Engine Balancing Question(s)

[Terry B.]

I've read about balancing the engine when rebuilding but haven't come to any conclusions. My questions are:
1. Is it something I should do?
2. Can I do any of it myself?
3. If I can what?
4. What is a good price range for having it done?
5. At what point in the rebuild process do I have it done?

Thanks for any comments or suggestions,

Terry

[TexasJ10]

Terry B , Try this link. It's pretty informative.

http://www.centuryperformance.com/engine_balancing.htm

[Rogue]

ive always been of the opinion that the crank, balancer and flywheel were balanced at the factory, and if you're not building a super hi-po racing engine( 550 horse and up ) than just matching the piston weights will suffice. I balanced my pistons on a paint scale down to under 1 gram, took them to my machinist and told him i couldn't get them "matched" - he said "darn! you only need to have them within 3 grams of each other for it to be considered balanced!" anyways he matched the rods with special fixture and pressed pistons on rods for me and we left it at that. the money i saved i spent on porting the heads smile.gif

[Al Johnson]

My machine shop charged $150 to balance my 360. They had to remove ridiculous amount from the flywheel, since apparently it was not supposed to be for a 360. ("But the e-bay seller told me...")
But $150 is their standard charge.
You have to have all machine work already done, your new pistons and rings and bearings in hand, basically ready to start reassembly.

[ October 10, 2002, 03:24 PM: Message edited by: Al Johnson ]