Hi Guys,

I had to buy an adjustable timing tab for my new 8" balancer. So I used a degree wheel and found TDC (0* degrees) and pointed the red arrow in the picture at it. However, the white 0* mark on the balancer doesn't match the true 0*. Should I etch a new line on the balancer at the true 0* mark and paint black over the existing timing marks?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

If you have an adj pointer, no need to mess with the damper; just set the pointer to point at the 0° mark on the damper when the piston is at TDC.

That's really all you need, in the RW, is for the pointer to point at the mark when the spark occurs at 0°. No need in worrying about the degree wheel which won't be in place later on anyway. It'd be luvly if everything all matched up, but this is the RW, and things don't always work out so perfect out here. Concentrate on what matters to your long-term success FIRST.

 

That totally makes sense. I moved the pointer and left the balancer alone. A big DUH to me! But at least I'm learning

Thanks a million (again) Sofa!

 

Wow, that thing is off by 10*!?!?! That's a MASSIVE mismatch. Never seen a new one out of the box be off by more than 2 unless it was defective or the wrong one for the engine.

Balancers for use with common "1:30" position timing tabs like yours should have the timing line exactly 13* offset vs. the crankshaft key location (which is in-line exactly with the #1 crank journal on EVERY small block Chevy ever built right back to 1955). It's difficult to be off by that much just from production line tolerance stacking.

You absolutely sure?

 

You need to make two marks on the balancer and right in the center is your TDC. For example: Find TDC by using a piston stop. Ok, mark your balancer where it meets the zero on your timing tab. Now, turn the engine the opposite direction until it stops again, and mark at 0. Then take a measuring tape and mark right in the middle of the two lines on your balancer. That should be your TDC.

 

My 383 shortblock is from BluePrint and I'm using the 8" balancer they said they use (Professional Products 80003).

This is the first time I've done this. Here is what I did... I put a piston stop on the deck and turned clockwise until the piston hit. Set my wire marker to point at 0* on the degree wheel. Then turned it counter-clockwise until it hit the piston stop which was 30* on the degree wheel. Divided 30 by 2 = 15*. Moved the balancer to point to 15* at my wire marker. Finally, I moved the adjustable timing marker to point to the 0* mark on the balancer. Is this wrong?

 

Install the timing pointer. Use a piston stop to get to TDC, put a mark on the balancer where the pointer has its 0 mark. Turn the engine backwards and make another mark on the balancer at 0 again. Then make a mark in the middle of those two lines on the balancer. That is TDC. Then adjust the timing pointer accordingly to match that center line on the balancer. I mean what Sofakingdom said is correct also. It should be close enough that way too.

 

All you have to do here, is find TDC by the most accurate means possible; then set the engine to that spot; then make the pointer point to the timing mark.

Your degree wheel method is fine: if your piston stop stopped the engine at 0° on the degree wheel going one way, then at 30° on the degree wheel when turned the other way, then TDC is at 15° on the degree wheel ... halfway in between, as ninetyone describes. Ignore the balancer for this part of the procedure. Set the engine to that spot on the degree wheel, and then make the pointer point at the mark on the balancer, wherever it happens to be. That's all there is to it.

If, in your pic, the engine is currently EXACTLY AT TDC as it would seem to be from your description of how you used the degree wheel to locate TDC, then you're ready to point the pointer at the mark and tighten it down for good. Although, it should be fairly evident, the marks on the tab agree with the damper's mark to within about 1°, which is unusually close. You hardly even need the adjustable tab at all ... today. Now, after a few hard runs have settled the spooge blob a little bit, who knows.

As Damon says, there's a spec for where the mark is "supposed" to be on the damper. But there's tolerance EVERYWHERE in that: the #1 rod journal might be a little off, the crank keyway might be off, the keyway in the balancer might be a little off, the blob of spooge between the damper's hub and its inertia ring might be .... a blob of spooge, and the inertia ring might be assembled to the hub a little off. That's ALOT of places where small errors can creep in. Which is of course why it's necessary to verify the mark/pointer alignment in the first place.

 

Thanks for the info, guys! I left my timing marker alone and used ninetyone's method by putting tape marks on the balancer. It came to pretty much match the method I previously used. So, I think it's all good.

I agree with Sofa in that there are tolerance everywhere and, as a result, nothing is going to line up perfectly. Although it would be nice

I did notice my new balancer has the 0* number on it (along with other degree numbers) but then has another carved-line in it about 5 inches to the left. What is that line for?

 

Iunno... a measurement of how many degrees it is away from TDC might offer a clue.