Main question, how much give are these ETD's supposed to have? I recently bought this J's style ETD off ebay (seemed like people were having good experiences in the ebay parts thread):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/230736509660...S:1123&vxp=mtr


The thing has NO give whatsoever, and these are a "damper" so I assumed they should act like a mini shock absorber. Otherwise you'd just use a threaded rod! So I emailed the seller this:

Dear topspeed-pro1-performance,Hi,I received my ETD yesterday and the piston is seized. I need to know the process of having it replaced. Thanks,

AND THEY REPLY:


Hi Alex,

These Engine Dampers are not seized, you will need to adjust the length by each end. Please keep in mind these are Rubber & Urethane inner constructions not spring type design. All Engine Torque damper kit on market are all with the same inner Rubber & urethane constructions will not allow flexible damper.Thank you

Is this true? Doesn't seem right.....

 

Alright...
First off I have to say this:
BECAUSE RACECAR

SO now to your q. An ETD has to take tremendous ammounts of vibration and will seem rock hard to your arm. I assure youthat you cannot produce the side to side motion that the motor does. Put it on. Crank it up. Go look under hood and Rev a bit to see if it moves and then report back.

=D

 

they are verry hard to move with your hands, but but it on and watch it move with the motor revin

 

When revving, what's the max distance it will usually move? I disassembled the thing and it's just a rubber bushing molded into the cylinder which the "piston" is stuck through (probably molded into actually) with plastic bushings on both ends. The most it's designed to move is the amount the rubber inside will deform. Guess there's nothing wrong with it just not what I was expecting.

Decided Im gonna install it anyway, just gotta get more gas for the mig so I can weld the bracket to my strut brace mount

 

If you feel a great deal of vibration inside the car that wasn't there before, you might be right, that thing does not move or too stiff to function correctly. I've had that type of ETD and it is useless IMO. Ingalls ETD is a much better design.

 

Why not get stiffer motor mounts instead?

 

+1

 

its just a ploy bushing inside that thing. Your looking at VERY minimal movement if any at all.

 

The motor mounts are all in good shape upon initial inspection, but they do have 90k miles on them, so the ETD couldn't hurt. Plus it fills the hole in my J's heat shield

Install was pretty easy. Break the tab off the shock tower, prep and repaint that area, bolt on the engine bracket, bolt ETD to shock tower bracket, test fit/adjust length, bend AC line slightly so it doesn't rub, and final install...done! I stacked my strut brace on it for now, will be welding to it later. Still had enough thread on the Tein Flex's studs to fully thread the nut on there (not sure if this can be done with stock struts).

Thing doesn't have much play (not enough to see it moving). The rear of the engine rocks instead of the whole thing :/ crappy design. You can feel a SLIGHT differnce in the way the motor moves/shakes the chassis in low RPM. Shifting may be slightly tighter as well.

@S-Factor clean ass engine bay dude! Lovin the shaved simplicity. Is the Ingalls part a gas/oil filled or spring loaded design? Or just a better executed version of the bushings??

 

um... are you saying these are supposed to move with the motor? from my understanding of your posts, you think there should be a piston inside that'll move in and out or something? these things, along with the stiffer urethane motor mounts were designed to lessen engine movement. the etd acts the same as engine mounts but it's additional help. so why would there be a piston inside? think about it, the urethane inside makes a lot of sense. it's a stiff material inside the rod and when bolted between the chassis and the engine it will lessen the movement of the engine.

IF you were to just use a steel rod, the engine vibrations/movements over time will definitely BREAK off the metal rod. the metal will either deform, crack and then just break apart. that's why the urethane is there. AND that is also why the motor is not bolted onto the chassis with plain metal. the stock motor mounts have rubber inside to absorb the heavy movements(aka energy) of the engine.

they're only called engine torque "damper" simply because they look like a damper lol... but they definitely don't work like a shock.