Why Do I Need A Performance Harmonic Balancer, aka Crankshaft Damper?


Performance parts that increase torque, such as intake, exhaust, cams, and ECM changes typically cause an increase in torsional vibration magnitude, but keep frequency the same. Evidence that your stock harmonic balancer is not performing adequately will be cracked, bulging or missing rubber between the hub and outer ring. This is caused by excessive heat retention, over stretching and age. A common failure will be the outer ring separating from the hub causing damage inside the engine bay. Most race sanctioning bodies require a SFI 18.1 spec damper as a safety caution.

Performance parts related to the rotating assembly, such as rods, pistons, crank, flywheel/flexplate usually changes both torsional vibration magnitude and frequency. A stock harmonic balancer typically is only tuned for a 50hz peak variance. Move beyond its parameters and it may leave your critical engine components unprotected when torsional vibration is at its peak.
Due to the countless combinations of performance upgrades the simplest and more effective solution is to install a Fluidampr performance damper. By design, Fluidampr protects across a broad frequency and can become more effective as magnitude increases. The earlier a Fluidamper performance damper is installed, the more you’ll benefit from the protection, performance and durability in the long run.

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