After my week long battle with the timeing, I have come to realise that my harmoic balancer doesnt look like it was made for an '81 928. How did I come to this conclusion?

1. Only after I put the balancer on backwards and set the TDC, did the engine fire.
2. It would only mount 1 way on the crank, with the balancer on backwards (correct for TDC) the pullys would not fit on the crank ( tried very hard to make it work)
3. I have only 4 marks on the balancer. 20-10-0-10 As I understand the original balancers have a 23 and 45 degree mark.

Now for the $100 dollar question, where can I get a replacement balancer without melting my CC card? A quick search on the net and my fav parts sites yeilded only pullers...

Thanks !

 

I belive the 16V engine did not have a 45 mark on it. There wasn't need for one. Can you take a picture of your balancer.

I think, you do have the right balancer, it just doesn't want to slide on all the way. Try cleaning the crank shaft and the balancer hole with steel wool.

When the balancer is on the crank correctly, it should be very very close to the timing belt cover.

 

Well then, maybe that is right. It has just a hair's clearence when it is on backwards. Do you suppose that I should use more force and a good scrubbing? I was putting a good amount of pressure on it and it didn't feel right. Maybe I just need to give it a hard push to make it work. I just didnt want to put it on and not be able to get it off, or run the risk of damageing the crank or the balancer. I hope it is the right balancer, a new one from porsche is $700 bucks ! I will take a look at it again. Thanks for the help.

 

Take a picture and post it here if you can. Some WD-40 and a good cleaning ought to help get the balancer on in the right position.

 

Here’s an easy and cheap solution. If you already set the timing correctly and the engine runs good, you can always just turn the balancer around, like it was before and bolt everything up.

 

I have a 4.5L balancer-good condition, Free, if you need one.

 

Thanks, I will try to get a pic up on the post asap. However, I dont think i can post pictures cuz im not a paying member...I will see what I can do to link to a picture web host. I did put it on backwards, TDC, then flipped it and mounted everything. I didnt like doing it, i'd rather do it right, but the car purrs at 750 rpm. Here is a tangent question...well two questions...
1. I have a new MAF, but no tool. Will the factory setting be ok if I idel perfectly?
2. If my balancer doesnt have 23 degree mark ( 20-10-TDC-10 on it) how do i set the 23 degree @ 3000 rpm?

 

Something is definetly off here. There has to be a timing mark to set the advance.