Koreandude

I recently ordered a Fidnaza Flywheel (p/n 193241) for my '97 tib....my question is do i need a lighter harmonic balancer/counter weight on the other side of my crank when i install the flywheel? A mechanic from a shop informed me that the stock counter weight will be too heavy for crank to be balanced when i install the lightweight flywheel..... it makes sense but howcome no one has mentioned this who has a light weight flywheel installed? I'm a bit worried now to do this mod as it will arrive thurs. this week. Any suggestions or is this guy trying to make a straightforward mod more complicated than it has to be?? Oh by the way, happy new year!!

Random

The harmonic balancer is built into the crank pully. There are no "lighter" units out there.

The harmonic balancer is there to dampen out the vibrations in the crank, and the "snap" or "strech" in the accessory belts.

The weight of the flywheel is to help the engine keep/maintain RPM, not dampen out vibration. It is solid mounted with no rubber or vibration dampening charactics built into it.

They serve 2 completely different functions, and operate independantly.

Koreandude

Well, the question i'm asking is, when you change the components on either side of the crank externaly (weight wise, like a flywheel), will it upset the balance of the crank? Maybe i mis-phrased the question...sorry.

turbulence

i'm just going to reiterate what random said. no, the crank has counter weights on it. these weights serve the purpose of maintaining rpms. the harmonic balancer is there to absorb crank vibrations. lightweight flywheels will neither upset the balance of the crank nor will they have an effect on the harmonic balancer, since it serves a purpose way the hell away from what the crank counterweights do. i see the point in your question. but you'll be fine. acutally, i would recommend coming to the boards, whichever board it is, for advice, rather than the dealership "techs." those guys are paid to do things a certain way and to tell you things a in a certain way. just go to them for warranty work, THAT'S IT. they told me that the auto to manual tranny swap couldn't be done. not that it was difficult or anything, but that it just actually wasn't possible.

[ January 01, 2003, 10:03 PM: Message edited by: turbulence ]

Koreandude

Well, the person i spoke to wasn't from a dealer, just an auto parts store Grey Line Auto. He showed me an example of a harmonic balancer/counter weight but it belonged to a V8. I understand that harmonic balancer is there to dampen vibrations from the motor however i don't believe this person's intention was to blow smoke up my @ss, there has to be some truth to his story. Of course there are counter weights on the crank internally to balance it, however if you think about it, there are other loads on both sides of the crank externally and it wouldn't suprise me that these components are specifically certain weights to maintain a correctly balanced crank and that changing a weight on just one side of a crank may upset the balance and lead to engine damage in the future... i dunno but if you guys say its okay...... tongue.gif

[ January 02, 2003, 04:36 AM: Message edited by: Koreandude ]

Random

The flywheel is in no way related to the harmonic dampner. None. While they are both connected via the crank shaft, they do not "relate" to eachother or affect eachothers operation.

The flywheel side of the engine has to deal wth the cluch/pressure plate pressing against it, and also has to deal with the "torque" of rotating the gears/tranny to move the car.

Do you really thing just removing a few pounds off it will totally throw it out of wack? It deals with forces in the tens of thousands of foot pounds per square inch. Making it lighter does not significantly affect the life/wear of the crank, flywheel or Harmonic Dampner.