<VV> Axle shafts, wheel wobble & detonation.

[Hugo Miller]

I finally got around to putting some work into the '64 convertible I am 
planning to keep for myself. It has a very sound body which I have just 
painted Cascade Green, & looks lovely. But it doesn't go so well. I have 
a horrible wheel wobble that comes in & out of phase at 55 - 60 mph. It 
has new Maxxis tires in wire wheels incidentally. I just spent half the 
day checking to see whether the hub adaptors are running out of true - 
the left one isn't quite true, but I'm not sure whether it is enough to 
cause any problems or not, and in any case I'm not sure what to do about 
it! I'm wondering whether some of this is due to the fact that I have a 
fair bit of play in the right-side axle-shaft flange where it comes out 
of the diff. That can't be helping. What is the cause of this normally? 
There is a tiny bit of play in the left-side u/j, but not enough to make 
any different to anything.
The engine is a bit tired, and it's a low-power motor, but I have a 140 
engine I am going to rebuild to put in there. But I would like to get 
this one running better for now so I can use the car. The main problem 
is it overheats after about ten or fifteen miles - even on a cool 
Florida day - & I have to wait for it to cool down before I can go any 
further. I took the bottom shields off, expecting to find the fins all 
clogged with leaves where the storms had blown them in, but they all 
look clear enough. I was thinking of putting a hose pipe down there 
through the fan & see if anything comes out. Or would an air line be 
better?
And it detonates like crazy - not pinging, but a heavy knock. At first 
I thought it was piston slap, but it doesn't do it from cold. It does 
start doing it before the engine gets the slightest bit hot though - 
before it has even reached running temp I would say. I haven't checked 
things like ignition timing yet. I'm not quite sure which job to tackle 
next, so I thought I'd throw this lot out there to see if anybody has 
any suggestions?