2. Pins are for? The picture you see in Bentley, Haynes, here, elsewhere references the alignment of the "two pins" to (2 & 4 O'clock, crank at TDC, rotor pointed to cyl_1). Do these pins have any purpose other than alignment eg. balance, timing? I have flex plates and flywheels missing one or both pins.

2a. I have a pre- tone ring flywheel with 2 pins. Are they aligned to 2 & 4 O'clock for balance reasons?



Hey Jon, I think those pins are vestiges of the old Mono-tester days when Volvo shops used a proprietary multimeter to set timing electronically. You'll find the threaded hole still exists in the casting for the magnetic sensor which, in the olden days led to a test port up on the cam cover. The question comes up now and then when people start to pull apart their motors. Yes you could time the ignition without a light.

Not to worry about the EZ116K you are used to. There are only six ways you can put that flex plate on the crankshaft, and the one that puts the two blank spots at the starter (with #1 at TDC) is the one you want, if you only want to do it once. If you don't, you join a group of car hobbyists who have lost more hair than the average.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare.
And in return, dogs give us their all. It's the best deal man has ever made.
-M. Acklam

your questions/remarks come across as chaotic.

let me simplify this for you:

1. an 88 engine into an 89 car REQUIRES you use the 89-93 240 flex plate and bellhousing (or knock out the slot in the 88 bellhousing)for the crank sensor

2. the flexplate for an 89-93 automatic has 2 spaces on the window pane ring which are NOT cut out. no little squares for the cps to read as they spin.

3. the blank space on the tone ring needs to be centered over the starter motor opening or the car will not run or run like sh-t

4. you should discover that once you install the flex plate and rotate it so the blank space is centered over the starter hole the bolt holes to affix it to the block may require you to tweek the plate bit one way or the other so once you can get all bolts inserted the blank space on the ring will be centered properly

5. obviously you're transferring the cps bracket from the 89 engine to the back of the 88