Crank Dampner almost fell off!

My brother's 95 5.0 (H/C/I , full exhaust, 3 55 etc etc) was running like crap for a few weeks. He tryed every test imaginable to get it to run properly. (Brother works with me at a FORD dealer, he's a front end tech)

Timing was eratic, power would come and go, idle was eratic etc. He would set timing at 12 degree then check it a few days later and it would be at 10 then 17 then 8 etc.
To make a LONG story short he raised car up to change oil and found that the crank dampner was about to "spit" out the rubber piece! Was he lucky or what!
When he would check the timing he didn't notice the bad dampner because it was falling out through the back side of the it. The outer piece of the dampner was basically spinning back and forth causing the timing to go "haywire" and all the drivability mess.
So he put another stock dampner back on, checked his base timing and it was at 21 BTDC, yikes!! So he put base timing back to 12 BTDC and walla, all power and drivability is back to normal.

We just built the motor a year ago and the stock dampner was in good shape, the motor had about 80,000 miles but ever since his new H/C/I combo he really like to romp on it everyday.

So check your crank dampners!
 
I see that too often sorry to say. Tell him to get a fluydine (I think that's the brand). They are a solid piece w/o rubber and help get rid of vibrations. Well worth the $$ IMHO.
 
Yes, with all his mods and driving style he should've got an aftermarket dampner, our shop was about to close and he needed his car that night.
So we popped one in about 10 min or so. I'm sure he'll get a good aftermarket dampner on there soon, I hope.
 
There are lots of folks that sell SFI approved dampners by CAT for less than $100. I was skeptical too till over 1000 miles later its still running great on a 625 horse stroker. Tell him to check it out. I love it so much I bought another one for my new 460 project.
 
You got to watch is right.... Having a damaged or wore out balancer on an engine is bad news..... The imbalance created by the defective balancer is really hard on the main bearing's and seal.

STAY AWAY FROM CAT BALANCERS (Or Any CAT Products Actually)Why.....
3 Words: Made In Taiwan
I had a (Dumb)buddy of mine put a CAT balancer on his mild 454 (After I told him not too Buy CAT) and the thing literally split in half after only a month.

Stick with brand's like Fluidampr/Streetdampr, ATI, Powerbond, FRPP, Probe, TCI etc. They all make decent SFI & Non SFI Balancer's.

Shon
 
yeah, you always want to replace a dampener when you do upgrading to the motor, if you can do it, then do it. when i did my combo I found that the elastomer was making the balancer wobble and make the timing messed too. but I replaced it with a FMS stock replacment, if it lasted for 14years then what's the problem with buying one like it, unless you have a blower or high horse power application that needs more vibration dampening.
 
bgjohnson said:
yeah, you always want to replace a dampener when you do upgrading to the motor, if you can do it, then do it. when i did my combo I found that the elastomer was making the balancer wobble and make the timing messed too. but I replaced it with a FMS stock replacment, if it lasted for 14years then what's the problem with buying one like it, unless you have a blower or high horse power application that needs more vibration dampening.

Thats what i was thinking. I'll be getting the FMS stock replacement as well. The stock style are supposed to be good up to 6500 rpm....which I won't be going to.
 
408stroker5.0 said:
STAY AWAY FROM CAT BALANCERS (Or Any CAT Products Actually)Why.....
3 Words: Made In Taiwan


It's the truth. There cranks are horrible. FWIW there roller rockers aren't bad. A buddy of mine runs them on his IMCA modified. Not a problem after like 2 seasons. He only bought them though because he didn't have the right length pushrods and had to do some grindin :D He'd hate to do that to a good set.