I just changed to opti-spark, water pump, ect. on a 93 Z28. When I took off the balancer there was no lock key on it. However, there is a key on the crank. I slid the balancer back on, match marked it, and torqued the bolt to specs. I am having a hard time justifying running the motor with just that little 3/8ths bolt holding the balancer on. I've never seen one without a key before. Maybe this is not a big deal with this type of motor, but it didn't say anything in the owners manual. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Nate

 

No LT1s have the keyed hub...the balancer is neutral on the LT1 so it's exact orientation isn't that big of a deal, but you were right to mark its location since the balancer has the TDC pointer on it.

Thunder racing sells a keyed hub & woodruff key if you want to upgrade. I did when I did my first cam swap and it was a good purchase for extra piece of mind.

 

It sounds like you took off the damper and hub as one unit. It is easier in most cases to just take off the damper off of the hub. It is held on to the hub by 3 bolts. The bolts are not equi-distant apart so it can only go back on one way. Here is a pic.

http://shbox.com/1/pull_pulley.jpg

 

Thanks for the input guys. I realized I should have taken the damper only off about the time i slid the entire unit out. The car is pretty stock so I don't plan on spinning it too hard, I might just get a balancer with a key at this point. It would be much cheaper than the alternative if it slips.