harmonic balancer question

ive been trying to chase down a vibration in my engine, and am thinking it could be the harmonic balancer, or possibly a bent crank (sure hope not). from what i understand, you should not be able to visually see any runout while the engine is running correct? how about the bolt in the center of the crank?

if i decide to pull the HB, it is reusable once it comes off right? is there any way i can get the engine to run with it off?( so i can check for vibration)

Tak off all your belts and check the balancer to see if it wobbles with the motor running. Also did you check your motor mounts?

i can see the balancer move slightly

for now im not going to think about mounts, and try to get the engine as smooth as possibe

Looks like time to replace your HB.....

A good rule of thumb would be to replace it if there is any movement.....

BHJ makes a very nice HB.......

i dont have the money for a BHJ.(have to spend 2200 on a built trans) i can get OE ford parts at wholesale cost, so unless there is a big probelm with them, i will go original

OEM balancer, if available, will just fail again. But you can give it a shot. I know a few people have had a new balancer just fail again shortly. Apparently there is some variance in the stock crank snout that can allow excess room when installed. That's one of the reasons why the BHJ is a hone to fit design.

Most likely vibration is coming from the motor mounts being shot. Stock mounts are liquid filled, so if they failed, the motor is beasically resting on the frame. The oil pan can even contact the k-member and rub a hole through a p/s line. That doesn't mean your balancer isn't bad, just means that you wouldn't likely feel vibration from that.

Sc motor doesn't have a balance shaft, so it's normally isn't completey butter smooth due to the firing order.

well, the engine isnt in a bird. its in a baja bug. uses 6 polyurethane isolated mounts. i will probably switch the mounts over to rubber (easily done, just swap bushings, problem is finding the right ones). but i would still like to smooth the engine out a little. i mean, its vibrating BAD. at about 1800rpms it feels like the car is gonna fall apart

just so you guys can see what im dealing with on the mounts, here's a pic

Are you sure it's not missing? A balancer is more setup to take care of crankshaft harmonics. If you were having harmonics that bad I'd expect the crank to break.

Take the belt off the crank pulley and see if you can move things around. you shouldn't be able to. If you can, then that balancer is shot.

i need to run the self diag test, but from pulling the plug wires 1 at a time, they were all firing. it has a smooth idle also. like i said, i can see the balancer move a little, need to check again and see how much.