Balancing the Flywheel on 93 Geo Metro

[GeoPete]

I recently took my 93 1 liter 5-speed (e.g. manual) Metro engine apart to
have the head repaired and the cylinders honed. As I was putting it back
together again I noticed that the manual says you are supposed to:

"Mark the flywheel-to-engine position"

when you take the flywheel off.

Duh... too late for that now!

I'm assuming that by "flywheel-to-engine" they mean that the flywheel
has to be bolted to the crankshaft in a specific position so that the two
together are a balanced unit.

I presume you would have the same issue if you had to replace the
flywheel.

So how does one do that?

-Pete
Reno NV

[Rooy]

I don't have any direct experience with the Metro, but I believe that the flywheel bolt pattern on most cars has an offset so that it will only go on one or two ways. I haven't dug into the Metro this far, but some cars also have timing marks on the flywheel, so you would be able to use that to figure out the correct position (pulley and flywheel both indicate TDC).

However, even if you were to put it back on not in the original position, it probably wouldn't make a difference. I doubt that the engine was balanced as a complete rotating assembly at the factory (though I could be wrong).

Just my 2¢.

[DavidLang]

I had a similar question awhile back. Crvett69 knows a lot about these cars and provided this answer. Here's my question and his answer.

I went to reinstall the flywheel in my 91 5 speed planning to use the dowel hole to align it. The crank end has one, the flywheel doesn't. Has anyone seen this before? How do you position it without one? I assume since it's balanced it must not matter. TIA.

Dave

they don't come with a dowel pin and flywheel can go on in any position. if you want to try to put it back on same way it came off you can usually see where the hole was on the back of the flywheel

Crvett69

[GeoPete]

Thanks for the feedback. I checked with a couple of transmissions places and they said the same thing. With no index pin, and everything being symetrical the flywheel can be installed in any position. The flywheel does have a hole in the back and in the right light you can see the outline of the hold on the corresponding mating surface on the crankshaft. So just for the hell of it I put the flywheel back to match the position of the outlined hole. If for some reason this turns out to be wrong I'll put a note here, otherwise consider the question answered!

GeoPete