Can I shim the harmonic balancer

but if you shim the balancer the crank' pulley will then be further forward so all the other pulleys will then need shimming forward too.

True, If they are properly aligned now... But allot of aftermarket performance dampers seem to not worry much about where the factory placed their pulley mounting surface... And the O/P already mentioned that was the case here.. He said.... "If I shim out 1/8" my pulley issue with water pump would be corrected."