quick help about harmonic balancer, please

[droptopford 5 0]

i bought a ford racing 50 oz harmonic balancer to replace the stocker when i saw the rubber popping out the back. now that im in the middle of doing so, i notice the balancer hits the bottom of my water pump near the stud for the pump. so i grind down the bottom of the pump, but now im just wondering how much clearence i should have between the two... right now the clearance is about the thickness of two credit cards, what do you think is a safe clearance??.. i might be able to get another 32nd or 16th of an inch of clearence but i dont want to grind through to the stud threads, thanks

 

[nmcgrawj]

hmmmmm....i have put on 2 or 3 autozone replacements and 2 romacs and none of them hit the water pump.

Are you positive its the correct balancer for the application?

On my romac, it hit the water pump pulley(underdrive set) so i took about a 1/16" off the back of the pulley and was good to go, but not the water pump itself.

Post up some pics if you can. Do u see any difference in the stock HB and the Ford Racing piece?

 

[yellow1995Cobra]

I had a fluidamper harmonic balancer at one point, and it hit the waterpump. Had to be ground down a tiny bit. I think the ammount u ground off will work out just fine.

 

[droptopford 5 0]

its just a "stock replacement" for 81-95 5.0 (different one than stock replacement for the 81-93 piece... wierd huh)or so it said according to mustangs unlimited, then i called them up and told them my problem, they said according to ford racing both of the balancers need modification for the 94-95's, so i just ground it down, just hoping its enough... whats done is done now, just put it all together and it seems to be ok, we'll see in a bit...oh yeah and to answer your question, it looks identical, even the size is almost exact from what i can tell without actually measuring it...

 

[rustang94]

What is the best harmonic balancer for our cars thanks

 

[HISSIN50]

What is the best harmonic balancer for our cars thanks

If money is no object, it is hard to go wrong with a Romac IMHO.

For poor folks like myself, the PP street balancer for 80 bucks or so would be my choice.

Good luck.

 

[rustang94]

thanks