any good or should i have my machine shop just do it instead? my shop charges 250.00, so price is the same. opinions please. thinking of getting 383/496 kit for wagon. just had 543 in stock block go boom boom. i realize that it is same thing with 383/496 as it was with 440/543. size 10 foot in size 7 shoe. thanks in advance.

I don't know one way or the other. I do know that I like Source's argument that they do a bunch of them and nothing else. Seems pretty logical that by practicing the same thing over and over again that you are likely to get pretty good at it.

My semi local shop is $175 but if im getting the kit from one that sells alot like Source does I pay the extra. Cant think of a good reason not to.

I was considering just that, a 543 in a stock block (street). what happened to your deal?

Take one bite at the apple. S/F...Ken M

I can say I bought a 440Source 4.15 crank kit thats in my 493. I checked the pistons with pins and rods using my brothers tools and they were all very close. So close I went with their balance on the kit and crank since I knew mine was a street eng that I would not be running hard that much and it has worked fine. Its been in my car since 2011 and no vibration at all at any rpm that I can notice. Course if I was going to be twisting it hard every weekend I would want to have it checked to be sure. Ron

It will be fine--I have run a balancer for a Long time on all those spin and drill jobs --they are easy as pie and you would be surprised how far off they can be and still run smooth as silk It is EASY to get them done well Easy! So why fool around just get it done by them
These days rods and pistons are so close I never touch them--the folks that do and take a gram here and there are fooling themselves and just making grit to clean off It does not have to be that close

Its nice to see all these positive comments but rest assured that given time the naysayers will chime in !!! And then you'll be left alone with the dilemma. When it come to buying stuff or services from 440Source people should "just do it". Getting opinions just confounds the issue !!

They have a digital Hines balancer--and same guy runs it all day long--it will be on the $$ the Hines does not quit until it has done the job within the weight of a small paperclip--guy just drills until green light comes on then Tadaaa!!!

Ask your shop which they prefer. Some shops are okay using a balanced kit, others will want to balance it themselves. If your engine builder is going to recheck everything then you'll end up paying twice.

We've balanced over 3500 big inch Big Block Mopars Most any local shop would be lucky if they've got even one or two percent of that kind of experience with BB Mopar strokers.

You can check out our balancing operation here:

http://www.440source.com/balancing.htm

The only thing I can add is if the builder (or parts owner) finds there are sizing or taper issues w/ the crank journals that don't pass muster, then the initial balance job's cost isn't adding value to the package price.

I noticed that the subject company posted above shortly before me. Can he/they please explain how that situation would be handled, should it occur? Thanks! - Brad

Grinding the crank wouldn't affect the balance enough to matter.

You remove some material off the crank...... And add it to the bearing shells.

It's basically a wash.

If you really want to go deep into the weeds on theory think about the amount of oil on any rotating part in the bottom end at slow RPM with cold or lukewarm oil temps and then think about how much oil gets slung off at higher RPM with hot oil or a thinner weight oil

Nope, not really.

Works for me.

Just for reference I bought an Eagle rotating assembly for a 511 RB - my machinist insisted on checking the balance - the balance was within 1 gram on a 2180 total balance weight - I would say that is within a negligible error - so I paid essentially for two balance jobs in the end!

I used one shop twice and they charged me $200 to balance. The last shop I used charged me $250. The 1st shop there was no indication of any "adjustments" to the rods or pistons, just made the crank what it needed to be. The 2nd shop you could see where they "adjusted" the rods and pistons. He even put a wrist pin with a specific piston to make sure that all 8 were identical. I know the 2nd machinist if he has similar builds going on with identical parts (Say 2 builds with Scat rods) he will take all 16 rods and weigh them all and make the 2 sets of 8 as close before "adjusting" them.

To me if your paying to have it balance they should make it close as they can and make sure all the rods and pistons/pin are identical, that's what your paying them for IMO.

my experience with 440 was dead on................. we always check to verify someone else's work . it was spot on.

It was because I could train a monkey to operate a modern balancer in two days --it is EASY to be near perfect with a $60K machine the balancers they used in WWII were near as good it ain't hard to balance an engine and proof that it can be three miles off and still run perfect is Chryslers factory balance jobs that were in many cases AWFUL

hey Source I stood up for ya!!!

Oil schmoil!! Everybody guesses at 4-5 grams and that is just for argument nobody knows and ...It don't matter!!

I am telling you within 30 grams and you can't tell--most jobs are within a gram or two no matter who does it

and uh 3500 jobs that guy should get a Gold medal from someone!! he done know his stuff!!!