If you have to take the motor apart and get the crank redone, keep in mind that these cranks can be machined pretty far and still maintain their integrity. I have a motor I redid for a friend where the rods and mains were machined .060 and that motor has been running for well over a decade now. If the crank is out for machining, have the machine shop drill and tap the front snout for a balancer bolt (small block chevy). Makes installing the balancer way easier in that you can use a regular balancer installer instead of the hammer and block method (which can damage the thrust bearing if not done correctly putting forward pressure on the crank while beating it on). If you have room, you can install a Mr. Gasket balancer bolt for a small block chevy to keep the balancer in place. You might also want to consider obtaining a spare balancer and making a timing cover/seal centering tool out of it. Its easy. Drill and drive out the rivets in the balancer and separate out the components. Take the hub and run a brake hone through, sneak up on it, it until it will just slip onto the crank snout without interference, not too loose in other words. When you are ready to install the timing cover and new seal, just install the screws/bolts sort of loose, leaving the cover loose and slightly movable. Install the new centering tool, center the seal on the crank snout, and then tighten the screws/bolts. Helps keep leaks at the seal from out of alignment snout to a minimum. Kent Moore use to make a tool for this but somewhat hard to come by these days so a little backyard hackerwork to the rescue.
Last edited by Dragsix; 01/08/2018 4:48 PM.
