Your engine being a precision piece of equipment with many
interacting moving parts simply put, will run smoother and last longer if
balanced correctly. Regardless or whether it is to be used in as a high
performance racing engine, grandma's grocery getter, your weekend ride or your
beloved antique the cost of not balancing your engine could pale in comparison
to the potential future costs of an unbalanced engine. An unbalanced engine can
shorten the life of/or destroy critical engine parts as well as being annoying
and distracting.
As your engine spins, heat, friction and stress loads are
robbing your engine of energy and wearing on components. Did you know that a
1/4 ounce four inches from the centre of a part at 6,000 RPM can cause a force
of 114 pounds. Balancing your engine's rotating assembly lessens the vibration
and reduces internal loads allowing you to maximize horsepower and reliability.
What is Balancing ?
The components that make up your engines rotating assembly
all work together to produce your horsepower output. Your crankshaft and
attached components operate as a unit and must be machined and weight matched
to very close tolerances in order to reduce off axis loads and endure the high
stresses and operating temperatures your engine generates.
The first step in the balancing procedure is weight matching
the connecting rods to precise tolerances. First the big end of all the rods
are weighed and the lightest one is identified. The big end of each rod is
machined to remove weight until all the rotating rod ends are within close
specifications. This procedure is then repeated on the reciprocating ends of
all the connecting rods.
Pistons, wrist-pins, rings and clips are all weighed and
recorded. Each piston is individually weighed and the lightest one is
determined. This serves as a standard to which the remaining pistons are
precision machined so that they are all within tolerances. This should always
be done by an experienced technician using the proper equipment so as not to
jeopardize the integrity of your valuable parts.
Using the newly recorded weights the reciprocating and
rotating weights are calculated and bob weights are made. Bob weights are
attached to the crankshaft to simulate the weight of the pistons, wrist pins,
rings, retainers, rods, bearings and oil.
The crankshaft is placed on a computerized balancing machine
and bob weights are attached to it prior to being spun. The crankshaft with the
weights attached is then spun at optimum speed and the computer indicates the
amount of imbalance and where on the crankshaft weight needs to be removed or
added. The technician then machines the crankshaft removing weight or machining
and adding heavy metal where necessary to correctly balance the crankshaft.
No two engines are alike and as a result there are
differences in the procedures used for corrections. Depending on the
application, customer requirements and the specific situation the flywheel,
pressure plate and harmonic damper may be added to the crankshaft during
dynamic balancing in other situations they may be modified and balanced
separately.
An out of balance engine can result in ...
Piston Rings can fail to seal. Bearings ... early and
irregular wear on connecting rod and main bearings. Harmonic Balancer the
device that tries to assist in controlling harmonic shock gets overworked and
begins to deteriorate. Oil Pumps chatter and bounce, which can also create
spark chatter and early ignition part failures (oil pumps driven off same drive
as distributor) Timing Sets chain stretching as chain has to make up for damper
failures Valve Springs valve instability, spring harmonic failures (worse with
gear drives) Transmission front Pump failures in automatics, early pressure
plate and clutch spring failures.
What Is Needed When Having Your Engine Balanced?
Please ensure all parts are clean, dry and properly
identified/packaged when delivering parts to be balanced. You will need to
supply, crankshaft, crankshaft gear, spacers and retaining (bolts) hardware
(not installed), damper, flywheel, connecting rods, rod bearings, pistons,
pins, buttons/wrist pin clips, piston rings, clutch, pressure plate, front
crank pulley (some applications), cooling fan (some applications). If have any
questions regarding what is needed please e-mail and ask or call. It is much
easier than running around retrieving and delivering parts later.
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