I'm running an old Glenwood cast aluminum timing cover and if I torque the balancer all the way it hits the cover? In the past Ive just tightened it till it got as close to the cover as i was comfortable with, lock-tighted the bolt and ran it, but was wondering if anyone else has ever had this issue, if there's a spacer?, or any other solution? <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o> Thanks -Justin
Just went thru this with a remake of a hilborn cover had to clearance the front cover with a die grinder to clear everything .
You must take what ever necessary means to properly clearance that damper and or the front cover. The damper properly torqued and located fully onto the end of the crank snout is what locates and secures the timing gear in place. Allowing the timing gear to move back and forth laterally on the crank snout is robbing power and is a invitation for trouble.
I made a spacer/shim to tighten the balancer against the timing gear etc - 60thou-ish? You got to have everything down there wrench-***e or you'll have problems.
Yes, as mentioned the balancer MUST be fully tightened against the lower timing sprocket. If you feel you need to run a spacer, as OJ suggested; make sure it goes between the balancer and sprocket, not between the sprocket and crank.
The dampner is new. I had this same problem with the old motor running a fluid dampner and this motor is running a brand new stock balancer. I took some measurements last night and it looks like i need a 1/4" to bottom out on the timing gear plus at least another 1/8" to clearance the cover, 5/8" is too much material to remove from the cover, so i'm thinking of making a spacer. However on another forum someone said that crank have a chaffered and not to use a spacer. Anyone know if this is true?
The 1955 to 1962 Corvettes used a spacer for the balancer to compensate for the motor mount thickness so that the pulleys would line up. Corvette Central has this spacer in their catalog. Their part number is 301020. Other Corvette suppliers also have them.
Went ahead and sacrificed an old balancer, cut what I needed off the yoke and trued it up on the lathe. I think it’s gonna work!
Small block snouts are too short to begin with so adding a spacer really adds to the load on the end of the HB. I would cut the cover down as much as possible and make the shim as thin as I could. Also I would make the crank bolt washer a "HAT" style that would register to the ID of the balencer to keep the 7/16" bolt from walking when tightening it down.
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