I looked at them when I was having my 406 built. The guy in the shop said he didnt like them on street motors. He told me they can vibrate at lower RPMs and break the nose off the crank. Was he right ? Maybe, maybe not. The guys built a ton of big HP motors so I'll never know but I bought a Pioneer SFI balancer and never looked back.
FLUIDAMPR ???'S
- Thread starter dickeymoore
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This guy thought they were ok on race engines. Right on the quarter panel under the window. He was involved in the development and testing of their products from the opening of the company. And as far as slow speed, viscous dampers were standard equipment on Caterpillar diesel engines.
I put a Fluiddampner on my 1979 Z-28 RS 377 cubic ich supercharged small block.by the recommendation of the engine builder. I caused the $ 800 crankshaft to break at the first throw .So I replaced the crank and put an ATi 8"balancer on with no further issues.
So the engine builder determined the cause of failure was the Fluidampr?
Most guys are used to balancing a rotating assembly with the balancer on, but with a Fluidampr you have to follow the instructions below or there will be an imbalance that can lead to failure.
During the balancing or match balancing procedure, it is necessary to separate the hub (B) from the damper ring (A) by removing the 6 or 8 bolts. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO BALANCE THE CRANKSHAFT WITH THE DAMPER RING (A) INSTALLED -The inertia mass inside the damper ring is balanced to a close tolerance at the factory and it rotates inside the damper ring.
I'm with the crowd that has used a Fluidampr with no issues for several years.
I ran it on my 454 for a couple of years then my 468 for 8 years,buzzed it up to 6500-7000 RPM more than once,worked fine for me.
I sold it with the crank and rods and,AFAIK,its still working.
Guy
I ran it on my 454 for a couple of years then my 468 for 8 years,buzzed it up to 6500-7000 RPM more than once,worked fine for me.
I sold it with the crank and rods and,AFAIK,its still working.
Guy
If you have a lot of cash in your engine, I'd say go for it. I bought one off of Mondello about 15 years ago. I know that this is going to be hard to believe but the shop couldn't get the rotating assembly to balance using the Mondello balancer. I ended up using a stock balancer. Go figure. I never did get any refund because I'd wanted to long between buying it and putting it to use. Never bought from them since.
the harmonic balancer does not play a role in balancing the rotating assembly. The harmonic balancer absorbs the vibrations of the engine and is really a damper not a ballancer.
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