Balancer bolt help

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Jan 30, 2006 | 12:05 PM

#21

vettenuts

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From: At the beach in little Rhody

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbx1047cc

My cover was off when I replaced the seal, but it didn't take much pressure to remove or install. You could probably leave it on. You will however, need to loosen all the bolts so as to properly center and reinstall the crank pulley. You leave it loose as you tighten the pulley so it centers itself....when you are finished tightening the pulley, you can tighten the timing cover.

Why would he need to remove the cover, it should already be centered. The seal will not make any difference.

Jan 30, 2006 | 06:16 PM

#22

Dan_the_C5_Man

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Joined: Dec 2003

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From: Atlanta metro Ga.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vettenuts

Why would he need to remove the cover, it should already be centered. The seal will not make any difference.

The manufacturing tolerances between one seal to another are insignificant. You'd be better off NOT removing the cover than you would be to do so.

Jan 30, 2006 | 06:56 PM

#23

Blow Torch

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Melting Slicks

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From: Dublin GA

Quote:

Originally Posted by vettenuts

Why would he need to remove the cover, it should already be centered. The seal will not make any difference.

That's actually what I was thinking; If it was centered before, it should still be good.
I'm leaning toward not replacing the timing chain. The car actually has less than 50,000 miles, and since I'm only going to be running a little over 400hp, the stock chain should be good. If I was running a SC, it would be a different story. I do run nitrous, but only on occasion.

Jan 30, 2006 | 07:39 PM

#24

vettenuts

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From: At the beach in little Rhody

My reason for suggesting is the springs on the Dart heads are pretty stout.

Jan 30, 2006 | 07:45 PM

#25

C66 Racing

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Joined: Aug 2001

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From: King George VA

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patches

You'll need to at least replace the bolt since it is torque-to-yield and, thus, not reusable. You can get a replacement from GM or a reusable version from ARP. I would replace the crank pulley regardless since it's possibly toast already - I wouldn't trust it if it looks OK anyway. Also, I would pin the pulley to the crank as suggested above to avoid this issue in the future.

And I can't stress that enough...

After having my motor rebuilt in late 04, I had my balancer come off on the second practice lap at the 2004 SCCA National Championship Runoffs when I was at full throttle and very high rpm. I eventually lost the motor. When the motor was rebuilt, a new harmonic balancer bolt was used, but a new balancer was not. And, the service manual procedure was followed.

After talking to several other SCCA T1 teams, I found most of them use red locktite on this bolt (since we can't pin it per the rules).

Bottom line, in my opinion a balancer that has been pulled off the crankshaft won't be tight enough to stay on - use a new one. And either locktite or pin the crank. Please don't relearn my $6k+ lesson.

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Jan 31, 2006 | 04:24 AM

#26

Blow Torch

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Melting Slicks

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From: Dublin GA

SD
Based on yours, along with all the other feedback, I will definitly be replacing the balancer, and proably the seal. I am looking for a underdrive pulley (10%) and if I can get one for a resonable price, I'll install it, PINNED!!

Jan 31, 2006 | 06:27 AM

#27

vettenuts

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From: At the beach in little Rhody

The ATI balancer is a beautiful piece of US workmanship. It is rebuildable and comes in 10% underdrive. It also has a keyway machined it in already so pinning the crank with the ATI kit is a piece of cake. The parts are more than others though, but ATI was having a direct sale over the holidays, not sure if it is still on now though.