I'm starting to gather all my pieces for my supercharged stroker Mark VIII. I got Sean Hylands book on the 4.6, and he had some interesting stuff to say about the harmonic balancers. Several different ones were used over the years on different cars. There is a theory that the frequent problem of engines busting their oil gears is actually caused by the harmonic balancer not providing enough damping.
Hylands book says to use the Mark VIII balancer on manual transmission, forged-cranks motors, the 99-03 mustang GT balancer (which is bigger) on cast crank manual applications, and the 03 Mustang Mach 1 automatic balancer (which is huge) on cast crank, auto tranny cars.
From this info, I'm assuming that automatic cars need more dampening that manual cars, and that cast cranks are more vunerable than the forged cranks to the vibrations. He never mentions what to do with a forged crank, auto engine, like some of the built Mark VIII engines running around.
I'm assuming the only downside to going with a larger than necessary balancer is reduced engine response from the extra inertia.
Has anybody looked at putting other harmonic balancers on their Marks? Should I be going with the 99-03 GT or the Mach 1 balancer? Thanks guys.
Hylands book says to use the Mark VIII balancer on manual transmission, forged-cranks motors, the 99-03 mustang GT balancer (which is bigger) on cast crank manual applications, and the 03 Mustang Mach 1 automatic balancer (which is huge) on cast crank, auto tranny cars.
From this info, I'm assuming that automatic cars need more dampening that manual cars, and that cast cranks are more vunerable than the forged cranks to the vibrations. He never mentions what to do with a forged crank, auto engine, like some of the built Mark VIII engines running around.
I'm assuming the only downside to going with a larger than necessary balancer is reduced engine response from the extra inertia.
Has anybody looked at putting other harmonic balancers on their Marks? Should I be going with the 99-03 GT or the Mach 1 balancer? Thanks guys.