the difference would be there is no balancing effect with a damper, while the dampers that were used on some engines had counterweights, which actually affected the balance. A true "DAMPER" doesn't balance anything, it only absorbs the pulses and whatever twisting that occurs in the crankshaft and smooths them out. As a matter of fact, a damper actually hinders "balance" because it is flexible and isn't always in the same spot. "Balance", and cancelling out harmonics and smoothing out the pulses are not the same thing. I would not consider it a balancer of any form, regardless of whatever Chevrolet called them. I have worked with enough engineers to know that there are very few of them worth a plug nickel. So saying "ENGINEERS" did this or that holds very little water with me. Now don't get me wrong, there are some very good engineers out there. And most mechanical things out there owe their existence to an engineer. But then again there is some extremely backwards, maldesigned pieces of horrid junk out there as well. (all I have to do is look at the vega and the citation, to make my decision about GM engineers.)
