-powered, screw propeller-driven passenger liner with an iron hull, medical hypodermic syringe with a needle fine enough to pierce the skin, light switch, classification of fingerprints, discovering the electron, first independent air force in the world, first public demonstration of a television, the jet engine, cat's eye road marking, first mechanical and electronic programmable computer, Enigma decoding machine shortened WWII by a year, the concept of microprogramming, carbon fibre, DNA profiling, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee a proposal for the World Wide Web and HTML and HTTP protocol, touchpad pointing device, first SMS message is sent over the UK's GSM network, ThrustSSC jet-propelled car sets the land speed record, first screw-cutting lathe, Whitworth thread was the world's first national screw thread standard.
Of course we don't seem to be able to do anything now!
AJ
 
AJ/All--

My post was not an exercise in bashing your country or its accomplishments, simply a remark about the history of its automotive industry.

Americans in particular and the world in general owe a tremendous debt to the British for many things more important than any of the technological developments you list: In a time of the "Divine Right of Kings" the Magna Carta was a momentous step in what eventually led to transferring power, rights and wealth from the privileged class to the common man. For all of the faults of the Colonial system, in countries where they ruled the British upon exiting left behind a framework of democratic institutions and rule of law (though things admittedly often broke down badly once they were gone...). And, Anglophobes and rewriters of history notwithstanding, it was the English who stood strong and alone for several critical years against the Axis powers before the USA entered WWII.

Plus, you left off penicillin.
 
No offence taken just a bit of a laugh. But, in answer to Danny's point:
Reflecting telescope, seed drill, marine chronometer, spinning frame, soda water, hydraulic press, glider,tension-spoked wheel, tin can, modern fire extinguisher, lawnmower, photography, chocolate bar, synthetic dye, Bessemer process, linoleum, sewage system, modern torpedo, light bulb, pneumatic tyre, thermos flask, electric vacuum cleaner, disc brakes, stainless steel, military tank, hovercraft, automatic kettle, float glass, hip replacement, collapsible baby buggy, ATM, wind-up radio.
And last but not least:
AMERICA


In 1170 Welsh prince Madog ab Owain Gwynedd sailed from Wales and reached America. He returned to Wales to tell his fellow countrymen of the great wonders that he had found. He landed at Mobile Bay, Alabama and travelled up the Alabama river along which there are several forts said by the local Cherokee Indians to have been constructed by “White People”. These structures have been dated to several hundred years before Columbus and are of a similar design to Dolwyddelan Castle in Wales. An Indian tribe was discovered in the 18th century called the Mandans. This tribe were described as white men with forts, towns and permanent villages laid out in streets and squares. They claimed ancestry with the Welsh and spoke a language remarkably similar to it. Unfortunately the tribe was wiped out by a smallpox epidemic introduced by traders in 1837. A memorial tablet has been erected at Port Morgan, Mobile Bay, Alabama which reads: “In memory of Prince Madog, a Welsh explorer, who landed on the shores of Mobile Bay in 1170 and left behind, with the Indians, the Welsh language.”
 
If I may, back to British cars. What I always liked was when it quit on the road you could pop the hood fix it with the tools and spares you always carried and get home. Can't do that with my Audi, the only way I'd get home would be with a cell phone. They might even survive an electro magnetic pulse episode.
Angus
 
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