Chuck Cole

I made good progress on the disassembly of my engine to get to the machine shop, but before I get the long breaker bar working, I want to be sure which direction the 1" crank bolt that holds on the harmonic balancer loosens. Is it counter clockwise or clockwise? The dumb previous owner put on a 330 Solid balancer on my 68 350, so I'm hoping he didn't wrench it on so tight I need extraordinary methods to get it going. If you have suggestions for an easy removal without snapping something, I am all ears!

edzolz

Standard right hand thread. Lots of torque holds it on. Probably have to jamb the flywheel to keep the engine from spinning while loosening the bolt.

oldcutlass

They are on there pretty tight. The harmonic balancer being from a 330 might point to a 330 crank.

classicmuscle442

Would use an impact.

Chuck Cole

Thanks...once that info was in hand, I took my jack handle about 4' long and the biggest breaker bar I had at 3/4" and with the crank locked it took about 5 seconds and it slowly gave way instead of launching me to the floor. The timing chain was sloppy loose and still had the plastic gears. The cam is out and the lobes showed wear, the oil pump was OEM, all if which tells me the engine is stock and has not had upgrades. I'll know a little more with the crank and pistons out, which will be a next weekend activity. No shocks or surprises so far.

Chuck Cole

I would worry about that too, but the owner put the balancer on just as I picked it up thinking it was the right one. It was in a pile of SBC and was his brother's who died recently. The block and heads are definitely 68. I will measure the throws just to be sure though. Thanks !

Chuck Cole

If I had one and a compressor I certainly would. A 4' jack handle over a 3/4" break bar did the job nicely with no stress on anything. Since the minimum amount of time since the engine was working is 10 years, all the parts are happy where they are and do not want to change positions. All indications are that the engine is stock, no reworks or rebuilds.