ejsaenz

There's some metal dampner thing in the passenger side cubby, What's it used for??

Will removing it do anything weird to the car?

When I bought my S2 the previous owner put a fire hazard stereo in it and the "Stereo shop" removed the dampner to install an amp in there, so when I removed the amp I just reinstalled it. I couldn't tell if there was a difference ith it on or off.

fpena944

The damper is to minimize cowl shake on the car. It actually moves along with the vehicle and somehow makes it less prone to shaking. You could probably remove it but your car may not feel as steady.

JohanvdWalt

If you are talking about the boot it is just ballast. It is a balance weight for the battery on the other side.

fpena944

But the battery is on the same side? It's just on an opposite end...

Jfrahm

No the cocktail shaker is there to dampen vibrations, in LHD cars it's in the RR cubby.

-Joel.

Damian in NJ

It was designed as a vibration dampener, and that is what it does. Some people have removed it in an effort to lighten the car, but the long term effect on the chassis is unknown when you do that. The size and mass were obviously designed for a reason, and if it was ballast it would've been bolted on the floor, rather than mounted the way it is.

SpeedBump

Only in the US. I believe the battery is in the rear in ROW cars.

nickg

wrong. Batteries are in the same place on all 944 series cars (save mavbe some race models)
the mass damper is in ALL the 944 cabs. it is there to help reduce cowl shake. remove it and you WILL notice the difference....not a dersirable one either

stolarzj

I know that at least the 968's in England have the battery in the left side rear cubby. This is the case for a number of ROW countries.

SpeedBump

I was assuming the s2 was the same as the 968 cabs

JohanvdWalt

All the 944 cabs I have seen have the battery in the left rear pocket. If the devise on the right hand side is a vibration damper there should have been one on the left as well. It does not make sense to put a damper on one side only.

Rock

This is ROW.

The US Model 944's have the batteries in the front passenger side under the hood near the firewall.

That big tube thing is the vibration dampner. US Spec Cabriolet and I do have a dampner, and the battery is up in the front.

I think the reason the dampener is on one side only is because its only needed on one side. The cabriolets dont have the roof (obviously). So they are less ridgid than the coupes. However vibrations travel through metal. That dampener probaly makes up for the vibartions that would otherwise not be felt if the car had a roof.

JohanvdWalt

I just checked PEC and saw they call it a vibration damper so herewith my official apology for misleading you.
I still do not understand why there is only one though.

adrian_jaye

Incorrect,

I have seen an s2 cab, with battery in front, it also was a LHD

Damian in NJ

I was recently sent copies of a US Patent assigned to Ford, 'Method and apparatus for damping vibrations in an automotive vehicle having a convertible roof'. The abstract reads 'An convertible automotive vehicle having a unibody chassis with a single mass dampener for reducing perceptible passenger compartment vibrations is disclosed. The single mass damper is uniquely tuned to the overall vehicle frequency response and is suspended between a rail adjacent to a front suspension assembly and a bumper mounted to the rail with an energy absorbing device.' It further states that 'the invention provides a single mass damper capable of significantly reducing torsional vehicle vibration of the unibody chassis have a convertible roof.'

While our cars have it mounted in near the rear rather than the front, this perfectly describes what Porsche put into our cars.