Noisy Ek

strogger · Post by **strogger** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:40 pm

Guys and Gals,

Being relatively new to the early holden scene I have no "feel" for the mecanicals in these cars, so this maybe a bit of an odd question but would apprecitate any feedback or guidance you can provide.

My EK (standard grey motor and hydramatic transmission) seems to really scream at any speed above 45MPH, pushed it to 60Mph today as had a cranky semi driver up my tail pipe and the poor old grey sounded like it was going to have a coronary.
Am i expecting to much to get 55 / 60Mph out of my car???
I usually sit on 50Mph but collect a few unhappy comuters at this speed.

I know my diff is U/s as it sounds like a train is following me everywhere i go, probably explains the "out of balance" feedback through the driveline i get when coasting or lightly "throttling off" at speeds above 35mph and the diff is probably not helping the grey with any resistance it would be getting back through the drive line ???..

Anyone had any similar experinces they can share???

rosco · Post by **rosco** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 9:05 pm

Hi Strogger,
I have only driven a hydra once - and remember it working pretty hard compared to my own bus.............
They are supposedly good for around the 80 mph mark - some better than others..........
I would expect, as time and issues pass, you will get yours back to a comfortable state - I am not suggesting it to be in trouble, but when your vibration and (rail) issues are resolved - it will most likely feel a lot "free'er"

Many in our club with Hydra's have changed to diff centre from the std 3:89 to a 3:55 with noticeable advantages............ drops the revs down a bit at highway speed - trade-off is a slight loss of power..........

I am wondering how your universal joints are - you mention vibration and noise - may be worth a peek........

- just my two cents worth as a reply.......

frats,
Rosco

karsten · Post by **karsten** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 9:43 pm

i put a 3.08 in mine after trying a 3.36 i think it was, and it had a 3.89 which i did get 80 miles out of down a hill once in the begining but reving real hard im happy with the 3.08 as the grays have good torque at low revs ,,and seem to handle it well,, probabley makes the hydo spin slower to,, vibration could be uni ,s worn spline in box or maybe have a look in the bell houseing at the drive plate mine threw a spring and made a grinding sound and vibrated the moter even at idle maybe jack it up and check for wheel bearing play,,,, and look for bell houseing bolt tightness,,, the engine fan can make a lot of roar at high revs also if your looking for noise when your in full noise mode

stinky · Post by **stinky** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 9:47 pm

What size tyres do you have on?
Over the years I guess the very tall crossplys got replaced with a radial and probably a smaller profile too which will effect your gearing.

Craig · Post by **Craig** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:03 pm

Like rosco said on the U joints and check the slip yoke out where the uni fits mine was flogged out and vibrated like mad at 65 mph had the tail shaft rebuilt (in Dubbo) and balanced it is a lot better but still a vibration above 80 mine revs like mad on the highway to but the stereo covers a lot up you could change the diff ratio but that all depends on engine mods and type of driving you do you probably already know that the crash box can be a bit of a dog in traffic

strogger · Post by **strogger** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 7:45 am

Thanks for the advice guys.

The grey is up for an oil change today so will check uni's, wheel bearings and tail shaft splines while its up on stands. Will also run a spanner over all mounts, etc whilst I'm under there too.

forgot to mention tyres are 165/70R13 (A little on the small side i know)

I my get a discrete tacho and mount it up for an acurate measure of rpm rather than rely on my "feel"

Thnaks again.

FB MAD · Post by **FB MAD** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 9:56 am

Have a look in this section for a post I put up on 1/1/08 called "Diff ratio versus Engine Revs" and there will be some info on engine revs using various diff ratios.

If, once you sort out your vibration problem, that you are still not happy with your high/noisy engine revs at highway speeds maybe consider a diff change to a red motor diff centre as others have suggested.

A red motor 3.55 or 3.36 ratio centre will bolt straight into the grey diff housing.Grey axles will fit straight in also.The only thing you have to change is that the grey motor rear uni joint has to be swapped to a red motor uni joint which is easy to do and uni joint for red diff only costs about $30 or so.

One thing to watch out for is that there is also a fine spline red diff centre as well that ( from memory ) came out in HX/HZ Holdens.They won't fit as is unless you change the fine spline spider gears to coarse spline gears.
You will need a coarse spline diff centre.

3.08 and 2.78 also had a longer bolt as well so you would need that longer bolt or make your own if you went to these ratios but a 3.08/2.78 would probably be too tall for a Highlydramatic gearbox to handle effectively and get reasonable power/economy also.

I'd go 3.55 or 3.36 and see how it goes with either one of them.They are an easy changeover and can be done in a few hours.

Just remember, you don't get something for nothing.
With either diff ratio change there will be power loss staged at each drop in number value.Only slight with a 3.55 and a bit more again with a 3.36 but engine revs will also drop for a set speed accordingly as well.

Hope that helps,

Terry.

roto · Post by **roto** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 6:53 pm

Hey Strogger,
Have you checked the auto? It sounds to me that it may not be going into top gear.
Cheers Roto.

strogger · Post by **strogger** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 7:48 pm

Hi all,
Spent most of today under the EK checking and inspecting every drive line component i could get at (within reason.)

- diff oil is burnt and black (As expected.)but level is ok.
- removed tail shaft and checked / greased uni's one closest to trans was a little stiff on one axis (will be replacing.)
- Splines on trans output and inside tail shaft in excellent condition.
- tail shaft will get a balance at same time as uni replaced to eliminate that possability.
- wheel bearings good. but will replace as part of diff o/haul.
- removed inspection plates in bell housing and found flex plate springs intact, but found 1 x roller out of a roller bearing inside bellhousing.

(May have to remove trans to investigate.)
- getting all 3 gears, shifts nice and smooth, trans serviced 2 months ago.

I think my next step is a diff rebuild / tail shaft uni's and balance and see what happens from there.

Thanks to all for their advice and experience, will report my findings after diff and tail shaft are done.

troy_fb · Post by **troy_fb** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 1:30 pm

Another thing to check is the extension housing bush.
The vibration in my tailshaft got so bad that it ended up knocking the bush out of the extension housing. Then it got real bad

Once I got past 55mph it would centre itself through centrifugal force and go quiet, but as soon as I slowed down it would start shaking the sh1t out of the car again.

Once replaced it was much better. Still have some diff noise to fix one day.