Are there any "bad" balancers/dampeners to avoid on a BB engine?
I'm in the process of building a new engine, and it will have a new bottom end. Since I'm starting from scratch, I just find it a bad idea to put a new rotating assembly in and use a 45 year old harmonic balancer on it. Using a 45 year old block is bad enough.
What works, what doesn't, what do I avoid?
Thanks

First thing to decide is if you need the factory spacing for the pulleys or not. Once you decide that then you can start shopping. Trick Flow has a nice damper for stock pulley location. ATI has nice racing dampers. BHJ, Chryco, etc. have dampers. Go to Summit Racing and look for dampers, you'll probably find more than 20 different ones.

I'm trying to stick with a stock pulley layout for now. So there are none to avoid, or none better than others? I'll take a gander at the Trick Flows.
Thank you.

ATI the best IMO. BHJ is great for the price. Make sure you paint or clear coat the BHJ as it looks nice but won't stay that way very long. They used to use those TCI rattlers on the old Pro Stock program. I never tried one, who wants to hear that?

I have had good sevice from ATI and Fluidamper. I tried one BHJ damper on a fairly mild 500+ hp 440 and it slipped the outer ring after about 6 months of use. No more BHJ for me.

Only bad thing about ATI is you better spray it w/ clear coat before you put it on. Otherwise you'll barely be able to read the timing marks after a year or so.

I think Pioneer makes stock replacement balancers, depending on which year motor, 1966 or 1965 and earlier have the timing mark located different than the later ones The balancer needs to match the timing cover year

The harmonic damper on that Cummins engine Ram truck idling next to you at the stoplight is a Fluidampr. They're not cheap but they work.
Avoid the knockoff fluid dampers.

Pioneer makes a good damper. If you think you're going to be racing, an SFI damper can save you money later.

Your friendly Summit catalog has several different dampers and all I have seen in the catalog are good. PowerBond is a Dayco product, that's top drawer.

For strength you'd like the outer ring to be either steel or nodular iron, sometimes called spheroidized iron.

R.

From what I have discovered over the years, there are mainly two main designs, one is more effective at lower rpms, the other at higher rpms ( I see that point as 6K), and the amount of time in that range. At what RPM YOUR crank assembly has the most flex/harmonics, is likely based on a multitude of variables, and unless with F1 or OEM testing, you can only approximate with your final choice, which based on in the field use, that guessing must work OK. Good Luck.

Big difference between a dampener used on a low rpm inline 6 vs. a high rpm V8. If Fluidampnr's were free, I wouldn't have one.

What's wrong with them? I have 3 on 720 horsepower plus Motors. I have 2 on 950 horsepower plus Motors. 4 of them I have had over 25 years. Never a problem. Are they going to ruin my Motors?

I use a Pioneer damper from Jeg's. It's their house brand,but made by Pioneer. It fit well and the pulleys lined right up. Plus it's SFI certified,and wasn't expensive.

Not a damn thing... I have 2 of them on engines
and been turning 8200 rpm for years.. I just put
a third one on my 416 but thats only a 7200 rpm
engine

Innovators West..

Is the IW damper a copy of the Fischer damper? I could call and ask, but seems that's what it is.

I've been using FD's since 1990 after a very poor discussion with ATI.

I use ATI on race motors since the MSD trigger wheels fit on them. I've run a Fluidamper on my street motor for a long time. Mine is an old one with a flat face that requires a Hemi pulley to get the alignment correct.

If I had to buy a new damper for a street motor these days I'd probably use the Trick Flow one. For a race engine I would use ATI.

My preference

Had a Pioneer on my last street wedge. Slipped the ring within 1,000 miles. No warranty coverage, either. Have a BHJ on the Hemi now. 1,200 miles and counting.........

On my mild street car that see's the track only about once a year lately I have used this Pro Sport balancer I bought from Mancini. I have used them on three different street engines with no failures at all. I like that all my stock pulleys line up and it is SFI approved. I have had one on my 63 since 2008 and I drive it alot on the street. The ones I bought were all made in Austrailia. Ron

http://www.manciniracing.com/prosport1.html

Dampers are one of those things I hear people say you shouldn't scrimp on, but how often do you see a damper cause a problem? I suppose the more RPM's a motor sees, the more you need to consider this piece (??). My 451 sees 6400, and I've never had a problem with this one:
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/pfs-80013/overview/

X3

That would be me. Twice. Summit SFI junk. Ring became unbonded to the hub. I caught the first one during a routine freshen up, but the second actually came off of the hub. Good thing it was at idle in the garage! Called Summit both times, acted like it was no big deal.

Never again will I trust a "bargain" dampener.

Yeah, I readily acknowledge that it's something I should upgrade. Especially since I'm racing the car more and more these days.

Innovators West here too.

I had a CAT fluid balancer on my 493. 6 years after I built it, it went back to get aluminum caps. I got a call saying the bearings were still like new and that I could reuse them if I wanted. Changed them but that was a cheap balancer and I beat on that motor for 6 years

I have the TCI rattler on both motors and no noise when running only when you shut down and the plates relax one quick rattle. I was told that the design was barrow from fighter planes in ww2.

Maybe where you live but not in Cally.............lol I went from a Fluidamper to an ATI and the later is glass smooth compared to some harmonics from the fd..............