My dad said he used the impact i thought to remove his balancer bolt on a different ls1 engine. Im thinking it would work. It is mainly just for loosening that bolt. No i didnt say to install the balancer but to remove the factory bolt maybe even without the locking tool.
Powerbond does make a 25% underdrive pulley for 181$ from rockauto. Should be about the same as an asp. This picture shows it without an ac belt but i believe photos to be incorrect as in description it shows 1 and 2nd serpentine. More Information for DAYCO PBU1117SS25 (rockauto.com)

 

this comes highly recommended for holding the crank in place for tightening the balancer. Watch the video by Toys4Life on YouTube. Episode 3 of his harmonic balancer swap series.

 

Great idea. May i ask if the factory balancer is threaded or is this for aftermarket balancers that area threaded. Sure the 3 bolts line up with most or all aftermarket 3 bolt threaded balancers they sell for ls1? Or does it insert into the factory balancer with the poles one the stock knotches in balancer? So works with both factory and aftermarket balancers? just want to be sure before buying? I was looking at the professional products balancer from jegs for 108$ vs the dayco/pb for 101$. Assault racing has a stock 7.5" balancer from kmj performance for a cheaper price then summits. I was also trying to squeeze in a elgin 287/282 220/224 114 .575/.575 lift cam in when doing the balancer change. Kmj has genuine elgin cams for a good price. Assault Racing 7.5" LS-1 LS-6 Chevy Harmonic Balancer LS1 Corvette GM Internal | eBay . Theres also speedmaster but havent dealt with them Chevy GM LS 6.780" 10% Underdrive Harmonic Balancer Damper | eBay

 

I use my impact to both remove and install the balancer. No problems ever......

 

The video series by Toys4Life will answer a lot of your questions.

There are a lot of balancers out there. My advice would be to choose one that has a lot positive responses by forum members. It’s sort of like reading product reviews on Amazon, pick through the statements to get a sense of the pros and cons.

The ATI appears to be the performance favorite, whereas either of the PowerBond models have received good reviews.

As for cam selection, there are many excellent choices. I would not let price be my guide, rather good reputation and product support. For example many forum members have been happy with Brian Tooley Racing and Texas Speed, but there are others.

Also don’t overlook Comp Cams, they have state of the art design and manufacturing processes and also manufacture the supporting components, such as lifters and springs. They have a vast store of knowledge available if you want to call and discuss your build objectives.

If you want options that are more OEM like Chevrolet Performance Parts, contact Scoggin-Dickey Chevrolet. They carry a wide array of components made specifically to work together in your LS engine. They have great customer service and their prices are fair.

Good hunting and enjoy the adventure!

 

Took the car out yesterday to run errands and didnt see any wobble with it running. Spoke with KMJ performance said the assualt racing balancer would work perfect for 130$ but didnt have a corvette ud pulley and the cams 234.99$ elgin 1939 was hoping to get them both at the same time and replace both while rack and pinion is off. Heres what they told me hopefully this will work perfect on a daily driver. i was looking at the powerbond 25% underdrive pulley similar to asp for 180$ from rock auto. ASP claims 13hp increase so it may be worth it to spend the extra on an underdrive pulley. Now with that being said do you need an overdrive alternator pulley like what ASP sells to keep the alternator charging correctly? Not sure but i ran a powerbond 25% black underdrive pulley on my 98 z28 and worked perfect but i do think after 5-10 years any rubber on a balancer may rot. My decoupler pulley arrives tomorrow so going to rent the tool from autozone and hopefully quiets down the marbles in the engine bay. I am trying to squeeze as much hp as i can on the car as its an auto stock converter without damaging the 4l60e. Im doing the mechanic work on it as i do know some things. Anyone had a shop install or replace balancer and or cam and how much did they charge in labor? That stuffs killer. If a pulley does have wobble to it or before it does walk off theres no way to damage the crank bearings correct worst case is the pulley will walk off leaving you stranded due to rubber being bad? id purchase a stock pulley or dorman but everyone one here had bad experiences with them. Not something i look forward to doing twice because a bad product.

To confirm this is an Elgin camshaft with Elgin cam card in an Elgin box. These are not regrinds. The under drive pulley is not something I have, but the Assault pulley you are looking at will work for you.

 

Yes,, I mentioned I run a 25% UD ASP balancer. However, since the C5s have such fussy electronics, ASP provides (at least they did back in 2004!) a special alternator pulley to ensure proper charging. I have both on my car. Also, I installed a DeWitts radiator when I made the pulley changes. 25% is quite a bit slower for the water pump. If you're running the stock radiator, with no plans to change it, I'd recommend you go with no more than a 10% UD balancer. A lot depends on where you're using the car. If you live in an area with triple digit high temps all Summer, I think you're OK with the 10%. If you live in a Northern border state, like Minnesota, Michigan, Maine, Montana (Yup-I like M&Ms candy, too!), etc., the the 25% should be good. Just saying if you're around 105°-110° high temps for 4 months in the Summer, I'd avoid the 25% UD. Some guys won't even run a UD balancer at all. My .02......

 

Great i don't think they make an alternator pulley for the decoupler size unless you're saying to swap to the solid pulley type for alternator. On my 98 z28 6 speed i didn't have to change alternator pulleys what makes you need the alternator pulley on the c5? It does idle lower being an automatic. I may just go with the stock size professional products for 108$ if not the 130$ assault racing balancer. I think the quality should be better then stock or the dayco/pb pulley. It is worth the 10+hp what asp claims if those are real dyno results. I live down in texas where its hot for the summer but my fans run all the time when the keys on so im not sure it may or may not get too hot when waiting in drive-thrus or stop n go traffic. I spoke with jegs for technical support on springs. They have a set of jegs beehives for 130$ (lighter spring) pac 1218s 190$ and lunati single beehives same same specs as pacaloy for 180$. He said they often use 1218s and the jegs 130$ beehives would work .600 lift like the others and that all 3 beehives worked with stock retainers locks. When i asked about pacaloy Lunati springs he mentioned lunati and pac spent a year engineering the springs together thus coming up with pacaloy. I like lunati their beehives are 10$ cheaper vs pac 1218s sold by them. Summit also has their own dual spring set for 180$ ls engines which may be better. I think the pac 1218s can be had for 140$-150$ from different sellers. Alot of amazon ebay sellers advertise them as the same or similar for around 100$ but don't believe they're the name brand springs. Not to get off topic just thought it was a good discussion from jegs on the spring topic and if those 3 beehives used stock retianers/locks. Seemed partial to 1218s.

 

You don't need dual springs for what you are doing I would use the Pac 1218's. Use the stock decoupler size pulley should be fine unless you have some monster stereo system in mind.
I took out my decoupler pulley because I had to use an 8 rib pulley for for my FI setup... Just remember Cheap, Fast, Reliable... You can't have all 3

 

You're saying a solid alternator pulley would have mounted to the 110amp decoupler pulley alternator and not have any problems and be a direct bolt on replacement for the decoupler pulley? The main reason i had duals on my z28 was i got a good deal on a set of manley duals with titanium retainers on ebay and had heard of single pac beehives breaking in 2009 where as the dual spring may just make a ticking noise vs dropping the valve all the way. The manley titanium retianer dual springs are nice by the way i have no idea about summits. I used them with a small bullit cam, tfs pushrods on my 98 z28 and s475 turbo stock longblock with the 25% ud powerbond pulley.

 

So true! Good work ain't cheap, and cheap work aint good!!

 

Yes, only the A4 cars had the decoupler pulley. So if you change to a non-decoupler pulley like the Z06 has you will be fine. Here is some info on how and why they are used..

 

Do you have a link on where to purchase just a solid pulley that'll mount in place of the decoupler pulley? Would need an impact no? I received the new continental pulley i paid 29$ for shipped from ebay regular price is 79$ from rock auto so i think i got a good deal. One thing i will tell you is this decoupler pulley is pretty heavy in terms of rotational weight a solid pulley may be much lighter and less drag on the belt. Im going to rent the oemtools alternator service kit to replace the pulley in a few minutes. After that ill be back for the balancer and maybe cam change.

 

I got the nut and washer from Marc at vettenuts.net IIRC. He may also have the pulley you need. You will need the tools to remove your old decoupler and I just used my 3/8's Snap-On electric gun to install the washer and nut

 

ah i see i already have new decoupler pulley to install. Ill post pics of autozone rentals equipment in my other thread.

 

Well the balancer doesn't appear to be wobbling sorry i took this video at night after installing the alternator decoupler pulley. It probably will be a while until i accumulate a new balancer, cam, springs to do the balancer swap unless i run into catastrophic failure earlier. Had to take a scraper to the lower cradle and balancer had a bit of nasty grime on it as well as front cover. Eventually should get to swapping it with new front seal, balancer. Sprayed brakleen all over the lower cradle and oil pan didn't want to douse the front cover or balancer as dirty fluid may leak into front seal. Got a good look at how the rack and pinion is mounted as well as ebcm bracket. Looks to be a pain to work with. Im guessing you slide the rack and pinion out the side with everything disconnected.

 

My stock HB lasted 148K miles and 22 years. Even then it didn't go overnight.

 

You still running the stock 22 year old balancer or did you end up replacing it at those miles? Mines an auto with 92k miles 99.

 

Yup. See #2.

 

I see ill try to get to it before it does leave me stranded. I have enough cash for a pb 25% UD pulley which should add the 10+ horsepower asp claims but if youre saying the stock auto idles 600 rpm and wouldn't flow enough coolant i may get the stock size professional products or assault racing 7.5". I ran the black powerbond 25% ud pulley on my 98 z28 that was 6 speed and didnt have any charging issues or overheating but did idle higher i think. I also ran it without a thermostat and used a straight neck red csr thermostat housing to fit a backwards custom truck manifold turbo kit and never had problems using it as a daily driver. Only thing is i had to remove the ac but worked a niteshift. Im trying to get enough to squeeze a cam in since the rack and pinion has to come out. Hate to do that job twice.