Balancing

[oldgoat]

2.3 have to use stock crank and rods.Is balancing worth the money?

[car62]

yes,especially the flywheel

[engineczar]

To add to that include the pressure plate. They are usually way off and are notoriously harmful to stock 2.3 cranks.

[steveshawjr]

would highly recommend it. it cost me a good stock bottom end this summer. flywheel was out took out the rear main witch went though the rest of the engine every bearing had to be replaced even the cam and aux bearings. had to re size the rods find a new crank ........

spend a small amount on balancing or spend a lot on a total rebuild your call but i would recommend it

[84Dave]

All the above are good points. The only thing I can add? Balance the crank by itself first. Then bolt up the flywheel/pressure-plate assembly, no disc, to the crank. Re-balance again & bring the entire assembly into balance by drilling the flywheel. Then before disassembly, swipe the flywheel & 'plate with red nail polish. So re-assembly can be performed by lining up the nail polish marks. Why? the above procedure essentially balances the clutch/flywheel assembly by itself, and makes the balance good for bolting to any other crank. Why no clutch disc for balancing? Two reasons. #1...... it is very difficult to align/center the disc in the assembly for balancing. #2...... the center-of-mass of the disc is primarily @ the center, compared to the flywheel/'plate mass @ the outside, & makes little to no difference if not used for the balance process. And finally...... dowel the flywheel to the crank with a good sized dowel. I use a 7/16" diameter dowel on the 2.0L engines. The dowel can/will prevent shearing flywheel bolts with the 180-degree crank. And using long rods in these engines increases the possibility of shearing bolts due to the longer residence of the pistons @ TDC/BDC. Been there..... done that. In fact..... I have installed the Cosworth steel crank in 2.0L's, and that crank has provisions for (3) dowels. Makes one think Cosworth was/is onto something? Oh...... in case your balance shop doesn't know? You don't use bob-weights with a 180-degree 4-cylinder crank. Balance bare initially. -Dave-

[Old Rob]

Even better is to balance the crank, then 0 balance the flywheel, drilling the flywheel only and then balance the pressure plate, drilling, adding weight to the PP only. This significantly allows you interchange.