RAM AIR II AND IV Harmonic Balancer questions observations.
 

I'm in the process of rebuilding my Ram Air II engine and have been going through my balancers. I sand-blasted 3 of them up. Balancers labeled 1 & 2 are standard 400 balancers and have 9790840 stamped on the hub and are part # 9790839 for the assembly. Balancer #3 was on my Ram Air II engine when I bought it and I believe it to be an original II or IV balancer. It has no part number on the hub and does not have 2 beveled edges as I read on other posts in the past. I believe it to be part number 9794058. Balancer #3 also has the number 5 and a screw or cross marking cast into it, another difference I read that they have. I also read that the II and IV balancers weighed more than the standard balancers and were balanced more precisely. So I weighed them, the one labeled #1 weighed 3385.4 grams with no drill/balancing marks. Balancer # 2 weighed 3367.7 grams with a drill/balance mark in the side, so it makes sense that it would weigh less. Balancer # 3 weighed 3388.8 grams (the most of all 3) with a hole drilled in the side (not shown) and two drill/balance marks on the front. These numbers make sense since I have read that the II and IV balancers weighed more and were balanced to a higher degree. Are there any experts on these balancers that can confirm my observations?

More Photos.........

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FWIW......I have owned two NOS, in the box RAII, RAIV balancers. Both did not have a part or casting number on them, but the boxes did. I also weighted them against a standard 400 balancer and saw no difference in weight. IIRC, the standard 400 is supposed to weight 5lbs. RAII, RAIV 6lbs.

I’ve seen posted somewhere on PY before that the inner and outer rings were timed together and there’s a marking on inner and outer ring that gets covered by the balancer pulley once installed. That’ and there was a purple dye on the timing mark.
Mine has an x but doesn’t have any marks that show inner and outer relationship

This isn’t mine but a picture I found online looks like it has the bevel at least on one side.
Doesn’t appear to have the purple dye. Sadly couldn’t find a picture of the front.

Someone on here must have an nos they can share pics of ?

I have a NOS Ram Air balancer and did the same weigh test a few years back between a NOS standard balancer and a NOS ram air balancer and there was a difference in weight just don't remember what it was it might have been a one pound difference. My balancer also has a part number stamped in the casting of the hub. I have heard they came with out part numbers.

The two balancers I had, did not have the magenta { purple / pink } paint markings on them. Most of the RAII, IV, V NOS parts that I have had, fitted blocks, heads, camshafts, oil pumps have had it. From what I can tell no RAIII parts have these markings, only the round port stuff.
FWIW.....I bought an NOS RAV camshaft off ebay years ago that was just listed as a PONTIAC CAMSHAFT. It was not in the factory tube, and I noticed it had the small distributor gear out back and the tail tail RA II, IV, V magenta paint mark. I knew exactly what it was by those two observations. I was the only bidder and got it for $50.
I have used this method for years to search out ram air Pontiac parts at swap meets.

Sweet score !
Always nice to get a good find like that. Happens less and less these days but Still happens.

I know this is off topic, but I also picked up a VERY hard to find in any condition, NOS RAV 406 square coil last week off of ebay for $150
Stuff is still out there......you just have to dig a little deeper!

Unfortunately, on production balancers there were no stampings to identify them. A purple paint swath was added to to the RA II/IV balancer during production, which was painted over during engine assembly.

The only difference between the standard balancer and RA II/IV balancer is the specification of the rubber insulator between the hub and ring, which was "tuned" for a higher operating range on the latter.

I’ve heard of guys faking those w other coils and I dont know enough of what I’m looking at w some of the V stuff to know the difference. Good to know what your looking at . Knowledge = $ In the pocket and cool stuff on the shelf.

Yes.....anything is possible when it comes to rare and expensive parts. This one was in the original delco/remy box with the NOS contact controlled CD box as well. It seems that the, "over the counter" contact controlled CD kit # 1971255 used the 406 coil. BTW, another kit has surfaced recently as well.