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Damper - Rebuild or New ProRace

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Duane_Rhynard said:
I want to thank EVERYONE who responded to my question, all of the combined knowledge here is truly amazing. :joyous:

After all considerations, and since I'll be driving my Healey allot here in SoCal, I opted for the new Pro-Race.

Thanks again,
Duane


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PHulst said:
Duane,

If possible, let us know how hard it is, or is not, to install the new damper.

Patrick
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Indeed, and does it still come with instructions about heating the damper to XXX*F? Ideally, if you could heat the damper, and chill (meaning FREEZE) the crank's snout__dry-ice, liquid nitrogen, or??__would make the installation as painless as possible.

Just make sure you have everything you need, or even might need, close at hand before you begin. Once you get started, you're going to want to get the damper fully seated before the two (2) components__crankshaft & damper__have a chance to equalize their temperatures. Once you have the damper on far enough to get a full five or six (>5-6) threads of the bolt engaged__the more the better__then you can use that to draw it home.

Is the engine still out of the car, and is the oil pan off? Engine out would make the most of accessibility, and my preferred method to torque the snout-nut is to place a block of wood between THE FIRST COUNTERWEIGHT and the inside of the cylinder-block to keep the crank from turning. The idea being to minimize the amount of twist imposed on the crank, compared to locking the flywheel/ring-gear method (which is ideal for torquing the flywheel/pressure-plate assemblies.

If you have to resort to force (aka BFH...) to get the damper on:
With the engine in the car, have someone hold the clutch pedal down and with the engine on a stand, place blocks of wood between the flywheel (or enf of the crank) and the stand; back the stand up against a wall or bench too.

The object here is to minimize the impact on your leading thrust washers. Also, any force needs to be directed to the hub portion of the damper (the part in contact with the crankshaft) and not across the outer ring.

My apology for stating the obvious, as you may already know these things, but it could help someone with less experience in a future search on the subject.
 
Randy,

Is it really that tight of an interference fit?
Your description makes putting one on a Chevy small block look easy.

Patrick
 
Randy Forbes said:
Indeed, and does it still come with instructions about heating the damper to XXX*F? Ideally, if you could heat the damper, and chill (meaning FREEZE) the crank's snout__dry-ice, liquid nitrogen, or??__would make the installation as painless as possible.
search on the subject.
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Randy,

Yes, the damper came with detailed instructions, including immersing the damper in boiling water for 15 minutes, or in the oven at between 120F -250F (Max.) for 15 minutes, or a professional installation tool. Mine will be installed by my engine shop (Engine out of the car) with the installation tool. I'll take a video if anyone is interested.

I know I speak for many others when I say we really appreciate your knowledge and expertise that you provide to all of us!

Thanks,
Duane
 
Side note: My father and I are finding some mail-order parts have been swapped by unscrupulous customers; i.e. they order a part, install the new one then put their own, broken part in the box and return for credit. This was happening a while ago with one of the wheel cylinders--the expensive one--for BN2s; and we bought a set of coils for a Lincoln and got a couple that were defective, and looked used. I suppose this happens at parts houses, too, but you'd think a counter guy would check, and this fraud is easier to do with online orders.
 
BTW, you might want to mark TDC and where you want the timing set with a white mark before you put the engine in the car. While those carefully calibrated degree marks on the ProRace damper are nice, they are hard to see buried in an engine bay, especially with a running engine.
 
Our BJ7 has the grille out for body work and the shop will be pulling the rad to triple core it. From reading the above, it seems that the harmonic damper could be replaced without pulling the engine - just raising it - and that there is enough 'play' in the whole engine bay/power train that nothing would have to be disconnected. Correct? Thanks, Doug (and thanks to Keoke for directing me to this thread)
 
twas_brillig said:
Here's the original British Parts Northwest special price ad: https://www.bpnorthwest.com/harmoni...trk=gdfV25409_a_7c4396_a_7c16510_a_7cAEC183UR

And to add further confusion:
AH Spares: https://www.ahspares.co.uk/austin-h...der-ENG595-to-ENG680/CRANK-PULLEY-DAMPER.aspx

JEGs: https://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/sto...&Ne=1+2+3+13+1147708&searchTerm=healey+damper
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Note that the BP Northwest unit is NOT a Pro-Race, where the AH Spares and Jegs are!

Thanks,
Duane
 
twas_brillig said:
Our BJ7 has the grille out for body work and the shop will be pulling the rad to triple core it. From reading the above, it seems that the harmonic damper could be replaced without pulling the engine - just raising it - and that there is enough 'play' in the whole engine bay/power train that nothing would have to be disconnected. Correct? Thanks, Doug (and thanks to Keoke for directing me to this thread)
Click to expand...

I did it. Unbolt the motor mounts and gearbox tie rod, and disconnect the throttle shaft lest you bend it. You may need to remove one or both of the air filters, and I'm not sure what's the best way to raise the engine--maybe with a lift or hoist on the rocker shaft pedestals if you have one--but don't try to jack the engine up at the pan or you'll bend/crush it (my pan now has the profile of a 2x4 in it). It's difficult to remove the big nut on the end of the crank; I had to use a 3/4" impact wrench and mangled the nut pretty badly. You need a lot of leverage, and there isn't a lot of room between the damper and the front cross-member, and there's no easy way to keep the engine from turning. If you haven't done it in a while, consider replacing your front engine seal and water pump while you have access.
 
Utilizing a short 2 X 6 or a 2 X 12 wood piece on top of the jack , along with a mandatory impact wrench will prevent the engine from trying to rotate when removing the nut and not imprint the pan.
 
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