why balance pistons separate from pins??

[Thomas C Potter]

Anyone know why one should balance pistons separate from pins??

If the set I have are within .8g, could I not simply remove some of the piston and pin material and make the one piston/pin set within .5g to the others?

This has me curious...

[BAD MERC]

Balancing an engine is extremely crucial for maximum efficiency and smoothness. A half a gram doesn't seem like much but sling it back and forth 7000 times in a minute and it ends up becoming LOTS of weight. http://www.hotrod.com/how-to/engine/ccrp-0803-engine-balancing/

[chief455]

Anyone know why one should balance pistons separate from pins??

If the set I have are within .8g, could I not simply remove some of the piston and pin material and make the one piston/pin set within .5g to the others?

This has me curious...

never heard the need for this. If you were to weigh each pin and determine they are all dead equal, you could just mix and match to balanced pistons.
Otherwise:
keep the pin/piston/rings & retainer clips together per bore installed, and remove material from the piston skirts/meatey area under the pins of the heavier ones to achieve within .5g each.
Same with the rods/bearings.
Try not to attach the furthest out of pistons and rods - use a paper to write down results, and combine rod weights with piston weights to get the best stacked weight combination.
Time spent on this makes the difference of a good engine and an awesome freaky good one ;)