Balancing question

[cruzin]

Have you guys tested without balancing or do you always do that?
I dont remember seing that anyone mention balancing in any thread.

1. When put lighter forged pistons in a 348/409 with stock rods?

2. When put lighter forged pistons and Scat or Eagle rods in 348/409?

3. When buy a Scat/Eagle balanced strokerkit? Does it works good?

I want to hear your experiences.

 

[poison ivy]

I balance engines, tires and checkbook.

 

[Phil Reed]

Yeah.....what Ivy said!!!!!!
Balancing ALL 3 of those things are very important!!

 

[Don Jacks]

I think that the balancing of the rotating assembly is,for most of us,is just a foregone conclusion when it comes to building just about any engine.

 

[MRHP]

Yup, what Don said.

 

[Tom Kochtanek]

Rotating assembly, yes. Check book, not so much....

 

[Blk61409]

Personally I gave up attempting to balance the wife’s checkbooks!! Engines an absolute given!

 

[Phil Reed]

I would have thought she would have her own Personal Financial Manager to take care of these menial tasks Pat?????!

 

[Blk61409]

Exceeded her unlimited expense account.

 

[IMBVSUR?]

Just my opinion. Balancing is no different than any other part you put in the building, or rebuilding of an engine. It just needs to be there if you want a quality engine. Yes you don't have to do it. You also don't have to time or jet your carb correctly to have an engine that runs. However hot rodding, or just most car enthusiast. want to make their cars the most efficient and powerful they can, and balancing is a part of that.

 

[409 wagon]

didn't do it once lesson learned, both engine and check book

 

[cruzin]

Thanks for your answers, i have built hundreds of engines over 30+ years, mostly stock rebuilds and many tuned with bigger cams, pistones and "mickey mouse" heads (when we talking SB) without balanceing, and never had any problem/vibrations. Balanceing has been a expensive part that nobody wanted to pay for and we also has a long way to a good machine shop. Now i buillt a 383 stroker with a balanced Eagle kit and it vibrates between 2500-3500 rpm. I will check it without the converter, its a custom built 2400 stall lock up converter that was cut apart and weld together. Its from a company i USA and i will see if the 383 feels better without it.
But for now on i will balance all my builds.

 

[MRHP]

Did it come with a harmonic balancer and a flexplate when you got the kit?

 

[cruzin]

Yes it did, and they were marked with some kind of working order number

 

[AK-Guy]

Considering my build includes stroking the engine 4-inches, new/different length rods, different than stock pistons, new harmonic balancer, and a flex plate, I had everything balanced to ensure minimal to no vibrations. Really important was the crank - even though it was a Scat and 'internally balanced', it was off several grams from the front and rear - my machinist used heavy metal to get it back in tolerance. These blocks are so hard to come by, why destroy one by not putting the time/energy/money into the front part of the build?

 

[Don Jacks]

Yes,I've been told by a reliable source that these Scat kits do require a "small" amount of Mallory metal to be internally balanced.

 

[cruzin]

Yes,I've been told by a reliable source that these Scat kits do require a "small" amount of Mallory metal to be internally balanced.

The Scat kit for #1 348 stroker is now at the machineshop, they should have that and another 250 hp 327 040 rotating assembly ready for me on friday, ill let you know the results.

 

[cruzin]

The 348/440 Scat kit is now back from balancing and it needed very little to be perfect. No material/weight was added, just some small holes drilling in the "rear" counterweight. My customer is going manual and there was some balancingholes to be drilled in the OG flywheel. The damper and the "front" of the crank was perfect.