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-   -   "Weight matching" OEM pistons (https://www.miataturbo.net/engine-performance-56/weight-matching-oem-pistons-83656/)

matthewdesigns 03-29-2015 12:51 PM

Balancing the rotating assembly is included with each of our GT-R engine builds, we only send the crank/rods/pistons/pins/bearings/clips, and they turn out exceptionally well. This is all I'm going to do with my BP.

nitrodann 03-29-2015 07:24 PM

Yeah but are your clutches and flywheels already well balanced out of the box?

Stealth97 03-29-2015 08:13 PM

I don't agree with balancing clutch and flywheel with the rotating assembly. An engine will outlast a clutch and when you replace it, it's no longer balanced. I had my engine balanced and the level of smoothness compared to a stock BP is unbelievable.

nitrodann 03-29-2015 08:38 PM

It doesnt need to be balanced as a whole assembly if each component itself is balanced.

Dann

matthewdesigns 03-29-2015 09:06 PM


Originally Posted by nitrodann (Post 1219574)
Yeah but are your clutches and flywheels already well balanced out of the box?

Clutch (multiplate wet) is in the trans at the other end of the prop shaft, and the bellhousing that bolts to the back of the engine has a damper/flywheel combo that is afaik balanced in OEM configuration.

nitrodann 03-29-2015 09:15 PM

So they are already balanced. No wonder you dont feel the need to balance them...

guttedmiata 03-30-2015 12:12 AM

So if you take a gram or two off a piston, but the crank is out of balance on a journal by a half ounce, what do you think you gained. You'll never know if the piston was off by even 10 grams. If you balance the crank by that half ounce, but the pressure plate/flywheel assembly that bolted to the rotating crank is off an ounce, you'll never know if the crank is off or not. In actuality, the pistons would be the last thing I would balance as they make the least difference.

And unless you are going to spin it past 7k, the only thing any of this is going to give you is possibly a smoother idle.

DNMakinson 03-30-2015 08:46 AM


Originally Posted by guttedmiata (Post 1219631)
So if you take a gram or two off a piston, but the crank is out of balance on a journal by a half ounce 15 grams, what do you think you gained. You'll never know if the piston was off by even 10 grams. If you balance the crank by that half ounce 15 grams, but the pressure plate/flywheel assembly that bolted to the rotating crank is off an ounce 30 grams, you'll never know if the crank is off or not. In actuality, the pistons would be the last thing I would balance as they make the least difference.

And unless you are going to spin it past 7k, the only thing any of this is going to give you is possibly a smoother idle.

Fixed the mixed units, with liberal conversion tolerances.

Michael, thank you for putting it into proper perspective.

Research into crank balancing was quite interesting, especially the additon of journal "bob"s during the operation. *EDIT* I'm thinking this has more to do with resonance and flexture during the test, more than acutally affecting the balance? No bob weights needed for in-line 4. That makes more sense to me.

Another thing: Inline 4's are going to have 2X frequency vibration regardless of how perfectly they are balanced (unless there are counter-rotating balance shafts).

Costs to have the system balanced do seem modest.

Efini~FC3S 03-30-2015 11:29 AM

This thread sucks.

OP wasn't asking to discuss which parts have the biggest effect on balancing and whether or not it's worth the investment to pay to balance the whole assembly.

I'm pretty sure he was never going to pay to have everything balanced...he's doing a pretty simple "rods only" build and trying to keep costs at a minimum.

The original question was how to and where to remove weight from an OEM piston. Not why.

If he wants to take the time to try to balance out the weight of pistons, I say more power to him. Even if it has basically zero impact on the final product.

JasonC SBB 03-30-2015 12:49 PM

I question the usefulness of balancing pistons in the presence of combustion pulses.

Fireindc 04-12-2015 02:25 PM


Originally Posted by Efini~FC3S (Post 1219728)
This thread sucks.

OP wasn't asking to discuss which parts have the biggest effect on balancing and whether or not it's worth the investment to pay to balance the whole assembly.

I'm pretty sure he was never going to pay to have everything balanced...he's doing a pretty simple "rods only" build and trying to keep costs at a minimum.

The original question was how to and where to remove weight from an OEM piston. Not why.

If he wants to take the time to try to balance out the weight of pistons, I say more power to him. Even if it has basically zero impact on the final product.

Thank you. This, exactly.

Anyways, it's already been done. I'll be putting this motor together shortly and will see what happens. I will also update this thread. If it does nothing it all, it was only a few hours wasted, so whatever.

patsmx5 04-12-2015 07:07 PM


Originally Posted by Fireindc (Post 1223230)
Thank you. This, exactly.

Anyways, it's already been done. I'll be putting this motor together shortly and will see what happens. I will also update this thread. If it does nothing it all, it was only a few hours wasted, so whatever.

Yeap, this happens here unfortunately. I would start removing weight by cleaning up casting marks, then probably around the base of the piston where the casing for the wrist pin meets the top of the piston.

IMO it should help. If it's every apart again, you can balance the entire rod/piston/rings/wrist pin/clips/bearings assembly using basically just the scale you're already using and a couple simple fixtures. You can at least make them all match, last step would be to have the crank balanced to them, but to do that you'll have to take it somewhere but if you had all the parts already balanced it would be cheaper to have just the crank done by a machine vs paying them to do everything.

You got pics of what you did? I never balanced my engines when I built them, always wanted to. I'll probably do the next one I build myself. My spare engine I have now was balanced/assembled by a machine shop.

Ben 04-12-2015 09:07 PM


Originally Posted by Fireindc (Post 1218387)
Hey guys, I did a bunch of searching before creating this thread but could not find anything definitive, so bear with me.

I have a set of OEM pistons that are going back into this motor, for a "mild" build, aka Vlad style. Anyways, the heaviest piston is some 5-6 grams heavier than the lightest, and I'd like to do some balancing.

All of the rods are almost exactly the same weight (ebay forged), so I can't really match the heaviest rod with lightest piston, etc.

So now I'd like to get these pistons closely matched, but I cannot figure out WHERE I should be taking weight from them. I've read a few different opinions on the matter, and from what i gather there are a few options.

1) take the weight from underneath the top of the piston. IE dril/dremel from underneath and remove material.

2) Remove "casting" marks from the inside of the piston.

3) "shave" the weight from the bottom of the piston skirts with a belt grinder.

4) don't take any material from the pistons themselves, but rather remove material from the inside of the wrist pins.

Whatcha guys think? Want to get rolling on some miata related stuff, and this would be the next step.

Thanks <3

1,2,and 3 are all pretty commonly done. I think 4 would be a last resort. The right area to remove mass from depends entirely on the piston and the application. Here's a great article:
Eaton Balancing » Engine Balancing, Part 3
Eaton Balancing » Engine Balancing, Part 4

You should also balance the rods, both big and little ends. You can buy (what I feel is an overly expensive) scale system, or you can make your own pretty easily. Ours consists of a rod with a chain hanging off it. We suspend one end of the rod with the chain and weigh the opposite end on the scale. We had pictures on facebook a while back ago, but it's a pretty simple setup.

You won't spend more than a couple hours balancing both the pistons and rods, and it's pretty fun.

Not everyone has the budget or need for a full spin balancing, though it's great in an ideal world.

Ben 04-12-2015 09:11 PM

FYI, I have David Vizard booked to give a presentation at MegaMeet this year. Google him if you don't know who that is, but he literally wrote the book on engine building--actually he wrote A LOT of books on engine building.

MegaSquirt Mega Meet 2015


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