Does anyone have a recommendation for a competent when it comes to balancing a rotating assembly here in the DFW, TX area. I have talked to a couple about it and honestly when I mentioned the concept of front neutral and rear externally balanced ....their eyes glassed over...then started talking about talking a pound or more of metal off the crank...Scat said find a new technician...

Thanks

Sam

 

Millions of SBC built this way since '87.
Is the crank a factory style 1 pce seal crank?
All they have to do is balance whole rotating assembly with flexplate and balancer attached.No biggy.

 

Save yourself some cash and buy a balanced assembly that comes with the crank, pistons and rods, pre balanced.

I have bought individual components before trying to save money, and then the balance costs me another $150-$200 on top of the parts.

lastly, get neutral balance and be done with it, less costly FW parts etc. I have bought all 3 ,,,,,,, neutral, external, external rear and nuetral front...

 

You might check with the locals at your nearest drag strip and see who the shops are that the racers believe to be competent. You have the Texas Motorplex in Ennis. I don't know what's close to Denton though. You could check NHRA.com and search for a track near you. Good luck.

 

I have a 383 fully internal balance being done right now.
After the crap I went through making sure my new flywheel was match balanced to my old flywheel when I did my clutch a couple years ago convinced me it's worth the little extra this is going to cost.

 

Its not a biggy, but getting someone who acts competent would be encouraging. I had one guy tell me they would start by carving more than a pound off the crank...that is BS.

 

Agreed...I own the crank, rods, pistons..rings, flywheel (Spec) and balancer...all new...

I started out with the concept that I would install a new dual mass fw when the engine goes in the car ......that will happen later than sooner..but the concept of building a short block sounded like fun...up till now. Ordering the whole package lock stock and barrel would have been good. Surprisingly..I had trouble with Scat finding pistons that had the right dish size...12cc in hyperutectic piston...When you have LT4 heads flat tops are prohibitive when it comes to compression.

 

Its a factory style one piece seal and I have everything...flywheel...balancer....nuts bolts and washers...

Sam

 

I agree it's no biggy to have everything balanced as an assembly, but it can simplify a number of things if you're fully internally balanced.
For example my shortblock is being built out of state which would mean shipping my balancer and flywheel to them if it was externally balanced, but internally balanced it means I just slap my neutral FW and balancer on when it arrives. It also means when my balancer wears and possibly spins I don't have to worry if the balancer on the engine had anything added or removed, I just go to the store and pick up a new nuetral balancer and I know it'll be the same as the one that came off the engine. Same thing goes for the flywheel/flexplate, if you don't have a competent machine shop local it can be kind of pain to find one that understands match balancing a new flywheel/flexplate to an old one. I had to call three shops before I found one the understood what I was wanting and didn't ask me to bring in the entire rotating assembly.
Can someone explain to me the purpose of external balancing, if assembly is being balanced with HB and FW on it why not just balance it without? This question isn't me being smartazz, I honestly don't know.

Sorry didn't expect this post to be so long.

 

That is the point.Yours is a interrnaly balanced engine
His is ext balance from the factory. If he internally balances his engine , he has possible problems getting a neutral balance flywheel off the shelf to suit If he stays with the factory ext balance setup, he can walk into any shop and say flywheel for a 1 pce seal crank engine please.
All SBC balancers are neutral EXCEPT 400 ci

It is not the "purpose" but the cause.
When GM went to the one pce seal crank with the round crank flange there was nowhere for the counterweight to go so they added the weight to the flywheel and balanced accordingly.1 pce and 2 pce cranks flywheels have different bolt patterns and won't interchange so he can't just throw on any neutral bal flywheel like you can.
As a note
The factory considers the crankshaft to be a "internal " part so the old style 2 pce seal cranks with the counterweight on the flange are INTERNAL balance.
Where the weight is on the flywheel it is "external " to the engine so the engine is EXTERNAL balance.

A member had his 1 pce seal engine internal balanced as recommended by his shop ; then had to get the weights cut off his DM flywheel because they don't make a DM flywheel to suit int balance engine
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c4-t...ozing-oil.html

Some DM reading
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c4-t...l-article.html

 

The 383 I have being built is one piece RM luckily I have a Fidanaz FW so it's just a matter of removing the weight.
Explain to me a little more on the balancing of the crank, if there's no where to put a counter weight, and I know what you're speaking of, it explains the odd shape on the rear of a 2 pc rm crankshaft.
My question is why couldn't weight just be removed from the opposite weight internal on the one piece rear main crankshaft? Is that will be done to mine to make it internally balanced?

Rod, understand I'm not questioning you on these things, I'm learning and appreciate the info.

 

The factory probably took the ext approach as a cost measure; cheaper than balancing the crank .
I believe in most 1 pce ext to int balance jobs weight is added to the counterweights;
Will be dependent on your rotating assembly

 

Regardless of the reasons why a crank is internally balanced, externally balanced or as the Lt cranks are balanced internally (frnt) and externally (rear) my reasons for wanting to balance the crank as the factory did is simply to help insure that it remains as close to a stock configurations as possible. It makes it easier to find parts in the future and keeps the car as close to its original design for any future owner who might not know what in heck any of this meant. Respecting a cars design is important on a number of levels. Ever wonder why a car in its original condition usually sells for more than one with $10,000.00 in mods. That is my take on it after doing this for the last 35 yrs. Using factory like parts and holding to a factory design concept has its benefits.

 

I would have been better off probably.

 

Here's a name in the DFW area to call he knows all there is to know he has engines running in the 3.xxx second 1/8 mile. Not saying he's cheap but does know how to do engines the correct way.

Hans Feustel Racing Engines
Complete Machine Shop
Parts and Dyno service
Custom racing engines
817 244 2455

 

I appreciate the recommendation. I will give them a call this AM!!

Sam

 

Okay, here's some DFW information for you that may help and may not.

There used to be an old fellow in East Dallas named Bill Bailey. His business name was Bailey Crankshaft. He and his son bored a block for me and did some valve work several years ago. I tried to reach them since then and can't find them.

I suspect that the old fellow died, but his son is VERY competent. If you can find him, you can rely on him. He may very well be working for someone elses shop now.

If you google Bailey's Crankshaft, the old address and phone number will come up. If you are successful with your detective work and can find YOUNG Mr. Bailey, go to him in whatever shop he might be working in and he will speak this language and be able to do quality work for you.

Hope this helps!

 

Much appreciated!!

 

Spoke with Hans....I think we've got a trip to FW in our future..

 

I delivered my rotating assembly to Hans today. seems like a real nice guy and knew what was going on. Certainly not in the "redneck" good'ol boy mold that I have run into. He had a couple of matching big blocks in the back of his truck that he picked up in Houston over the weekend out of someones drag car...impressive chunks of aluminum...In fact most everything in the shop with cylinder walls....was some kind of sleeved aluminum. Thanks for the recommendation. I let you know more after we pick it up...

Sam