Spun dampener

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halifaxhops

halifaxhops

It's going to get stupid around here!
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I have always heard of them, But now I have one. I purchased a 440 from a boat and during assembly I found out it had a spun balancer. The timing mark was at approx. 2 o'clock position at TDC. Is this really rare or just my luck?
 
well im 53,ive always owned mopars,ive never spun one.just saying
 
Yeah I am 2 younger than you and had many hipo cars. I always thought it was a hotrod legend. My neighbor is a mechanic and I think he hit it right. What is the throttle position in a boat, full or none! I will take a few pics.
 
Did you reuse the marine crankshaft? If it is for reverse rotation you will most likely have an oil leak at the rear main seal. Is the I D pad stamped ccw? Just sharing some useful information that some have learned the hard way over the years.
 
No, When I noticed the dampener I really went through it. Thanks for the insight. Really scarred the crap out of me. I was out of bb mopars since the early 80's and definitely forgot more than I remember. The motor was 90% done at the time. Got a great deal on it, it was in a boat that sunk and they pulled the motor the next day and disassembled it. Still had the cross hatch on the cylinders, around 100 hours run time.
 
Ive seen it on several GM motors. Most of the time it slips just enough to set the timing mark off. Balancers are one of those things that are often overlooked and taken for granted on a build. Definatly worth giving it a good cleaning and inspection for cracked elastomer or heavy seal area pitting/wear. Its an easy check after youve finished degreeing the cam to make sure everything is lined up. If youre going to be spinning the motor pretty, hard I think I would make a new quality sfi balancer part of the budget.
 
Yes, I put on a fluid type. Here are the pics.
 

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Are you sure it's "spun" or maybe used different timing marks? Reverse rotation is of course a possibility. So far as I know all Chrysler rev. rotation engines used gear drive cams and a great big adapter on the distributor to control the reversed thrust on the helical gears


"Back in the day" this seemed to be common on 60's Ford 352 / 390s. This is when I learned about piston stops.
 
Reversed rotation engines were mainly used when there are 2 engines side by side in a boat. One of them would be running reversed.

Regular Mopar engines came with left or right entry waterpumps. This put the timing mark on either the pass. or driverside of the engine.

I'd want to say you just need a different timingchain cover with the tab on the other side.
Or, if that indeed will interfere with the WP, just mark a new TDC-line on the balancer ring AND it's inner hub, so you can always check if it has moved.
 
IThe eng did not come with a w/p housing or timing chain marker. It did have the cam an chain still installed and I was given a new gear drive cam and lifters with it. The new dampener fit on fine and aligned with the new timing tab. I was under the impression that a reverse motor had the started on the "pass" side mounted in from the back. I did not find any markings on the crank or cam as reverse rotation. 67 when you mean gear drive cams is that in lew of a timing chain? It did have that "thrust" type of adapter under the dist. I am second guessing myself again. I just stumbled across that the oil pump drive has the gears cut in reverse. I do appreciate all of the help.
 
Yup. Sounds like a LH marine engine. SOMEplace you can download the marine engine manual

Don't know if this is SB or B/RB but this is the type of thing the LH engines used

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Your main concern is the little cuts on the rear main seal portion of the crank. Pull your rear main and make sure they are angled to pull oil in on standard rotation. Did you look at your I D pad to see if it is stamped ccw for counter clock wise?
 
There is nothing stamped where the serial numbers usually go.
 
If it's a marine engine,, a lot of them had the timing mark on the flywheel cuz of all the pumps and stuff up front..

You're gonna have to watch the valves timing, and rotate the crank,, to see if its a reverse cam, that can be changed..

The notches for the rear main seal, if wrong, can be polished out,, I've seen many..

And as for starters,, some just reverse the starter and drive rotational direction..
 
Thanks, Been looking all over the web for info and the only real thing I can find is the cam has 2 gear drive to make the cam run opposite the crank. It came with a normal oem chain and gear set installed which looked original with oem penstar. The oil pump camshaft gear meshed fine with a new lunati cam, but it did have that thrust bearing under the distributor. That is what is throwing me off. I cannot find anything that makes me believe it is a reverse rotation engine. The dampener is also a head scratcher. The starter goes in from the front of the block on drivers side like normal. I really just do not know.
 
It's not. It just goes in the opposite direction
 
I have had 1 440 engine out of 20 or so in the last 35 years that the timing mark on the dampner didn't line up when degreeing in a cam.
I just guessed it had spun on the hub and replaced it. To look at it I could not see any problems with the rubber ring.
After reading this it is possible I had the wrong timing cover or water pump housing on the engine if that makes a difference.
 
I am using an aftermarket timing tab, all the front of the motor had was a timing chain cover with no tab. Using an aftermarket aluminum pump housing. I was told that the starter was mounted in from the back on the pass side for a reverse, must be urban legend, could not find anything to back it up. I was given a starter, I do not know if it is from a boat or not. I will hit it with 12v in the am.
 
halifaxhops said:
I am using an aftermarket timing tab, all the front of the motor had was a timing chain cover with no tab. Using an aftermarket aluminum pump housing. I was told that the starter was mounted in from the back on the pass side for a reverse, must be urban legend, could not find anything to back it up. I was given a starter, I do not know if it is from a boat or not. I will hit it with 12v in the am.
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I am finding CCW starters used on marine engines.
 
halifaxhops said:
Thanks, Been looking all over the web for info and the only real thing I can find is the cam has 2 gear drive to make the cam run opposite the crank. It came with a normal oem chain and gear set installed which looked original with oem penstar. The oil pump camshaft gear meshed fine with a new lunati cam, but it did have that thrust bearing under the distributor. That is what is throwing me off. I cannot find anything that makes me believe it is a reverse rotation engine. The dampener is also a head scratcher. The starter goes in from the front of the block on drivers side like normal. I really just do not know.
Click to expand...

Easy to find out. Rotate the engine and figure out cam timing. I may be confusing the gear drive on older heavy truck engines which used them. I am sure of one thing......if there's a big cast iron adapter / bushing device under the dist, it is surely originally reverse rotation.
 
BigBlockMopar said:
Reversed rotation engines were mainly used when there are 2 engines side by side in a boat. One of them would be running reversed.
Click to expand...

Yes, that is true. When you use two engines on a boat, if they spun the propellers in the same direction, the boat would also go a bit sideways.

By having reverse spinning engines/propellers, the side forces cancel each other out and go straight, instead of adding up and going a bit to the side....


I knew a guy that used to work for a local public works department who told us about the reverse spinning marine engines. They had some where he worked. One day one of the "reverse spin" engines disappeared. He was waiting to hear about someone who tried to put it in a car and it didn't work....
 
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