SB harmonic balancer

[Rainer S.]

I started to put the parts back on my 63 SWC fuelie engine. The engine is in the car. I had the engine rebuild 2 years ago, but removed parts for shipping the car to the painter. (parts like FI unit, fan assy,pulleys, alternator etc.)
I ran into a problem with the alignment of the harmonic balancer pulley in relationship to the waterpump mounted pulley. The upper, fan pulley is closer to the engine, than the harmonic pulley by approx. .175"
Is it possible, that the harmonic balancer is not on the crankshaft all the way ? I tried to move the balancer closer to the engine by tightening the center screw, but it will not budge.
How is the the balancer positioned? Is there a shoulder which the balancer butts-up against ?
The outside surface of the balancer (the one the pulley mounts to) is 2.875" away from the milled surface of the various pads, such as idler mounting surface, waterpump mounting surface.
The inside surface of the balancer is approx. 190" away from the chaincover.
Is there a set dimension, which the harmonic balancer should be from the milled pads ?
If the harmonic balancer has to move closer to the engine, how do I move it ?
I hate to have to heat it up with a torch...
Any suggestions ?
(I wish I could post a pic of the front of the engine..)

Rainer

[Rainer S.]

Re: SB harmonic balancer

Here is my first atempt to include a pic of the mis-alignment of the pulleys.

It worked...

Rainer

[Rainer S.]

Re: SB harmonic balancer

Here is the other side

Rainer

[Timothy B.]

Re: SB harmonic balancer

Rainer,

I believe the damper bottoms on the crankshaft timing gear so don't try to force in this area, just make sure the bolt is torqued properly. Take note how much the water pump pulley needs to be moved to align straight and then remove the water pump and check the installed hub dimention because that's most likely your problem. The installed measurment of the water pump hub is probably in the archives.

[Terry D.]

Re: SB harmonic balancer

Not sure about a 63, but on a 62 there is a spacer that goes between the pump and the pulley. If not I would suggest you pull the balancer and look at the keyway for burrs. Also if the key got pushed back it will cause the problem you have.
Terry

[Rainer S.]

Re: SB harmonic balancer

I can't add a spacer to the waterpump flange, due to the limited shaft length to pilot the pulley. The pulley has barely enough shaft now to loate on.
So I will have to find the waterpump shaft mounting surface to the waterpump face dimension and check that.
If that is correct, I will have to pull the balancer and check as you suggested.

Rainer

[Dennis H.]

Re: SB harmonic balancer

I dropped my water pump and it hit the floor on the shaft. The shaft moved in about one eighth of an inch. I had to send it to a rebuilder to fix it.

[Dennis H.]

Re: SB harmonic balancer

Rainer

Looks like your water pump shaft is pushed back into the pump. Also the forward mounting flange (what fan bolts to) looks like it is to far forward on the impeller shaft. Take a look at this link to get an idea what I'm talking about.

http://www.corvettemagazine.com/2006/january/waterpump/waterpump.asp

[Rainer S.]

Re: SB harmonic balancer

Dennis,
That's what I was looking for. Based on the article, my pump was assembled wrong. Mine had an overall face-to-face dimension of 5.50. As per the article, that should be 5.625 +/- .062. In addition, the end of the shaft should be protruding out an addn. .150 to .200". (mis-alignment is .150")
My
I will have to find another 609 pump. (mine is a reproduction, not worth to rebuild to correct dimensions...)

Rainer