VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 Do Harmonic Balancers Go Bad In A 31 Engine?

Generally, I know what a harmonic balancer does, but are they adjustable? (Probably not). Is there a rubber, friction or clutch divice in one on a 1931?

I went and looked, On my 1929 216, the Harmonic balance is the v belt pulley and the cam drive chain sprocket. the sprockets do go bad a long with the cam chain. But you should be having problem with timing where they are going bad. As the slack causes the distributor to retard then advance as the RMP change.

Harmonic balance can be re balanced at a machine shop That knows what there doing.

vcca # 45321 ewv715 good luck have fun

Actually, the engine used in a 1929 Chevrolet was a 194, not a 216, and the 1929 engine does not have a harmonic balancer. A crank pulley was used instead. The harmonic balancer did not appear until mid-1930.

Also, on the 194 engine there are no sprockets or a cam chain. A metal crankshaft gear drives a fiber cam gear. The same is true for the 216 engine as well. By the way, the 216 engine wasn't introduced until 1937.

The 1931 harmonic balancer does not have rubber in it. I has 4 locating pins , and is then allowed to move against 8 banks of leaf springs each comprising 5 leaves ( as described in the workshop manual Pg 38)