Balancer location

[Kim K Kaiser]

Readi g another thread. Does this look about right on balancer gap? Thats a 1/4 thick piece of metal.

[Kim K Kaiser]

The block is the one i got from you.  I will work on the displays and questions.

My phone is always on and tyned in to the manual i have in my phone.  Having not done or been around the balancer, i hv to go to youtube for visual context.  Whike its not engine specific, it gives me reference.  One i reference is a guy rebuilding an old 350 SB.  Lots of similar things but i always go back to book to try to correlate what i see, and whats printed. If its still not clear, i watch it or another video again for better reference.  I was using the help tab to try and back up what i had done as i rembered that reference article.  I hv been in and out of manual on each segment.  And once i read it, then watch a video, then go back and read, it makes much more sense.  Then i go to help tab if i still hv a doubt. Then here.  Other than the dropped piston,  been going fairly smoothly.  All the measureing torgueing and measuring and un torqueing gets a bit monotonous, but overall, ok.   We shall see

[Jason Edge]

I would use the shop manual! LOL. Torque to 125 ft lb as indicated and you should be good to go.  Read and reread the shop manual and follow step by step.  when I rebuilt my engine and re-assembled it I followed the shop manual exactly step by step and do not remember anything that was not covered. I have the benefit of having disassembled dozens, and have put some back together, but never a complete lower end rebuild, but the shop manual was spot on as far as I remembered. If you get into second guessing the shop manual you will probably end up making problems for yourself. 
There is also nothing wrong with posting the questions here, but how about a bit of background. Looking at that picture I still do not have a clue if this is the current running engine or the rebuild engine. You didn't provide the background details before you asked your questions and still did not answer it after I asked what I was looking at? If you had said up front, this is my rebuild engine, and I have pushed it on to 125 ft lbs of torque per shop manual but still not sure about this gap and then posted your question, that would have made more sense and been more clear to anyone trying to help you.  

[Kim K Kaiser]

I was using an article on this site regarding the location. That mentioned the .25 inch measurement, and the timing mark, as you pointed out.  Those were my references.   I have not done the 125 lb torque as i was asking about the location as it sits, based on that article before i did the final totque on it.  So regardless of msmnt. The standard would be go till it stops, then 125?

[Jason Edge]

Is this the running engine you already have or the engine you are rebuilding? If this is off the running engine I am not sure what the purpose of the question is as I assume the balancer was properly pushed on and the belts were in alignement.  It may be a nice to know spec but has no bearing on installation as I will address that next.

If this is the balancer going back on the newly rebuilt engine, I guess this is a way to ask if it has went in far enough?   The answer is, if you torque the balancer on using an installation bolt to 125 ft lb, it will be pushed all the way on.  In other words the balancer will stop moving when it is completely installed. I looked at mine and your gap from looks about the same as mine. Again, my question would be did you torque it down to 125 ft lb and until it stopped moving? Getting that gap measurement ot me is about as meaningless as measuring the width of the valve covers when installing them. 

A better tale-tale sign for me is the fact the front edge of the timing indicator is about even with the back edge of the balancer.. but really don't put much stock on that... the goal is to get it pushed on until it stops moving and that should be before you hit the 125 ft lb shop manual spec.  See mine below as an example.