pulley vs. harmonic balancer?

I have a CTR N1 pulley on my car, no ac, no ps(both are overrated anyways). I was told today and have heard recently that a solid metal pulley like what I've got can potentially screw up the engine. Is this really true? I mean I don't push the car very hard at all for what it's got done to it. I was also told that a fluidmper balancer (race version, no ps, no ac) will actually get me better results than my current pulley and will stop vibration because of the rubber inserts in it and that it's fully balanced. the thing is though is that the fluidampr is nearly 350!

yeah those pulleys dont have a harmonic balancer on them. ive never really heard of engine failure with near to stock hp but ive heard of engine failure when hp was triple stock hp. i wouldnt run one of those anyways, just run a stock pulley if your worried

whats wrong with the stock pulley?

Unfortunatley I threw it away after I got the CTR pulley installed. But I figured the CTR would be better because my car doesn't have ac or ps so the 2 extra belt areas on the stock pulley were just adding weight. My then mechanic didn't tell me any problems that might occur.

how does the balancer work?

With the rubber insert in the pully it acts as a deadener for any type of harmonic vibrations at occur inside the engine. I've seen crankshafts in peices because of this but that is an extreme case. Although the vehicle it came out of had no modifications but it can show you what can develop over time with these harmonics bouncing around inside the engine. Regardless of the price it would be a smart buy and might further help the balance of the engine.

It's an OE Honda part, so I doubt it will do any kind of damage. Honda is smart enough to put the time and R&D into something before putting it on one of their engines. And it is also pre-balanced straight from Honda.

Yes I relize that Honda's come balanced from the factory but when I replaced my flywheel with another one off of another D15B7 I started to receive vibrations at idle and it's cause by the fact that the rotating assembly was balanced with my original flywheel not the new one so now my engine is no longer balanced. When you get an engine balanced they also want the flywheel and crank pully because the weight of these objects matter to the overall balance.

It's an OE Honda part, so I doubt it will do any kind of damage. Honda is smart enough to put the time and R&D into something before putting it on one of their engines. And it is also pre-balanced straight from Honda.

the CTR N1 pulley is a race part(hence the N1); race cars are often rebuilt. there were some guys on H-T who had oil pumps that shattered from the harmonics when they used the pulley. just because an engine is completely balanced doesnt mean there's no harmonics, because the harmonics is created during the power stroke which causes the crankshaft to flex and then return to its original position.

although you can get away with it, its still a risk that you're taking.

Also, the Fluidampr doesnt use rubber; it uses silicon or some other gel. The ATI one uses rubber ;)

As said, Honda didn't feel the need to install from the factory, and it's the last thing you hear about going. Except for something totally balanced & blueprinted, when the factory stuff might not cut it.

Some motors are internally balanced (Honda), while others are externally balanced (such as old GM). On an externally balanced motor, you definitely need a harmonic balancer as there is no other way to stop vibration.

yessur! :grinyes: i agree with tokyo.....the only damage an aftermarket crank pulley can do is hurt the engine in the long run.....shorten its life....not by much if its stock...but if your gonna beat the crap out of your car anyways....then who cares.....i rebuild my engine everywinter

with pulleys like that, just dont start making big hp with it. cause i heard about someone who was making 400+hp and when he put a pulley on, it spun all his bearings, usually on a near stock hp engine its ok

The N1 pulley is a piece of shit, I would never use it. For a near stock motor the oem pulley is fine. On any high horsepower engine, especially a turbo motor, Fluidamper is the only way to go.