"Imbalance" issues

Mar 06, 2004 3 Replies

I was watching a program. They were building up a 302, balancing it. According to the mechanic, the stock 302 has 150lbs of unbalanced mass (force) at high throttle. Careful balancing eliminates it. I'm wonder how serious this is? Does it contribute to wear in the engine or is not particularly important?



-Rich


At high rpms, there are severe stresses created in any engine.... without balancing, we are inducing an extra set of stresses which can set up vibrations severe enough to have the motor self destruct. For low rpm applications, balancing is good insurance.... for high rpm applications it is a must.

Jim Warman snipped-for-privacy@teluaplanet.net

You got that right! A guy I know built a stroker motor, and cut corners by not having it internally balanced and the motor didn't last too long. When the motor was taken apart, the crankshaft was found to be cracked. Nothing like a forged steel crank, and pistons, with good I beam rods, and all balanced. There's another trick you can do when you have it balanced that will give you a few more ponies. Anyone know what that is?

Pintobro

very serious. A slight imbalance means many many pounds out o fbalance when you are making high rpm's. This will increase wear and you are missing out on power. I think I saw the same program, 2 guys garage I think it was. Remove NO-SPAM from email address when replying

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