If I had unlimited time and unlimited money and I could pay some one else to do all the work, well you know what I mean, we wouldn't even be discussing this if Dan had all the above. What Dan has is a good running engine that to the best of his knowledge is ready to go except it needs a flexplate, not a complete tear down and re-assemble. Dan would be further ahead to just get another engine with a flexplate and go that route, instead of merely match balancing a flexplate to a known flywheel. People make mistakes all the time. Just because the engine is completely tore down and everything checked for balance and the flexplate included in this, doesn't mean that some one isn't going to make a mistake during that process. Shops that did what you describe obviously don't know what they are doing or over stepped their own common sense. All the flywheels I've seen so far from AMC V-8s all have had some balance metal removed. If you have seen flywheels that are from 70 on up AMC V-8s that do not have drilled holes for balancing, they must have came off a very special internally balanced AMC V-8. Did the factory build those? I remember reading that the final balance was obtained by correcting the flywheel or vibration dampener or both. If Dan's engine is a race motor I agree 100% go through it again and make double sure everything is correctly balanced. With a big investment in a race motor you're not doing your investment justice if you do anything less. Is this 100% necessary for a mild street engine? I don't think so. the engine may well end up better balanced after the procedure that what the factory put them out the door. If the shop guy looks funny at you when you discuss this with him, he doesn't know what he's doing and has never figured out how to do this correctly in the past. He has had several boo boo's that cost the boss money and he's skeptical of his ability to get it correct. Remember the flywheel Dan is talking about has already proven itself to be correct with that 390. If the same condition is duplicated correctly onto a flexplate every law of physics says it will be operate correctly on the same engine. I'm sorry I have to go with Davis, Mark and Greg saying it works just fine to copy balance flexplates and flywheels and interchange them. I have personal experience that machinists are capable of doing it without making mistakes. No offense intended Bruce I know you are an execelent machinist and mechanic, I just can't agree with you on this one. I am also a firm believer in not wasting money if you don't have to. Remember all my argument is based on finding a shop that knows and has successful experiences in this procedure. Armand (pretty sure Bruce has been fully balanced since 1968 and on an even keel ever since, but not so sure about himself for answering this post) > > "No need as suggested to rebalance your engine. Matchbalancing has been done > for years without issue." > > > > Really?? It's been done for years but I HAVE seen issues (from other shops). > How about the flywheel with holes drilled (or weights added) ON THE WRONG > SIDE. Or weights put in the wrong position that hit the block. Yup seen > several of them over the years. > > > > Naw,, if it's me runninn the balancer I'm going to caution that you still > could have problems and I will NOT guaranty a no shake unless I can do the > whole thing. I do NOT modify either the flywheel OR balancer unless there's > absolutely no other way to go. > > > > But that's just ME!! > > Bruce (doin the balancing act since 1968) Hevner > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: <http://list.amc-list.com/pipermail/amc-list-amc-list.com/attachments/200906 12/6bb32d00/attachment.htm> > _______________________________________________ > AMC-list mailing list > AMC-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx > http://list.amc-list.com/listinfo.cgi/amc-list-amc-list.com > _______________________________________________ > AMC-list mailing list > AMC-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx > http://list.amc-list.com/listinfo.cgi/amc-list-amc-list.com > > > -- > Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. > Checked by AVG. > Version: 7.5.560 / Virus Database: 270.12.26/2116 - Release Date: 5/15/09 6:16 AM > > _______________________________________________ AMC-list mailing list AMC-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx http://list.amc-list.com/listinfo.cgi/amc-list-amc-list.com