Harmonic Balancer .. which one??

Need to buy harmonic balancer for new rb 493" race motor. Which is the favorite or best recommended? ATI. BHJ, TCI or Fluidampr?

ATI three ring for the race motors They offer aluminum as well as steel, I have two now(one for a 539 C.I. B1 motor and one for a B1-MC 555 C.I. Koleno block) both are seroius bracket race motors with the steel hub and aluminum outers If you need a part number let me know, I'll give you both #s

Thanks Cab. I appreciate your input. Are You going to run the Nightfire race in Boise (Eagle,ID) in a couple of weeks? I'm probably gonna scam together an excuse to get up to Boise for Work. I like Thunderbird Raceway and the Div 6 folks but it is so different in layout from Sac and Sonoma and Famoso in Pit size. Just different that's all.

http://www.innovatorswest.com/ this on my 439

ATI on my 360

TCI rattler on my old 498.

appears I'm a harmonic balancer w-h-o-r-e of some sorts...

If you want hype, go with ati.

And if you would rather go with real world, documented dampners than you should be looking at Fluidampr. When u need a reliable piece, its Fluidam
iable piece, irt's fljddkrtorks a

I'll pass on Fluidampr.... kind of like I wouldn't buy a PTC converter. Lots of love for the product, but I've seen others with repeated bad results from going down that road.

I run a Fluidamper on my blower motor.

I would use the ATI..first choice... I also have 2 engines
with Fluidampers on them.... spacing is the only issue you
will have

I really like that ATI will build what you want you don't have to buy what ever Summit has on the shelf.

The last one I got is a 6.1 Gen3 hemi hub, smooth alum shell, chevy 3 bolt face. They have a lot of options and will gladly help you get what you need.

I do find it interesting that when you search "broken crankshaft" you'll find discussions around the Fluidampr brand. Even some of the threads at Speedtalk discuss this. Makes you think....

"Oh no. Mr Bill!!" - and don't forget to mention how they are effected by cold weather - and they leak.

ATI here

Funny that I never broke anything when running them...and thats up
to 8600 rpm..
EDIT
its been on 3 engines now.. 340, 396, and now my 416...
I'll let you know when I break a crank

Mine put a crack in my Visa card.

I have used ATI... mainly for 1 reason.... its lighter..
and that engine went to 9600 a couple of times... but normal
was 8400

Well my Fluidamper is on it's 3rd engine since 1997 bracket motors with countless runs them the bearings on the last engine looked good enough to use again after 12 years

I've never used a Fluidampr..... just did a casual search after reading this post and was surprised by the comments and discussions at various forums. Get any more wound up Crizilla and I'll continue to secretly stalk you at NHRA events so that I can continue spilling beer on you.

Alcohol abuse !!!

- you're gonna make me pee!!!

the boredom of summer is setting in....

ATI with the front drilled for Big Chev.....opens up a door to a ton of accessories that are stocked everywhere. i.e. pulleys , mandrels.

To me if its a rcae eng then ATI seems to be the best. But for a mild street/strip car like what I do I went with a Pro Sport balancer from Mancini and its not to pricey and has held up great on my 493. But remember I dont go racing every weekend and I dont street race. I drive my car alot and race it one or two times a year most of the time. Its SFI certified to like 18,000 rpm and I dont run over 6500. So its fine for what I do but all out race I would run an ATI. Ron

I have had the same Fluidampr on three engines and and my current engine is smooth as silk with that 20 year old Fluidampr.
Whenever a crankshaft breaks some builders are quick to point the finger at a Fluidampr as the cause just because they don't run them on their engines

Gus

Please stop calling them harmonic "balancers", they are harmonic dampers. They don't "balance" anything.

Had 4 ATi dampeners over the years and one BHJ,(on different engines) the outer ring on the BHJ slipped after about 4 seasons but I don't know the recommended rebuild period for them.

My first after market dampener was a Fluid Dampener, the second was a BHJ that cracked one of the spokes after limitled use, the next was a non SFI Pioneer, My next SFI dampener was a ATI and is still going strong after 12 years of use. Once Fluid Dampener went bankrupt and I saw all the bad comments on here about them, even if some of the comments may have been B.S., I have bought and used ATI I have two complete ATI aluminum units in the shop now for high dollar, high HP motor builds and one ATI long hub that I will buy one of thier three ring steel outer dampener to use on my next build with a Milidon gear drive BTW, the BHJ I bought and dyno tested was a all aluminum one that replaced a stock 340 dampener on the dyno, 7 lb differences in weight, we saw no measureable differences in HP or torque, maybe that test should have been at the track

What if you have a 360?

Those would be harmonic dalancers.

Are you sure? What's a dalancer?
The OP is building a 493. Pretty sure its a steel crank internally balanced big block.

Does anyone know if ATI makes a damper that will work with a stock pulley set up on a small block?

Thanks.

Call them tomorrow morning @ 877-298-4809, and ask for tech.

Thanks Cab.

I have an ATI on my hemi, no problems.
I have a 15+ year old Fluidamper on my Indy headed 440...no problems.

I had a BHJ damper on a 440 once. It slipped the outer ring after the first trip to the track.

So what we see here is marketing at it's very best. Maybe I missed one, but I didn't see anyone badmouth a FD who has actually USED one. Bought my first one in 1990 (IIRC) and still use them.


I do know this...if you are using an elosomer type dampner and they don't ask for your bobweight and RPM (at least) something is wrong, as elastomer type dampners are VERY sensitive to durometer, witdth, and thickness of the elastomer.

Why I went with a fluid damper.

Ran the Fluidampr for years w/no major issues but always had a little vibration then went to ATI and no more vibration FWIW. Also what always made me nervous was why the Fluidampr didn`t want you to balance your rotating assembly w/it on and no mention of that on others......

Because at relatively low balancing speeds, you don't generate enough force to center the inner ring in the housing.


Funny thing is a converter is much the same.

When I balance clutches, I always zero the disc. You'd be surprised how far off a disc can be.

Makes sense and maybe why I "heard" the Fluidampr`s were originally designed for low rpm diesel motors..............

I never used mine on the balance... and dont have any
vibration at low idle or 8000+ rpm.... maybe some of the
other parts... but the ATI is good enough to cover it..
I use both but I like the ATI because its lighter

Maybe mine was just goofy and I weighted em both and forgot exactly how much lighter the ATI was but wanna say about 2.5 lbs.

How does Innovators West compare to both of them?

Just to see how many places use Your technically correct term of 'damper' I dialed up Rock Auto and Autozone and O'Reilly and none of those places recognized the term 'harmonic damper' in their search field. Summit Racing lists them both ways but Harmonic Balancer came up with the most items so I guess the world can recognize the term balancer without being penalized with the technical omission of the noun damper. Just screwing with You so don't get annoyed.

Innovators West makes a very good product as does ATI although apparently some don't agree. This might be going out on a limb but I would be willing to bet those two brands are pretty much the industry standard. Don't EVER recall seeing a Fluidamper on a Comp or SS motor, well at least one that ran well anyway.

Don't forget they are engines not motors too....Sheesh

I've used both Fluidampers and ATI dampers on various race engines without ever having an issue. But I did have a conversation with a crank mfg a while back and he said that the only damper they recommend is the traditional bonded ring type damper. He said that everything else, including the ATI type damper, results in crank damage. I suppose in his business he knows what breaks and who broke it.

Either of the main two discussed both work, Ive been running the Fluidampr for right at 22 years, no problems