All depends on the bottom end parts how much work it will take to balance out
Talk to your machinist see what he recommends.
Youll see some cheap crank kits on ebay most times they take a lot to balance out right as they are mismatched parts bought in bulk and sold on the cheap
Ditto on the cam tunnel no need to go nuts just have it checked make sure its straight. Basic stuff they should be checking.
Did a cheapie buildup for a buddy yrs ago could not pinpoint a lifter noise down
Put new lifters in it, then an OEM set couldnt figure it out
Tore it down worn lifter bore; machine shop didnt do anything really. Looked like they scratched it up with some kinda tool wasnt the right one for sure. Get what ya pay for.

 

Sorry guys to bother you with these questions in such a detail.... But well the background is this: as said machinist is not really that experienced with OHV V8. Mostly builds DOHC 4 or 6 cylinders. And the only other, actually quite well known, source for me here is a Chevy engine tuner, but he is mostly into LSx stuff... he sometimes forgets or neglects essentials like the fact that there was something like a 1pc rear main seal in the thirdgen era engines, and he was like no balancing would be needed for 7krpm with the cranktrain i mentioned (nodular crank/manley rods/diamond pistons). So I'm kinda leery on those two sources and feel like I would need to kind of "watch over them" to get really the results I want. ALSO I'm still looking for a local place that has equipment to balance a V8 rotating assembly... The mentioned Chevy guy sends stuff off to the UK for the really serious builds he wants balancing on.

Plus it's just very interesting to learn about all this So sorry for asking for all these details..

Anyways, still back to two issues right now.
Balancing / Rotating assembly:

For my hot 350 I'm gonna use the mentioned Manley rods and Diamond Racing pistons. I'm just not sure about the crank right now. It seems that cast is out of the question according to recent posts, so I need forged.
I'll be getting either a new STD weight forged, or while I'm at it, lightweight forged. Pricewise there's like a 300-400 bucks difference, which in my opinion isn't all that bad. Do you think I have a good chance to have the assembly balanced with just material removal and no heavy metal added? The latter one would defeat the purpose of a lightweight crank, hence my question for this matter.

When I get another crank, I can give the nodular cast one to my buddy for his stock-type rebuild. Do you think we should have it balanced for use with stock L98 rods/pistons or should be fine?

Block prep: Lifter bores & cam tunnel

lifter bores - checking bore diameter, run-out/taper and surface condition probably? cause i dont wanna order LS7 OEM lifters if they won't fit a possibly worn bore.. I have looked at the bores and couldn't see any scratches or gouges before I dropped the block off. if they are too worn, what would i do? bore/hone to 874 bore and bigger lifters? bush bores?

cam tunnel - you said no need to go nuts so you recommend checking for straightness.. so what do you do if it's not straight? if align honing, i'd also need bigger cam bearings I guess.

Thanks a bunch you guys!

 

hmm one more try then with maybe some clearer questions:

if the cam tunnel is not straight, do you align hone it? do i need bigger cam bearings then?

if i get a crank that is say build/balanced for a 1650 bobweight and my bobweight is 1700, in the balancing process you would have to add heavy metal right?

 

ttt