Need one for my 540 Hemi. I'm looking at Summit, and see mostly ATI's but they are super expensive. This is just a street engine, don't see any reason that I need to spend $300+ on a balancer. Any recommendations?

When it comes to your decisions on you would you shop around for the cheapest surgeon you could find if you found out you needed brain surgery?
Why put the cheapest harmonic balancer you can find on a large cubic inch Hemi that you have a ton of money and time in already
Don't buy the cheaper ones
Buy the 3 ring ATI and be happy and worry free

540 Hemi and you're willing to hang a Chinese balancer on it? Cause that's what you're going to have.

ATI - buy once, cry once. Even if you have to find a decent used one.

Get the ati as mentioned. Best out there. Don’t cheap out, it’s only money, u don’t want to b the richest guy in the cemetery.

I've run Fluidampers on a couple of my motors without any problems.
Why is the ATI superior to them ?
Not arguing, just seeking clarification.

Guess I should have clarified a bit.

I'm not looking to cheap out, but many times there are products out there that are just as good as the stuff that sells for twice as much just because they have a name.

I'm not going too put an inferior balancer on there just to save a few bucks, but I was surprised at the price of these things.

Looking around a little more, I see a Performance Quotient balancer for $189. At least many years ago, don't know if that has changed, I'm pretty sure Tim Banning at FHO used these. Good enough for him, good enough for me.

That's what I was looking for.

Oh, and there seemed to be at least 10 different ATI's there, what's the difference?

I have run both and still do but the Fluidamper weight is a fair more than the ATI..
why spin the added weight when you dont need to

I use Fluidamper on all my engines and ones I build with zero issues over 40 years

Gus

For regular street drivers I have good luck with these dampers , https://www.manciniracing.com/cfvupload49.html
For performance builds I usually use a Fluidampr. I used an ATI on the last build and probably won't use them again.

If I wasn't going to run an ATI unit, I would run one of these. I've run a few on small blocks over the years, they were made in Australia, not sure about now though. They are often rebranded as well (Summit, B&M etc)

https://pro-race.com/dampers/pro-racer-sfi/

ATI.

I put a Innovators West on my 434" small block. Not cheap, but neither was the engine.

What i am using to. Nice units

I cheaped out and bought the one from 440Source.

Needless to say it came apart at the rubber isolator. No high rpm's, either!

I ran a fluidamper for years, on multiple BB. I only switched to an ATI after i had one valve spring break, and wore a few main bearings a lil wierd. Was it the fluidamper fault ? i really cant say, but the machine shop i use wanted me to switch. We put an ATI on my sons junkyard magnum , only because no one has a "cheap" one for a externally balanced magnum

I have used Powerbond/Dayco brand sfi balancer's when cost was an issue.

ATI for years.
On my R-3 block , I ordered it with the Chev bolt pattern for the shell because it opens up a lot of options for crank triggers , pulleys , drive mandrels etc.

Same recommendation as LA360. I used the small block 64277 damper with the external balance offset weight. No problem with the unit, no slippage.

I will say this though: double-check the process with the shop that'll be doing the balance for you. I explained what I wanted done to the shop I dealt with (1st and ONLY visit), brought them a brand spankin' NEW damper. Job was done, I went back to pick it up only to find that they drilled a number of spots on the damper to balance the assembly out!!

[censored]???

Basically, that's a one-time-use approach since I can't use this damper anywhere else if I want to have the ability to replace a damper should it get damaged!

Short answer:
I would get an ATI.

Long answer:
It depends.
If you have a ton of belt-driven accessories, the further the damper strays from 440 territory
the more effort it will take to set up. It might not be worth the trouble.

If you're going to run stock Hemi pulleys, then you need a stock Hemi damper which is dimensionally different from the rest,
or you can mess with pulley spacing, which you will also have to do with an ATI.

A stock 440 damper with stock 440 pulleys will work.
Not sure if that's the best scenario for you but it will get it running.

here is one from a recent thread.
It looks close to a stock one but might not be....I am not sure exactly what Jesse was running on that beast.


Also, some random idiot did this one with an ATI.