Thanks for your help (your inbox is full please empty it so I can waste more of your time:crazy: ) What are the avantages vs disadvantages in hi end to low end ballancers? Thanks again, Ken

I'm open to anyone who can give me their .02 on balancers. Thanks, Ken

Id get an SFI approved balancer

I don't know about chevy balancers but if dodge guys cheap out, they usually have to get the balancer machined to fit on their crank and into the seal.

ATI superdamper has to be honed for the crank. To work right it has to have the proper press fit. Most other balancers assume the crank snout is 'perfect' diameter and is a one size fit's all ordeal. All these things do is absorb harmonics. They don't 'balance' anything really. The external balanced motors being the exception,, they have scalloped imbalanced ring to bring the external balance motors 'in' balance. But the early sbc's were internal balanced and the harmonic DAMPER is a neutral balance, at least a 'good one' is.

That's the difference between high dollar dampers and budget ones. ATI assumes your going to be spinning 7500, 8500,,9000+ and the damper better be in true balance. The outter ring bonding to the inner hub, the balance, the exact diameter press fit,, all of that is the difference between a $49 chineese POS damper off evilbay, and a $300 ATI, sfi approved piece. And sfi approved just means the way the damper is constructed, it should tolerate the rigors of racing, not a guarentee of anything other than the 'design' meets a safety spec for the 'class' of abuse (i.e. cars slower than 9.99 typically won't pound on parts as hard as cars meeting a 6 second spec)

With that in mind, like Mike said getting a SFI approved damper gives you that warm and fuzzy that the item was constructed with a little more care than the budget junk. But I've ran a lot of GM balancers on cars slower than 10 and 11 seconds, and hosed the snot out of a little street 350 that I spun to 7200 on a regular basis. Never a problem. Never lost a ring or had one slip. But as soon as they show signs of the bond ageing,, I don't use them again. A cracked bonding ring on a balancer is just asking for trouble. When your wanting to protect a high dollar rotating mass,,, you'd be nutz to choose a budget damper. Harmonics does some wild things to an engine. Valve springs start falling apart, parts eat themselves up,, pretty crazy. How the early 283's and 327's survived with just a iron 'hub' with no harmonic dampening,, is amazing. No wonder early motors only lasted 75000 miles at best!

Alright, alright, I tossed some of the moldier messages. :D I choose a dampner based on a few criteria. Intended peak RPM, style of racing, duration of racing, customer's budget, and value of the crank.

For a stock engine in grandma's wagon I wouldn't sell an ATI, nor would I put an import stock replacement on a $1000 crankshaft. We've used a few of the Pioneer SFI dampners in house and personally, and for the money they are a nice looking piece. If you have a stock crank in your 400, or even a budget aftermarket crank, the Pioneer will do the trick. Since we talked about balance plates, I assume you're running a stock crank. If you step up to a better crank down the road and have it internal balanced, then I would consider the ATI since you're looking to protect you're investment. Whether the ATI is truely a superior product compared to other elastomer dampners (sfi approved) is up for debate, and maybe since nobody has published a comparison between the different brands is a sign that they all do a good job, maybe not.