Hey Buick world, I am selling a 455 Buick ATI Harmonic Dampener and was wondering if the stock pulleys will work with this balancer? If not, what has to be done to make them work? I have used ATI balancers only on race engines therefore I need to know the answer to this question if someone asks. Thanks,
balancer John I'm runnin pullies on all the engines,even with the ATI.Just elongate 3 of the holes on the pully(you can tell which ones) a little,they'll line right up . gary
Same experience for me.....Back in the day I ran a stock lower pulley w/ the holes "oval'd".....Belt stayed on to 6600 RPM.
torched it! I elongated the holes a long time ago and the only thing I had to do the job with was a torch. Worked fine and the belts stayed on and one time I turned it 6700.:grin:
I tried to use an ATI once and I think I remember the pulley sticking out an extra 1/2" or so...o No: Is the balancer snout different length from stock?
I also use an ATI balancer and reused the factory crank pulley by elongating the holes. However, I ran into serious belt mislalignment issues with the alternator and water pump pulley. In fact I changed over to manual steering due to the ATI balancer. Couple of things I did using the ATI. Shimmed the water pump pulley forward about 1/16 inch. I also shimmed the alternator mount forward 3/8" or so to regain alt. to wp to crank alignment. Having said all of that was there another method I could have used to get my belt alignment back? Thanks, George
I had to do the same thing George did. Shims, washers, home made spacers, etc... I'm wanting to change to the fancy polished pulleys. Anyone have any ideas for those of us running the ATI? Thanks! Tom Jenkins
Perhaps Jim Burek can jump in here with his comments. After buying the ATI balancer and applying it I found the stock pulley clearance issue. Called Jim and spoke on what was available on the market to correct the problem. If I remember correctly the "March" pulleys would not take care of the issue. If you have a chance Jim would you drop some advice. Thanks, George
As stated, you have to elongate 3 of the holes on a Buick pulley to bolt to the ATI balancer. The balancer moves the crank pulley out aprox 1 pulley groove width. If you are not running power steering, this is no problem.The alternator and water pump will simply line up with the rear most groove of the crank pulley, the one that used to run the power steering. If you are running power steering, you will need to space both the powr steering pump and alternator out away from the engine. The other alternative would be I beleive a chevy balancer pulley, the holes should already be correct and I believe you can get one that mounts flat against the balancer. I have switched to romac balancers in recent years as they don't require any mods to work with Buick pullies. Jim Burek
Thanks Jim! I have power steering. I am using a BB Chevy balancer pulley and still had to use spacers on the P.S. and 2 washers behind the alternator brackets. I guess I'll just have to hope for the best with the polished pulleys. Oh well, nothing comes easy on these things anyway. Tom Jenkins
Pulleys...ATI Balancer TA Performance has some aluminum pulleys that have a crank pulley that is smaller than stock, but larger than the March. They also have a small and larger waterpump pulley depending on the speed you are looking for. TA Performance advertises the crank as for "aftermarket" balancers and the WP will work with stock pulleys. I've had March and had alternator and cooling issues. I've got the TA Crank and it is a little shorter than March and stock, but I haven't measured. I can if you want and let you know. Call TA as theirs are different than March/Poston. Mickey
Here's an update on this thread: I bought the balancer that John was selling. The ATI is a nice piece. (Thanks John) Anyhow, I run an electric water pump and manual steering, so the only pulley I need is the alternator. The pulley I used is one I made up a year or two ago that wouldn't work with the stock balancer, so I put it in the box with my other experiments that didn't work (we all have those, right?). Jim's right, the ATI moves the pulley out a little more than one groove. That puts the alternator almost in line with the rear groove that usually drives the power steering. If you look at a stock three groove pulley, notice that it is actually two pullies spot welded together. The rear small pulley is a seperate piece. All I did was grind the spot welds off from the FRONT SIDE so as not to damage the rear pulley. That leaves one single groove pulley. For the ATI I just elongated three of the holes and mounted it. I also run a late model CS alternator that is smaller than the stock alternator. I had to space it out about 3/16" to make it line up with the small pulley. Just thought I'd share my experience. Have fun.
For all you guys running ATI dampers, I will make a crank pulley to "bolt on" with no modifications needed. Just contact me. Rob.
