100/4 BN1 Harmonic Balancer

[zblu]

Yes, I know this has been covered before, but which is the best, not neccessarily the best value for money, given the costs of labour costs these days, (We need you Dave Russell, so get better)

 

[glemon]

zblu--maybe you need to be a little more specific, I assume you mean the best harmonic balancer, as I am assuming you know the stock motor doesn't have one, I think Dennis Welch sells one, who else?

 

[zblu]

hi glemon,
yes, I know the 100 doesnt have one as stock, I know DW sells them, although from memory there are other suppliers, its just that I'm sure I read somewhere that there are different types, ie some are a moulded rubber bush setup while others have a "wet? silicon? fluid? encased bush", its just not something I have spent too much time researching, and I thought some on here may have come across different setups, or maybe old age is catching up!

 

[GregW]

Hi Zblu,
I bought a harmonic balancer from Moss for my BJ8. It was the Pro-Race that's made in your part of the world. A fine piece of craftsmanship. I don't know if they make one for the 100 though.

 

[zblu]

Hi GregW
I've had a look at a couple, and some seem to be adjustable (whatever that implies!) also, I would imagine the pulley ID/OD is similar

 

[John Turney]

I have a ProRace on my 100-6/3000. According to ProRace, the same balancer also fits the 100. It seems to be an excellent unit. I've only had it on a month and haven't taken it to it's maximum RPM (18,000) and never will.

If you do dynamic timing, you will need to make the timing marks more visible. If you do static timing, they are visible enough.

 

[glemon]

Hey zblu--figured you knew that stuff, just wanted to help get the conversation going--good luck with the motor.

Greg

 

[Healey 100]

For what I know about harmonic balancers, they are designed to reduce torsional crankshaft vibrations. They are set up for a specific engine and frequency of power pulses.

Most four cylinder engines don't have harmonic balancers because the engines are short enough and the power pulses low enough frequency so they are not needed. This is not the case with straight six or v-8's, which is why they do have balancers.

Putting a six cylinder balancer on your 100 probably won't do any harm, but it is not clear what good it would do.

 

[glemon]

From what I have read the long stroke large big bore four cylinder in the 100 can benefit from a harmonic balancer, particularly if you want it to rev beyond 5000 RPM or so. When I rebuilt mine I chose to take advantage of the engines strong points, low end torque and not worry about revs, so raised compression, lightened the flywheel and put in an M cam, which is a very mild cam.

You can get more power if you want to make it rev, but you are also talking about major money if you want to do it right.