Feels like I've been on a boat on the ocean

[Infinitrium]

The Aspire is safety inspected and all legal for the road! I had it out for my first highway drive in it this afternoon. I noticed my engine turns 3500 rpm at 100 km/h (62 mph), 3800 at 110 km/h (68 pmh), 4200 at 120 km/h (74 mph) and 4500 at 130 km/h (80 mph). I figure either my speedo is off by 6 mph, or maybe I've got the 3.63 final drive from the later model Aspire ATX or my tach is reading about 400 rpm too fast. Which do you think is the most likely? I'm running 175/70-13 inch tires if that makes a difference. About that boat on the ocean thing..I notice the Aspire doesn't seem to track too straight on the highway. I find I have to make small corrections to it's path in the lane every few seconds. One other thing I notice is that occasionally when I'm rounding a corner, or even going in a straight line if I press the gas pedal or let off on it I can feel the car's direction change slightly. It's just somewhat unnerving when it happens. Sawy bar bushings? I'm going to take it for a front end inspection in a few weeks, but if you guys can steer me towarda a solution I'd appreciate it. If it does come down to those sway bar bushings, how long of a job is it? I don't feel that I can do something like that on my own, so I may just take it to the garage just up the road. He only charges 35 bucks an hour for labour, and he seems like he does pretty good work. Bahh, and my front end clunk is still present, but it doesn't bother me.

[Safety Guy]

Your 175/70-13 tires are one size larger than the stock 165/70s, so your engine is turning a bit slower than it would with stock tires. Your speedo should be showing your speed as a bit slower than you are really going. (That's just considering tire size now. A nonstandard final drive ratio could certainly change things around.)

Infinitrium wrote:

"One other thing I notice is that occasionally when I'm rounding a corner, or even going in a straight line if I press the gas pedal or let off on it I can feel the car's direction change slightly."

Hmm. Could be something loose in your front suspension. Could be worn out motor mounts, too, I think.

I'd check the front suspension out first. Especially the ball joints. CHECK THEM YOURSELF! I took my '89L to two places to get mine checked and both places said it was okay. IT WASN'T! I found out myself that my ball joints were loose later on when I got desperate and did it myself.

Get a shop manual, put your front end on jackstands, grab a prybar and learn to check them yourself.

If it's not the ball joints, then examine the bushings, etc. Also the motor mounts.

It's also possible you need an alignment I suppose. The shop manual details the steps to take to run down the problem.

I could always be wrong too! Good luck!

Karl

[FB71]

don't count on too many tachs being accurate, especially inexpensive aftermarkets and factory tachs. I've seen both be almost 1000rpm off. And 6 mph @ 65 is an acceptable error. Also keep in mind that rolling diameter is smaller than static diameter, usually by about 1/4 inch.

[Infinitrium]

don't count on too many tachs being accurate, especially inexpensive aftermarkets and factory tachs. I've seen both be almost 1000rpm off. And 6 mph @ 65 is an acceptable error. Also keep in mind that rolling diameter is smaller than static diameter, usually by about 1/4 inch.

So that means when the tach is showing 3800 rpm at 70 mph, I'm going slower or faster than the indicated speed?

[FB71]

usually slower, but the error can be in either direction. fwiw, mine is about the same, 3.8krpm@70mph.