[bigdaddyhotrod]

blew up my 74 360 real real bad. so found one on craigs. took it home and saw regular bottom pulley but no harmonic balancer. checked engine stampings, yup it's a 360, w/ birthdate of 2/2/79. also has an aftermarket liitle plate w/ a series of numbers on it just below the head on the front of the block, drivers side. could this be a jasper or whatever reman number, and if they did something internally, would that explain no balancer? or did i miss a bulletin that there were 360's out there not needing external balancing? help please.

 

[mopartodd]

Weren't some 360's balanced externally on the flywheel?

 

[valiant67]

The damper and flywheel (or torque converter) were both specially balanced for the 360. Magnum 360s were balanced differently than LA 360s.
Even an internally balanced 318 still has a harmonic balancer so I have no idea what is up there.

 

[dana44]

Unless it says Jasper or some other name, it could be just some regular jobber that rebuilt the engine. I don't know of any internally balanced 360s unless, and this is kind of a rare thing, it is an aftermarket balanced and slightly more expensive than a good crankshaft, and the bottom end would have to be torn into, at least the pan removed to look at the crank and rods, see if there is anything special about them, like being Eagle or Scat components, forged pistons. I would really doubt there is anything special with the engine if stock heads are on it, as in kind of a waste to install a $2500 internally balanced engine with stock heads.

 

[TWX]

I had my 408 stroker internally balanced.

It's certainly possible that if someone decided to blueprint a stock engine that they decided to balance everything.

 

[MoparDanno]

blew up my 74 360 real real bad. so found one on craigs. took it home and saw regular bottom pulley but no harmonic balancer. checked engine stampings, yup it's a 360, w/ birthdate of 2/2/79. also has an aftermarket liitle plate w/ a series of numbers on it just below the head on the front of the block, drivers side. could this be a jasper or whatever reman number, and if they did something internally, would that explain no balancer? or did i miss a bulletin that there were 360's out there not needing external balancing? help please.

So I am curious. How could the bottom pulley be on the motor if there was no harmonic balancer? The bottom pulley is held to the balancer with 6 bolts, so the balancer would have to be present for the pulley to even be there?

The quickest way to verify that the balancer is indeed for a 360 is to see if there is a section that looks raised from the inner diameter of the balancer. ALL LA 360's had the same balance, and should have external balance on the balancer AND the Flexplate/Convertor/Flywheel ( one of the above, not all 3 ) Magnum 360's ( 93 and newer ) require a different balance.

If you are missing the balancer on the fresh motor, you should be able to use your old balancer on it. Like some others have stated, you CAN internally balance a 360 ( I have a few times ) but for a stock application, it would be exceptionally unusual for someone to do that.

Danno

 

[TWX]

So I am curious. How could the bottom pulley be on the motor if there was no harmonic balancer? The bottom pulley is held to the balancer with 6 bolts, so the balancer would have to be present for the pulley to even be there?

the OEM balancer/dampener has a rubber isolator between the balanced portion and the center, and it's not unheard of for that rubber to decay and for the two pieces to slip, throwing the engine out of balance. I speculate that either this has happened, or else someone took the weighted portion off.

 

[MoparDanno]

the OEM balancer/dampener has a rubber isolator between the balanced portion and the center, and it's not unheard of for that rubber to decay and for the two pieces to slip, throwing the engine out of balance. I speculate that either this has happened, or else someone took the weighted portion off.

Right, But the center part is where the pulley bolts, so that would have no effect on it being there or not right?

 

[dana44]

Exactly. I had a friend with a Chevy that had the rubber deteriorate and spin the counterbalance off the balancer, pulley was still attached to the balancer and the ring made some really cool noise at different speeds.

Look at the outside edge of what is there and see if there is any rubber residue.