Harmonic balancers, fluid dampers, etc.

[BajaT4]

I did a search on STF and found some old threads on harmonic balancers but only related to T1, nothing really for the T4. Has anyone tried one with any noticeable difference on a T4 or are they a complete waste of money? What's the weight of a T4 fan versus a DTM T1 lower pulley? Is it worth adapting a GB Achiever or Equalizer pulley?

[MASSIVE TYPE IV]

I do NOT believe in the heavy Berg pulleys. All it took was hanging a couple on the balancer with entire rotating assemblies for me to see how detrimental they were.

I currently am working with a quality Mfr of dampers for non automotive applications on a damper, primarily for air conditioned applications..

BUT I do believe that the necessity of the damper is minimal. Don't fix what isn't broken. Our engines have very small #4 main bearings and shouldn't have more weight on the nose than they have to.

[BajaT4]

Agreed. I think one of the Berg pulleys weighs something like 6lbs which is just stupid. My thought was more along the lines of keeping the weight on the pulley end of the crankshaft that it was designed to have.

BTW, I switched out the Flowcrapper muffler for a Maganflow and got noticably better performance with less noise. The wah wah is still there, but not as prevalent.

I'm going to try and record the engine again this weekend with and without the fan belt and see if I can't plot the two with an oscilliscope to see what's going on. I've got the engine and tranny urethane mounted and strapped so tight that I get to hear (and feel) every possible vibration.

With the DTM, how important is it that I have the fan at the absolute end of the shaft. I just wonder how much my fan is vibrating stacked on top of all those washers. Maybe one machined spacer might help?

[MASSIVE TYPE IV]

With the DTM, how important is it that I have the fan at the absolute end of the shaft.

Its very forgiving. I do not note any differences, we once thought there was, but since then have proved it unimportant.

[plynch]

anyone used the billet saco type 4 power sized pulleys? they dont look like the have a hole for the offset pin.. or are you supposed to remove it? they are on the samba.. from isp west

[MASSIVE TYPE IV]

They have no spacer hub. They seat on a very thin piece of material that couples to the hub.

The bolt pattern is not symmetrical on the hub, even without the alignment pin ts impossible to install the pulley out of index.

[Class 11 streeter]

Interesting topic. Several years ago when I was looking for knowledgle about ACVW's I was a regular on the Cal-look forum. I remember one of the most respected and loved members was contemplating a fluidampner. I came from the V-8 musclecar crowd and I knew those things are mainly a marketing gimmick because everyone who buys one bolts it on and considers it a worthy investment as it looks pretty and they can polish it. I replied I consider it a waste of money and our shorty stiffy cranks probably didn't need a dampner's help. I got scathing replys to the effect that "they work great on giant 6 cyl inline Cat diesel engines, therefore they must be magical" and other sentiments.

I found out around that time the majority of aircooled engines ran points, and I also realized that day how far back into the myths of the past the ACVW crowd still was. You can't fight faith with reason!

YMMV