M52 Harmonic Balancer swap from N52

[Richard1986]

Hello, does anyone know if the harmonic balancer from an N52 will fit on an M52 (and dampen the harmonics correctly?).
I have an M52B28 TU on my garage floor and I need to shorten the balancer as the engine is slight too long for its intended purpose. AC pulley is not required hence the appeal of the N52 pulley.

Bonus question, I hoped that by removing the six bolts the harmonic balancer could be removed, but it seems that the crank bolt washer is holding it on. Has anyone tried and suceeded to remove this bolt without a powerful impact wrench with the engine out of the car?
If so, I'd love to know how.
Haven't tried yet as the flywheel is on the post so I have no way of locking the engine yet.

Thanks in advance

[Eric93se]

So there are a few ways. Some cut the thick washer, then the bolt can come off by hand. But they do make a wrench that uses the AC pulley bolt holes, allows you to hold the pulley (or stab the wrench into the floor) and use a large breaker bar on the bolt. You can find the wrench on ebay ~$60.

[pbonsalb]

I have wedged a screwdriver through the timing gear teeth into the AC bracket. Once I broke part of the AC bracket but not enough to do any damage. The factory tool or a copy would be ideal but often a DIYer does not have such tools.

[gdavid]

Bonus question, I hoped that by removing the six bolts the harmonic balancer could be removed, but it seems that the crank bolt washer is holding it on. Has anyone tried and suceeded to remove this bolt without a powerful impact wrench with the engine out of the car?
If so, I'd love to know how.
Haven't tried yet as the flywheel is on the post so I have no way of locking the engine yet.

Thanks in advance

If you have the oil pan off of the engine, you can place a block of wood between a crankshaft counter weight and the engine block to safely prevent it from turning or if the cylinder head is off, can do something similar with a small block of wood on top of a piston and larger bolted flush to the top of the block with head bolts which prevent the piston from rising up and therefore the crank from turning. With the crank shaft secured, slip a piece of pipe over a pull handle and you will have plenty of leverage to break the bolt loose. You will need some help holding the block still, if is on an engine stand, a chain to an engine lift or anything (strong) overhead is a good safety measure in case you tip the engine stand over.

[pbonsalb]

What about in gear with the parking brake on?

[Richard1986]

So there are a few ways. Some cut the thick washer, then the bolt can come off by hand. But they do make a wrench that uses the AC pulley bolt holes, allows you to hold the pulley (or stab the wrench into the floor) and use a large breaker bar on the bolt. You can find the wrench on ebay ~$60.

Thanks for the suggestions. Cutting the washer may be a good trick to keep in mind if all else fails. The engine doesn't have any aircon unfortunately so holding it that way wont be an option. I'm not worried about locking the engine, I can easily do this when my flywheel arrives. The issue is how to stop the engine from rolling around with a 2m cheater bar on the nut. I'm thinking of wrapping a strap around the engine and a second pole in the strap with a second person holding the engine still via the second poll. We'll see if that works.

- - - Updated - - -

if is on an engine stand, a chain to an engine lift or anything (strong) overhead is a good safety measure in case you tip the engine stand over.

Good tip thanks. Currently on a pallet as I don't have an engine stand yet. Will have soon. I'll avoid the wood wedges for now as I know I can lock via flywheel when it arrives, but I can see this would be useful if your engine is torn down. Mien still fairly complete and I intend to keep it that way if I can.

- - - Updated - - -

What about in gear with the parking brake on?

Not an option, engine is not in a car, and it wont fit until in either cut, or fit a narrower harmonic balancer. If I really can't kep the engine still on the floor I'll just grind the thing off and remove the bolt when fitted to the car.

My main query is what to do about the thick M52 balancer, whether a N52 will fit and balance correctly?
Any experience on this, or is my situation so unique I'll just have to be the guinea pig?

[pizzaman09]

I borrowed an air impact. It still took the better part of 5 minutes with the impact pounding away to get the bolt off.
I wish you good luck.

[Richard1986]

All round good news today.

I got the pulley off. What worked for me was:
1.5m cheater bar
Headers strapped to garage roof rafters to stop engine block rotating (there was no way helpers could stop it)
Allen key in the flywheel lock.

Some interesting feedback on the damper. At the back you can clearly see the rubber ring so you know what counts towards the balancer mass and what doesn't.
Not so easy at the front.
Got a multimeter on it and determined that there is conductive connectivity between the ancillary belt pulley and the balancing mass but none between the Aircon pulley and the balancing mass.
Just to confirm, there was connectivity between the Aircon pulley and the hub.
Basically means I can chop off the Aircon pulley without changing the harmonic balancer mass so good new all round there.

[pbonsalb]

I have an aftermarket (though still Luk) flywheel with no hole.

The Allen key is a good idea. After snapping some drill bit ends, I went to an Allen key back when I had the original flywheel.

Many have run with AC removed and no issues, at least with M50/52/S50/52 dampers. Same goes for heavier billet extended crank pulleys for supercharger drives. I think your N52 damper that manages a 3.0L should be fine but would want to look at crank throw and rod length to compare more closely since you can get to 3.0L differently and engines might be specified for different max rpm.

[somebody5788]

All round good news today.

I got the pulley off. What worked for me was:
1.5m cheater bar
Headers strapped to garage roof rafters to stop engine block rotating (there was no way helpers could stop it)
Allen key in the flywheel lock.

Some interesting feedback on the damper. At the back you can clearly see the rubber ring so you know what counts towards the balancer mass and what doesn't.
Not so easy at the front.
Got a multimeter on it and determined that there is conductive connectivity between the ancillary belt pulley and the balancing mass but none between the Aircon pulley and the balancing mass.
Just to confirm, there was connectivity between the Aircon pulley and the hub.
Basically means I can chop off the Aircon pulley without changing the harmonic balancer mass so good new all round there.

I'm not sure what pulley you guys use? You said chop off but I thought the 2nd pulley just pulled off by hand when the bolts were out.

[Richard1986]

I'm not sure what pulley you guys use? You said chop off but I thought the 2nd pulley just pulled off by hand when the bolts were out.

This is really interesting.
I went and ground mine off, and it's definetly (well was) one piece. This is a temporary solution as it exposes the rubber such that when it fails the pully (and mass) will fly off. Not very safe.
I read in the Haynes manual (after your post) that there are two types. One seperates and one doesn't.

Just need to figure out which models had seperate pullies for a long term solution.

[Knight24]

Well a few way to do this, but the PROPER way is the easiest. Right under your starter, there's a tiny hole in your block(should have a plug) once you take that out, stick your camshaft locking tool in there, and spin your crank(22mm) until it locks in with the machined hole in your flywheel. Bam no more worries, I bought mine with the camshaft locking/alignment kit on Amazon, this is the same kit. https://www.ecstuning.com/b-schwaben.../003304sch01a/ and for that stupid fucking ac pulley, took mine off last night, was a bitch but after an hour hitting it w a rubber mallet, I took my uncles 3 jaw puller and it came off with a breeze. Hope this helps even though it's a couple months late.

[pbonsalb]

Some replacement Luks and aftermarket flywheels do not have the hole.

[spyderg0d]

I shoved a large prybar inbetween the balancer and the block.. Pins it up good enough to get the bolt off by hand or by impact.