early85944

Anyone running without balance shafts? I have know a few people that did and the just plugged of the oil passages and capped off the balace shaft ports.

Apex944

I was reading about that and they mentioned that parts of it have to be welded closed, which then means there's no going back. It's also supposed to create a good bit of vibration that can/has made bolts come loose on engine peices.

V2Rocket

MPD47 has done it on one of his 951s, seemingly without consequence.

944kid

You're talking about a man who takes apart and puts back together his collection of cars every year. He probably doesn't have to worry about them because of this. ( @ Mike and his ability to take apart cars faster than thought possible!)

Although I agree with you, a few guys run cars without them and they are fine as far as I know. FWIW, that's not far.

OriginalSterm

fine for a track car, bad for a street car.

yellowline

Yeah, it's really not worth the two horsepower and ? lbs you save.

Do an AC delete if you want to save weight and reduce a load driven by the engine. I'm assuming your AC doesn't work, like most 944s. You also get the benefit of added cooling, by taking out the condensor in front of the radiator.

ELLSSUU

Search the 951 board. There's some pretty cool ways to delete the balance shafts. I'll dig up a couple of pics of a way a local guy has done to his turbo race car. First try was by cutting the balance shaft but then he decided to machine some out of Aluminum for added weight savings.

early85944

Those are some neat peices. I am already a/c less, no more backseat, pop up headlights manual sunroof etc. I bet a good balance job on the crank rods pistons would help.

V2Rocket

Those custom jobs are pretty spiffy...

I'm quite aware that Mike takes his cars apart every other day, twice on Thursdays just to make sure everything is still lighter than it should be. However, on his old build thread (Can I NA my turbo?) I asked him this very question and he along with several others replied that removing the balance shafts is fine for the motor. They said it doesn't significantly change the amount of vibrations coming from the engine, especially when at elevated RPMs.

sharky47

The only real danger I have heard of is possibly breaking the oil pick-up tube due to added vibration.

I do not have any evidence supporting this, just throwing it out there.

early85944

If the oil pickup is a problem, I am sure it is possible to ad extra support. Didn't the factory race cars run without balance shafts?

theedge

Wont help that much, the balance shafts are to deal with the vibration inherent to inline 4 engines.

early85944

I am not intrested in the performance gains, as much as the fact that it would be fun to do the work. I just love working on cars and seeing the end results.

MPD47

Guys, I have ALWAYS run balance shafts on my 951's. The NA motor does not have them, but I will be inspecting the oil pickup to make sure there are no cracking issues. That, from what I understand, is your main concern.

I have read/heard comments about bolts for the A/C backing out, and oil pan (if mistorqued), but have no first hand knowledge on this as my engine isnt even running yet (nor does it have A/C)

early85944

Rather than welding the wholes shut and running the risk of deforming due to heat couldn't you just tap the passage and seal it with loctite and a bolt. I guess since I have a junk block I hace four chances to figure out how to plug one of the passages!