Here are three pictures of what used to be my car's harmonic damper . The outer ring had moved back almost 1/2" from it's proper position and would have began eating into the timing cover had it been allowed to move back by another 1/4" or so . I mostly want people to know that with the damper malfunctioned the way it was the engine shook SO bad at certain RPMs it felt like a missing cylinder , yes it was THAT bad , so when the ol "plugs, wires, cap, rotor, & coil" don't fix that "Ignition miss" there may be a far different culprit for the poor engine's spastic shaking at various RPMs . I actually discovered this when I was replacing the timing cover due to corrosion causing it to leak , and had already bought a new timing chain & gear set , the new timing cover and a new water pump , and a new harmonic damper to do the job right while I had it all apart . The engine now runs perfectly at all RPMs .

PS , the picture showing the outer ring removed didn't take much effort , I tapped the end that fits over the crankshaft onto a block of hardwood a couple of times and the ring fell right off ...

 

Wild, thank god it didn't disintegrate while driving. Did the rubber in between dry rot and fall out?

 

Hi 84 1LE , yes exactly , the rubber looks to have dried out and shrunk enough to let the outer ring come loose . I guess I can't really blame it , 30 year old rubber anything on any car is a good 10 or more years past due for replacement

 

Wait a minute....... 30 year old damper........ from what engine?
Small block chevys have 3 bolts, this damper has 4.

 

Something for other guys w/ 30+ yr old OE parts to watch out for. Glad it wasn't worse.

 

Yes indeed NoEmissions84TA , Orangebird was born sporting the wicked sixer , and since my daily driving habits of the last 12 or so years* haven't required more cylinders than the great GM Gods bestowed upon me , and since my ego/manhood are perfectly intact no matter how many cylinders my ride has , the original engine has served me well all these years (minus the damper and a boatload of other small parts , of course) ....

* Yes , for real , I've daily driven my car for 12 or so years . Spring , Summer , Fall & Winter , anytime there isn't snow/salt on the roads I'm out there driving it

 

Here's a pic of my 92 305... Balancer is on the 0 degree mark on the timing tab, but look where #1 piston is...

 

Ah yes the trusty 2.8/3.1 Bulletproof. Same here. Problems pop up from time to time but nothing major. Typical issues Ive encountered over the years are. Ignition control module going out, ignition coil can go bad but rarely, happened to me once, exhaust manifold bolts breaking/ex leak, power steering pump bracket breaking, power steer hose leaking, one time I had this bad stutter hesitation missing and I swapped out everything ignition related and no go, swapped out fuel filter and bingo. Timing chain stretches, Ive never had an injector go bad. Dizzy seal goes bad resulting oil all over the floor Maybe the most serious issue Ive had with my 3.1 has to be when the FPR was leaking, I wouldn't recommend trying to start it over full of gas, ask me how I know. Good to know about the balancer, Maybe swapping my unit out (before it fails)will result in a smoother idle/operation.

 

My buddy's 84 15th anniversary TA started to get an odd tapping noise. Tracked it down to the balancer ring tapping the timing cover.

 

Thanks for the posts and pics. I've got an old balancer been thinking about replacing lately

 

I want to thank everyone who has responded to my thread , I really appreciate the responses . I also want to specifically thank J.C. Denton for the picture of his slipped damper , since this thread has "pics" and "slipped damper" in it's title it'll likely be found by people searching for pictures of how the damper fails to compare with their own damper . I would be really appreciative of anyone who will post their own failed damper pics here , the more pics the better for those looking for what a failed damper looks like .

I really wish there was a way to convey just how much better my engine runs now , I'd have never believed the damper could cause such poor performance had I not experienced this myself ........

 

JC's situation looks like he has an early-model timing cover and a late-model damper. Typical accidental hot-rodder mismatch.

For that damper the timing tab should be near the middle of the timing cover and should most likely have the little "tube" feature on it.

 

I experienced the same "Smoothing" effect when I changed the damper on my 2.8, along with the timing chain and guide and water pump. It's amazing what a few hours of labor and about $200 worth of parts can do for an engine.

 

Thanks this is a great post, I have a new balancer waiting to go on my formula to try to resolve a RPM vibration issue!

 

No, it was a complete bone stock 305 numbers matching engine out of a 91 trans am. With a new balancer it was spot on with this exact timing tab and chain cover (I rebuilt the complete engine).