Burtz Engine Balancing?

[30Tudor]

I have been doing a bit of research into the need to balance the Burtz engine components during assembly. There seems to be a lot of good input and views on each side of the "should balance/no balance required" discussion. I thought I would create a poll to get an idea of what others have done. Please provide your input along with your findings.

1. I had my Burtz Engine components professionally balanced
2. I did not have my Burtz Engine components professionally balanced.

[30Tudor]

OK - I can't seem to get the Poll function to work. Sorry.

[BrianH]

I had my Burtz engine components professionally balanced. It wasn't perfect but, it is now.

[Hipopinto]

I plan on balancing mine.

The main reason I bought a Burtz kit was because of the counterweighted crank, and 5 mains

The rods are just a bonus

To me it only makes sense to spend a little more and have it balanced

I am also thinking to install the pressure plate as well when this is done

Dave

[shiver]

There is an inherent vibration in a 4 cylinder engines, on some diesel 4 cylinders they use to counter rotating shafts to offset it.

As long as Terry cured the harmonic vibration issue it’s fine with me.

[nkaminar]

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As Shiver has stated, there is inherent vibration in any inline engine. That is because the pistons are going up and down while the mass at the big end of the rod is rotating. The mass at the big end of the rod is balanced at 100% while some portion of the mass concentrated at the small end of the rod is balanced. That includes the piston pin, piston and rings. The proportion is usually about 60% but can be more or less than this amount.

When you are building a Burtz engine you have options for the piston and rings and this will effect the balance of the engine. To do a dynamic balance of the crankshaft, weights are machined to be placed on the rod journals that represent 100% of the big end and some portion of the small end of the rods. If you are racing the engine then this is a good idea, but it is probably not needed for normal use of the engine.

It is a good idea to balance the flywheel and the pressure plate and make sure the pistons, piston pins, and rings all weight the same within a few grams. Burtz balances the crank which is probably good for your installation.

[Richard Knight]

Flat four cranks do not use Bob weights on the crank when spun up