GT1R HARMONIC DAMPER

The VR38 engine has proven to be an absolute powerhouse of an engine, and for the most part taken very well to upgrades and huge power increases. With those power increases come increased forces and loads on parts. After seeing a couple of crankshafts break in high torque and high RPM applications we set out to build a proper harmonic damper designed around the high performance VR38 engines we build. We went to one of the best in the business to develop it, BHJ Dynamics. BHJ specialises in high performance harmonic dampers for racing applications and doesn’t slap a ‘universal’ balancer on any engine. BHJ has a great article on harmonic dampers here if you’re interested in learning more about how they work:

BHJ Article

To begin with we took baseline frequency and inertia tests of the OE damper. This tells us what Nissan needed it to do from the showroom floor. Next the physical envelope (size, shape, alignments, etc) needs and restrictions are taken into consideration. The design is based around the stock parameters with additional consideration given to the increases in torque and crankshaft speed. The GT1R VR38 Harmonic Damper is SFI 18.1 certified, billet steel construction, internally balanced, and made in the USA.

The GT1R VR38 Harmonic Damper is also the lightest on the market coming in at 2752 grams. The stock damper is 2851 grams and the other aftermarket damper available for the VR38 engine is 4229 grams. Additionally, the majority of the mass of the damper is located close to the crankshaft snout, similar to the stock damper. Other aftermarket options locate the majority of the mass at the end of the damper, much further out from the snout of the crankshaft, amplifying any imbalance or problems with the damper.