289 HiPo Engine Question

[Hawaiian Griff]

I recently purchased a Griffith 200, and not sure about its HiPo authenticity. I know about the head castings, Dual Point Distributor, Water Pump, Carb, Block number, 3/8's rod bolts with thicker main caps.

My questions is: The current motor has the small thin damper, which made me believe it's not the HiPo engine. Then I found a box with spare parts, and found the original wide HiPo balancer, along with an upper pulley.

Why would you remove the original damper? On the 289's, when you change out the balancer, are you not affecting the actual balance of the engine itself? Not understanding this at all. Since I'm new to the Ford 289 engines, I figured some of you might be able to shed some light on this.

Thanks,
Bill