balanced dampner?

[AmadeusCharger500]

How do I tell if this is a balanced dampner and what will it affect. I have the 440 block at a shop and I forgot to to bring this piece. I want to know if I need a zero balanced torque convertor.

[cudaken]

 Need a side shot, cannot tell from the top. But either way get it to the shop. There are many way's to blances a engine. Some will drill the blancer some will take the weight of the crank, some will add metal.

If it is a cast crank 440, get it there fast, that is part of the blance of them. Mine is a steel crank and was not drilled. About filled my pant's when we could not find it. Fdound it under a box and was not drilled.

                         Cuda Ken

Steel crank will be about 3/4" cast about 1 & 1/2 wide.

[Chryco Psycho]

looks like the steel crank , neutral balance damper to me

[firefighter3931]

looks like the steel crank , neutral balance damper to me

[cudaken]

 I am use to looking at them when they are in the car, but I looked again and there is no weight.

                                 Cuda Ken
                                     

[BigBlockSam]

what do you guys think about using a fluid damper on a cast crank motor? that what i was thinking of doing. Rene

[Ghoste]

Do you need to spend the money on a fluid damper?  How hard are you going to be using this cast crank motor?

[BigBlockSam]

hey Ghoste , i was asking for myself. would a fluid dampner help balance the motor better than the stock one.

[Ghoste]

Sorry about that.  The short answer is yes.  A lot of the performance dampers are tuned for a certain rpm range but I saw a graph somewhere not long ago comparing a variety of dampers through the rpm range.  I noticed that in the range where most street motors lived, they seemed to perform pretty comparable.  I'd be interested to know what Ron or Neil and some other builders recommend.

[Chryco Psycho]

fluid dampers work great , on a cast crank you would need to internally balance the engine though

[BigBlockSam]

thank you Psycho. thats what i wanted to know

[firefighter3931]

I'm not a fan of the fluid dampners personally. They've been known to cause engine failure....this happened to a friend. The fluid/gel went solid and threw the balance out, tearing up the bottom end. The fluid dampner's fluid drains to the bottom of the dampner when the engine isn't running. Once the engine fires the fluid is pushed out to the perimiter of the dampner by centrifugal force....if the fluid/gel goes "solid" it will throw the engine balance way off. There is no way to verify the neutral balance of this type of balancer. A trusted engine builder once told me : If i can't verify the neutral balance on a dampner, there's no way i'll bolt it on to a customer's engine with my name on it". That's all i needed to hear....went with a Romac sfi elastomer balancer.  

[Ghoste]

What is your opinion of the TCI and ATI dampers?

[firefighter3931]

What is your opinion of the TCI and ATI dampers?

Both are good from what i've heard, allthough i've never personally used either of them. The only negative feedback has been with pulley fitment and alignment. The ati balancer is supposed to be thinner than oem and requires spacers/shims to align the accessory pullies up. The bolt pattern is also different from the oem pullies often requiring some extra drilling to secure all six bolts. The Romac i purchased bolted right up, required elongating one pulley bolthole and lined up perfectly with the oem pullies. It's also sfi rated to 18,000 rpm....not that i'll ever need it   It's a close to a true bolt on that you'll ever find.  
Ron

[Ghoste]

Oh okay, so the ATI unit is a universal fit if you have a small block Chevy.

[firefighter3931]

Oh okay, so the ATI unit is a universal fit if you have a small block Chevy.

I wouldn't go that far   ...but it will need some tweaking  

Ron

[Ghoste]

Yeah, that was kind of an inside joke that I use all the time at our local "speed" shop anytime they tell me something is universal.   I generally respond, "Oh, so it fits small block Chev and Ford".

[Chryco Psycho]

Moapr has solid  steel dampers as well
I also used a Fisher fluid damper for years

[Ghoste]

Are the solid steel ones rpm specific?  That is, are they mainly designed to best work within a very specific range?