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I'm sure they mean "damper" (dampener), but if you check the J's website, it says "Dumper."
I had a custom made engine dampener on my Alfa Romeo, and it made a huge difference in smoothing out the drive train, so I wanted to give this one a try.
I installed the J's dampener on my S, and functionally, it's very good. I would rate it at 8/10 for doing what it's supposed to. It's one of those performance mods that you can feel right away. It makes a noticeable improvement in the quality of the shifting.
The fit is another story. This item is a total piece of sh!t when it comes to installation.
First of all, the J's heatshield is required, since the OEM heatshield has no hole for the dampener to pass through. But the J's heatshield won't fit, unless the OEM header heatshield is removed.
If you don't have an extra long micro-ratcheting closed-end wrench, forget getting the 4th bolt out of the OEM heatshield. It's very difficult to reach, and no clearance to turn the wrench.
I noticed immediately that the temperature in the engine compartment was about a million degrees higher without the OEM header heatshield, so I did a quickie fabrication of a header heatshield that seems to do a good job. I'll make a nice custom one when I get more time, but it takes a lot of work to make it look good and function properly.
The A/C lines are in the same location as the dampener, so they had to be removed from their mounts, and now the lines don't fit properly. I don't know if it's possible, but I'm going to try to have new A/C lines custom made, and that's going to be expensive.
The J's heatshield also doesn't fit properly, because of the air conditioning line running right under the front mount.
Also, one of the metal mounts for the main fuse box had to be cut off of the engine compartment, to make room for the dampener mount.
If you don't see the poor-fitting parts, it does look good. High tech and somewhat exotic, which is appropriate for the S.
If I had known all of this before I bought the dampener, I would not have made the purchase. The dampener improves the shifting, but the shifting is already very good, and it's not worth all of the hassle of trying to install something, that just doesn't fit.
Originally posted by infinitebass
Shoulda thought about the fact it wasn't made for US Spec cars. It should fit perfectly on JDM cars though, so its not them.
Blake
This model is made specifically for left-hand drive cars in the United States.
When I installed mine I didnt have to move the AC lines. I did have a little problem with the front mount on the heatshield. Took a little bit of work but finally got everything to lined up and bolted down.
It has been speculated that the '02+ model cars have slightly different AC line routing than '01s and '00s. All I can say Pete is that I didn't have as much trouble as you did but some parts of the install were standard like the removal of the factory fuse box mount and slightly moving the ac lines. In my case, it was a very easy massage out of the way, not a complete relocation.
Originally posted by Kodokan_4
I had a custom made engine dampener on my Alfa Romeo, and it made a huge difference in smoothing out the drive train, so I wanted to give this one a try.
Pete, do you recall the company that made that dampener and how much it cost at the time? Was it a hassle trying to get it or fairly straightforward?
Originally posted by gotrpms
couldnt you just make a hole in the stock heatsheild, allowing you to use the header heat shield and saving you the cost of buying j's heatshield
yes, but for some it might be easier to just get the J's sheild. It's aluminum, so it can flex which can change the mounting points.
10-17-2003, 09:57 PM
