Ha!

About to delve into the Dreaded Balancer R and R

looking into it, there is an amazing array of choices:

Non SFI

SFI

underdriven...

Supercharger pinned

.....Checking with the Brain Trust of CVT Forumn

​​​​​​ What would be appropriate for a street C5. But good to go for potential supercharging down the road

...would hate to go insufficient -and be back at it if the supercharger option arises soon enough

at the same time, economics are a consideration

what say you?

 

If considering FI down the road, definitely plan on pinning it. Most will suggest the ATI for that application, although both Summit and PowerBond also offer stainless steel SFI rated balancers.

You may benefit by contacting both ECS and A&A and discussing this with them.

 

talk to the experts

 

I thought it was sensless to spend almost $500 on a pulley. Thats all it is. I went with the one piece summit racing balancer. If your not planning on a wider belt just save a substantial amount of cash and get the summit pulley. I have it on my ecs supercharged corvette. It works....exactly like a pulley should.

 

While it does incorporate a pulley, it’s much more that that. The damper’s major role is to dissipate the harmonics of the crankshaft.

If you check the Summit “harmonic balancer construction”, it will state “elastometer”. Same as OEM type, except not so likely to fail.

 

but its not the same. Its a Solid piece of steel. Oem is two parts bonded with rubber, which is its failing point. My post was really to poke fun at the ATI "super damper." I just cant justify that. Its all subjective though.

 

I have an A&A supercharger on my car and per the recommendations of my corvette mechanic (Edwin from Powerhouse Racing here in Lancaster CA) went with an ATI balancer, OEM size, no underdrive or overdrive, and used ATI's pin kit. Just be careful and make sure to get the correct part # that has the AC pulley as well if you want to keep your AC, the ones without the AC pulley will be much cheaper than the ones with the AC pulley, just an fyi when shopping around.

 

Harmonic balancers need some method of dissipating the crank vibration. Elastomer, fluid, etc. A solid piece of steel won’t provide that. While the injection molded elastomer is located differently than OEM, it’s still resides within the Summit balancer to stretch and contract between the components. This stretch can be accomplished with a band around the circumference of the pieces, inner-outer rings, or a centrally injected body and shell configuration.

 

well i learned something new. I had no idea. It really does seem solid. Thanks for the follow up! It really is a quality piece. Like i said, i would recommend it for anyone staying with a 6rib.

 

Vt4fl is right. One such damper that uses an internal liquid instead of an elstomer, is the Fluidamper. I think Innovators West also uses an internal fluid, but not 100% sure. If you run without a harmonic control unit of some sort, the engine will fail......Sooner than later. I once saw an LS7 that was built for roadracing, and equipped with an ATI balancer. It broke a head completely in half during a race!! Nothing internal let go, and the engine ran some brand of shaft rockers. Everyone involved believed the single shaft for both intake and exhaust sides, coupled with something in the harmonics, caused the failure. The engine builder had a great reputation, and built engines for Mark Stielow, who has won more than his fair share of races. You MUST have a harmonic balancer. I've run an ASP 25% UD balancer for 17 years. No issues. If you're planning on driving the car on the street, unless you live in a Northern state, I'd recommend staying with a standard or a 10% UD MAX. ASP makes a good product, priced between ATI and Summit/Powerbond.......