Coefficient of linear expansion for steel runs from .0000058 to about .0000083, depending on the type of steel.

Assuming crank snout at 1.6" and the ambient temp at about 68 degrees, boiling the balancer to 212 degrees would create a clearance in the range of .0014 to .0019. Is a thousandth and a half enough to slip the balancer on? Don't know, but I suspect it is.

Also, a 7 or 8 lb balancer won't lose heat very quickly. A minute or so won't make any significant difference.

Would I install balancer this way? Probably not. I'd like to try it, though - just for grins and chuckles.

Bear in mind I don't have a puppy in this tussle. I just wanted to do the math.

A couple of afterthoughts:

- The diamater of a hole in a piece of steel changes at the same rate as a steel bar of the same length. It's counter-intuitive, but that's what happens.

- We're not going to get water to 230 degrees. Water at 230 is called . . . . slightly superheated steam.