balancing the AJPv8, crankshaft damper?

[a1rak]

Just getting my engine dynamically balanced. The guys there have said it would be benificial to get a crankshaft damper fitted instead of the standard pulley.

Anyone done this before on the V8? What about you guys who go racing what have you done?

any info would be welcome. Thanks.

[Steve_T]

It would be there already if needed, are they not thinking of cross plane V8s?

[a1rak]

apparently all engines benifit, 4, 6, 8, vee engines or inline engines. They are not absolutley necessary to a well designed engine but none the less will reduce crankshaft stress and improve engine reliability especially at higher RPM.

It would be nice to have these points confirmed by someone in the know or who has at least fitted one.

[itsallyellow]

I have never seen one fitted to an AJP. One would have thought that if it would make that much difference it would have been done?

Mike

[a1rak]

spoke with julian at TVR Power, They did try some on the earlier 4.2 AJP to try and sort out the crank failures. They did help but the improvement was very marginal and not cost effective so was dropped.
I think I will spend my money else where.

[itiejim]

I looked at this when "Vibration Free" did my engine parts. There is no doubt a benefit, however, an inline 4 (which is effectively what the crank is on a flat plane crank V8) doesn't suffer particularly badly. I believe that inline sixes, although beautifully smooth engines, suffer from secondary imbalance and can have problems without a harmonic damper.

The other issue with the AJP is the space available in front of the crank pulley - not much. I eventually decided not to bother. The balancing work was very worthwhile though and has made the engine far smoother feeling than before. Given how far out most of TVR's machining is, I reckon that is the biggest single win.