86PACER

What brand? The one I got appears to be made of the same material as my original one.

_twisted_

Pacer glad to see you jump right on this, cheap insurance to halt the possibilities had you kept running it

86PACER

Looking at the obvious signs of slippage, I feel better having it off my car.

_twisted_

when ford had that polymer gear set on its timing chains, I saw a few blown motors from excessive timing swings

CentralCoaster

Interesting that it slipped faster than the motor, advancing the timing, not retarding it.

BigLee

dont remember the brand. it was one of the above mentioened brands, just cant remember which one.
i do remember it came from China...
i remember him ranting about it...
"cheap chinese junk. i could crap in a mold, bake it in an oven, and machine a stronger part out of it than this one."...

not saying yours isnt decent quality, just that those imported pieces can sometimes fall short of OEM standards

CentralCoaster

Interesting reading here on Chinese labor, probably some propoganda, but still...

http://www.willthomas.net/Convergence/Weekly/China.htm

mseven

did the new one come with the weight in it?

coupeguy2001

Isn't the one with the weight for a 400 or a 383?

BTW, what cave did you find that old balancer in??

86PACER

Damn it. Upon closer inspection, this Dorman peice says "china" on it. Now I'm not sure if I want to put this in my car. Perhaps I should return it and go with the one from the dealer after all.

anesthes

Most aftermarket race parts are made in china now, and have been for quite some time.

Scat cranks + rods, eagle cranks + rods, lot's of pistons, lifters, rockers, etc.

Your balancer will be fine.

I'd be weary of listening to the forum member who bought *a part* vs guys who have built numerous race winning motors.

CAT makes decent dampers too, btw.

-- Joe

anesthes

Could have made an almost complete revolution.

-- Joe

mseven

in 1990, the 350 has one, and the fsm states when replacing to put in a new weight in making sure it is in the same location. Because it is not an internally balanced motor I would think they are alll the same. The 383 being aftermarket would usually be internally balanced, as to the 400 from GM, I would think it was externally balanced in stock form.

CentralCoaster

But that isn't making the quality any better. I talked to a guy who does CSI type teardowns on motors for a living, he showed me some of the Chinese "quality" in his shop.

Would you buy a crankshaft made by a 15 yr old girl?

CFI-EFI

"put in a new weight", In where? Where is there on a damper, a place to add weight? All 1986 - 1991, L98s have the same mode of balance; external in the rear and neutral/internal in the front. Please elaborate on your FSM's statement.

RACE ON!!!

mseven

certainly...below you will see the excerpt from pg. 6a1-14 of my FSM and pics. of my original torsional damper. In the pics. on the right (approx. 3 o'clock postion in pic.), you will notice one of the small holes in the perimeter has a "pin" (weight) in it, with no other weights/drilling on it for balancing. (note spelling in fsm, lol)


here you can see that all the holes in the perimeter are empty except for the one.

CFI-EFI

Well that explains the whole problem. That isn't a misprint, it
is referencing the one, ODD damper that takes weights.

Seriously, I have never seen or heard of removable damper balance
weights. Of course, I had never heard of removable flywheel weights,
either, until I read about them, here, on the forum as applicable to the DM flywheel used with the ML9 six speed trans. I even went to my
own FSM page 6A1-13, in my book, and found no mention of damper
weights as your book shows.

I have never come across anything like that before. I had written a different response assigning the difference to the 1986 and up dampers. Then as a double check, I looked up the dampers in my Corvette parts books. Contrary to my previous statement, all Gen I engines in all year C4s take the same damper. I appreciate the scan of the FSM. If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have believed it. This is a mystery to me. If the dampers were different I would write it off as just one more fact unknown to me, but the two different treatments in the FSM over the, supposedly same, damper has me totally confused.

By the way, the one piece rear main seal L98s ARE internally balanced in the front of the engine. I would like to put a call out to anyone that can shed some light on what is going on here. HELP!

RACE ON!!!

CentralCoaster

I'm pretty sure mine didn't have any weights, but I didn't look very closely.

CFI-EFI

Your is an '85, isn't it? I didn't notice any in my '84, but like you, I wasn't looking. Either way, Why would the FSM not mention a weight in the '84 book, but say what mseven scanned from his 1990 FSM, when the dampers are the same???

RACE ON!!!

CentralCoaster

The 86 posted above doesn't have any, although there's one hole I can't see in the photos.

If the pin weight was to balance the damper, then the book shouldn't ask you to switch it to the new one.

Notice his new damper has an extra hole, perhaps to balance it.

You got the parts manual if you're so inclined to check. I'd rather scratch myself.