Helping a club member with the rebuild of his original 350 out of his early build '79, that got cooked when water pump belt stretched and slipped and overheated badly.
Removed engine and had things checked over, bored block 30thou over, heads decked, new exhaust valves and guides etc

But have run into a strange problem during reassembly that i need a sanity check with.

I have been giving him a few of my spare parts that i have lying around that i don't think i'll need again.
Things like a brand new Howards Cam timing chain set (that i got when i bought a Hyd roller cam, but already had a better double row installed),
and a Powerbond harmonic balancer that i ran for a couple of years then swapped out for a new Powerbond with the timing marks etched in.

Now we have put the crank in, orig rods with new flat top pistons etc, then fitted the timing chain set in neutral position, no +/- advance added.


Now looking at my Powerbond (bottom balancer) compared to the original one we removed from the running engine, the timing mark is way out of position.


Engine is at TDC but the old balancer is way off the timing pointer.


Now i know from my boat racing engine days that they can slip, we used to put marks on the crank mount and the outer ring to keep a check if it has moved.
but that just seem like a lot of slip from an engine that was running great before the overheating drama.

Do we just go with the Powerbond as everything seems to line up as it should?
Just checking that we haven't overlooked something obvious .....

 

Yes. Correct marking is the timing mark is just a little off from the keyway......
And yeah...that balancer spun the big one......nature of the beast.....45year old ****......and it give zero warning signs......rubber dries up and cracks, shrinks...and it happens.
Also....you are at #6 TDC at "dot" to "dot".....make sure you rotate the crank one whole revolution so both dots are at the 12 o'clock position.....before you put the distributor in.....that will be TDC #1....

Jebby

 

Thanks Jebby, I knew i wasn't going mad thinking i was missing something.

Yes I realized that the photo posted was not #1 TDC, but it was the only photo i took whilst pulling my hair out looking at the balancers.



edit: had the wrong year in title, was meant to be an early 79 build