Damper question.
 

We haven't purchased an ATI or equivelant damper for our race motor yet.

We ran the 1600 turbo pretty succesfully for the past 4 years without and now with the 1800 had 4-5 succesfull race meetings.

It seems MT.net strict rule is to run one.............What is the typical failure of NOT having aftermarket damper?

Possible failure of the oil pump.

http://www.fluidampr.com/news/new-fl...s-engine.-135/

Seems another alternative with MSRP of $490. Should hopefully get good reviews and lower price.

I've posted this before but I don't run an aftermarket damper or a billet oil pump. I actually run an oem damper that has been cut down to around 2/3rds the weight (accessory ribs removed). My engine revs to 9k and my bearings are perfectly happy now that I run a sump baffle.

The theory of several top engine builders in Australia is that the oil pump gears fail when the oil pressure return valve chatters due to high revs and high oil flow. This puts backpressure on the oil pump gears and they blow apart. If you install an external oil pressure relief valve (Peterson makes one) with much larger diameter flow and close up the return valve in the oil pump, then the stock pump and balancer is fine. You also get the benefit of being able to externally adjust the oil pressure to suit your needs. If you are already running an external oil cooler the plumping is pretty simple, though you do need to tap the sump with a 10AN fitting for the oil return.

Buying a harmonic balancer, and billet oil pump is the MT.net recommended option. Alternatively buy a external relief valve and you can join the few of us who don't run anything extravagant. Of the 10 or so cars I've seen running this setup, none have failed oil pumps or cranks.

Having said all that.... I just picked up an unused Boundary high flow pump and a Supermiata damper 2nd hand. They were a good price so I couldn't resist. At some point they will both go on my motor because I like more oil pressure for cold starts and the Supermiata damper is actually lighter and looks nicer than my 25 year old cut down damper.

One of my builds has the peterson valve and has no issues.

I agree that it's a solution and the billet pump is a bandaid that happens to be good enough.

Hmmm, interesting. I thought it was the sintered metal gear in the OEM pump breaking up from centrifugal loads it wasn't built for. Good food for thought!

Failure is definately not from centrifugal forces. My stock pump spins to 9k constantl and once to 10,500 on an over rev. Oops. That's what happens when you hit 3rd instead of 5th with a dog box shifting at 8600rpm.

Failure may occur from crank deflection in big horsepower cars deflecting the crank enough to cause contact between the gears. But I think bearings will go first? Maybe.