Has anyone else observed this?
I was involved with a DMD installation today on a 98 SE. When the original pulley was removed, we compared it to the new one and observed that the pulley itself (not the added damper part) stands out from the timing cover a little bit more than the original. Laying both pulleys on a flat work bench with the snout end down (the portion that extends into the front seal on the engine) revealed that the DMD was roughly 1/2 of a belt groove further away from the timing cover.
We completed the installation anyway for two reasons. First, many others have made the change with no report of ill effects. Second, the distance to the next pulley on each side seemed distant enough as to allow enough lateral belt flex to keep there from being any belt alignment issues such as edge wear or throwing belts.
It makes me wonder if it would be a good idea to shorten the snout slightly to match the original pulley.
Also, I had our parts department cross reference the engineering number on the DMD and they came up with a part number. It looks like it may be available as part that can be ordered from any Ford dealer in the US. I will try to follow up on this some more. Perhaps someone can mention this to Bill Jenkins for further research. The part number they came up with had an MSRP of about $70.00.
