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7/6/19: I installed the harmonic balancer today and it went pretty well. I went to the not so local plumbing supply (a 45 minute drive) and got a 1-1/2” coupling, 4” nipple and a cap to match. The existing Woodriff key was beat up quite a bit but procurement of a new one proved to be more difficult than I anticipated. NAPA didn’t carry them and kid behind the counter at Advance Auto looked at me like I was from outer space. There was an older gentleman working there that formerly worked at NAPA and said Tractor Supply carries them. TS did have them but they were in such a disarray and none were in their labeled place. Half of the plastic packages were empty. Unfortunately they did not have the right size, so I settled on one that was the next size up figuring I could grind it to fit.

After the 45 minute ride home, I chucked the coupling in the lathe to face it off and turn down the OD to fit inside the rivets on the balancer, assembled the three pieces and my driver was set.

After comparing the oversized Woodriff key the the old one, I decided to clean up the old one and reuse it. It would have taken me far too long to get the new one to fit.

I spent allot of time fitting the key to the shaft and the balancer and cleaning up the shaft and crank snout. As a career machinist, I know you only get one shot to get it on the first time correctly, so preparation is key. After carefully measuring to ensure the proper fit, I oiled the new shaft sleeve then slid the balancer on engaging the key. The moment of truth arrived. Using my newly made balancer installation tool and a 4 lb. mallet I drove it on until the sound changed indicating the balancer was seated. It didn’t take nearly as much force as I expected. Five or six good solid hits and it was seated.

I continued with installation of the water pump and relocation plate. I had pre-fit the pump to the plate and had given it a nice satin black paint job so installation should have been be a snap. That wasn’t the case and I needed to tweak the holes again as a couple of the bolts were difficult to get started. The rest of the job went easy. I aligned the alternator, installed and tensioned the fan belt and finally installed an original 216 fan to complete the package.

The final misalignment between the balancer pulley and the water pump pulley was about 1/32”, which I believe is acceptable. I reinstalled the radiator, the new preformed radiator hoses (had to trim the ends to fit) then filled the radiator with coolant, reattached the battery and started her up. Music to my ears as she purred like a kitten. I still have the grille, latch plate to install but it’s late and tomorrow is another day. Another success! To me this was a big success!

The last picture is what it looked like when I got it.