[grivera]

Originally Posted by redhawk44

My first thought when I saw the pic of the front of the crank was that it seemed short. I just closed mine up and put the balancer on and while I didn't measure it , it seems like there was more of the snub sticking out.

Seems the front crank journal and crank timing gear would affect the depth of the balancer rather than the length of the snub- I believe the balancer sleeve buts up against the face of the gear. That being said, I assume the short appearing crank snub is an optical illusion as it’s a factory 455 crankshaft. If so, the balancer dimensions may be off.

[redhawk44]

Originally Posted by grivera

Seems the front crank journal and crank timing gear would affect the depth of the balancer rather than the length of the snub- I believe the balancer sleeve buts up against the face of the gear. That being said, I assume the short appearing crank snub is an optical illusion as it’s a factory 455 crankshaft. If so, the balancer dimensions may be off.

I thought about that too.

[Scott Stoneburg]

Looking at these marks. I can't tell from the pics if the paint has been knocked off. Is this ground in there to miss something or has something been hitting and made its own clearance?

[scott70]

Looks like a romac balancer. I had the same problem when I used one of those years ago. I clearanced it and used if for a while but eventually ditched it for a ati reminding myself not to buy a romac again.

[Va68goat]

HWYSTR455,
After further inspection of this one, it wasn't hitting anything. Paul clearenced it enough. We may add a little more clearance. There isn't anything wrong with this one so I guess we'll keep using it. I checked out the Butlers website and they don't sell this one anymore. My receipt says it is SFI rated though.

[mgarblik]

Looks like that area between the timing case and the aftermarket balancer needs a little attention. Once the real problem is discovered and corrected, I would carefully trim the timing cover a little and/or the the oil pan lip just to make sure you have .060"+ clearance at the tightest pinch point. Of course verify the thrust bearing and crankshaft end play are OK, which I imagine they are. These are all typical fit issues we have to deal with on every build nowdays. None of the aftermarket parts really "fit" like the factory stuff. From what I understand the only factory part in this entire front assembly is the crankshaft. The crankshaft timing gear can have slight tolerance issues, the balancer, the timing cover and the oil pan. If each of these parts was off just .010" of an inch, you have contact when it's all put together. A scraping, sheet metal sound, possibly. A knocking sound, I don't think so. However, 1300+ posts have been wrong so far, including at least 10 by me. 45 years of building Pontiac V-8 engines, this is in the top 10 of weird ones.