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I am having the finishing machine work done to my block right now (line-hone) I am running a stock crank, stock rods, and hyperutectic pistons. These pistons are slightly lighter than stock I think. Should I have the rotating assembly balanced? I am out of funds and need the car in two weeks at the latest. It will cost me another $125 to have it balanced, but my wife has put her foot down and said NO! I have already put almost $1600 into this motor in the last month. The question is; can I get by without having it balanced? Will this make a big difference? and what are the possible risks in not balancing this? Again, keep in mind this is a stock bottom end, with slightly lighter (if at all) pistons than stock. Any advice would be great. Thanks

What RPM do you plan on shifting it at?

Tell her you need to balance it or all that $$$ you put into it will be a waste and it will blow up within a week. and that 125.00 is no comparsen to 1600.00 <~~ JOKE

But I have ran many 350's with stock bottom ends or close to and never had any problems, and i usally shifted between 6500 to 7000rpms. I'm not saying it's good to shift at 7000 I would stay alittle lower than that.


Their won't be much noticeable differecne in haveing it balanced, like a few horses and little quicker rev's and maybe some prolonged bottom end life due to equal rotating mass, and maybe a few other things i'm forgetting. Should be fine without balanceing it. Hope this helps ya

This reply was asuming you are racing the engine. Good luck

It will be a daily driver, that will probably see the occasional stop light race and a few times down the 1/4 mile during the summer. 80% of its life will be spent below 5000 rpms I'm guessing. Besides, I built the motor for lots of mid range power. My power range should be between 2500 and 6000 rpms, so I probably won't take it over 6000 rpms ever.

So, it should be ok then? I figured it would. If I was to go with a different crank or something, then I would balance it, but these pistons are really close to stock weight. I've found that most pistons say that they are less the OEM weight in the tech info and these didn't say anything like that.

Thanks for the advice guys.

If it blows up within the first 100 miles I'm coming after you guys for giving me messed up info.

Just kidding. Thanks for the advice, I am a little more relaxed about it now. I'll post pics when I get it all put together.

for the type of use it's gonna get, you shouldn't need to balance it. I had an old '71 T/A and I threw together a motor basically like you describe (except it was a Pontiac 400) and din not balance it. Held up just fine on the street through some pretty heavy stoplight racing and general abuse. I am sure you'd be fine since it's fairly close to stock and the rpm and load on it won't be that much.

Well I didnt balance my 400 either, and so far with all the hot roddin I have done in it, no probs yet. KNOCK ON WOOD! BUT, If you have the extra cash lying around, then I say do it. Couldn't hurt

I'd say the biggest benefit you will see from balancing it, given how you say you will drive it, is the longevity of the motor. Providing you don't have a defective component or something. I would do it if you can afford it just for that reason. I prefer having something I can jump into and knowing it will start and run every time. Just a thought...

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Well, I sold my nitrous kit I had, because I don't have the tranny, rear end or tires to handle my motor as it is, so I have the money now to balance it. I took the pistons into my machinist this morning, I should have it back by the end of the week and then I'm planning on another week to put it together and in the car.