Yeah Actually there are 3 different COMMON 289/302 balancers out there. All using corresponding pointers.
There is the 289 balancer which is kinda thin looking and uses a pointer that is casted into the timing cover on the LH (driver's) side of the engine or the later '66-'67 pointers were removable and was held in on one end with a sheetmetal screw in a boss in teh cover and the other end with a front cover mounting bolt. The dampner itself only uses a 3-bolt lower pulley and requires the use ot he earlier waterpump which exits the RH (passenger) side of the engine. There were 2 different RH exit waterpumps used on the 289.
After the 289 Balancer is the early 302 balancer. Used from '68-'74 is has the same 'thin' appearance as the 289 balancer. What I mean buy thin is the thickness of the dampening ring. If you set a '75 302 balancer next to a '71 302 or any 289 balancer, you'll see what i'm talking about. All the 302's used a 4 bolt lower pulley. And can be interchanged with an other 302, except..... the Mustang II pulley set must be used in a 'set' only. For some unknown reason Lee and his crack team of designers found it necessary to alter the 'offset' (like on a car wheel) i think it's like 3/8". Lord (and Lee) are the only ones who know WHY they did this. Anyhow the '68-'74 balancer has a timing pointer specific to its own. It mounts on the RH side (pass) and is held on the front cover with two of the front cover bolts.
Now- the '75-up balancers kinda 'porked' out, like the fullsize cars themselves. The balancer is thicker making it larger and heavier than the others. (i weighed each balancer and have the info SOMEwhere around here) It's still a 4 bolt pulley and the timing pointer is still on the RH side...BUT... it is located slightly in a different spot and requires it's corresponding pointer. The pointer for this balancer bolts on at BOTH ends via front cover bolts.
Now here's where it gets tricky.... Like Wart, i too thought all post-74 balancers were created equal.... not so... and again, for SOME reason, a special balancer and timing pointer was created for the use in the Mustang Ii V8. No kidding. Easily identified by the D5ZE part number on both the balancer and the pointer. The normal 75-up pointer doesn't have a part number on it at all..... to my knowlege. The balancer, however will most likely have a D5OE part number.
I found all this out when building my last couple of engines. Trying to use a common post-74 pointer on a MII balancer... they were close to lining up at TDC but were off, if I remember right, about 10* or so. On my engine in my Fastback, i'm using all '70 302 pulleys, balancer and bracketry all of which is single groove V-belt running just the alternator and waterpump. (I have no PS)
Oh man , yeah Wart, I sat there in the shop thinking... "What the **** ... what was Ford THINKING on this thing..." Took me a bit to gather what the heck was going on.
You're lucky.... I found one of the pics. The one on the right is a 75-up balancer and also looks like the MII balancer. The one on the left is for '68-'74 302's. The 289 one is similiar.
