Hello Eddy, Is there an easy way to work out the Balance Factor, I have read the Higgins bit and checked a few Web sites, But I am lost on the Maths side of it.
I want to do a Comet soon. Cheers Bill.
Dear Bill,
I don't think you can go far wrong if you read what Phil Irving wrote about engine balance.
In
Motorcycle Engineering, Chapter 16, he got quite technical writing about balance. He says that the balance factor on the post-war Comet was 66%.
I suggest that for what you want, his explanation of how to balance in
Tuning for Speed is much simpler to follow. In my 3rd edition copy, Truing and Balancing Flywheels is chapter 7. He explains what to do in 4 pages. In those pages, he gives some simple maths to work out the balance factor for the weights you find. If you don't have a copy of his
Tuning for Speed I can probably sort out some simple writing to explain the process.
You will need some scales to weigh your piston and the small end. (He explains how to do this.)
If maths is an absolute no-no for you then I, or someone else could work out the balance factor for you if you supply the numbers for the weights.
If your new computer has Microsoft Excel I can send you a very simple spreadsheet where you just have to type in your weights and the spreadsheet does the maths to calculate the balance factor. ( I appreciate that you are not actually a computer buff so this might not be a good option for you.)