Diputado

Wow...!! Didn't expect such "lively" responses...but that's great...always good to generate discussion on points like these. I'm attached another photo here, this one of the actual harmonic balancer. I took the photo when changing the water pump. If you zoom in a little, you can see the Ford part number, which clearly identifies it as a mid-80s 5.0 balancer.

Well...I don't know who is "right" on this...but the engine runs good, and apparently has for about 8 years now with this very combination. Obviously, SOMEBODY did SOMETHING right for it to work.

67mustang302

Well, they went from 28 to 50 on some 302s in the 80's, so it's probably one of the 28oz balancers from the early-mid 80's non roller engines. Or you're just lucky, and it's "close enough" to not rattle itself apart.

barnett468

well everyone that said it can't be done without major balance changes is right.

i am right about the flywheel being a 28 oz that was NOT balanced to a 50. you are talking to someone that knows that particular flywheel inside and out and has done tis for 40 years and has engines balanced to within 2 grams. yes that is just two grams.

67 mustang302 looked at your flywheel closely and realized the same thing. it is as plain as day to people that know these things.

as i mentioned, you need to look at the back of your damper to see the weight. if it does go half way around the damper they still might have hogged out the center of it to get it to match the 28 oz flywheel. if they did this then you have a 28 oz crank. your damper does look like a 50 oz to me but i can't be 100% sure from the photo.

bottom line is that whatever you have and whatever they did, it seems to work. either that or it really is vibrating horribly and you simply think that's normal, lol.

67mustang302

Or the vibrations have been a high frequency harmonic that you just haven't felt, and you're lucky the crank didn't break....though the bearings would be beat to ****.

Diputado

Yeah, I do believe it has a 28-oz balance crank. I asked the PO specifically what rods and crank he used, and he said stock 289. But...the guy did all kinds of weird s*** when he built the car, so until one day when eventually I tear it all down for a rebuild, I won't know 100%. I actually bought the car from a guy who bought it from another guy who in turn bought it from the PO that built it. I had to go through the local DMV to track down the PO who built it. According to him, he built the engine in 2006 and did a little street racing with it, before selling it after about 4 years. I've done a ton of improvements (disc brakes, suspension, transmission rebuild, some topside engine work) since buying it about 18 months ago. Still have a lot more to do....but as y'all know well, these cars are never really "finished". Here's a couple photos of the engine. One is how it looked when I got it, the other is how it looks today. Also, here is a link to a short YouTube video of it running last week (yeah, I uncapped the headers for that one!).

barnett468

ok the plot thickens, lol.

yeah the balance might have removed some weight from the front of the crank if they did not do the balancer but that would be a lot of material. most balance shops would have told the guy to simply get the right parts. very strange.

yes the after photo looks much nicer.

i would make sure your plug wires are not getting toasted by the exhaust they look very close.

67mustang302

$60/hr, $70/hr if you watch, $80/hr if someone else worked on it first.

barnett468

Wow, you work way too cheap on cars that someone else worked on first!

67mustang302

Haha, that's just what I usually see on the signs.

Diputado

No, the wires are actually much further from the headers than they look in the perspective of the photos. Thanks for all the comments...like I said...one day I'll do an complete overhaul of it, and all the mysteries will be (hopefully) solved. When that day comes, I'll post another thread about the latest.

did you check out the video...?