Please close thread, info moved to my worklog.

[mikeinaus]

i honestly dont believe a lighter harmonic balancer would make much difference in power output. if it does i doubt itd be any more noticeable then a sugar pill. a 4.5lbs Harmonic balancer on a engine thats putting out 150+ ft-lbs of torque would be more or less insignificant. yes turning a shaft with a 4.5lb weight on it by hand would have a massive difference then turning say a 1lb weight of the same size, but turning something by hand generates what maybe 5-10ft-lbs of torque at most? if you dont believe me try turning a larger socket by hand when its on a beam type torque wrench. 90% of the power they "free" has to do with spinning the accessories slower.

i honestly couldnt justify buying one new. they are a fairly low maintenance part that lasts the life of the vehicle most of the time.

[MrMazda92]

That's logical... I'll get more out of a powersteering and A/C delete. I still need to find somebody who's swapped in a manual rack, that's close enough for a test drive... I've driven a manual rack Civic, Tercel, and even an old Chevy pickup long ago. I didn't mind it on the Tercel one bit, the Civic took a lot more effort to steer at low speed than the Tercel, and the pickup was terrible.

If I can strong arm it with one hand in a parking lot I'll go to a true manual rack.

[davmac]

Glad you're on your way to a good recovery. Hope you're prepared to pull that crank pulley because they can be a challenge sometimes - especially on your back in a jy. You won't be able to use the old pop the starter trick. A sturdy screw driver or similar to jam the flywheel and a long breaker bar is what you'll need to break the pulley bolt loose. Sometimes you can pry the pulley off with a couple of screw drivers or pry bars, but a steering wheel puller or bolt style puller makes it easy to pull the crank pulley off the crank shaft. Good luck.

[Josh]

Any weight taken off of the rotating assembly adds HP. SO if you can take 3 to 4 pounds of rotating mass off of the crank that is good for an added boost of hp, no matter where it is taken off. A/C - P/S belts (they cause drag on the rotating assembly), flywheel, lightened pulley, but generally will only results in 4 to 5 Wheel ponies on a N/A car.

My problem with "lightened" or "underdrive Pulleys" are that they are a bolt on, unbalanced piece that you are adding to the rotating assembly. The purpose of the Harmonic balancer is just that, to keep the harmony of the rotating assembly. That's why they usually have a couple of drill marks somewhere on them to properly balance them with the rotating assembly. without being balanced with the rotating assembly you are only setting yourself up for future problems and premature wear. And generally it is not advised to use one on a forced induction car. When I built my BP I took the entire assembly into the shop to have it properly balanced, i took in the balancer (an OE one), entire rotating assembly, the Fidanza, and clutch. You would be surprised but they took a lot off of the flywheel, but the engine is so smooth it is like night and day.

So what I am getting at is I would stick with the OE balancer