Balance shaft

[Ghostboi1one]

Whats the benefit of the Balance shaft for the 3800 v6 engine? And aside from its balancing effect, why didnt they just balance the assembly instead of adding an extra part to the engine.

Why i ask is that i have seen in somebody's Sig of where they had removed the Balance shaft from their 3800, i dont know if that was this site or a different one, And to what performance enhancement would that make?

My major guess would be that its removal and balancing the rotating assembly would allow for higher rpms, Is that far from home?

[flamingchicken]

Re: Balance shaft

http://forum.camarov6.com/search.php

[97rs4life]

Re: Balance shaft

mine's gone :)

less rotating mass to free up some possible power. If you upgrade to a double roller timing chain you have to eliminate the balance shaft gear, so that would be another reason to ditch it

[flamingchicken]

Re: Balance shaft

does it really cause bad vibes?

[97rs4life]

Re: Balance shaft

it will vib a bit more with it deleted, but hardly noticeable.

[flamingchicken]

Re: Balance shaft

werd preesh!

[Ghostboi1one]

Re: Balance shaft

Flamin, search worked just fine, lol, actually used it right after i posted. Though it only showed me what their was a few people on the board that has removed the balance shaft, but didnt give any of the infomation i was curious about.

It also found every instance of someone selling their balance shaft also.

[cam98aro]

Re: Balance shaft

the rotating assembly is balanced, but since we have 90* v6's there are parts of the crank rotation that get no spark, which creates a dead spot and makes the engine shake/vibrate more

the balance shaft is there to cancel out these vibrations to make the engine run smoother.

[Ghostboi1one]

Re: Balance shaft

Thankyou for the complete technical details Cam98aro.

[ssms5411]

Re: Balance shaft

I wonder when you delete it if it wears out your engine mounts quicker or anything else like false KR problems etc.? I thought about going to a double roller before but I will see if my 105lb springs will handle the turbo to 5900 rpms without needing 130lb springs, double roller and machined front cover.

[T-Mill]

Re: Balance shaft

I can't remember where I read this, but I remember having the same question and what I was told was that since the 3800 is a Buick engine, the balance shaft was added to make the engine more "comfortable" for the luxury-oriented buicks... by removing it the performance will go up a lil (not noticeable really), bc you're freeing up the hp that's absorbed by the balance shaft, but the health of the engine and mounts won't be affected, unless I guess if the mounts are already pretty worn the vibration will be magnified...

[ssms5411]

Re: Balance shaft

Thanks , for the info. never read into it much.

[cam98aro]

Re: Balance shaft

I can't remember where I read this, but I remember having the same question and what I was told was that since the 3800 is a Buick engine, the balance shaft was added to make the engine more "comfortable" for the luxury-oriented buicks... by removing it the performance will go up a lil (not noticeable really), bc you're freeing up the hp that's absorbed by the balance shaft, but the health of the engine and mounts won't be affected, unless I guess if the mounts are already pretty worn the vibration will be magnified...

thats true, but it wasnt done because it is a buick engine to make it more comfortable.

[ssms5411]

Re: Balance shaft

I know 6 -7 years ago when I had my engine built I was debating on removing the balanced shaft, but got conflicting responses at the time ,so I left it in. If I knew back then I could of just took the tensioner off and left off the gear shaft off I would of done it that way. But back then they were saying you had to plug a hole in the rear and have it rebalanced at 50% so it got confusing.

[Blizzard242]

Re: Balance shaft

Na, I removed my gears for my double roller but left the shaft in. Honestly, like 97rs said, the vibration is hardly noticeable. I didn't have my oil pump cover machined and I've had no problems.