So I wanted to do a little review on the ATI balancer that I had installed this week. I've driven the car approx. 30 or so miles with the ATI. I tried doing some research and didn't really find any reviews. I just found some installation issues (I'll get to in a minute), and some vague descriptions of what it does.

I'll start with the bad news. Price. It was unbelievably expensive. By the time you apply shipping and tax (and perhaps the special torx bit) you're looking at $500 and it gets worse!

Now I did go with the steel hub and stock diameter, seems to be one of the more expensive options but aluminum was not recommended for street duty, and I didn't want to do an underdrive due to high heat and ridiculous traffic down there in Houston.

To finish off the bad news, my mechanic spent about half a day with the assembly of the pulley and the installation. The hub was too small on the ATI balancer so it required some honing work. With a new A/C tensioner on the bill I spent $360. $70 was for the tensioner. I was charged additional labor for the assembly and for the honing. Not complaining about what I was charged, I am just surprised how NOT easy the install was.

All in all I spent Almost $800 to replace my factory balancer that was falling apart. A completely unexpected expense!

End of bad news.

The awesome part about this ATI piece is that my car idles like a camry now. Not the off beat 4-cylinder either. I'm talking the buttery silk idle of the V6 camry or a BMW straight 6. I have a big cam (235/240, 111 LSA) in my LS6 but all you can do is hear it. You no longer feel the car idle, nor does it shake like it used to visually nor inside. Engine looks to not be stressing the motor mounts as much either.

Driving the car, you realize the smoothness is indeed present throughout the rev range. As a matter of fact, I hit the rev limiter twice because I just wasn't expecting it to be at redline with such limited vibrations. My car still does have vibrations as I have Koni Yellows, Eibachs, and pretty much every piece of solid tubular suspension components, and either poly or rod end bushings. However its not coming from the engine. Revs like a 1.9L 4 cyl. Awesome.

It also looks awesome on your motor. The timing markings are definitely convenient and it looks super beefy compared to the factory piece. The engine also visually moves less in the engine bay. Idles like butter.

All of this deceased motion and vibrations can do nothing but help the engines longevity. It reduces movements and vibrations which, in turn, takes some stress from your bearings, main bolts, and other things. Just a good all around reduction of these things, can also benefit valvetrain. The whole motor is just happier.

Last but not least is that this piece from ATI is SFI approved and is necessary, at tracks abiding by NHRA rules, for all cars running under 11.50's. I know my car has the ability to run faster than 11.50 but I wont be running that because 10-bolt lol, but It's good to know that it is also safer.



In short, it's expensive, the install is not what I would call an east bolt on affair but it really delivers on claims and you can have a huge cam and still have a velvety smooth idle. Let me know if any perspective buyers have questions.

 

Even though the price ended up being higher than you wanted it sounds like it was worth it overall, based on how you described the positive aspects

 

Yeah it definitely has a lot of positive attributes. I enjoy it! Just wish it was cheaper lol

 

The first one that I bought slipped on by hand so I had to send it back which from Canada is a PITA. When we swapped it over to the latest build the new crank was keyed so that was nice.
The reason I bought it was an article I'd read about the harmonics of an engine and how absorbing them was a real benefit in a cammed motor.

 

I agree the ATI balancer is a high quality part. When doing heads & cam in 2002 an ATI balancer was installed on my 99 T/A. It did make for a smoother more rev happy engine. Fourteen years and 130,000 miles later the ATI balancer has held up very well and the engine is still amooth rev happy. Its one of this expensive quality parts that is worth the price in my opinion.

 

They are a nightmare to install and remove

 

Not with the right tools they're not. Mine removes easily with a 3 bolt balancer puller, and installs just as easy with a proper ls1 extra length balancer installation tool.. not just a piece of steel rod and a nut to wind it on, but a proper install tool with a bearing on it.

 

when i did mine for my procharger 8 rib upgrade it was easy as hell to do . I think i got mine for 399 or 425 shipped from brutespeed. Im pretty sure we put mine in boiling water to expand it a little . Sucks you had such an issue with it .

 

I have used a ton of them, def a quality piece-I do ck the press fit on all of them, and if needed hone for the proper press-they are made from factory specs for the cranks, so if there is variations from the factory the fit can be tight.