<VV> Re: harmonic balancer

[djtcz@comcast.net]

>snip .. Also, the previous owner  drove the turbo without a harmonic    > balancer and a 95hp pulley. Could this  have caused the wearing on     > cam? 
Probably not.  The purpose of the harmonic balancer is to keep the crankshaft from twisting more than a fraction of a degree when running at "critical speeds."                   http://www.wagoneers.com/FSJ/tech/Engines/327-V8/v8-fig16.jpg     Running without the HD >>DOES<< put the crank at risk of developing fatigue cracks.  It's always good to subject a used crank to magnaflux (or better yet, wet Magnaglow) inspection before reworking it for re-use. The Magnafluxer should know to pay special attention to the rod and main radiuses, and especially in the areas of "overlap." If the crank has sharp corners instead of nice fully formed radiuses at the edges of the rod and main journals it is 10 X more likely to develop fatigue cracks that will grow silently to failure.