just wondering what is involved in balancing and blueprinting an engine and where it would apply. i am currently looking at doing a turbo setup for my i6 but i am not sure if balancing or blueprinting the engine is needed.. ok well i dont actually know what it is.. ah well thanx anyway

depends on how much pwer/ high revs you expect to be doing.
It does help to make a stronger motor.
costs about $500-1000

lookin at keepin the revs bout the same as standard.. no point pushin it further and prob lookin at 200rwkw at most for the moment

Blueprinting takes every size to it's maximum allowable under the specifications for that motor, therefore horsepower gains to be made with a standard motor. Balancing makes every moving part in the motor, in harmony with each other, and also produces power gains. So if you were serious about big horsepower, then get at least balancing done.

not exactly

blueprinting to my knowlage is where every parts is measured and made the same ie all crank bearing clearances are the same,
all the pitsons and bores are identical same as with the heads
all the heads are CC'd to make every cylinder have the exact same size and power in the end

while balancing is the act of makeing EVERY moving part the same weight for the pistons, rods etc
and the crank is balanaced like a car wheel on a machine


doing this allows for higher rpm and more reliable power as well as a smoother engine and faster spin up times

Disco Frank is on the money here. Blueprinting really achieves nothing as far as performance goes. It simply returns all compnonents to within tolerances. Balancing on the other hand increasese revability and durability.

Just one guys opinion, but I wouldn't spend my dough on blueprinting.....But balancing is worth every cent.

blue printing doesn't just put every thing within factory tolerences.
Other wise there would be no point in doing it.

Blue printing put every thing on exacting tolerence, IE: everything is exactly as the original blue brint for engine stats Plus or Minus nothing.

sure crank pins my be under size but the oil clearence is perfect. On that note every pin will not be the same size, rather it will be ground and linnished to suit the bearing that will run on it.

as they leave the factory the stroke on each throw of a crank will more often then not be different. blue printing corrects the stroke on each throw.
the same can be said for the angle of seperation of the throws.

V8 blocks very rairly mass production line with the decks being 90 degrees apart.
decks very rairly run exactly parallel with crank.

con rods rairly all the same length.

tolerences stack up along the production line, say you have 4 machining steps and each is referenced from the last and they are all on the high side of the set tolerence, you soon end up with a part that is far from ideal.

if a bore is slightly misaligned to the crank, the piston will try to follow the bore, the rod will try to follow the crank, they will both be fight each other and cause excessive bearing, crank, piston and bore wear. the whole time cause for frictional losses, more heat and less power.


for the people that say blue printing doen't give you power.
Consider this.
every has heard of the FREAK engines that for some unknown reason just seem to go harder and make more power then the other engine that left the same factory. there is a simple explanation for it, these are the few engines that are the closest to the designers original blue print.

balancing on the hand does s*** nothing for compnent strength.

all it does is prevent and engine from shaking and vibrating its self to bits.

some components may last longer, but it is not a strength thing, it's because a balanced rod or a balanced piston is lighter and puts less stress on its realated components.

6 cylinder inline engines are inherently balanced as opposed to 60 degree v6 engine which are unbalanced.
An inline 6 may go for 1000,000klm no worries. you will rarely hear of v6 do the same without a rebuild.
But this is not the sort of balancing you do for power/reliability

cool thanx for the replies guys def gave me somethin to look at but prob not in the short term as im not lookin at strainin the standard components alot with power. id sonner get all forged stuff and then go balanced/blueprintin things