I lost my vibe

[mountainexplorer]

Things seem so much smoother when a 350 motor doesn't have a 454 flywheel on it.

Some previous owner down the owner chain decided to use a 454 flywheel on this 350. I wonder how long the bearings will last now. I didn't drive it much like this, but who knows how long it was run before.

Only 5 bolts out of 6 were holding the bellhousing to the motor. The bellhousing was cracked. Some of the bolts were hand tight. The clutch disc was cracked in two spots. A starter bolt was broke off in the block. The little clips that hold the throwout bearing on the clutch fork were broke off. But it's all fixed now and runs smooth.

I had a SB400 once in a truck I bought that had the wrong flexplate. I swapped the motor into another rig with the proper flywheel, but after a couple months, what was left of the bearings wore down and it started knocking.

Anyone else have balancing experiences? How long would you say it would take being run out of balance to permanently damage bearings?

 

[86chevybanshee]

when my truck was driveable and running. my 350 made some weird vibrations.

when i took the motor out the harmonic balancer fell off. i hope thats what the problem is

 

[diesel4me]

Whole lotta shaking goin on...

I found a decent crew cab dually truck at a gas station years ago,the guy said they put another engine in it for their customer(a 350) and the customer refused to pay the bill because he claimed the engine was junk,it shook so bad you could hardly stand to drive it!--the mechanic also said the title was lost,the owner decided to sell the truck,but couldnt because he had lost the title,and the mechanic had a lein on it--so the guy ended up giving the truck to the mechanic...I bought the truck for 300 bucks,and sold it to a freind in NH that had a used car licence,he was able to get a NH title for it,and he bought it from me for 600 bucks,I would have kept it,but it was a 2wd 1 ton,I wanted a 4x4--I just bought it to "flip" and make some easy money..

The main reason I bought it was I knew the truck had a 400 small block originally,according to the sticker on the radiator support,and the core lying in the truck bed confirmed it when I saw the harmonic balancer with the "counterweight" on it!--I knew right away the SB400's flexplate was probably
put back on the 350 when they swapped motors!--a quick peek underneath,there it was,(the inspection cover was not put back on,so it was easy to see!)--my friend said all he did was change the flexplate to a "normal" 350 one he had hanging around,and it ran sweet!-

-the mechanic had used the truck with repair plates for a few months to go to the dump,and run errands,put about 1000 miles on it shaking like crazy--he said one motor mount ripped off once,and he had to change it,he assumed the motor WAS junk,as did his customer,so he sold it cheap,all he wanted was his money for the labor of installing the engine...My friend drove that truck to south carolina and back that year with no trouble,but on the way to florida the next year it had valve problems,it burnt an exhaust valve in florida,and the trip home with it skipping finished one rod bearing off,it started tapping in new jersey,by the time he got home to new hampshire it was pretty close to throwing a rod--I dont know if he ever fixed the engine,he just put another 350 he had in it...

I dont think it does a motor any good running it with the wrong balancer or flexplate--but it wont kill it instantly either from what I've seen--I've heard of a few others that bought trucks with "mis-matched" balancers and flexplates and they all got pretty good deals,after swapping the correct parts on them they ran good for quite a while...I guess every engine is different though.some die quickly,some you just cant seem to kill!..