I went to the machine shop today and looked at my block after it had been cleaned and it looked really rusty looking. There were like 5 other blocks there and they looked like the same color. I was just curious if this is normal or if the machine shop did not clean the engine enough. The engine looked really clean as far as debri goes but it just looked old and worn. I was looking at the engine on AP Engineering's site and it looked the way hot tanked heads do after completion.

I was just curious if these guys are doing a half *** job or if this is normal. He did state that he would paint the block after completion of the process and it would look 10 times better, however I just want some insite from those of you who have had machine work done before.

Thanks again.

Kendall H.

 

Pretty normal. I would paint the block. Although in our cars you don't even see the engine block unless you're underneat the car...even then it's barely visible. Mine was painted black and looked really pretty...and now i can't see it any more. Naturally a website is going to take the cleanest block they got and put it up there. The block on that website is probably an unused crate block.

 

Ok cool, just wanted to make sure. After this block is all said and done It will have costed me around 2400 including the cam as well. Though if I was to do it again I think I would have had AP build mine. I went with the summit rebuild kit and some forged I beam rods and reused the stock crank, GM 847 and after all the machine work, assembly and balancing it is going to cost me around 900. Not including all the prices for the parts that had to go into the motor. This little 355 rebuild project has turned into 3-4k later down the road, and its still not running.

The shop also told me to bring in my flywheel and balancer in order for them to balance the block. If I have to change my flywheel later am I going to have to have the rotating assembly rebalanced or should I ask them to add the weight to the flywheel? So if I have to change the flywheel later on for whatever reason they can just figure out the weight that was added to the flywheel and place it on my new one. Sorry for all the questions, but I am just ignorant.

I just hope to get this thing back on the road where it belongs.

Kendall H.

 

Kendall,

You want to have them neutral balance the crank and the flywheel if possible. That way if you ever have to change the flywheel you can just make sure that's neutrally balanced and then it will bolt right up. This is the more expensive way to go but it lowers the bad harmonics in the crank, making it last longer and it lowers the inertia of the flywheel so the motor revs up quicker.

Bret

 

I was under the impression from older posts that nuetral balancing was only to be done if you have a flywheel without any weights on it. Since I am reusing the stock flywheel I was under the impression that It has the old weights attached to it that were needed with the stock motor. And since I am changing to a new rotating assembly this stock flywheel that was used with the stock motor now will not work with the new setup. So do I need a new flywheel as well for them to do a neutral balance?

Thanks again, I really appreciate the help. I would rather have it done correctly once.

 

They can knock the weight off your stock flywheel and neutrally balance it.

 

I am sorry, I should have been more clear. If the flywheel has been resurfaced and they knock the weight off of it to neutrally balance the rotating assembly, and later down the road I decide to get my flywheel replaced, wont it weigh more than the already resurfaced flywheel that was used to neutrally balance the assembly originally?

I just want to know if it was your engine what you would do. Would you purchase a new flywheel that hasnt been resurfaced and then have it neutrally balanced or will this old one work just fine? I have no idea how much more life my current flywheel has left in it, thats why I am worried.

 

It isnt the mass of the flywheel which gets balanced, but rather the rotating balance. Much like you would balance a tire to a rim. In other words resurfacing has nothing to do with it. They make sure its balanced when spinning.

So if you ever need a new flywheel, you can take the new flywheel to any machine shop, and ask for it to be balanced. Then it will be ready to go on your motor. Internally balanced is the way to go IMO.

 

Ok thanks for the clarification. That makes perfect sense. How much does internally balanced run compared to the flywheel balancer method? They are going to charge me $300 for the balancing using the flywheel and the balancer.

 

Internal balancing for my engine was $200. The total cost using my old parts was $1600 for the short block and to have the heads done. They basically resized everything to fit perfectly. Stock components have lived past 7 grand in my motor and I will be using stock bottom components on my supercharged motor also.

-Shannon

 

I will go down today in person to talk to them just to make sure they know what is going on with this motor. I re-read Monroe's Engine Building Handbook, and they stated that it is much better to do internally balancing if you are spinning to higher rpms, and that the flywheel and balancer can be replaced later on with ease, but it did not state exactly why. Unlike the external balancing explanation they gave, which was very clear.

Since this motor is prolly going to see 7k rpm's daily or close to I want to make sure its done correctly.

Thanks again guys.

Kendall H.

 

If it's an LT-1 it is half/half from the factory.The front is neutral and the rear has a weight on the flywheel. If you ever have to replace the flywheel,the new one can be balanced to the old one by removing the old one and taking it and the new one to the shop and having them balanced the same,then installed the new one without any problems.

 

Yah, I talked to my machinist and he said that they are going to balance it via using the flywheel method (externally balanced). He said I wont have any problems. I will trust them since they have been in business for over 30 years.

Thanks again guys for the info.

Kendall H.