MPGFTW

What is this part? It is a weight, or least looks like a weight...it came loose and I noticed while changing out my LCA bushings. Vibration damper?



Are there any more of these on the car??

ezone

If it is a weight mounted in rubber and not connected to anything else, then yes, it is a vibration damper.


No, I can't tell you which vibration fix it's for though, and off the top of my head I couldn't tell you if there are more on your car. I've seen them in strange places on other cars.

I'd love to be the engineer that comes up with this stuff.

MPGFTW

I bet there is an engineer at Honda that only fixes vibrations.

I thought about removing it, but then again, I don't want any extra vibrations for a weight savings of a few pounds.

kinakoes2

On my Escort there was one atop the passenger side engine mount. It's solid cast iron and bolted without any rubber mounting of its own -- the mount itself is where the damping was needed. Adding mass to any part subject to vibes will change its resonant frequency. Sometimes they add it for NVH (Ford is notorious for this), sometimes for part service life.

Here's an example of why engineers add mass in certain areas: back in the '60s a Triumph moto racer was trying to figure out why his Twin stopped pulling at high speed; nothing he did with jetting did squat. He noticed other racers with much heavier stock carbs were slower-accelerating, but didn't have the same problem at speed. He then wrapped some lead wire around the bowls, and tried again -- problem solved. The engine was vibrating the carbs so much, the fuel was crawling up the sides of the bowls, making him go lean on the main jet. Adding mass to the bowl solved the problem.

MPGFTW

Was he even sure what the weight was doing on the carb??

kinakoes2

Yes. Because when the problem was happening, whenever he'd touch the carb with his finger, the bike would accelerate again. The original Triumphs from that time vibrated like sex toys at speed. This story was told to me by an instructor at my tech school, who was both a road- and off-road bike racer back in the '60s and '70s (was in his sixties when I came through, salty old bastid ).

Whenever you add mass to something that vibrates, it reduces it. He understood that adding something heavy to the rubber-mounted carb's float bowls, would reduce the engine's ability to shake them, calming the fuel in them. Had to use his hands for other things than holding the carbs at racing speed... in traffic... in a time when rubbing elbows was allowed and encouraged, and your helmet may as well have been a ball cap.