Call me crazy, I don't know. I'm 72. Not senile. But I sense the small additional weight - at the nose of the crank. How this all comes into play and affects overall engine balance I don't really have a clue. The Cobra does have a lighter flywheel. But of course the clutch is part of the equation is it not? When I purchased the car the clutch had already been replaced, with what I don't know. It works fine, pedal effort is okay, smooth operating. The OEM clutch was likely Cobra specific, was clutch weight specific? Beats me.
This all reminds me of a day back in the mid 70's. I was working as a Porsche+Audi service writer (they're service managers today) and the Porsche service field rep stopped in. Hard core German guy as you might imagine. He proceeds to lecture us about the polar moment of inertia of the new 924 model (I subsequently owned a 944 some years later, same car but evolved) as opposed to the outgoing 914. The 924/944 was front engine with rear transaxle, the 914 was mid-engined. Both were superior handling cars.
This was his explanation ... Imagine a barbell weighing say 10 pounds- with 5 pounds at either end. Place your hand in the center of the bar and try to twist the barbell = 924/944. Now move all the weight to the center as one weight of 10 pounds and do the same thing = 914. The 914 twists around itself, the 924/944 is totally the opposite. Why do I bring this up- it's a torsional twist equation.
I'm trying to grasp how it is okay to have a balancer that is heavier than OEM design. No complaints, I'd repurchase the same one in a heartbeat. But It seems that the crankshaft should have equal forces upon it at either end for proper balance- or "tuned" to be so. I'm not discounting the accessory driven parts, I realize that load is there. If someone can explain this to me in layman's terms I'm all ears. I must be overthinking this and missed a basic theory.
Photo attached of my Fastest Time of the Day car in 1973. Don't think Polar Moment of Inertia was an issue ...
