Well, won’t be racing anytime soon

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Okay so let's recap, you started the thread on June 19th, the engine will be done today....
Looks like you're going to be racing soon.
 
Won’t be today. Revised guesstimate, later this week.
Decided to pull it completely apart to be sure

IMG_1566.jpeg
 
Pistons back in, everything torqued down and checked.
Degreed cam it’s now in where it belongs at 102 instead of 104 the build shop arbitrarily decided to put it in at without asking me if I was OK with it.
Found something kinda wierd, real wierd I guess.
With the motor at TDC the balancer is off 5 degrees BTDC. Blows me away, hard to believe that has been overlooked.
Anyhow, instead of the 34 degrees timing I thought I had, it would appear it was actually 29 degrees by my thinking.
It has always been a little lazy 60 footing…….will be interesting to see what happens once it’s running.
Still gotta put heads on and and get it back in the car yet.
 
I think between advancing the cam and adding the extra 5 degrees of timing it was missing, you are going to be pleasantly surprised!
Nice work
 
B3422w5 said:
Pistons back in, everything torqued down and checked.
Degreed cam it’s now in where it belongs at 102 instead of 104 the build shop arbitrarily decided to put it in at without asking me if I was OK with it.
Found something kinda wierd, real wierd I guess.
With the motor at TDC the balancer is off 5 degrees BTDC. Blows me away, hard to believe that has been overlooked.
Anyhow, instead of the 34 degrees timing I thought I had, it would appear it was actually 29 degrees by my thinking.
It has always been a little lazy 60 footing…….will be interesting to see what happens once it’s running.
Still gotta put heads on and and get it back in the car yet.
Click to expand...
So this entire time you owned a race car and never once degreed the cam or verified the balancer and timing marks? That blows me away. I expect more from guys like you. Maybe I shouldn’t.
 
TT5.9mag said:
So this entire time you owned a race car and never once degreed the cam or verified the balancer and timing marks? That blows me away. I expect more from guys like you. Maybe I shouldn’t.
Click to expand...
This motor was built 3 years ago by a professional shop. Cam was degrees then. He told me why he put it in at 104 and convinced me it was the way to go.
I had no reason to suspect the balancer was off until now, when the motor had to come apart, and then had to check things myself.
It’s called trusting a shop to have things right. They werent
 

B3422w5 said:
This motor was built 3 years ago by a professional shop. Cam was degrees then. He told me why he put it in at 104 and convinced me it was the way to go.
I had no reason to suspect the balancer was off until now, when the motor had to come apart, and then had to check things myself.
It’s called trusting a shop to have things right. They werent
Click to expand...
Disagree. The reason to check the balancer is so you know it’s right. You got lucky and the timing was retarded, instead of picking up parts off the ground. With regards to degreeing the cam I guess I can go with that, they built it for you and degreed it where they wanted. And FWIW professional shops verify parts they use. That includes the balancer.
 
TT5.9mag said:
Disagree. The reason to check the balancer is so you know it’s right. You got lucky and the timing was retarded, instead of picking up parts off the ground. With regards to degreeing the cam I guess I can go with that, they built it for you and degreed it where they wanted. And FWIW professional shops verify parts they use. That includes the balancer.
Click to expand...

Your right, professional shop should have checked balancer.
Click to expand...
I didn’t even mention the “ trick” scraper he made for me never got closer than 3/10 of an inch. Worthless.
It’s in the garbage. 120 bucks thrown in the fireplace
 
It’s time for a new balancer before it comes apart, there’s a junk part. I highly doubt that it was that way three years ago when the engine was built, it has already failed get rid of it!
 
Oldiron440 said:
It’s time for a new balancer before it comes apart, there’s a junk part. I highly doubt that it was that way three years ago when the engine was built, it has already failed get rid of it!
Click to expand...
Definitely not a junk part. The innovators west balancers are top notch and if there is a problem with it, Don can send it back to them and they’ll fix it and re certify it.
 
TT5.9mag said:
Definitely not a junk part. The innovators west balancers are top notch and if there is a problem with it, Don can send it back to them and they’ll fix it and re certify it.
Click to expand...
I had thought about that when I was typing my post but I type so f’n slow I forgot to include it.
 
B3422w5 said:
Correction, it’s 5 degrees ATDC
Click to expand...
Don - are you saying the balancer was showing 5 ATDC when the actual was really TDC? If so, wouldn't that have been 5 deg OVER-advanced? Just trying to wrap my head around this.

Probably thinking about it wrong as that extra advance likely would have long ago caused problems. Or maybe the balancer spun AFTER you last timed it!
 
Demonx2 said:
Don - are you saying the balancer was showing 5 ATDC when the actual was really TDC? If so, wouldn't that have been 5 deg OVER-advanced? Just trying to wrap my head around this.

Probably thinking about it wrong as that extra advance likely would have long ago caused problems. Or maybe the balancer spun AFTER you last timed it!
Click to expand...

The guy helping me, who is the brains of the operation said where it’s at would effectively knock 5 degrees of timing out of it.
Car has run alright all this time( or so I thought) so I had zero need to verify the balancer was right since 3 years ago when a well regarded Mopar friendly shop put the motor together.
The only thing I have noticed is the car ( to me) seems a bit lazy out of the gate, but really picks up steam further down the track it goes.
I am not sure how the balancer could have moved, it’s sitting on a key way.

Found this:

“Yes, a harmonic balancer that is off by 5 degrees after top dead center (TDC) would be retarding the ignition timing. This is because the balancer's timing mark indicates the position of the crankshaft relative to the cylinder's piston position. If the mark is off, the ignition system will be triggered later than intended, resulting in retarded timing.”
 
Last edited:
B3422w5 said:
The guy helping me, who is the brains of the operation said where it’s at would effectively knock 5 degrees of timing out of it.
Car has run alright all this time( or so I thought) so I had zero need to verify the balancer was right since 3 years ago when a well regarded Mopar friendly shop put the motor together.
The only thing I have noticed is the car ( to me) seems a bit lazy out of the gate, but really picks up steam further down the track it goes.
I am not sure how the balancer could have moved, it’s sitting on a key way.

Found this:

“Yes, a harmonic balancer that is off by 5 degrees after top dead center (TDC) would be retarding the ignition timing. This is because the balancer's timing mark indicates the position of the crankshaft relative to the cylinder's piston position. If the mark is off, the ignition system will be triggered later than intended, resulting in retarded timing.”
Click to expand...
Yep - all in the wording. Your car ran far too well to have some major issue.

Keep getting that beauty back together. Anxious for you to have it back out at the track again!!
 
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