Pinging & Timing and balancer problems

[John Hertog <crossram@xxxx>]

Hi Jennie,

Assuming all is working as it should, distributor advance, etc, one good
possibility is that you are timing the engine, using the TDC reference mark
on the harmonic balancer, and that the outer ring of the harmonic balancer
has slipped . I find this to be a common occurence these days, with more
balancers being "bad" than good !
I have a PILE of bad balancers from various 413 - 440 Mopars . Do not assume
that the TDC mark on the balancer is where it should be !

The balancer is comprised of two " rings" held together by a vulcanised
strip of rubber, or some such. This is only visible once the balancer is
removed, from the backside.

Get yourself a piston stop ( one can be made from an old spark plug and a
bolt, bust out the porcelain from the old plug, tap the metal part to
receive a bolt than can thread in and out of it.) Then put the engine on #1
TDC going by the mark on the balancer and remove #1 cylinder spark plug and
insert the tool. Thread the bolt to where it barely touches the top of the
piston. Place a socket on the crank pulley and slowly rotate it one way and
the other ( will be easier if you have removed ALL the plugs ! ) . By
playing with the piston stop, you should be able to find TRUE TDC - the
point at which the piston is at the very top, right between where it stops
going up and starts coming down - and veryfy the accuracy of the mark on the
balancer. TDC, of course, should correspond on the mark on the balancer.
betcha it doesn't .

I have some balancers that are off by 5 degrees, some by ten degrees, some
by fifteen, some by more ! I recently had an engine on a stand and decided
to "test" all my balancers, so I put the engine at true TDC and then
test-fitted one balancer after another. For each one good one, I had four
bad ones !

If balancer is "off" , then you should time the car by ear only... and
probably have the balancer rebuilt or replaced. There's always a risk that
the outer ring will separate from the inner one, I have heard of this
happening to several of our members .

300'ly

John