Dampers...

[Canuck Dart]

Well spring is on the way...time to get the Dart ready for summer, Dug out the timing light, put in fresh plugs and proceeded to check the timing. No mark...this leads me to suspect the outer ring has spun on the damper. I've already been looking at replacements & the prices are terrifying me! Anyone found a good replacement damper for the externally balanced '73 340 at a reasonable price. My wallet's on fire!

[JANDJ]

THERE IS NOTHING AT A REASONABLE PRICE!!! I JUST PUT A MOTOR TOGETHER AND USED AN ATI DAMPER, IT IS A NICE PIECE BUT IT PUSHES EVERYTHING FORWARD .450. NOTHING LINES UP. JUST THOUGHT YOU MIGHT LIKE TO KNOW. I DO LIKE THE 360 DEGREE MARKINGS AND IT IS EASY TO READ WITH A TIMING LIGHT.

[Canuck Dart]

OK...maybe I should be a little more specific. I neither want nor need a $600.00 (Canadian) Harmonic damper. This is a street car that will see a maximum of 350 - 375 HP and maybe 6000 rpm. A stock type damper will be fine. However, MP and others seem to offer these lower cost options for only the steel crank 340 & cast crank 360, completely overlooking the mid '72 & '73 340s with the cast crank. I'm not being a tightwad here, it just seems a waste of $$$ to put a high end damper on a mid range engine. I would rather spend the money on other areas of the car. I am also not really keen on dealing with the alignment problems associated with the "race" dampers.

So my question is this...do any of you guys know of a company repoping these peices? I also had someone tell me today that it is the same damper used on the 318 cast crank, internally balanced engine - true or false?

Help me please...

...Thanking you in advance - the snow is melting & I don't think I can deal with going another summer without my toy.

[Canuck Dart]

I apologise for crying wolf - further investigatio has shown me that the damper is not the problen - now I do not know what it is...please check out my post entitled aaarrgh !@#$%^timing! & see if you can help

Thanks

[Dart]

Canuck Dart, I agree with you about not needing the $600 (canadian) balancer. I used the stock one on mine (10 to 1 360) and have had no problems.

These guys rebuild them:

http://www.autodogs.com/

[rumblefish360]

the 318 and the 340 balancer will not interchange for those years. The 318 is an internal balance eng. allways has been, even today.

[Canuck Dart]

Rumblefish 360,

Thank you for confirming what I thought I already knew. Seems that some businesspeople these days will tel you anything to make a sale. This guy almost had me doubting myself. As it turns out, the problem was not with the damper, but with the distributor with an extremely excessive amount of play. I still can't beleive the engin ran at all, much less as well as it did.

Thanks again!

-Bruce

And Dart - I have filed away the URL you gave me just in case...