ATI or BHJ damper?

[Ruben]

I know Jeffp has been working with BHJ to have a damper made for the L6 engines. And, I believe Rebello already has a single ring damper available from BHJ.

 

However, ATI Performance Products currently has a damper available for the L6 engines with a two or three ring option. I have not seen any discussion of the ATI damper as a viable solution and was wondering why. Does BHJ make a better product over ATI? Or more specifically does the ATI L6 damper have some problems?

 

I, along with everyone else have been waiting for the BHJ damper to become available. But if the ATI damper, which is already available, is a good product then maybe it could be a viable alternative.

 

Perhaps Jeffp can chime in since he has researched this topic.

 

Ruben

'72 240Z

[jeffp]

I found out about the ATI unit a number of months ago, almost a year ago in fact. I called an spoke to the guys about installing this unit on my car, everything sounded good until I got to the issue of the pullies.

The ATI damper is configured like the SB chevy damper in that it bolts the pully on the end of the damper, well if you do a few calculations you will find that the pullies will be out of alignment to the extent that unless you do a complete set of pullies they will not fit. Also whae you do get the pullies for the unit, and you will have to have another shop make them for yo, there is a clearance issue with the fan, the front radiator support.

Now that is what I got from the customer service guys at ATI, maybe they have changed the configuration, and came up with a set of pullies, that I dont know, I haven't talked to them since I did all of my research. They were not willing to help me fit this thing to my car, and for 471.00 for a damper, plus the money involved to get a set of pullies made, and to an acceptable size to run the various components on the car, it just was not worth it.

I spoke to Brian, and we came up with a design that I think is a winner, and from all of the data Brian has collected on the part, and they are now doing a trigger wheel for after market EFI systems, I think this is the best way to go. We designed it to work on a stock 280zx three pully system, with the third pully bolt on just like the Nissan unit. BHJ was willing to build a unit, and sell it where ATI, and Fluid damper, I spoke to them also, were not willing to come up with a system designed around their product that would work for the Nissan application. I guess they sell enough SB chevy units to make a little R&D to much trouble.

I know I have been saying the unit would be ready from BHJ for a number of months, but that is not in my control. I am just saying what Brian has told me. I called again last week, the damper is completed and ready for assembly, the only part that needs completing is the bolt on pully for the A/C. They are waiting on that part to send all of the parts out to the platers to cut down on some of the manufacturing costs, sounds reasonable to me.

I understand this has been going on for a number of months, but for me this is the very best soultion to a troublesome problem with the stock units. And, if you have had no problems, GREAT, I dont want to get into the reasons why it happens and yada yada yada regarding the issue ok guys.

When I get the part on my door step I will be sure to post it and give the pics of the finished product on my web page, the one there now is the first working proto and there has been a change to the part since then. They were able to change one of the parameters and get more elastimer cross sectional area from the change, and that also was just fine with me.

Anyway, that is what I know on the matter. Maybe ATI has changed their thinking and come up with a reasonable solution, but when I spoke to them, a 600-700 dollar solution was a bit extravigant for me, fluid damper guys would not even consider designing a damper, BHJ said we can do that and I went with them.

[Ruben]

Thanks Jeffp for clearing that up. I have not done any checking with ATI to address the issues you mentioned. However, I doubt that any changes have been made.

 

So, it appears to me that the BHJ damper is still the best solution and worth waiting for. Furthermore, I was not aware that BHJ was working on a trigger wheel version, which to me makes it all that more attractive.

 

 

Ruben

'72 240Z

[Lockjaw]

I sent ATI an email inquiry, and will post what they say. I told them I needed a 3 grove pulley for my ZX.

 

I don't care who makes it, I just want a good damper I can turn up without worrying about it breaking.