Engine Balancing Although the terms “blueprinted and balanced” are typically synonymous with any kind of performance buildup of an engine, it must be noted is that these two terms are completely different in relation to their perceived functions and are generally performed independently of each other. Whereas “blueprint” specifically targets an engines fits, tolerances, volumes, and/or settings, the “balance” deals with the physics of achieving a rotating mass that is the most conducive to transmitting as much potential power as possible to an engines flywheel rather than having it wasted within the confines of the block. By eliminating power robbing vibration or harmonies that can be caused by a state of out of balance, power or torque that would normally be dissipated through an engines main bearings and into the block can instead be redirected to the drive end of the crankshaft proportionally by the degree to which the rotating mass is balanced. Simply stated, the better the balance, the more the potential power that can be seen at the flywheel. For the driver of a vehicle with a balanced engine, it's simply a physically smoother running engine with improved acceleration. Slatic Imbalance Dynarnic Imbalance HEAVY The physics of balancing can be broken down into two types of imbalance, static and dynamic. Static imbalance will manifest itself as a maximum amount of out of balance in a single area or plane along the outer most surface of a rotating axis. On the other hand, a rotating part can be in a perfect state of static balance but can be off significantly when examining its dynamic balance. If a vibration is observed, static imbalance is the force most likely being felt but dynamic out of balance can also be present depending upon the rotating mass’s length. Even when physical vibration is not being felt, dynamic imbalance can be present in severe enough degrees to be quite destructive or power robbing although no shake or vibration is physically evident, Static out of balance can be found in any rotating part regardless of the length along its rotating axis but dynamic out of balance becomes more significant as rotating pieces increase in length along its rotating axis. Very narrow rotating parts such as flywheels will not exhibit much in the way of dynamic out of balance but can be good examples of static imbalance. A longer item like a crankshaft may not show evidence of being out of balance statically but can be off significantly when looking at its dynamic aspects. Over the years, set rules or best practices for engine balancing have been established for the various engine designs. These practices at their best are a compromise dealing with conflicting forces that try to share the same physical space normally defined as either rotating or reciprocating mass. While rotating mass can be described as that which travels only in a circular motion such as the crankshaft or the connecting rod big ends, reciprocating mass would be those components that are attached to the crankshaft but travel in a predefined non-circularmotion such as the pistons or the connecting rod small ends. Getting back to conflicting forces, the connecting rod does not have a distinct line separating the reciprocating mass from the rotating mass due to the fact that the area of the rod between the wrist pin and the crank pin ‘exhibits the traits of both reciprocating and rotating mass. As this in-between area gets closer to the crank pin, it exhibits more rotating mass characteristics than reciprocating; likewise, as this ‘same area gets closer to the wrist pin, it exhibits more reciprocating mass characteristics than rotating. For this reason, the longer the rod and/or the cranks stroke, then the more this ambiguity. This ambiguity and how to compensate for it wll be discussed in a later article in this series. To precision balance an engine, all pieces of the rotating assembly must be considered. A list of these parts will include the crankshaft, harmonic damper or front hub, flywheel, the clutch disk and pressure plate if a manual shift transmission is being used, connecting rods, pistons with their pins and respective locks, compression and oil rings, rod bearings, and the lower timing gear. Basically everything that moves or rotates as part of the engine assembly short of the camshaft and its attached gear. Also worth considering are the belt pulleys and their retaining bolts. All machine work or modifications including rod reconditioning, piston dome or valve relief machining, and general deburring or polishing of any of the internal engine parts must have been already performed prior to having the assembly balanced as doing so after the fact will only nullify the effects of having the rotating assembly precision balanced When taking all the necessary parts to your favorite shop for balancing, it's important to note that the connecting rods or the piston rings must not yet be installed on the pistons. Likewise, the rod bearings do not need to be installed in the rods or the rods installed on the crankshaft. Because the rods must be balanced end for end separately, they are required to be independent or apart from the pistons. Although the rings could technically be on the pistons during the balancing procedure, they also need to remain uninstalled in order to insure that no machining chips are caught in the ring lands during any of the weight reduction operations being performed. The balancing operation as performed by your machine shop can be separated into two basic operations; weighing and/or match weighing the various components and then spin balancing the crankshaft itself. Depending upon an engines design, there may be a specific order in which these operations are performed. Most engines with opposed or inline oylinders (i.e... 4 & 6 cylinders) normally do not require a bobweight to be attached to the crankshaft rod journals prior to spin balancing in order to simulate any of the component pieces (rods, pistons, etc.) that are normally attached to the crankshaft assembly. This is due to the nature of the physical forces being applied at equally spaced intervals on these engines and subsequently being equally ‘opposed or counteracting. A *V" type cylinder engine on the other hand does not have these forces being applied at the same opposing intervals and depending upon the angle between the ‘opposing cylinders, does require a bob weight installed on each crank pin for balancing purposes that uses 100% of the rotating mass but only a fraction or a percentage of the reciprocating mass for each piston/rod assembly. A 90° V design, which covers a majority of the common V8 engines, requires a bobweight on each erankpin during balancing that represents not only 100% of the rotating mass but also a standard value of 50% representing the reciprocating mass. Even this standard reciprocating factor is subject to change for a 90° V design engine in special circumstances. More on that in a later article in this series.There are some of the balancing operations that can be performed by the novice in his own shop but the spinning of the crankshaft is best done by those with the appropriate equipment and experience. If so inclined and with a nominal purchase in equipment and materials to do so, the pistons and connecting rods can be independently weighed and appropriately lightened by the enthusiast before sending the crankshaft out to be balanced. A scale reading in grams along with a connecting rod holding fixture that can separate the big end and small end weights would be the bare minimum equipment requirements. Then it’s just a simple matter of finding the lightest piston, lightest reciprocating rod end weight, and lightest rotating end weight and making the remaining component pieces match these weights. The equipment used for lightening operations would be wholly dependent upon the quality of the machining that's being targeted for as well as the initial design of the pieces that must be lightened. Some parts may require special tools or tooling for machining in order to keep from sacrificing or minimizing the strength of the piece being lightened. For those of you that have a grinder, belt sander, drill press, and/or some form of milling machine available, most lightening operations would be well within your reach. Look for more detail on this in the subsequent articles. These series of articles are hoped to heighten your awareness of how precision balancing not only increases engine efficiency, but ultimately also increases engine life through reduced internal vibration and unwarranted stress. The next article in this series will cover in detail the differences between external and internal balance. Internal Versus External Balance ‘When getting an engine balanced, it’s important to note that there are two different methods in which to have the engine balanced, either internally or externally. As the Y's are all internally balanced as part of the factory design, this is not expected to be an issue but for other engines it's a subject worth touching base upon here briefly. External balance refers to when the damper, flywheel, and/or other rotating parts outside of the engine block are counterweighted and must be installed as part of the crankshaft assembly to insure the balance of that particular rotating assembly. Whenever possible, the customer should opt for internal balance unless the cost is prohibitive or not effective for the result being desired. There are two basic reasons an engine becomes externally balanced as part of a factory design. The first is through evolution where an existing engine series was originally designed as internally balanced but has an increase in stroke to the point that the crankshaft counterweights can not be made any larger within the confines of the block in which to compensate for the additional mass requirements. This then requires additional mass to be attached at the flywheel! and/or the damper to supplement the existing crankshaft counterweight mass in lieu of a complete new engine crankshaft or block design. The second reason would be in initial engine development and design where the crankshaft can be made lighter which in turn uses less of the costly nodular material typically used to strengthen cast iron. This then allows inexpensive materials to be used at the flywheel and damper to provide for the additional required rotating mass. There are two inherit flaws in the factory external balance designs. The first would be the stackup of balance variances due to three pieces (flywheel, crankshaft, & damper) that must match up in balance after being independently balanced of each other. Second would be theforced out of balance at high rpm's this type of balance promotes due to a given amount of non- evenly distributed mass being located in a non-rigid manner outside the confines of the block. This then allows a given amount of flex or twist in the unsupported ends of the crankshaft at that point. The more the counterbalance on the ends, the greater the flex or distortion throughout the crankshaft at a given rpm and the potential for crankshaft deflection or breakage at high rpms. Although not recommended, there are instances where a balance shop will externally balance an engine that was originally internally balanced. These occurences most often originate from substituting parts that are much heavier than the originals such as heavier connecting rods and/or pistons which causes the crankshaft counterweights to be too light in which to compensate inexpensively. Another instance is where the crankshaft stroke is being increased while the crankshaft counterweights are remaining the same. Although externally balancing as a result of either scenario is performed as a cost savings measure in both time for the shop and ‘expense by the customer, a major problem presented by an externally balanced engine is the inability to change out the modified balancer or flywheel with alternate units at a later date without having the assembly rebalanced. Rather than externally balancing an engine in such a circumstance, there are other options rather than repurchasing lighter components. One such manner is to balance the crankshaft internally through the use of Tungsten, Mallory metal, or other heavy metal in the crankshaft counterweights in order to make them physically heavier. And yet another option depending upon the crankshaft design is to use lightening holes in each of the rod journal throws which will in tum make the crankshaft counterweights artificially heavier without actually having to add weight. Ultimately, cost is typically the deciding factor on what method is used to retain internal balance characteristics in lieu of leaving an engine externally balanced. Ideally, the engine is best balanced internally which allows replacement dampers and flywheels to be balanced as separate units at a later date to a zero state and placed back on the previously balanced crankshaft with a minimum amount of upset to the crankshafts previous state of balance. The next article in this series will cover in detail how the piston set is match weighed and machined by your local balance shop. Here's a Y-Bik damper that's been externally balanced!!! This should be avoided as relacement of the damper without rebalancing the crank becomes extremely difficult.All these SBF standard transmission flywheels are externally balanced to the 28.4 oz Ford specification. All three of these flywheels will fit either a SBF or 300 Ford Six but all three exhibit different states of balance depending upon the engine and its application.This SBF flywheel has been balanced to the Ford 50 ounce external balance specification. Piston Match Weighing latch weighing the piston set is just one of the steps that's, performed as part of having an engine balanced. When balancing a V style engine, this ‘operation must be performed before the crankshaft can be spin balanced due to the piston weight being required as part of the bobweight calculation. Although piston weight matching appears to be a relatively simple and straight forward operation, the machining method in which itis actually performed can jeopardize piston strength or its integrity if not done correctly, In order to weight match a piston set, essentially the lightest piston in a set is identified and the remaining pistons are lightened through various machining operations so that all pistons end up weighing the same. Piston pins can be either weighed with the piston that it's going to be used with or all balanced independently so that the pins themselves all weigh the same. Whether the pins are weighed with the pistons or done separately is typically determined by the shops preference. Regardless, either method will not affect the final state of balance if performed with tight tolerances that keep weight variation and any subsequent stackups to a minimum. The typical tolerance for this operation is % gram for the whole piston set with the pins in their respective pistons but the closer to zero, the better. Merely lightening the heavier pistons so thatthey match the weight of the lightest is not the only machining that can be performed at this, point. Depending upon the piston design, the potential for additional piston weight reduction can be of benefit in that a lighter piston will subject the connecting rod, connecting rod bolts, and the bearings to less stress as well as reduce the total amount of reciprocating mass. This is conducive to a rotating assembly that can accelerate or increase in rpm's at a quicker rate due to a subsequently lighter crankshaft which ends up having less stored or kinetic energy in which to release. Additional piston lightening at this point could also make the difference in removing weight at the crankshaft counterweights as opposed to actually having to add additional mass to the counterweights if only match weighing the piston set. Still, the emphasis here is to only lighten the pistons to the point where overall strength is not jeopardized here to take weight out of the pistons depends particularly upon its design. If taking mass out of the piston’s inside deck portion, then rule of thumb dictates leaving a minimum of 0.200" thickness. While some pistons have as much as 0.600" deck thickness and give adequate material to work with, other piston designs are already at the 0.200" thickness value leaving no room in this area for material removal. Blown applications will typically require much more than 0.200" material in the deck surfaces so this is yet another consideration. Special care must also be taken in the deck areas under the valve reliefs to insure that sufficient material is remaining under the reliefs after machining. Other areas inside the piston in which to work at for weight removal is in the pin boss, both above and below the pin as well as inside the skirt area or behind the piston ring lands. In extreme cases, the whole of the vertical sides of the pin boss can be machined. All these different options are dependant upon the piston design and exactly how much material is available to work with Some piston designs create quite a challenge depending upon how much weight must be removed in order to merely weight match. To know how much material is available for removal, ‘a gauge or measuring device is necessary in which to know in advance what the thickness is in the area being contemplated for weight removal. The apparatus in Fig. A shows a homemade fixture that holds a dial caliper in which to perform this operation. A dial indicator gauge can also be retrofitted into a similar fixture to do the same measuring operation.he tools or equipment in which to actually remove material from the pistons for weight reduction purposes can be quite varied. A piston vise or other fixture that will hold the piston in an inverted position while removing weight from it would be a Prerequisite at this point so that machining operations can be duplicated within the piston set. The preferred piece of equipment for actual piston material removal would be a milling machine with a moderately sized cutter. The larger the cutter, then the greater the amount of surface that can be removed with a minimum amount of depth. This gives a very good ratio of minimum depth to maximum weight being removed. The use of drill bits for weight removal is discouraged both from the standpoint that not much overall weight is being removed simply by the diameter of the dril bit being used, but also that the drill point hole that is left behind leaves a potential stress riser in the piston for piston failure to originate from. There are also those instances where a lathe can be used for piston lightening depending upon the material available to work from within the piston. After all the pistons have been weight matched, the final weight is then recorded on a balance card or work sheet for future reference. The piston set can then be cleaned of machining debris, at this point and reboxed until actually engine assembly takes place. The next article in this series will cover connecting rod balancing Connecting Rod Balancing ‘engines connecting rods exhibits traits of both rotating and reciprocating mass and hence, must be match weighed end for end to insure these two masses are kept independent of each other. As a point of clarifi is the small end of the rod or the portion of the rod that is representative of up and down motion in the cylinder while the rotating end of the rod is the bearing end which rotates with the movement of the crankshaft. Your balancing shop will have a rod weighing fixture that'sdesigned for separating these two masses and then being able to have all the rod small and big ‘ends match in weights throughout the particular set of rods being balanced. Simply finding the lightest rod in a set for total overall weight and then reducing the weight of all the other rods without any regard to which part of the rod the weight is being removed from to match the lightest does not make for a balanced set. This is because the weight being removed is most likely being taken from the wrong spot on the rod and thus actually making the rods ‘even more out of balance than before attempting to weight match them. This method fails to take into account whether the mass being removed is reciprocating or rotating mass which is a major consideration in a dynamically balanced engine. Connecting rod balancing requires a fixture that allows each end to be weighed independently. There are several different fixture designs available on the market but all utilize the same concept; each end of the connecting rod is isolated from the other for weighing purposes. imilar in concept to the match weighing of the pistons, the ends of the rods must be weighed with the lightest small and big end of each rod within a set being found and isolated. Very rarely will the same connecting rod from a factory installed set have both the lightest small end and lightest big end on it. After finding the lightest ‘ends, itis then just a matter of taking the remaining heavier rods and making the ends match the previously found lighter end weights. ‘our balancing shop can employ one of several different methods in which to reduce the connecting rod end weights. Typical tools for this operation can vary from using a grinder, belt sander, or a milling machine. The design of the connecting rod in itself can dictate what machining or weight removal operation will be used. Most stock style ‘connecting rods have a balancing pad on each end which is a convenient spot from which to remove material for balancing purposes. Many of the newer aftermarket rods and especially the H-Beam style do not have these balance pads on the ends and do require some forethought before attempting to remove any material from them. For many of these newer designed rods, material from the big end is removed at the rod bolt edge instead of the very bottom. The small‘ends for rods without balance pads are usually best done on a belt sander using a nice rounding motion in which to remove material evenly from around the pin end. Regardless of the method used for weight removal, i's important that the metal not be unduly overheated. This may require repeated quenching if excessive grinding must be performed in which to remove the required amount of material. Excessive overheating of the big end can cause out-of-roundness to the big end bore which can prove disastrous to bearing clearances besides affecting the structural integrity of the metal itself on either end. ‘After all the connecting rods have been weight matched, the reciprocating and rotating end After all the connecting rods have been weight matched, the reciprocating and rotating weights are then recorded on a balance card or work sheet for the upcoming bobweight calculation. All that remains at this point is to clean the ‘connecting rods of any debris or grinding/sanding residues caused by this particular balancing step and rebox them until engine assembly takes place. The next article in this series will cover the nuances involved within the bobweight calculation in preparation for spin balancing the crankshaft. Bobweight CalculationThe previous articles in this series have expounded upon match weighing the pistons as well as the connecting rod small and big ends. Now it's just time to start thinking about the crankshaft bobweight calculation. The bobweight will be a specifically weighted fixture that attaches to each of the connecting rod journals for electronic spin balancing purposes and will in turn simulate the rod and piston assembly weights for those mass characteristics necessary for a perfectly balanced engine. Like most V8 engines, the venerable Y-Block will require four of these bobweights, one on each rod journal. Each bobweight will take care of the rotating and reciprocating mass requirements for two connecting rod and piston assemblies along with their respective rod bearing and piston ring packages. With the weights of the pistons and each end of the connecting rods already recorded on the balance job worksheet, there are still some miscellaneous weights required before calculating What the total weight requirement will be for the bobweights. At this time, the weights of the piston rings and connecting rod bearings for one cylinder are needed. This is a simple matter of weighing these pieces on a gram scale and recording their values on the same work sheet or balance card. Piston pin locks are also weighed and recorded if being required on the engine being balanced. All parts continue to be weighed in grams due to the increased resolution garnered by this measurement system versus that of using ounces. AS a for instance, there are 28.35 grams in ‘an ounce and for a point of reference, a typical dollar bill weighs a gram. Saying a dollar bill weighs a gram is much simpler than saying it weighs 314% of an ounce or 3/85th’'s of an ounce. Thus it is grams as they can then be further broken down as fractions or tenths for additional detail or resolution The final value required for the bobweight calculation will be a nominal value in grams for the estimated amount of residual oil that resides at any given time within the crankshaft and on any given pair of piston and rod assemblies. Although industry standard for this oil is 2-4 grams, different shops will add an additional amount based on their experience or preference. Some ‘engine designs will even mandate a much higher value due to its engineering attributes that has the crankshaft or its attached components holding more oil than the standard amount within them. An example would be hollow crankshaft rod journals that hold additional oil either by function or machining ease during the crankshafts manufacture. The Flathead Ford VB crank would be a good example for simplifying the manufacturing process by using oil reservoirs in the crank pins while the 427 Ford steel crank would have even larger crank pin oll reservoirs. designed specifically for stored oil in the event of momentary oil pump starvation. The Ford Y- Block crankshaft design is such that the industry standard could be used but an increase in the oil value may be required to simulate some of the other weight variables that can work their way into the mix. Adding a specific amount of weight for a given bobweight in excess of what is initially called for would be referred to as heavy balancing or being over-balanced. This is done in instances where anticipated weights or forces will be changing either during the course of an engines life or if the rotating and reciprocating mass characteristics are expected to change at a given rpm range or condition. Ifa carbon build-up on the piston top was anticipated over the long haul, then this could be also added to the oil value at this point. If you have a preference for a different oil value to be used ‘on your rotating assembly upon getting it balanced, then talk this over with your shop and gettheir input on this. Most shops will be agreeable to sutle changes in the bobweight values if you have specific preferences. custower Ease FAatlagea! v-8 ‘ADDAESS: Joa 23/293 PHONE NO pare Betas ENGINE MAKE ta Vie Ford. wove. __Alace ROO ROTATING OCowptere ENGINE foo noTaTING OD BEARING Less FLrwHeeL AOD BEARING OIL ALLOWANCE PISTON & PIN (07 LESS PRESSURE PLATE toons (1 se) figs (1 SET) ROD RECIPROCATING —Z: Engine Bal: it BopweicHT Total: | /692 = jancing art Tee Eaton NOTE: 50% RECIPROCATING, 100% ROTATING 0 Less DAMPER (284) 957-3339 here are a variety of other conditions which would require “overbalancing” as part of the balancing process. ‘A change in rod lengths or crankshaft stroke can benefit from a given amount of overbalance depending upon the amount of change in rod/stroke ratio. The use of nitrous oxide, superchargers, or turbo chargers typically also requires a certain amount of overbalance. Using nitro methane in conjunction with a blower is likely the worse case scenario as cylinder pressures are extremely high under detonation which artificially increases the piston weight by a more than a normal amount. Any form of blown engine will benefit from a given amount of overbalance simply due to the weight of the piston averaging artificially heavier not only from the increase in cylinder pressure at ignition, but the increase in cylinder pressure taking place while the cylinder is also filling during the intake stroke. In this instance, the piston is averaging an overall heavier weight when running at speed. A normally aspirated engine has a given amount of pressure counterbalance in that the piston is subjected to negative pressure when the cylinder is filling but is under increased pressure during compression and ignition. If an. aspirated engine is working with an extremely well designed induction system and is benefiting from a ramming effect to fill the cylinders at the upper rpm ranges, then overbalancing also helps here. And then there's the rpm factor. Balancing is linear up to a point throughout the rpm range but depending upon the masses at work within your particular assembly, there is a point in which the crankshaft rpm starts to out run the dynamics of the existing state of balance. Overbalance allows these dynamics to stay in tune or “caught up" to the rpm's of the crankshaft. There are proprietary formulas that calculate these amounts of overbalance for all the different variables and will vary somewhat from shop to shop. Again, talk with your balance shop regarding overbalancing and determine if this would be best applied to your application. Now that all the rotating assembly's component pieces have been weighed, it's time to calculate the amount each bobweight will weigh before building them and attaching them to thecrankshaft. To repeat what was stated in an earlier article, a 90° V8 engine will normally require ‘a bobweight that simulates 100% of the rotating mass and 50% of the reciprocating mass. Because a single bobweight is being used for each V8 journal and represents a pair of connecting rod and piston assemblies, the weight of one piston with its pin, ring set, and a single rod small end will be added to the weight of two connecting rod big end weights along with the weight of two complete rod bearings. This in effect will give the required 50% reciprocating (that which goes up and down) and 100% of the rotating mass. The appropriate amount of oil and desired overbalancing is also added at this point. With the bobweight calculation now being complete, i's then just a matter of assembling the bobweights on a grams scale to replicate the calculated weights and then attaching these bobweights to the crankshaft in preparation for spin balancing. The next article in this series will cover exactly this. Special thanks goes to Emie “Bounty Hunter” Phillips in allowing the use of his balance card for his racing Y as an example. Until then, happy motoring Balancing the Crankshaft ——Iin getting to the point in which the crankshaft from a V8 or other V style engine can be spin balanced, several diferent operations had to be already completed. Had this been an inline or opposed cylinder engine, then the crankshaft could have been balanced at any point in the operation due to not requiring any bobweight fixtures to be installed on it. However, when the cylinders are orientated in a V style, bobweights are required due to the rotating and reciprocating masses not being equally opposing. Throughout the previous articles in this series, the pistons have been matched to each other by weight, the connecting rod ends have also been appropriately lightened and matched by weight on each end as a set, and the miscellaneous components such as the bearings, rings, and piston locks have also been weighed. With all these values known and the estimated oil along with any heavy balancing values also added, the calculation for the amount of weight required for the bobweight fixture is ready to be put to use. Next on the agenda is to build up the bobweight fixtures so that they match the calculated value. Bobweights vary in style and design from the different manufacturers but all have the same function in that they are simulating the rotating and reciprocating masses seen on a crankshaft as installed within an engine. Some bobweight designs have a small vessel on each half that are filled with bb's or shot in which to achieve the desired weight while other designs simply takeappropriately sized weights that are fastened on each half. Regardless of the design used, it's imperative that each half weigh the same while the two halves being attached to each other also match the predetermined weight calculation. Once the fixtures have been assembled to match the calculated weight value, its time to put them on the crankshaft. At this point it's not only important that the two halves are spaced ‘equally apart when placed on the crankshaft rod journal but that they are centered on the journal as well. The newer bobweight fixtures can now be purchased with built in micrometers in which to exactly split the halves while the earlier models require a manual or physical measurement in which to do this same function. Regardless of the style being used, it’s still important that the halves be split equally during the mounting process. In theory, the bobweights can be pointed in any direction when mounted on the journals and still give the same high degree of balance that's being targeted for. General accepted practice though dictates that they be installed with the longest parts of these fixtures pointing at 90° angles to the stroke when placed on the journals. This keeps outward protrusions at a minimum while spinning the crankshaft at speed in the balancing machine. Once the bobweights have been installed on ‘each journal, the crankshaft is ready to be placed in the machine to be spun. If the assembly is an external balanced design, then the flywheel and damper will also need to be installed prior to making the initial spin of the crank. ith placement of the crankshaft ‘assembly in the machine, the balancing machine is then configured for the total static mass of the crankshaft so the electronics can give appropriate feedback on the amount of imbalance that's present. The machine will spin the crankshaft at a predetermined speed in which to measure the dynamic and static imbalance of the crankshaft assembly. Dynamic imbalance or the state of balance from end to end can only be determined with the crankshaft being run at speed. Static balance on the other hand, if bad enough, can be determined by merely finding the heavy side of the crank while it's sitting in a pair of rollers but without dynamically balancing the crank, it would be quite difficult to determine which end of the crankshaft would be responsible for the static state of imbalance. The electronics can isolate the imbalances at each end of the crank and if done correctly, the crankshaft will not only be perfectly dynamically balanced when finished, it will also be statically balanced.ithout getting into detail on the mechanics of the spin balance machine itself, I'll simply say that the electronics will indicate where the crankshaft is, out of balance and by how much. Throughout the rpm range that the crankshaft goes through while in the machine, the electronics will proceed through 180° of phase angles while accelerating from low speed to high speed. Typically, high speed readings are desirable but there are those instances where low speed readings must be taken mainly due to the crankshaft being so far out of balance that it will not safely spin up to speed necessary for a high speed reading. After initial weight adjustments are made to the crankshaft counterweights in these instances, then high speed balancing can be performed which allows for the remaining weight adjustments to be performed to the crankshaft. These weight adjustments can be either by adding weight or taking weight away. If the readings indicate that the crankshaft counterweights are heavy, then weight reduction at the counterweights is required. Removing weight is reasonably straight forward in that it's usually removed using a drill press in which a predetermined amount of material is removed. The driling works best when drilling two holes instead of one that are equally spaced from the indicated location of out of balance. This allows subtle weight adjustments by going to either of the two drilled holes instead of concentrating all efforts on a single hole that could be off just a few thousandths fore or aft of the actual out of balance position. Besides drilling, there are those instances where the weight will be removed through some form of grinding or lathe operation depending upon the final result being achieved. On the other end of the spectrum are those crankshaft counterweights that are too light and thus requires material to be added in which to make the counterweights heavier. The simplest weight addition is where some of the existing balance holes can be refilled either with machined pieces of steel or a given amount of weld. The more extreme cases require the use of a heavy metal such as Tungsten or Mallory metal. I've even seen lead used. Anytime these metals are added, it's desirable that they be installed parallel to the crankshaft centerline so that the tendency to be dislodged from the crankshaft by way of centrifugal force is minimized. Again, because of crankshaft design, heavy metal may be required to be installed within a vertically drilled hole in the crankshaft and secured in such a manner that it will not be centrifugallydislodged. Because of the costs involved with heavy metal and its installation, the customer can opt for a external balance which forces the damper and/or flywheel to become an integral part of the balanced assembly. This can create a major difficulty later when replacing either externally balanced part without a complete teardown and rebalance especially if the piece being replaced was destroyed and cannot be used as a reference. Another option in lieu of adding heavy metal to a crankshafts counterweights are lightening holes within the crankpins themselves. This artificially adds mass to the counterweights as it makes the crankpin side lighter and is a desirable way in which to move the mass around. If having a crankshaft built, this is a typical option as it also allows the overall weight of the crankshaft to be reduced by also reducing the size of the counterweights. When building stroker cranks, lightening holes in the crankpins are a normal course of action. And then there's centrifugal mass reduction. This is where the bobweight calculation for a particular engine is considerably lighter than the standard values and hence, the crankshaft is much heavier than it needs to be. Rather than drill pair of deep holes in the outermost crankshaft counterweights to balance the crank, a greater number or series of shallow holes are drilled or the counterweights themselves are machined in a lathe across the length of the counterweights effectively reducing the centrifugal mass of the crankshaft. For a drag car, this allows the engine to accelerate at a faster rate by lieu of a reduced crankshaft mass in which to get it up to speed. This will be at the expense of having less stored energy within the crankshaft for launching purposes. For a circle track or road race vehicle, the benefit is two fold. It not only allows for a faster accelerating engine but also an ‘engine that can slow down at a quicker rate. This allows the driver to run further into the corners. under throttle knowing that the engine will slow down at a quicker rate before having to applythe brakes or just applying less braking to achieve the same result. For centrifugal mass reduction, the rotating mass is reduced at the outer edge of the crankshaft. This minimizes the amount of stored energy that would have normally been present in the crankshaft which in turn would have inhibited the crankshaft to slow down and subsequently continued to push the vehicle forward. Regardless of the method employed in removing or adding material toa crankshaft in which to balance it the degree of accuracy is crtcal as the final state of balance will still dictate how much power or torque is being potentially lost at the flywheel due to imbalances.