vibration dampener won't fit in engine compartment!?

[Powerhouse]

Hey there, Happy 4th everyone...

I tried installing the engine today...that's right, tried. But failed. The dang vibration dampener is too long...it won't fit in the car. I had a 53 truck engine in my 39 P7, which I am replacing with a 47 passenger car engine. On;y problem is the vibration dampener won't fit in the frame.

My question is How important is the vibration dampener? I never had one before on the truck engine.

[desoto1939]

Since you are rplaceing the engine in a truck I am assuming that you have the smaller block the 23 inch block. If you took the engine out of a Chryler or Desoto they would have used the big block or 25 inch long block.

This might be the reason why the engine will not fit inthe engine compartment.

My 39 Desoto has the vibration dampener and this helps to smooth out the engine and cranshaft.

First determineif you have the correct engine small or large block engine inthe truck.

Rich Hartung

Desoto1939@aol.com

[Powerhouse]

sorry for the confusion..

Car is a 39 P7...passenger car.

Old engine was a 53 dodge truck 218(not 230) which has no dampener.

Rebuilt engine is a 218 47 passenger car engine.

I wonder if 39 plymouths didn't have vibration dampeners? Cheaper model of the P7. Last model with top loader tranny.

[greg g]

Take a look at Don C's site re putting the DeS engine in a Plymouth. He had a clearence problem which he adressed with a bit of cutting and welding. Perhaps a similar fix would work in your situation. Or you can swap pulleys back t the one that fits.

[Big_John]

My question is How important is the vibration dampener? I never had one before on the truck engine.

The harmonic dampener does exactly what its name says, it dampens the harmonics (or vibration) that occurs within the engine. You have a lot of forces going on. The crank twists and bends from the power stroke and that sets up something similar to a sine wave, moving back and forth. The dampener helps to cancel that out. Without the canceling effect, you chance damage to the crank and/or bearings.

The short answer is yes, if the engine was designed to have a harmonic balancer, then you should have one.

[Powerhouse]

OK. Thanks. i figured out a way to get it in...just a bit of cutting and fabbing...not what I was expecting. ah well...It's in.

[greg g]

any pix of your fix???

[Dodgeb4ya]

Here is a shot of a 1939 P8 Plym convertible I just installed the original rebuilt engine in with the NOS vibration dampener. Fit just fine as the pic shows. You have to rotate the dampener to orientate the flat spots to be able to remove the belt though.

Bob

[Guest bewillie]

If you have an 230 engine that came without pully or balancer how do you know which to use? Some had balancers and some just pully. Will it matter if you put just a pully on a engine that came with a balancer?

[Powerhouse]

Dodgeb4ya: My 39 is a Roadking...toploader tranny...i don't think that would make a difference in the frame though??? It wasn't much of a notch I had to cut out and reinforce though... By the way, BEAUTIFUL COLOR on that BEAUTIFUL CAR!

As for the 230 question....the crank will tell if it's for a dampener or not I believe. The dampener mounts with 6 bolts. The pulley on my truck engine(no dampener) has a square pin notch which is all held on by the large nut.