i have a new gm 1piece rms shortblock and i bought a new balancer from summit. i went to break in the engine and time it. the timing marks on the balancer are around 10 oclock but the pointer is at about 2 oclock???? the engine does run fine, just needs tweaked. im almost positive the dots on the cam are lined up with the crank. if it was that far out, i dont think the engine would even start??

i noticed it was leaking oil around the pan gasket so i pulled the engine, drained the oil, and dropped the pan, and what did i find...a head of the first main cap bolt busted off.

now, could that bolt have been over torqued from the factory or could it have something to do with the balancer, being the front main cap bolt???

heres the balancer i got
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/RNB-594-012/

 

You would have felt some pretty serious vibration for the damper to have cause the bolt to fail. More likely is it wasn't properly torqued (too loose will break it as well as too tight).

Where is the timing mark on the damper ring relative to the keyway in the hub? They should be pretty close together.

Did you have the woodruff key in the crank before you installed the damper?

 

to the best of my knowledge small blocks came with 2 different timing locations. there is the 12 oclock & the 2oclock. just use the correct pointer.

 

i will have to check where the key way and the timing mark are.

can i just put a new bolt in and torque it down and good to go?

 

I would pull the cap and check it and the bearing and crank. Then reinstall with two new bolts. Wouldn't hurt to loosen and retorque all of the others while you're at it.

 

There is no 10 o'clock pointer.

 

yea, hes probably got a 12 oclock balancer using the 2 oclock pointer. yup, no such thing as 10 oclock on a small chevy.

 

yea the marks are very close, almost lined up.
is that a correct balancer for my application? engine has 330 hp at best? and why would the marks be off?