remove balance shafts or not?

75COLT · Post by **75COLT** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 10:20 pm

just wanted to see what you guys thought about the balance shafts. leave them in or take them out?

89coltgt · Post by **89coltgt** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 2:48 am

I have always taken them out simply to remove some of the rotational weight and that is one less thing to screw up and get in the t-belt.

screemin eagle · Post by **screemin eagle** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 9:19 am

honestly ive had about 12 dsm's a few didnt have them. if your building a motor yes remove them and have your rotating assembly balanced. if its a motor thats already running its alot of work for minimal gains.
thats my 2 cents

jeffball610 · Post by **jeffball610** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 4:49 pm

I've done it a couple times. I didn't notice any seat of the pants gains, or any extra vibration. I did chew up an oil pump though. Some motors have issues with removing the rear balance shaft since it helps to center the oil pump gears. A lot of motors don't have issues though. If you're building a new motor, then yes, remove them and balance the rotating assembly. If you've got a gasket set and you've got the motor out to do the timing belt or whatever, it's probably worth $50 to do. If you've got to work on it while it's in the car, save your cash. It's not worth $50 in time and aggravation.

Post by **DJpowerHaus** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 8:22 pm

I've never spent any money on BSE. I just cut the intake side (rear?. what message board do you think you're posting on?) shaft and had my uncle weld up the oil hole and I reinstalled it. We made a tool to pound out the bearings on the exhaust side, turn them and pound them back in. I JB welded in a freeze plug on the front cover.

I eliminate them when I can because:
its free
eliminates possible points of failure
the added vibration is not that noticeable (in a racecar).

Removing the balanced shafts does not unbalance the motor. It does allow you to feel the vibrations that were there all along and that are inherent in all inline 4 cylinder engines.

75COLT · Post by **75COLT** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 10:09 pm

thanks for the replies. I am in the process of yanking them out. I ve seen some kits on e-bay for bse. I'm not too worried about the extra vibration.

jeffball610 · Post by **jeffball610** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 4:46 pm

Sorry about the front/rear thing. The front is meant by the exhaust side and rear being the intake side. There is a great write up on VFAQ.com. If you don't have this site bookmarked, do it. It's invaluable for your DSM needs. Here's the direct link to the page you need.

http://www.vfaq.com/mods/balance-shafts.html

All you really need is a freeze plug and the stubby shaft. You can use the old bearings if you turn them 180 degrees to block the oil holes. You could use the old shaft like DJ did, but I would recommend taking off the "balance" part of the shaft at the very least. Also, you will get rid of that extra rotating mass if you go with the stubby shaft, no to mention about 5lbs of dead weight per shaft.

89coltgt · Post by **89coltgt** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 4:23 am

Every mitsu owner should carry one with them in case they need to beat the hell out of someone