the motor i picked up yesterday, '91 t-bord roller, already has a harmonic balancer but no flywheel. i plan on running a C4. the '77 donnar 302 from a maverick has both its balancer and flywheel already. can i swap over that flywheel and make it work? on the new engine i plan on swapping timing covers anyway for a mech. fuel pump. so if i need to swap the harmonic balancer too that wont be an issue. i know people usually go get the 50oz 157 tooth fly wheel but if i can make what i have work just as good i'd like to save a few bucks thanks for the help
you need to get the right balancer for the motor...get the ...right flywheel ...for the motor that fits...your bellhousing... "i know people usually go get the 50oz 157 tooth fly wheel." that's why...:Handshake
After you get all the right parts you can take the crank, rods, pistons and pins, a set of rings, rod and main bearing set, flex plate and balancer to the machine shop and have it all balanced. They will balance the parts statically and dynamically and you will end up with a smooth running, rev happy engine that won't have to fight minor imbalances to get the power to the flywheel. Torque converters are ballanced when they are made to zero out of balance (plus or minus a bit) so they don't affect the balance of the engine.
im putting a 5.0 roller motor from a '91 Cougar (same as T-bird) and i ordered a 157T 50oz flywheel for my C4. im going to use the old timing cover and everything but wanted everything balanced in the engine (ie. crank, flywheel, balancer are all for 50oz imblanace). I should have mine up and running by the middle of the week if everything goes as planned
so keep the balancer thats already on the motor and then order up a 157 50oz wheel? the engine was already rebuilt by the last owner so i dont really want to tear it all apart again
To run the 91 motor, you'll need a 157 tooth 50 oz balance flexplate and the 50 oz balancer. You cannot mix these parts on any motor. 28 oz motor (pre 1981) needs 28 oz parts. 50 oz motor (post 1981) needs 50 oz parts. You can swap the same imbalance parts among the same imbalance motors and 99.999% of the time, the balance will be dead on. If you're looking to extract every ounce of power, then and only then will rebalancing be a wise investment.
ok i see what your saying. all the internals are balanced to either the 28 or 50oz spec as well. in my original post i didnt know if this was just a matter of making sure the harmonic balancer in the front matched the flywheel/flexplate in the back.
Right, you cannot use a 28 oz balancer on a 50 oz crank with a 28 oz flexplate. All parts need to match. If oyu ever get the chance to compare a 28 to a 50 oz crank, you'll see why the need for more imbalance weight (counterweighting) on the 50. Ford removed a larger percentage of the counterweighting on the crank with the 50. You can use a 50oz flex or flywheel on a 28 by having some of the extra weight removed from the counterweight. This is what I resorted to on my 331's flywheel, Ford Racing's iron replacement wheel for the 81-up Stangs is far cheaper than most others. The guy who does balancing for me charged me a few bucks to rebalance it to 28.
it is worth the trouble of getting all the parts together, then have it all balanced. But Baddad is right, you CANNOT mix 50 and 28 flywheels and harmonic balancers. TRUST ME! i know from my own experience. you can demolish your motor using a 50 flywheel and a 28 HB. so im sure same goes for a 28 flywheel and a 50 HB! Baddad, u aint to far away from where i live!
Yea, I have a cousin living in Sulphur. Her Husband is an operator at the Chenier LNG plant over in the corner (this side of Sabine Pass)
well, its a small world! i was part of the crew for the demolition at the new LNG in hackberry. But i now live in Sulphur!
