Summary

00:00 - Dimitri's asked, how is an engine dynamically balanced? OK so this is something that's really going to require you to use the services of an engine machinist.
00:09 It requires specialist balancing equipment.
00:12 And basically the crankshaft is spun up in a balancing rig, it's very sensitive, it can detect and balance and it can then indicate to the engine machinist where material needs to be removed from the crankshaft in order to correct that imbalance.
00:28 Now it's a good time to also mention here that so far I've talked about the fact that we can balance our pistons and our connecting rods at home independently.
00:36 We don't need expensive equipment to do that.
00:39 What I will mention is that if you are balancing, let's say an inline four cylinder or six cylinder engine or our horizontally opposed four cylinder here for example, the way the piston and conrod assemblies operate in the engine, they essentially cancel each other out.
00:56 So what this means, or the weight of them I should say.
00:59 So what this means is that we can balance the pistons and the conrods independently of the crankshaft.
01:05 If we're dealing with a V configuration engine, maybe a V6 or a V8 for example this isn't the case.
01:11 And the way that particular style of engine works, when the crankshaft is balanced the engine machinist will take into account the weight of the piston, the rings, the connecting rod, the bearings and will calculate what's referred to as a bog weight which is then a mass that's physically attached to the crankshaft journal while it's being balanced.
01:31 So the important note to make here is that if you do want to balance your own pistons and rods for a V configuration engine, you need to do this before you supply them to your machinist to have your crankshaft balanced.
01:43 If you do that afterwards, it will affect the overall balance of your engine.
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