Balanced shafts

Apples

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Ford's 2.3 Eco-Boost has a balance shaft assembly similar to Mazda's. It is a block of iron (literally!) driven from a gear between cylinders 2 and 3. It is relatively easy to remove, and a small plug assembly is available which plugs the oil feed to it. I'm wondering if anyone here has removed theirs? And if so, what was the results, good or bad?
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P. A. Schilke

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Ford's 2.3 Eco-Boost has a balance shaft assembly similar to Mazda's. It is a block of iron (literally!) driven from a gear between cylinders 2 and 3. It is relatively easy to remove, and a small plug assembly is available which plugs the oil feed to it. I'm wondering if anyone here has removed theirs? And if so, what was the results, good or bad?
Hi Alan,

Not aware the motor has a Balance shaft. It is there to counteract the inherent 2nd order shaking forces of a I4 engine. It has a minor parasitic drag so you might see a bit of a performance gain at the expense of NVH. The engine mounts likely are not tuned for a non balance shaft engine and I think you will experience an NVH degradation. JMO

best,
Phil
 
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Apples

Apples

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It is not really a shaft. Rather a sub assembly mounted in the oil pan.
 

jss81258

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From the service manual:

11 6K360 Balance shaft and oil pump assembly
 


Rp930

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I stand corrected. I removed my post.
 

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You would probably start breaking things, I've done it in the past on Honda engines, the mounting brackets for things like fuel rails, alternator, sensors and anything that would suffer from higher than designed vibration.
It was on a Formula Atlantic open wheel car, we were trying to replace the Mazda 2.3, (a Honda Project that didn't go anywhere) we ended up mounting the MAP sensor off the intake manifold as it repeatedly failed from the vibration.
 

P. A. Schilke

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You would probably start breaking things, I've done it in the past on Honda engines, the mounting brackets for things like fuel rails, alternator, sensors and anything that would suffer from higher than designed vibration.
It was on a Formula Atlantic open wheel car, we were trying to replace the Mazda 2.3, (a Honda Project that didn't go anywhere) we ended up mounting the MAP sensor off the intake manifold as it repeatedly failed from the vibration.
Always wanted to upgrade to FA from Supervee...way too much $$$.... Buddy works at Pratt and Miller on the Corvette IMSA/ALMS team as a fabricator. Shop Rat..no travel. Bozos at GM decided at the 11th hour before the Daytona 24 Hour to replace the powerplant with a flat plane crank motor. The vibrations caused the 3 car to DNF and the 4 Car had most brackets etc. cracked. Had to totally refabricate much of the car....

best,
Phil
 

jss81258

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The manual doesn't show an exploded view and does say do not disassemble. It is an oil pump as well so there is loss in the assembly. I'd guess the balance shaft is actually out of balance and will take some power to drive but I doubt it's much.
 

Langwilliams

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The Harley V rod motor has a balance shaft. The hard core chasing every last HP guys remove them. I guess it frees up 5-10 HP on a 150 HP 1250cc motor. They say it spins up faster too. These aren't bikes taken on frequent pleasure rides. They hit the track often an hit it hard. I sold my V rod years ago an I don't really remember the detailed stuff. Then you get into internal an external balanced motors. For a street car I wouldn't think of touching it. If I was building a King of the Hammers truck it might be something to look into.
 

importfighter01

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Did a bunch of research on this subject for the Ecoboost 2.3. Some useful links in the subject here:

https://www.mustangecoboost.net/threads/balance-shaft-delete.16059/

https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/any-one-done-a-balance-shaft-delete.89546/

Here is the Ford Performace delete kit:

https://accessories.ford.com/products/2-3l-ecoboost-balance-shaft-block-off-plug

However, according to Road and Track this delete will not work for the Rangers: our Ranger-configured 2.3’s oil pump is now driven off of the balance shaft assembly vs the crankshaft in an effort to make room externally for the 4wd components. So removing the balance shaft assembly is not possible for the Ranger. Interestingly enough the info on the balance shaft assembly says it spins at 2x the engine rpm. If the non-Ranger 2.3 motor spins the oil pump off the crankshaft it would be spinning much slower than what the balance shaft assembly would be spinning the oil pump at. So the Ranger must have a unique method to either control the higher oil pressure from the pump spinning faster (assuming it uses the same pump adapted to run off of the balance shaft assembly) or it uses its own special oil pump to keep oil pressure low to a normal level of psi.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-shows/detroit-auto-show/a15840269/ford-focus-rs-ranger-engine/
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