MGA Forum

Even when new, they can be way off.

Mine from Moss (AP made for a TD) required a 20 gram weight (approx 4 US quarters) to get it right.

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The Flat Earth Society has members from all corners of the globe.

'30 Model A Ford Town Sedan
'48 MGTC Q Special
'53 XK120SE OTS
'58 MGA roadster
'66 Series 1, 4.2 Jag E-Type OTS

Been down that road before. I had one that took nearly twice that much to get it balanced.

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Si Vis pacem, para bellum

Make you wonder how much 'rough running' is simply the spinny parts out of whack.

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The Flat Earth Society has members from all corners of the globe.

'30 Model A Ford Town Sedan
'48 MGTC Q Special
'53 XK120SE OTS
'58 MGA roadster
'66 Series 1, 4.2 Jag E-Type OTS

is this done with a simple bubble balancer?

Our club guys send flywheel clutch etc all for balancing, and several of the boys run very hot engines. Typically we lighten the flywheels a bunch. Our club is triumph based but all marks are members. We rebuilt my MGA motor and its very smooth and sweet.

Dale Spooner balancing my aluminum flywheel & clutch pressure plate. And once thusly balanced, they are marked so it can always go back in the same position.

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Eric Russell ~ Mebane, NC
1961 MGA #61, 1981 Alfa Romeo GTV6, 1984 Alfa Romeo Spider, 1991 Honda ST1100



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-12-13 09:05 PM by ghnl.

You guys love pictures, so here are some MGA clutch and flywheel balancing pictures. Mine started off as being 17.5 grams out of balance and after balancing .02 grams. Don

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Look sharply after your own thoughts. They come unlooked for, like the morning dove upon your window sill, and, if you turn to your usual task, disappear; and you shall never find that perception again; never, I say-but perhaps years, ages, and I know not what events and worlds my lie between you and its return.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hmm... now that is very interesting! I agree with Mitch, it makes you wonder...

Never balance your flywheel as an assembly! That's the lazy man's way. What happens when yo need to replace your clutch? Do you really want to rebalance the flywheel? Balance each component to neutral. Then when you buy a new disc or pressure plate, they can each be balanced and installed without the down time of pulling the flywheel and waiting for that to be balanced too.
If you want to assemble all pieces after balancing and recheck the balance, great, but it should come out in balance if it was all done well - in any assembly configuration.

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jeff@advanceddistributors.com

The flywheel is always first balanced as a separate entity since it can be easily be adapted to the balancing mandrels. Note the balancing holes..

The clutch in turn needs to be attached to the flywheel for balancing and then balanced as a assembly. Any balancing weight adjustments at this point is to clutch making it a separate entity to itself. You can't see it in the picture, but machined weights ( 1 cu^3 of steel weighs .28 lbs.) are then welded to the location to balance as an assembly.

If not, how would one balance the clutch as a separate entity when there is really no good way of attaching it to the balancing machine?

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Look sharply after your own thoughts. They come unlooked for, like the morning dove upon your window sill, and, if you turn to your usual task, disappear; and you shall never find that perception again; never, I say-but perhaps years, ages, and I know not what events and worlds my lie between you and its return.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Easy enough to isolate a suspect clutch plate for being imbalanced. If there's a vibration that goes away when the clutch is disengaged, Bob's your uncle. 'Course that's after assembly, so I'll just live with it 'cause sooner or later I gotta go to bed.

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The Flat Earth Society has members from all corners of the globe.

'30 Model A Ford Town Sedan
'48 MGTC Q Special
'53 XK120SE OTS
'58 MGA roadster
'66 Series 1, 4.2 Jag E-Type OTS

In addition to the clanking and grinding, I also had excessive vibration of the transmission and engine.

I pulled the engine and didn't find anything broken. But Duh! I realized that a few years prior I had balanced my pressure plate and flywheel as a unit. I forgot all about this when I replaced the engine after a winter service. Pulled the engine again, found my alignment marks, changed the spigot bushing and it ran as smooth as silk.