Austarion

hi guys, i'll be messing around in the guts of my starion soon, so i thought i might as well remove the balance shafts while i was at it. i was just wondering where i might be able to find an elimination kit. i've found a few for the later model 4g63s on ebay, but im not sure if they will work on the starion engine.. i know people on here have done it, just wondering how they went about it. cheers

The 4g63 ones will fit fine. You can buy the parts separately from Mitsi in NZ, otherwise there are alot of kits on ebay for cheap. I got mine from the states with a stub shaft, frost plug and 2 x bearing replacements for around $30 landed here and its fine.

ok cool... so can i use my starion oil pump too then? sounds like the only thing i need to change in the bottom end is the pistons

edit: and front pulley apparently

what does it do if you remove the balance shafts???

toms starion wrote:what does it do if you remove the balance shafts???

frees up a little bit of power at the expense of a little more vibration from the engine. The balance shafts work by eliminating most of the inherent harmonic vibrations an inline 4 cylinder engine has.

One could argue that it perhaps is a little more reliable as there are two less parts spinning in an engine, but then it could open up issues like an unsupported oil pump drive etc.

dirtygalant wrote:

toms starion wrote:what does it do if you remove the balance shafts???

frees up a little bit of power at the expense of a little more vibration from the engine. The balance shafts work by eliminating most of the inherent harmonic vibrations an inline 4 cylinder engine has.

One could argue that it perhaps is a little more reliable as there are two less parts spinning in an engine, but then it could open up issues like an unsupported oil pump drive etc.

If you are concerned about the oil pump drive you can cut off the shaft after the rear bearing and machine off the counterweight leaving a round rod connecting to the rear bearing This is what I have in my TC motor

dirtygalant wrote:

toms starion wrote:what does it do if you remove the balance shafts???

frees up a little bit of power at the expense of a little more vibration from the engine. The balance shafts work by eliminating most of the inherent harmonic vibrations an inline 4 cylinder engine has.

One could argue that it perhaps is a little more reliable as there are two less parts spinning in an engine, but then it could open up issues like an unsupported oil pump drive etc.

I'd say the main advantage is eliminating the belt... so it can't break and interfear with the cambelt... that would fuckup a nice and expensive twincamed (-or not) motor!

^^ that would never happen if the balance shaft belt and tensioner bearing were replaced at the same time as the cambelt and tensioner, and that they are done every 10 years/100,000kms. Only reason they snap is because people skip replacing them when the cambelt is changed.

Yep! I'm aware of this.... but still, without it, it is not possible to snap.
And when spending a shitload ov pezetas on a motor... I'd like to be on the "safeside"!
The onley downside as I see it, is the (minor?) vibrations. And I could live with that.

if you leave the lower shaft in (albeit machined as suggested above), you can still potentially have the lower shaft rear bearing spin..

BSE kits do NOT increase power, by the way.. response yes, power no. i prefer to improve response by lightening the flywheel..

Iv heard that removing the shaft also decreases engine life and is supposed to really only be done on race engines that are rebuilt often..?

rodney007 wrote:Iv heard that removing the shaft also decreases engine life and is supposed to really only be done on race engines that are rebuilt often..?

How does it decrease engine life?
The only real effect would be slight vibration and no chance of spinning the bearings(if you remove the shafts completely).
Most people building a new engine, esp without balance shafts would get everything balanced anyway.
The only way it would decrease engine life that i could see would be if the BSE job wasn't done properly, or if the engine already had underlying problems.

vibrations and resonance can destroy anything.. just because it doesn't feel like much to the driver doesn't mean it's not a big deal to the motor..

ever heard of the soldiers marching over the bridge example? read the following as an example of the simple destructive force of resonance if you'd like:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angers_Bridge

mind you, i'm NOT saying that this is the case with balance shaft removals in the 4g63, and I'm not saying that removing them is a good or bad idea.. i'm just saying, don't underestimate the impact of extra vibrations or resonance.

anybody know if this kit would fit the starion 4g63 SOHC

http://www.ffwdconnection.com/bsek.shtml

Whoa, old post... Anyways:

Those parts do look about right... But you don't actually need a 'kit' to remove the balance shafts.

Use the lower balance shaft, but cut it off, leaving around 20mm protruding from your oil pump. You'll notice the shaft is hollow, this is for oil supply to the shaft bearings. Tap it, and seal it off with a grub screw.

Take the original bearings out, rotate them slightly, and re-insert them. This way, the oil supply hole in the bearing no longer matches up to the one in the block, thus blocking it off and maintaining your oil pressure.

Insert a 35mm frost plug in the front cover, where is upper balance shaft used to protrude to seal this off.

Get a shorter bolt to go where the balance shaft belt tensioner used to go.

Not much more to it from memory. I've done a couple before with no ill effects really noted, both are still running to this day, and it was a few years ago.