My kid's 88 GTA with 5.7L engine has a Vortec supercharger & he has noticed a strange noise from the front of the engine. Long story short, the outer ring of the damper has shifted back & started to scrape the oil cooler coolant supply tubes that run behind the damper & in front of the oil pan. Obviously, a new damper is need. The current damper measures 6.8" in diameter, so I'm assuming this what is refered to as a 7" damper. What I am looking for is advice or experience as to what damper to get, knowing that SBCs have alot of different damper applications. Maybe I should bite the bullet & get a fluid damper. Can anyone share their experience with either stock or fluid dampers?
Thanks, FJK

 

About a week after installing my Procharger, my stock damper grenaded... I replaced it with a stock replacement from a local autoparts store, and it's been running merrily since.

Jon

 

prorace makes some nice all steel SFI dampners and there are some similar no name ones from hawaii racing and doug herberts performance I believe for less than fluid dampners. I live in a cold climate and we dont run fluid style dampners because of the silicone filling jells and the ring settles and until it warms it can not flow and flex dynamically so you get some good vibrations on startup until it warms up and I dont like that.

 

82resto: How many miles have you got on the new damper?

B4Ctom1: I checked out the prorace website & their products look interesting. Do you run one? If so, the nodular street, steel street, or steel race? What was the approx. price for these?

Thanks guys, FJK

 

Probably about 1500 or so.... I would've like to buy an expensive performance one, but the stock one lasted 70,000 miles of abuse, so I figure why not use stock again?

Jon

 

the proraces all the lines work good but they are alittle pricey. thats why I recommend hawaii racing and doug herbert they have like fake proraces that get the job done and are very affordable

 

why would the damper fail because of a supercharger, is it because of the extra belt? or of the boost.. or a combo of both.

 

On face value, you might think damper failure with a supercharger is the result of the belt drive loads & the fact that the power to drive a supercharger goes up with the cube of speed. I don't believe this is the case because the belt drive is through the hub of the damper & not the outside inertia ring. Crankshaft torsional vibrations are driven higher by cylinder pressure and engine speed. So, in my case, it is the dramatic increase in cylinder pressure resulting from supercharger boost levels.

Thanks to all that replied. I'm still deciding which way to go with the damper.

FJK

 

I resently put on a PRO/RACE damper. Working fine!

 

some people who run roots style blowers, run no harmonic balancers due to the dampening effect of the drive belt. I would not recommend this!. I did read an article a while ago about the possible incidental benefits of the serpentine belt sytems on newer cars and late model engine longevity. My whole purpose is that; the dynamic response of a harmonic balancer could create a wear memory into the rubber of a stock balancer. When some of these impulses are dampened by the belt maybe they help to throw the balancer opposite against its elastomers memory causing it to slip, just a theory. More likely the increased RPM of the engine due to the blower, as well as the firing impulses from the increased power of combustion could be two factors.

 

gta324:
Looks like you run a stroker motor (external balance??). Nevertheless, which damper did you get; the nodular street or steel race? Also what was $$ ? Who did you purchase from?
Thanks for your help, FJK

 

Part nbr was 64266 I think, I ordered it through a dealer here in sweden........ says race on it.......

 

Who: Fluidamper (purchased through summit)
What: Street Damper
Price: $150
Engine: 355 Small block chevy w/ 177 Blower, internal balance
Quality: after paint and installation it was/is perfect
how it works: excellent, far as I can tell from the cockpit
Looks: Nothing like that shiny clear coat silver
complains: None.
"Rumors" about its durability (what other people are saying about it):
"hasnt broke yet", "no ring to slip", "strong and light", "can support much more torsional stress (bigger blowers) than any OEM damper", "will not crack or fatigue unless you smash it with a hammer"

satifactory i presume?

 

KingtalOn:
PRIOR to seeing your post, I purchased a Streetdampr as well, primarily for the reasons you stated. This was after reviewing all options that were out there, including OEM. I'm not familiar with the type of supercharger you are running. Do you run 2 serpentine pulleys (stacked) off the front of the damper? That is the way the Vortec is set up. The stock accy pulley and the blower pulley in front of it. BTW, what was your damper bolt torque? My shop manual does not show it, & literature search has specified anywhere from 55 to 70 ft lbs. The damper job is scheduled for this weekend.

Great minds think alike.

Thanks for the info, FJK

 

yeah its a primary pulley with a blower pulley sitting on the front of it. 2 pullies total.. most are like that.

 

I'm also trying to choose a damper for a ATI D-1SC on a stock 350, I'm leaning towards a prorace. There seems to be a lot of complaints with the fluidampr that I was planning getting. Anyways, I'm pretty sure the summit damper is a prorace with summit's name on it since they list the same part numbers as prorace, it's $200. Is this a decent price and choice?

 

Its a decent price for the damper! I payed alot more for it here in sweden.....

 

Well, last weekend we installed the fluid damper. It was actually the "Streetdampr" made by Fluidampr. I'm not sure what the "alot of complaints" are about this damper, as stated on a previous post. I found it to be a nicely made piece, installed fine, & had same timing mark orientation as stock. If there are issues down the road, time will tell. Priced everywhere at $160. Thanks for all the replys.
FJK

 

If you're running a larger blower, you may want to step up to a better harmonic balancer...a friend of mine with a YS-trim on his LT1 stroker (Les Hankinson, for those of you who may know of him from the blown list), went through several, including the top of the line Fluidampr, before settling on (I believe) an ATI. His motor makes around 1000hp, so it may not be necesary on milder apps, but i'd use it anyway for insurance. A wayward damper can take out too many expensive parts.