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Is this turbo mounted too close to the harmonic balancer?
Car is 1976 280z with a 5.3. 7875 gen2 turbo. Corvette accessories. Car has a huge front opening so should be plenty of airflow entering the engine compartment. Hot side piping squirmed a bit during welding tweaking the angle of the piping and moved the turbo a little closer to the harmonic balancer than I wanted. I thought it would be OK but now I'm having second thoughts. As it sits, the turbine housing is just a hair under 1/2" away from the harmonic balancer. Pictures below. I will be running a turbo blanket but I will need to sew zig zag fiberglass stitching to squish it down in that area so it doesn't rub on the balancer.
I know the balancer will be spinning so any heat from the turbine housing will be distributed throughout. Maybe I could also put heat reflective tape on the face of the balancer. Or maybe this isn't a big deal at all. But I am concerned that the rubber in the balancer will be affected by the heat.
I welcome any comments and/or opinions, and especially any solutions (if needed at all)
I have seen much closer and it was fine. if anything it looks like when the pipes get hot they will push the turbo out away from the balancer due to heat expansion heat expansion.
The rubber in those balancers is failure-prone enough without being next to a turbo.
My concern would be radiant heat specifically. You could fab an aluminum shield to go between them, with an air gap on both sides.
I am planning to run a turbo blanket, but in that area specifically I will have to compress it and stitch the loft flat so it won't rub on the balancer.
Mine is that closer if not closer, but I have an ATI damper. So far, been no issues with it. Prob 500 miles and a dyno session on it since I built the kit.
My old 4th gen was that close.
Put a blanket on it and it will be fine, otherwise you'll cook the dampner.
I'd seriously consider an AM dampner too if you intend to push it hard and rev it, those stock ones can come apart in dramatic fashion.
When yours was that close, what blanket did you use and did you have to modify it? I have a blanket but the loft of the fiberglass fill is too puffy so I will have to sew it flat in that area or it will rub on the balancer.
When yours was that close, what blanket did you use and did you have to modify it? I have a blanket but the loft of the fiberglass fill is too puffy so I will have to sew it flat in that area or it will rub on the balancer.
I used a $40 eBay blanket, was on there for years, that way if it rubbed I didn't care lol.
It had a pretty low profile, not really "poofy".
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Is this turbo mounted too close to the harmonic balancer? 
