346 Flathead harmonic balancer to 322

[Ron Parker]

Will a 346 Harmonic balancer work on a 1939-322? Thanks Ron Parker

[Bob Schuman]

The 346 harmonic balancer should work fine on a 322 LaSalle engine. The rotating parts, crankshaft, rods, and pistons with pins, have identical weight to the 346. LaSalle never used the harmonic balancer on the 322, just a plain pulley on the crankshaft, so any improvement in smoothness may be undetectable. 

[z3skybolt]

Bob,

Why did Cadillac put a balancer on the 346 and not the 322?  I ran my 346 for 9,000 miles and my current 322 for over 5,000 miles.  Both had/have identical mild vibration at mid-range rpm.

By the way....good to see you posting. How is you 52? Cadillac doing?

Bob R.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

A harmonic balancer is not for engine vibrations and such, but for the harmonics that will destruct any engine if these harmonics are allowed to progress.

The 283 SBC was such a beautiful engine that it didn't develop harmonics during design and testing, and therefore only had a front hub to mount the degree wheel and pulleys.

As against say the 427 FE Ford engine that when tested at 7,000 RPM, for periods exceeding 6 hours, would develop harmonics sufficiently bad enough to break the crankshafts.   The other FE engines didn't have this problem.

Harmonic Balancers are not required in short duration high revs, as in Drag Racing, as the engine is not being held at constant revolutions that bring about the destructive harmonics.

If an engine was built without a Harmonic Balancer, then there is nothing gained by fitting one.

Bruce.    

[Poncholover]

Both those engines had the same crank. Now one car was more expensive than the other and it had a vibration dampener.Sure can't hurt a 322! Better yet, bore it to a 346!

[LaSalle5019]

Will a 346 Harmonic balancer work on a 1939-322? Thanks Ron Parker

Ron,
I rebuilt the engine on my 1939 LaSalle and ran it for a while without any harmonic balancer and decided to add the 346 balancer to it. What I found was a reduction in the engine vibration in the mid-range rpm. It was definetely worse before the balancer. It still has a bit of that vibration but it is much less noticeable. I ended up with two of the balancers so have a spare if you want to try it out. If I recall correctly, I paid $90 for the assembly hub, balancer, pulleys. It wasn't too hard to swap. To pull the front pulley/hub off the crank, I just used my steering wheel puller....two bolts threaded into two of the six bolts that hold the pulleys to the hub. Send me a PM if interested.
Scott

[Ron Parker]

Thanks for the replys,Ron Parker