looking for someone in the phoenix area. need rotating assembly (crank, rods etc..etc) balanced. also flywheel and pressure plate. 383. thanks

An option is to weigh the items yourself. HF has a gram scale for ten dollars and it is accurate (same as my buddies' high dollar one). only difficult part is to have the centerlines of the rod horizontle by suspending one end on a fixture with a horizontle rod and the other end (whichever end you are weighing) on the scale. with each piston assigned to a particular rod grind (& finish polish) each rod small end until each rod small end/piston/pin/rings/locks (if used) are the same to the other (8) & and is the reciprocating part of the formula. Then weigh the rod big end with bearings and this is the rotating part of the formula & grind (& polish) the pad on that end to get em all equal. You are calculating the "bobweight" that a crank rod journal (theres 4 of em) sees which is (2) rod/piston assys on each. for the final number double the reciprocating weight of (1) assy cuz there are 2 assys on a particular journal but you cut that in half (in effect the weight of (1) assy) and on the rotating weight of the rod big end/bearing halves you double that for the (2) assys (& you dont cut that one in half) add the two together and that is the number you give the man along with the crank/crank bolts/flywheel/clutch and the harmonic dampener (saves alot of shop labor time). if this ain't in the cards for you then here is a BTT for ya. the only hard part of this is the center of the dia of the open "holes" at each end of the rod need to be horizontle to each other (good/carefull measureing) and the rod needs to be level side to side (use the parting line on the big end works and a magic marker mark on 12 0 clock on the small end works and some shops weigh one end then subtract that from the rod+bearings overall weight to get the weight of the other end (I forgot which end they weigh). working on the rod get repeateable readings several times in a row & then your dead on

not what I was looking for however, thank you. I need a machine shop that is in the phoenix area, a good machine shop that I can take my stuff to and they do the balance.

Yeah I kinda figured I was off on a tangent!. Short version: when you find a good one take the harmonic dampener in with you with the rest of the parts

when I have a crank balanced I bring them rings, rods, bolts, pistons, balancer, and flywheel or flexplate...

You may have to just call around, get some prices over the phone, pick the shop you are comfortable with...

Now with the prices of brand new rotating assemblies, I havent had anthing balanced in a while, figure it this way..
A (stroker or non stroker) kit can be bought for $2100ish, that come with bearings, rod bolts, pistons, and rings, plus new rods and crank..
SO-
$60 for bolts, $110 for rings, $650 for pistons, $125 for bearings, then $350 for the balance job, $80+ to mount the pistons, is $1400ish, now if your crank has to be cut, or rods need work thats even more, plus adding the value of our crank and rods if you sold them , it is hard to justify doing the work when you can get a brand new 5000" set for very little more...


just something to think about

Sure glad you didn't ask more. These guys would have you spending 3 trillion dollars. Too bad you're not closer, guy just upgraded to a $60,000 state of art balancer.

RE: Phoenix shops
A couple of years ago I had some time on my hands in Phoenix so I stopped in at Loper's to check out the store.

Back in the day they were a respectable engine shop as well as all the rest. I asked about that and they told me they weren't doing machine work any more but most of the guys who wanted good engines built were using one of three shops. Unfortunately for you I can't remember what they said, but you could ask them.

Another avenue is asking the guy at Kadrie's Kranks, find him in Craigslist. He grinds cranks and is pretty easy to talk to. He either can do it or can steer you to someone. I was asking about offset grinding a smallblock Olds crank, he quoted a very reasonable figure.

R.

Yeah we're real bad about that