Inliners International Forums General Discussion Hi Performance Engine Balancing Questions

Do I need to balance my engine if it's not going to see anything over 5500 rpm????? I'm after torque for light towing. If I do..do I just balance/weight match the pistons and rods then just balance the damper and flex plate with the crank only without bob weights? Seems that it was the way it was done in the articles "SIX PACK TO GO". All advice is appreciated.

Thanks in advance
Randy S. Hager
Venus,TX

Randy, your understanding of the whole balancing concept is dead on. Mostly, in an inline engine, the main pieces of concern are going to be replacement parts like pistons and flexplates, and reman'ed harmonics dampers that cause the most issues in rebuilds. If you are reusing the same connecting rods and crankshaft and not mixing and matching up flexplates and dampers from different engines you have never run before, then I would probably not think you have much to worry about as far as balancing the whole assembly. Replacement pistons are generally within 5 grams of each other. Most shops will throw them on the scales for you and check them with no charge. Its only when you accumulate a variety of components from different places and people that you really might want to maybe spend the extra cash to at least have the piece of mind that everything is ok and have it all balanced.

In rebuilding my old 1950 216, just for kicks after I cleaned them,I checked the weight on the original pistons and rods. After all these years they were all within one tenth of a gram of each other! Somebody did a real good build at the factory and this engine must have been mauntained pretty well over time.

Drew & Scott:
Thanks guy for answering this question for me. For my peace of mind I'm going to weight match all my other parts and have the crank, damper and flexplate balanced. If anything should change on the crank I'll have it neutral balanced.

Randy,
Include the pressure plate too.
Your damper can be rebuilt (Damper Doctor, etc)before balancing.
With the long crank, long stroke, big rotating mass, I think balancing a 292 is mandatory, even for street use.

-Tad

Thanks TAD but I'm doing a 250 which I hope is a little easier to do. I'm also going to use a 700R4 (4L60) auto trans. I will include the flex plate and the NOS damper I have. This is only to help with reliability and not for any racing.

Thanks
Randy S. Hager
Venus, TX

Randy,
Ooops, sorry, I didn't catch the flexplate/250 info. I guess I've been reading too many posts and thinking about my 292.
Regardless, fully balancing is money well spent IMO.
good luck with your build!

Thanks TAD. All knowledge gain is greatly appreciated no mater what.