Does a motor have to be balanced with everything from the balancer to the flywheel to be correct? I mean, if for some reason you have to replace one or both ends @ some point, would you have to rebalance the whole rotating assembly including the rods/pistons/crank? How does that work? The reason I ask, my bother just had a motor built for his El Camino. I know, I know it's not Ford, but he's my little brother and I'm trying to help him out. The engine shop finished the bottom end and told him he'd need a balancer, since the original is missing. They went ahead and finished the motor and just need to put a new balancer and pulleys on it. I thought I heard somewhere that you have to have everything in the rotating assembly balanced together, and slapping on a harmonic balancer after the fact will make the motor run like crap.
Scott Williams '66 High Country Special