Harmonic Balancers

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rumblefish360

I have escaped the EVIL Empire State!
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I have gotten a few requests on my opinion on harmonic balancers. On most builds, I do not see a great need for an expensive unit. But wondered, who has up'ed the anti on this item to a ATI super damper or a TCI Rattler for there heavier hitting street strip/ride or the race machine.

For street and mild street strip rides, I have not had any issues with more inexpensive balancers.

What would draw my money to purchase one of the above (Or other not mentioned) to my build?

Also, have any of you all experienced pulley fitment issues or alinement issues with an after market balancer?

For myself, I'll (Hopefuley) be working on a 340/3.58 stroker for 372/373 cubes. And then later, my 4.0 arm stroker race mill.

What say you?
 
I got the PRW chinkesium "Fluidampr" knockoff. It's right by the degree wheel and seems pretty good quality. It's SFI certified so, it has to meet that same spec as the high dollar ones. It was like 129 dollars shipped, but that was for my Chevy big block.
 
I have a Rattler on my 340 in my 74 Sebring Plus, been on a long time and I think the only issue was I had to drill a hole bigger in my stock crank pulley. I have March pulleys on it now and they work fine, belts line up good and no issues there...I kinda like how it “rattles” and real low idle when it’s cold or as it shuts down, people always think somethings wrong lol

I have a fluidampr for the 340 in my Valiant but never installed it....the China made elcheapo is working fine. I do know I need to run a different stock crank pulley, I got the pulley but can’t remember it’s appliction, think it was from a 68-69 273 single groove.
 
I was running a professional products SFI balancer on my 410.. slipped the ring and timing wasn't accurate, but it didn't separate. I then swapped to the cheaper version for car show season, made a couple runs at the track and it separated completely. After that I purchased an ATI damper, the ATI depending on the version you get is not stock width and pulleys will need to be adjusted for fitment.
The new 408 has a Trickflow Trackmax SFI balancer, this engine is new so I don't have any good or bad to say about it yet, but it does align properly with stock pulleys.
 
@66340SEDAN You said, “drill one hole bigger.” Is that due to the offset hole in then pulley?
Otherwise, the pulleys lined up OK?

After that I purchased an ATI damper, the ATI depending on the version you get is not stock width and pulleys will need to be adjusted for fitment.
The new 408 has a Trickflow Trackmax SFI balancer, this engine is new so I don't have any good or bad to say about it yet, but it does align properly with stock pulleys.
Whoa! Separating a balanced is pretty brutal. Wow!
I did take a quick trip through summit to look at the ATI pullies and noted some with and without hubs. Which was a surprise to me. There was a lot of different versions.

The was also surprised by the trick flow pulley there. That I just found out today for myself.

Aligning pulleis can be maddening.
 
@66340SEDAN You said, “drill one hole bigger.” Is that due to the offset hole in then pulley?
Otherwise, the pulleys lined up OK?


Whoa! Separating a balanced is pretty brutal. Wow!
I did take a quick trip through summit to look at the ATI pullies and noted some with and without hubs. Which was a surprise to me. There was a lot of different versions.

The was also surprised by the trick flow pulley there. That I just found out today for myself.

Aligning pulleis can be maddening.

I separated one years ago, but it was a stock balancer on a VERY HOT Chevy 327 and you KNOW how those like to rev. That little motor saw 9K more than once. After the stock balancer came apart, I put a sho nuff Fluidampr on it.........this was before you could get any of these import parts. Probably about 1986, I would guess.

The balancer is one of the places I've learned not to cut corners on. A stock Pioneer replacement just "ain't enough" for most builds out there.
 
Rumble,I'm using the Rattler on my 408, Used one on my previous 505 and stayed with it. I did try a prw on the 408 during build up to try and save a few $ but had to have the hub honed to fit the crank and then found out it's to thick and offset the crank pulley to far. Now it's in a box (never run)on a shelf, and I'm never changing from the rattler. BTW you can have it if you want to pick it up
 
I also have a TCI Rattler on my 408. Pulleys line up fine, bolt pattern works too. I do hear the rattle upon engine shutdown, it trips people out when I shut the engine off.
 
I've been using the Pioneer brand SFI balancers on my race cars for years with no problems. Pulley mounting looks OEM, but I haven't had OEM pulleys on it, just the Moroso 30% reduction(?) pulley with custom alternator brackets & electric water pump.
 
Rumble,I'm using the Rattler on my 408, Used one on my previous 505 and stayed with it. I did try a prw on the 408 during build up to try and save a few $ but had to have the hub honed to fit the crank and then found out it's to thick and offset the crank pulley to far. Now it's in a box (never run)on a shelf, and I'm never changing from the rattler. BTW you can have it if you want to pick it up
Hey man! Thanks for the offer. Perhaps when I have a few bucks for it.... I’ll swing by. Your not far and I’m in your neck of the woods every now and again. A MoPar fella I work with lives there.

Hey! How’s that bad *** ride of yours doin?
That was a real pleasure to see in person. WOW!
The wife thought is was really cool.
 
So it seems that the rattler is popular and fits well. Can’t argue with there. I’m still waiting on the machinists free time to do a simple sonic check on my 340.....
 
Just a quick shout out to today’s good fella meet and greetinging’s with 68cuda408 who very graciously gave me his balancer (mentioned above) for a thank you and a hand shake. We ended up chewing the fat for about... 3+ hours. While he turned down a beer or a coffee offer, he did step in my humble abode (while I made coffee) and met my wife
(We all actually quickly met at a car meet prior)

He helped with tech on the wife’s car. Being he has a .... ‘68 & the wife has a ‘67..... chat chat chat....

Looking very forward to the spring season and hanging out with him and the rest of the car culture lifers.
 
Thanks Rob, It was a pleasure to meet you and your wife. BTW I'm sure here is where you can get the rear window molding clip locations for the wifes f/b. I'm sure some one has an 8 or 9 with the rear window out. The long drive to work lets me rethink the previous days conversations (lol). Once the salt goes down I'm parked for the season so there's still a chance of meeting up somewhere with the cars too.
 
Rob are these the templates 68cuda408 mentioned that you are looking for?

downloadfile-41.jpg


downloadfile-53.jpg
 
Thanks Rob, It was a pleasure to meet you and your wife. BTW I'm sure here is where you can get the rear window molding clip locations for the wifes f/b. I'm sure some one has an 8 or 9 with the rear window out. The long drive to work lets me rethink the previous days conversations (lol). Once the salt goes down I'm parked for the season so there's still a chance of meeting up somewhere with the cars too.
This is true! The roads haven't seen any snow yet so a cruise is possible. Well, at least hanging out is. I don't think we'll find many people wanted to hang out and B/S in 30 or less degrees.
Rob are these the templates 68cuda408 mentioned that you are looking for?
I tell ya, you are a bag of surprises. I had no idea or even thought to ask if such a thing existed. BOOKMARKED! Thanks!
 
I was running a professional products SFI balancer on my 410.. slipped the ring and timing wasn't accurate, but it didn't separate. I then swapped to the cheaper version for car show season, made a couple runs at the track and it separated completely. After that I purchased an ATI damper, the ATI depending on the version you get is not stock width and pulleys will need to be adjusted for fitment.
The new 408 has a Trickflow Trackmax SFI balancer, this engine is new so I don't have any good or bad to say about it yet, but it does align properly with stock pulleys.
 
I have an ati damper on my 408 and I'm at the point I don't know what pullies to get so everything lines up. Any help would be appreciated.
 
I have an ati damper on my 408 and I'm at the point I don't know what pullies to get so everything lines up. Any help would be appreciated.
I used a 3 groove aluminum ebay crank pulley and an aluminum water pump pulley. The ATI damper I had was externally balanced so it pushed the crank pulley out almost 3/4". Just happened to line up with one of the grooves so everything worked. Honestly, I just got lucky.
These are the one I got lucky with.
Mopar Small Block Crankshaft Pulley 318 340 360 Crank Chrysler Aluminum A/C AC | eBay

Small Block Mopar Polished Aluminum Single Groove Upper Water Pump Pulley Dodge | eBay
 
I used a 3 groove aluminum ebay crank pulley and an aluminum water pump pulley. The ATI damper I had was externally balanced so it pushed the crank pulley out almost 3/4". Just happened to line up with one of the grooves so everything worked. Honestly, I just got lucky.
These are the one I got lucky with.
Mopar Small Block Crankshaft Pulley 318 340 360 Crank Chrysler Aluminum A/C AC | eBay

Small Block Mopar Polished Aluminum Single Groove Upper Water Pump Pulley Dodge | eBay
Thanks bud
 
I think I'm going to try the Trick Flow one. At the point where this motor is at, I just something stock-ish that will hold together. The 48 year old one on the motor now looks a little worse for wear.
 
I installed an ATI on the 340 in my Dart Sport project. Engine is zero deck with JE flat top pistons, Comp Cams solid flat tappet cam, Eagle forged crank and H-beam rods, Edelbrock heads, 780 Holley, and RPM air gap. Engine is broken in but not driven, project build still in progress. I went with ATI because of my success using one in the mini-stock Ford I raced for many years. Before switching to ATI, an engine rebuild was required after each season, 15 races. Once I switched, we could open up the engine at season's end and there was next to no wear on the bearings, both rods and mains. Clearances were still tight. Engine was noticeably smoother throughout the RPM range, in race trim 5500 - 8000 RPMs. With all the inherent harmonics in those 4 cylinders, I was convinced.
One note - on the 340, I had to grind away part of the cast-in timing marks to get the balancer seated as far back as it needed to be. I ended up grinding off about half of the markings and welding the opening shut from inside the timing cover.
 
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