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Never been a fan of RS barn stuff but that damper looks nice, I'd be interested in hearing feedback on it.
I bought an S2 damper from Porsche a few years ago, I guess it was one of the last ones. I won't need another one for a while, but it's good to know there are options.
The RS Barn's balancers are made by a great company in California called BHJ Dynamics. They make some of the best custom harmonic balancers around. There is almost zero comparison to the 30 year old factory stuff. Plus these are specifically designed for a 3.0L reciprocating mass with lightened internals and flywheel. Keep that into consideration if you just want a "factory" replacement. These are on a totally different level and rebuildable, I spoke to their product engineer and the effectiveness of the elastomer severely deteriorates over time, even if just sitting on the shelf. Even though I have a very good condition factory one, it will not be going on my $30+K engine.
The two 87 944s 16v 2.5L I own have harmonic ballancers. I remember a conversation about this last year sometime. Some 944s didn't get them from what I remember, maybe it was an option to certain countries? Or some failed and were replaced with a regular 8v pully? The 944S2 and the 968 turbo I believe had the same 3.0 liter model. I remember the 2.5 unit being lighter.
Just to add to this thread, while sorting parts out in the garage for another engine build came across 2.5 16v balancer amongst the 3 litre ones . As you would expect it feels slightly lighter than the 3 litre one's and different in depth profile as seen in photo .
Resurrecting this thread.
I have exhausted every search I can think of and hope someone from this thread can give me a quick answer.
I'm working through a 3.0L turbo build (S2 block, S2 3.0L crank, 2.7L NA head) and I decided to go with an S2 harmonic balancer pulley instead of the original pulley.
For others that have made the switch, did you trim your original Turbo lower timing belt cover to fit the harmonic balancer pulley?
Or, switch to using an S2 timing belt cover?
I've searched through many pictures and I can't tell if the S2 timing belt cover has a larger hole for the harmonic balancer pulley than the Turbo timing belt cover.
I'm a bit torn because if I trim mine it won't look as nice but if that's what it takes then so be it.
Turbo pulley with clearance
Turbo pulley with clearance
S2 harmonic balancer pulley. Not fully installed in this picture since the cover is in the way.
S2 harmonic balancer pulley, no clearance. Not fully installed in this picture since the cover is in the way.
944/951 engines, no harmonic damper.
944/951 engines suffering from broken oil pickups and fuel rails.
Just coincidence? Hmmmm.
And I'm not really buying the theory that a dual mass flywheel will act as a harmonic balancer, any more than balance shafts could.
The 'free' end of the crank is still free to vibrate with each power pulse. Not a mechanical engineer. Are there any about to weigh in on this topic?
944/951 engines, no harmonic damper.
944/951 engines suffering from broken oil pickups and fuel rails.
Just coincidence? Hmmmm.
My S2 crank came with a 2 piece rubber bonded front pulley. I haven't heard of broken oil pickups or fuel rails, on cars with correctly timed balance shafts either.
04-14-2017, 04:05 AM
