[AMC-List] Re; 258 engine balance and flexplate

["John Elle" <johnelle@xxxxxxxxx>]

Snip
the more i think about it, the more i'm convinced that all inline
sixes are internally balanced by their very nature.  i haven't yet
heard of one that isn't.
Snip
 
Not that this is one of the things that I keep track of as a hobbiest,
so I could not comment
standpoint of knowledge, it is my understanding that internal or
external balance is a 
decision made by the designer. Even the legendary Chevy small block
which is internal
balanced as I understand, the 400 cu in version of it is externally
balanced leaving one to 
do some extra work when installing a 400 crank in a 350 to make the
popular stroker 
383 due to the external balance configuration of the 400 crank, as I
understand it. 
 
How some ever it was the increasingly popular use of  building and
installing I-6 engines 
in some of early 1900 automobiles that lead to the invention and
refinement of the design
of the Harmonic Balancer due to the annoying habit of those engines to
break crank shafts 
with out provocation. A problem that still prevails today. I am not sure
how much balance 
plays a roll in that action, but my gut feeling is that the inherent
balance design of an I-6 
engine is pretty much an urban legend leaving the final decision to the
method back in
to the hands of the designer. In any case if I were to work on an I-6
engine other than my 
trusty 232 or 258 , the method of the engine being balanced would be
about number 1 on
my need to know and had better find out quick list of things to do. 
 
If memory serves me correctly, and as a certified old guy now it is
allowed that my memory 
can be faulty but still infallible,  my Grandfather bought a brand new
1956 or 7 Rambler, 3 tone purple 
and mauve paint with matching interior off of a show room flow and had
the crank shaft break
in two on it with in a few thousand miles. Boy those were the days,
three tone paint and a 
matching vinyl interior. A far cry from spending mega-bucks for a
monotone Buick with a gray
mouse fur interior that you can do today. 
 
Lets hear it for another better idea! A 4 door Mustang PPPPFFFFFTTTTTT!
 
Zoom Zoom
John  
 
 
 
_______________________________________________
AMC-List mailing list
AMC-List@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.amc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/amc-list

or go to http://www.amc-list.com