Dangers of aftermarket pulleys

[ryan]

As long as the pulley does not interfere with the stock harmonic damper, it shouldn't be a problem with regards to engine life.

There are different varying pullies, however the ones that most of the people are using here, only interfere with the alternater and powersteering.

However, alot of the highly modified supras and other cars deal with EVERY pulley, so that's a totally different matter if not done right.

I think the biggest issues is that people run out of batt or screw up the alternater OR powersteering when they're using UUC pullies....

 

[yendor]

SierraSG

Your worries are not unfounded. I myself was a victim of the pulley problem on my previous ride. There are 2 major issues:

1st being farting around the stock harmonic balancer within the original crank pulley. The balancer does what it is supposed to do and cancels out unwanted vibrations caused by the crankshaft and con rods moving at slightly different lateral speeds, i.e. the arc prescribed by the con rods at the top and bottom of the crankshaft movement is different.

2md is the quality of the materials used if the pulleys are replaced. There are some shops here that fit pulleys to cars which they machine out over here. The problem with this is that the metal is soft and after some hard driving, the bugger warps and causes all sorts of funny noises and may even crack.

The brudders here on the forum usually fit the UUC pulley kit that does not mess around with the crank pulley which drives the serpentine belt. The kit replaces the water pump / viscous drive fan pulley as well as the power steering pulley. Alternator is not touched and so ICE systems should function as original. (unless you got some monster system that draws more juice than the stock electrical system can handle)

To cap off the mod, the aluminium pulley is made of an alloy that is further anodised for extra hardness.. How do i know? Cos i tried scratch my pulley before installation (somewhere behind itchy) and hard a real hard time trying to leave a mark.

The power gains come from reducing the effort required to drive the ancillaries at full rotational speed which has an added factor of kiasu as designed by the germans. The viscous fan is another big drain on power.

So bottom line.... mai tu liao....UUC pulley the bugger.......

Sorry i am not a salesman... :laughlik: :laughlik:

 

[Azrielsc]

Nice detailed writeup on the problems u had with the pullies on your previous ride.

 

[yendor]

No worries. must share mah...dun all of us kenna con....

 

[Azrielsc]

So the safest way is to go with UUC or Rogue pullies instead of those "imitation" ones!

 

[sierrasg]

yendor & ryan,

Thanks for elaborating on where the differences were. Much clearer on what to look for now.

In short, don't touch the harmonic damper; avoid imitation and self-customised pulleys and go for proven-and-tested pulleys (eg. UUC)

Cheers!

 

[22]

Is those pulley upgrade at BVO using UUC.

Cheers

 

[yendor]

Yes they are.....

If your car has the fan driven of a viscous clutch then the difference can surely be felt especially on hot days and slow traffic when you hear the the fan locking and the engine sound like "wooooo".....instead of "Hummmmm" The response is much better.

Also, leave the alternator pulley as stock as the ratio of Crank : Alternator pulley gives better electrical stability. In stop start city traffic perpetual aircon and ICE environments, the electrical load on the alternator is rather high and more E-juice is always welcomed. Usually at idle, the alternator does not turn fast enough to generate more than 10-20 amps. Considering that the air con fan alone draws about 5 amps at slow speed and up to 20amps at max speed, the ICE equipment on its own will also draw it fair share of juice.

Thus the water pump and power steering pulley should be the bestest option.... for us.....

Wah lao... i sound like one of those road side medicine man selling "special brews"

 

[22]

Hi Yendor, not sure mine is a viscous fan but my ride is 2001 fre F/L 318

 

[yendor]

Sorry bro....

In that case you should be using an electrical fan cos the engine block very far away from radiator.. I am not sure if the pulleys can fit the 318 Check with the "great white" and he can fill you in on the details. Alternatively, visit the UUC webby for more info.

Without the viscous coupling and fan dragging your engine, your ride would probably not benefit as much as those with the 6cyl engines.

Cheers